#bro failed step one (stay silly)

[ghostforwhat]

Bedelia saying “He can get lost in his own congratulation. At his own exquisite taste and cunning. Whimsy. That will be how he gets caught.” but when he does he gets caught hes on his knees

[crazyexdirkfriend]

snippet from an unfinished multichapter by me, Tony ao3 user artreactor, from 2016

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If someone had told Jake English at the beginning that, aged twenty-two, he'd still be dating Dirk Strider, he would have completely believed them to be quite honest.

Of course, his reasons for being in a relationship with Dirk now are far different from what they were when he was fifteen. At that age, Jake honestly believed that entering a relationship with the other would be the commitment equivalent of tying an anchor to his leg and throwing himself into the Pacific Ocean. Dirk's despotic nature was inescapable, suffocating and he was always more likely to drown from it than from a silly anchor. Once he let Dirk kiss him (with blood in his mouth, under his tongue, prying it from cold, dead-) there was no way Dirk would ever let him go.

But Dirk letting him go is precisely the reason that he now has an iron clad grip on Jake's hair, plaiting it with the intensity he used to direct into aggressive courtship.

There's a certain safety in knowing that there is an entire universe, made with the aid of his own hands, sprawling outside their room. Any time he wants, Jake can simply run down the stairs of their communal living quarters and escape into seemingly endless vast fields and plains of green. Knowing that he's here because he wants to be and not out of some disheartening feeling of inevitability makes him far more comfortable with Dirk's presence and that's obviously one major step towards a healthy romantic relationship. Dirk would let him go if he wanted to and that's really all it takes to make him want to stay. Jake is not a fussy guy.

For example, Dirk is probably doing a terrible job of fixing his hair right now and Jake won't even bat an eyelid if he looks in the mirror and he's suddenly missing a few inches. He's been growing his hair since the game ended but of course it's never going to get to the length Jade's is, let alone how long his grandmother's was. Getting a comb through it most mornings is difficult enough and once it gets below his shoulders the knots simply have to be cut out. It's far too much hassle to maintain even if the idea of having floor length hair sort of gives him a fuzzy feeling in his stomach.

“Are you almost done?” he asks, impatient and he hears Dirk click his tongue behind him.

“Almost,” he replies and Jake feels him triple tie an elastic hair tie around the last of the plaits. Jade gave him a little over one hundred after becoming tired of watching him fail to remove hair from his plate during meal times but he's lost all but seven at this point.

When Dirk's hands leave his hair, Jake shakes his head, feeling the plaits thwack against his cheeks and neck. Dirk dutifully leans back to narrowly avoid a bobbon to the face. He grins, almost apologetic. “Thank you once again, bro,” he says, “Although I think you're starting to have a knack for this. Perhaps you missed your calling?”

“I've enough hair stress of my own,” comes the easy reply as Dirk lies back on the sofa, pushing his legs forward in a way that forces Jake to either stand up and move away or defiantly lie down on top of him. Jake chooses the latter.

“Of course you do. You've only what, eight more years of a not receding hairline to enjoy?” He earns a shove to the shoulder for that. It's an irrationally sore subject but all he can do is titter.

“I've always got hats, broski,” he says but there's a tilt of worry in his voice that makes Jake choke out another chortle.

He didn't ever expect to find continuous streams of bro puns charming or endearing let alone expect to pick them up himself. He always thought he'd be more of a romantic cliche nickname kind of guy. Darling, honey, sweetheart, love. But Dirk awkwardly stammered out a “babe” three years ago and hasn't tried since and Jake's surprisingly satisfied with that.

“But if you wear a hat, what are you going to do with your shirts?” he asks, pulling out the collar of Dirk's tank top before letting it fall back against his collarbone. “You can't possibly be thinking of changing your brand this late in the game, surely?”

“Don't sweat, I'm not delusional yet. Wearing a hat on my shirt is still the vastly superior thing.”

“Good. I was worried perhaps you were going both loony and bald.”

He shoves Jake off of him and he rolls on to the floor. It's completely worth it and Dirk's scowl is almost audible over the exaggerated laughter from the ground.

They stay like that for a few moments until Jake's tittering dies down and his chest stops heaving. Once that happens, Dirk casually rolls off the sofa, landing on top of the other with a soft thump. Jake's breath leaves him again, stifling whatever complaints were bubbling up in his mouth. Before he can catch his breath again, Dirk leans in, rubbing their noses together in that silly, endearing way he does to allow Jake time to move away if he wants to.

It's been six years, yes, but there are still times where Jake does not want to be close to anyone, let alone close enough to breathe in Dirk's second hand air. Those times come more often than he would especially like but they come with the battle scars. Jake supposes it's a testemant to their maturity that now he can vocalise when he needs space and Dirk will give it to him, no qualms.

But today is not a day Jake moves away. Instead, he tilts his head, moving in to press his lips chastely against Dirk's. They stay like that for a few moments, shallowly breathing through their noses, before he pulls away, grinning widely. It's a beat before Dirk's face splits to match.

The serenity lasts a further thirty seconds before Jake finds himself crushed under Dirk plus an added weight that could only be Roxy if her grin looming over Dirk's shoulder wasn't any indicator.

“I can't breathe,” Jake complains, wheezing. Dirk's elbow is stuck into his ribcage and his hip bone is poking his thigh.

“If you couldn't breathe, talking would also be an impossibility,” Rose says simply, upside down from Jake's view as she stands with the toes of her shoes pressed against his scalp.

“Yeah, besides, you weren't complainin' about breathing when your tongue was down DiStri's throat,” Roxy croons and Jake's ears go pinker than her lipstick.

“No offense, but I'd rather macking on my bro be the cause of my suffocation than being crushed under your weight, Lalonde,” Dirk says but she only laughs.

“Rose, get in on this!”

“I couldn't possibly have the deaths of two so young on my conscience.”

Roxy somehow convinces Calliope to join in when she walks through the room and it's only when they're distracted with things Jake feels like he should be averting his eyes for that Dirk manages to heave both of them off him in a swift roll. Rose gives Jake a hand up to the sounds of Roxy wrestling Dirk to the ground for accidentally rolling Calliope into the coffee table. Jane is shouted in less than two minutes later to survey the prisoner, caught between Roxy's knees as she sits firmly, and triumphantly, on his chest. The resident detective solemnly notes that the only punishment fit for the crime of accidentally tossing a cherub into a piece of furniture is twenty years hard time, which apparently means enduring ten minutes of furious tickling. Jake thinks it's all slightly ridiculous.

He wouldn't have it any other way.

[noyaetnox]

HEARTSLABYUL HEADCANONS:

The series: DIASOMNIA / HEARTSLABYUL / OCTAVINELLE / POMEFIORE / SAVANACLAW

- will not confess no matter what and you can't tell me otherwise. He'll be bottling up all his emotions like there's no tomorrow

-> truly believes there is no chance you'll like him back. I mean, he was a bitch to you! He totally was rude and - how can you love someone like that?

-> Trey is slowly but surely getting tired of hearing the same thing over and over again from Riddle - goes to you, pleading to either confess or tell his house warden that you do not hold any special emotions towards him

- Riddle becomes much softer after you start dating

-> the whole of Heartslabyul noticed. Adeuce will be pleading with you to never leave their housewarden because suddenly living with him is doable

- Ace and Deuce will also react terribly to the news of you two dating (Ace worse), because what about that little shit made you like him? Are you okay? Were you bribed? Do you need help? Blink twice-

"You actually like him? For real? No cap?" Yes🤨? "But he's an annoying tyrant," jokes on you I'm a brat tamer 😋☝️ and into that shit.

-> will consider finally trying that therapy thing you keep talking about

- dates with Riddle are the best, you feel like royalty with how he treats you. Sometimes, though, he let's his tongue slip and says something he doesn't mean, but you can tell by his expression he doesn't mean it fr so you're fine (you then talk about it and he apologizes and you get lots of hugs)

- it is kept secret for the longest time, because he's worried people will see you as weakness of his (you totally are), so he tries. It fails. Bro has the biggest grin on his face the second he spots you. I'm talking visible hearts and sparkles

- no PDA. Won't even hold your hand. Please let me hold your hand 😔 will collar you if you pull something like holding hands or kiss his cheek, ONE OF THE SEVEN FORBID YOU KISS HIM ON THE LIPS IN PUBLIC -> immediate collar after each one - you're still into that shit (if you're not, are you really a Riddle simp? 🤨)

- doesn't know anything about relationships so his reactions are always fresh and amazing to look at

- can't communicate well and will try to not show his emotions (he fails horribly around you), so it's slow steps - both of you getting used to one another

- you tease him a lot, because he can turn redder than his hair and he hates it sometimes (he will refuse to admit), yet he knows you still remain respectful and once it's gone too far you immediately stop

- will try baking for you, but he takes everything literally (I'm pretty sure he is autistic, it's the fellow awtysm radar in me), so he often messes up. You eat it, because you love him (and it's not worse than Lilia's cooking, so)

- will spend holidays with you, he doesn't want to go home :( and he feels way better with you, so it's a win-win

-> only then learns about your living situation in Ramshackle 🥲🙏 will yell (respectfully) at Crowley because of it

- helps you so much with your workload by sharing his own hacks he's come up with over the years (he's the cutest little thing pls)

- fights everyone for you, except Floyd - you're both running from that one (will not leave you alone on that one, though, what a sweetheart)

- he's got a British accent 😐☝️

-> has the silly goofy speak: "riddle me this" "geezer" "bloody hell" "innit?" "lads"

-> you clown him for it sometimes, just sometimes. He hates it. But he also loves you so it's alright

- you carry candy around for him, everytime he gets angry around you, you toss him candy or something

- invites you horse riding (if you don't like horses IDC. I'm a horse person and I love it. The horse bedsheets stay on during sex 😡 jk. Or am I?)

- you will show him so much. So many new things and he's suddenly in this whole new world he's never been in before. He's willing to try anything, for both curiosity and your smile. Very interested in your world, please tell him everything

- will spend time with you in private tea parties where you guys just gossip

- platonic: best friends. Besties. Will share so much tea on tea parties, about everyone, even people you guys don't know. It's so fun. It's a whole 😗💅 friendship. (Though Riddle doesn't know much gossip, it's fine, he will remember what you tell him)

- I don't know much about this guy but I will try

- definitely bakes you sweets that are to your taste, if you don't like sweets he will cook. He's been preparing for this moment his whole life let him do his thing

- is afraid of blood. IDC. You get a cut and bro is freaking out, you're going to die while he's passed out because of the bloo- he is now gone 😔

- that said, loves taking care of you as long as it's not a bloody injury. Brings you blankets, cooks you soup, boils you tea, you name it

- teeth brushing together and I also mean the kind where he brushes yours, he says it's not kinky but you are not really sure

- doesn't know how to say no but is a master at leaving situations, like you don't even know how and your request with going idk where has turned into rule 8289402917364829 to not speak to people in glasses on a Thursday and now you have to compensate by eating his tart,,, or something

- 😏 <- why does he actually make that face

- you spend time together by having either little tea parties or just hanging out in his room

- his love language is baking, but I also think it's quality time

-> will ask you to join him in the kitchen while he bakes, to be next to him while he's studying and things like that

-> just loves having you close to him

-> ALSO ALSO: one of those friends/bfs that will force you into calling/messaging once you've arrived home, telling you to dress warm, buys you food, yells at Crowley for you (tells Riddle to yell at him because he was raised to respect others while he knows Riddle will not care - after all, Riddle likes you, too)

- walks you to school

- asks you to put Ace and Deuce into their place because he just might snap anytime soon and despite being afraid of blood, it will be the last thing a few of the Heartslabyul students will see ☺️

- doesn't have bad memory per se, but often forgets trivial things

- it's kinda endearing

- platonic: joins you and Riddle in your tea parties (tea in both senses), knows about everything that's going on in the school, all the gossip (Cater is the one who tells him, but anyway)

- "You don't have a magicam account😨😰?" "Wdym Crowley doesn't allow you to use your phone for social media and entertainment?!" Suddenly you are allowed to set an account 🤨

- EVERYTHING about your relationship is documented. He doesn't post all of the pictures and videos he has, but he posts a few.

-> likes to keep your relationship matters somewhat private rather than just post it all, it's for him only (and for you when he decided to finally send the pics from the date 2 months ago 😒)

- has a weird sense of humor you can't always understand. He seems like he's having fun, though, so it's fine, let him be excited

- he copes with internal conflict by occupying his mind with social media (twinss except I do that with games,,, anyway), telling jokes and being very unserious but he let's this mask fall whenever he's around you

- the actual Cater is so lovely 😔 he may not be as full of energy and as loud but he's still the biggest sweetheart

- you put him at a high place, whilst he puts everyone above him and is used to people just disregarding him, so when you show up and try your hardest to focus on him he just wants to cry for days on end. His opinions matter to you and you always listen to him even when he's talking about the stuff you have no idea about 🥲

-> late night crying sessions together (crying brings people closer), and you just love spending every second together

- he definitely needs assurance, so don't forget to text him a "good morning, love" a "goodnight, love" as well as words of affirmation and reminding him that you love him and him only and that he's amazing. Also please don't ignore his messages 😔 he will think you hate him

- refuses to get drunk in front of other people because he could start spilling his secrets, but he does when he's with you = crying a lot

- dates are two kinds:

1. you go to a very aesthetic location, you have a picture perfect (intended) date, it is later all over your social media

2. just you and him being in love and spending alone time together. His room, your room, in the garden, cooking together, you name it. All he cares about is you (only takes candid photos yet they look so good??? Sir??)

- just two people foolishly in love, that's it, that's the tweet (Tumblr post?)

-I really think he'd be one of the best bfs, hands down

- he writes fanfiction. "But, Noya, there's no way he-" ☝️😐 he does. I was thinking about Sebek writing FFs about Malleus, but Sebek doesn't seem like the type (Sebek for sure daydreams), but Deuce? He does. With Ace. They just share FFs and recommendations (he still doesn't know how to tell Ace he doesn't really write well)

-> tried to keep it a secret until you one day mentioned this cool fanfic you've read the night before with your favorite character

-> "you read fanfiction?😨" Yes, Deuce. "And you mentioned it to me so casually?" You lovable idiot

- thinks you are very cool and respects you greatly

- you have a group chat with him and his mom as well as a private chat with her

- the group chat is just the sweetest thing ever. His mom loves you and you love her, and Deuce is just there to observe and for the two of you to poke fun at (in an endearing way - talking sweetly about Deuce while he reads it all)

-> in the private chat, you're gossiping and having the best time of your life. His mom is so cool and such a girlboss (not to mention a total MILF - if it doesn't work out with Deuce you'll go for his mom 😔)

- that said, Deuce is very submissive and breedable

I will not elaborate

- dates with him are definitely outside, you either go for a walk, for a ride, or something like that

- brings you gifts all the time, they're mostly really stupid, but he's always like: "I saw this and it reminded me of you" or "I saw this and thought you might like it" your room is getting full, but you can't say no to that face.

- kiss his hair, he's sitting down and you do a little smooch, or the back of his neck

-> he gets all red and stuttering and then you hear it about it from his mom

-> "When will I get grandbabies?" Miss I want your child 😌☝️

- ehm

- just the loveliest puppy love, with a lot of hugs and kisses, he also doesn't care about where you two are and PDA is no problem for him (as long as it's like a little, he wouldn't straight out makeout with you,,, maybe)

- soft boy, will worry about everything but you and his mom will reassure him at all times, so we're good 😌

- BOY

- okay I ended Deuce with PDA and I'm going to start with it here

-> PDA all the way, will makeout at the lockers, near friends, he doesn't care. You do? Too bad (just kidding he will actually respect your opinion, but you also have to respect his so like)

- will bring you to his room while Deuce is there just for the laughs

- will try to protect you from trouble, because he has this feeling of needing to protect you

- "This one is for you, babygirl" and then misses his shot at club, you laugh,,, but why does he keep doing that when it has worked like twice so far (Floyd also tells you all his shots are for you and doesn't miss)

- screams when in distress, you scream with him. Yes we're fine, Jack.

- steals tarts and cakes from the dorm kitchen and then sneaks into your room to eat with you, then acts oh so sad when Riddle collars him and he has to go sleep at Ramshackle 😩😩😩 oh woe is me (sneaky bastard)

- you definitely curse at one another, jokingly, you call him a dick, he calls you a bitch. But you're his bitch and he's your dick 🫶

- people are concerned, but you guys are fine

- talks about his exes sometimes and then realizes his mistake and keeps apologizing for days, you tell him it's fine (you've already had the talk, and you know his mouth just runs faster than his brain can keep up - you do say if something he said hurt you and he then tries to make it up and not repeat it ever again)

- dates are never the same, like I can't stress enough how your dates are just in the spur of the moment and you end up eating bananas on Crowley's window (you almost fell to your death so that was the last time you did that)

-> has a weird habit of remembering things like that, like if you cut yourself - never be close to a knife, if you slipped on ice - not going outside when it's freezing, you almost fell from that window - never let you be higher than a chair when he's around. It's sweet, but let me live my life goddamn

- while texting he has started putting /j after everything just to make sure you don't misunderstand

- it's an emotional rollercoaster with him, but you somehow still return, is that okay? Not necessarily, but you love him too much and he loves you, too

- tells you often, that he loves you. Like, any change he gets, he will be saying "I love you" "Love you" it's kinda cute because depsite that, he still gets nervous and all red, at least you know it's genuine

- will beat up anyone for you (with Deuce because they're a buy one get one free, or frequently bought together)

-> you got used to your dates sometimes being with Deuce, but it's fine, you spend all the time together anyway (Epel hates your love, so you tease him on purpose, Jack is just lovable and is happy for you guys - just don't let it distract you from your studies!)

Why did Riddle get so much text? He's my favorite.

Why does Deuce have 2 banners? because he's my bbygirl and I couldn't decide, he looks great everywhere.

When will be the next part? With how life's going rn, soon.

Who will be in the next part? I haven't decided yet, but either Pomefiore or Octavinelle.

Have a great week everyone, hope life is going well, goodnight 🫶🫶🫶

[nani-nonny]

Continue!!

Day 5

Lil leo killing warrant because he didn't see him xD

Raphie getting destroyed by don because he rough housed mikey

Damn splinter is getting so much donations!! 100% from big mama lolol

And hypno stalks LCS because part of him is worried, idk if its about him or afraid from him but he's worried.

Night 5

I can imagine baby lou accident say dad to both future leos and APAF future is leo is outside the arena feeling trigged and jealous lol

I can bet orange is singing famous songs the future leos used to sing back in the past but forgot the lyrics or how the song goes.

LCD is just sitting there feeling awkward and depressed while little leo is trying to sing happily and hypno go with him just so they all won't be feeling awkward (i see hypno is sticking with lcd for some reason)

Day 6

I FEEL SO BAD FOR DONNIE AS HE'S GETTING SHIT ON BY EACH LEO AND WORST OF ALL NO COFFEE XDDDDD some destroy his camp, some steal supplies.. Bro is about to start his villain arc soon.

Splinter scaring off lil leo so he won't lose much mental health and that's a dad thing lol

I can imagine WDS future leo taking the kids by his side while trying to make distance with LCD future leo because "eww murder"

DMD future leo killing hypno is sad but at least he can joins warrant stone

Night 6

If Donnie let future leo in, it's because he plan to kill prank him lol

I can imagine leo taking the longest hours in the shift while not bothering the two

Splinter scaring another lil leo and act dramatic.. (I hope)

I bet WDS future leo thought the OG was LCD and accidentally killed him

Now seeing LCD & DMD holding hands is CRAZY!! Tho i would imagine despite they hate it, one of them can't see temporarily and need the other's guidance so the hand holding can explain why (reunion sitting between the audience feeling happy the kids are getting along.. In a way.. And ignoring WDS killing another future leo)

Day 7 nothing interest happened, just working together to hunt

Night 7

Splinter finally not scaring one of the leo and comfort him.

Donnie having his revenge by demanding leo to either fight little him or big him if he wants forgiveness - and to not send his embarrassing photos into the group chat - so reunion leo is fighting dmd lil leo.

Day 8

JESUS!! WDS FUTURE LEO IS LOSING IT!! HE'S BECOMING THE MONSTER HE HATES!! At this point lcd is far better then him

Night 8

Okay night 8 is GETTING WORST

- how can lil leo fight one of the future leos?!?!

- and reunion future leo needs to talk with little him about what he done that lou (daddy apaf ISN'T HAPPY)

The feast

LIL LEO KILLED WDS LEO!!! Am sure his brothers and sister are laughing at him/silly

Day 9

Splinter stepping on landmine is just... What old people do?/jk

Lil leo thinking he got it and try to escape by portals... And fail

Night 9

OH MY GOD LCD AND DONNIE ARE GOING UNHINGED!!

I wanna believe that LCD gave lil leo a mercy kill while Donnie just dances on leo's fallen body while said "skill issue"

FUCK WE REACHED THE CLIMAX!!!!

Coming with part 3

(Why can't we have the ability to post more pictures?!)

Woo, part 2!

Day 5: apaf baby lou is a menace hahaha! She’s always on the hunt! But that sweet moment between the original leo and wds lil leo… <3 oh my goodness Warren stone was finally taken down, I’m amazed he lasted as he did, nice work DisMir lil leo… and oh my goodness, again, wds purple protecting orange from red? The drama! The betrayal! How sad…. :((( ad hypno stalking lcd f!leo? That can’t be good…

Night 5: poor wds blue, cold for the night…

Day 6: DisMir f!leo bleeding out… no, he was the best of us /j… and dmd f!leo pushing off hypno, was it tied to hypno stalking lcd f!leo? Haha, does he want to end lcd f!leo by his own hands /j? And another leo messing with purple hahaha!

Night 6: awww wds purple letting dmd f!leo stay with him in the shelter :) so sweet! That’s so cruel, dmd splinter begging reunion lil leo to kill him :( no child should be begged of that from their parent… I’m glad reunion lil leo denied it. WDS f!leo slicing the original f!leo? Oh my goodness I wonder why, but I enjoy the thought that wds mistook him for lcd, although lcd looks much more angry and sad than the original so wds wouldn’t have made that mistake hahaha! Gasp! LCD f!leo holding hands with dmd lil leo? That must be some inner child healing and apologizing aimed at the wrong lil leo. Maybe he just likes DMD’s lil leo more than his own…

Day 7: hehe nothing happens but I’m glad, it saves me from heartbreak

Night 7: aww splinter and leo hugging for warmth :D splinter needed that after begging for his life to end… oh my goodness purple making reunion lil leo kill dmd lil leo to avoiding killing wds f!leo? What are you thinking purple!

Day 8: wds f!Leo killing his own lil Mikey, orange? Why?! He’s truly becoming a monster…

Night 8: aww wds blue and purple keeping warm :) purple needed it after all that he’s done :(…. No! Reunion lil leo killing apaf baby lou! :((( she was so young :( oh my goodness dmd splinter forcing the original leo to kill dmd f!leo! Splinter why?!

Feast: DisMir lil leo killing wds f!leo? My heart hurts… :(((

Day 9: dmd splinter dying on a landmine… I just want to know what he was thinking… and wds blue trying to escape :((( poor thing

Night 9: wds purple is terrifying goodness! Was it for wds f!leo? Reunion lil leo has a bad sponsor… :( lcd f!leo, goodness, not the original leo!

[artzee-bee]

Best friend’s ex | Benny Weir x reader

Fandom: My babysitter’s a vampire

Request: “ Um if you don’t mind can you write for mbav? Something along the lines of the reader and Ethan try a fake relationship thing cause Ethan asked her to? Like to get to Sarah/ or get her attention. And everyone is shocked cause they thought Benny and the reader would date instead cause all 3 of them are childhood friends”

Genre:Fluff mostly but I guess a little angst torwards the end

Warnings: some arguing and also it’s LONG, don’t say I didn’t warn you

A/N: This has a little Ethan x reader too but over all it’s Benny with a guest apperence from jelous!Benny torwards the end (or at least that’s what I was going for)

~~~

“Wait, you’re dating?! Like for real dating?!”

 You clinged tighter to Ethan’s arm “Yeah, we are” but you weren’t. You didn’t want to lie to your friends and it was honestly making you kinda uncomfy but you were doing it for E.

“Ok so how long has this been going on for?” asked Benny. You and your entire friend group were gathered around his locker and you decided to break the news to them about your and Ethan’s “relationship”, which was all bullcrap. He had asked you a couple nights before to pretend. He was hoping it would get him closer to Sarah.

“Um, no more than a month” E said, trying to sound as confident as possible and doing a fairly good job at it. Of course you saw right through him but everyone else seemed to buy his act.

“Well that’s...interesting news” Sarah laughed awkwardly

“You think so? Why?”

The group went silent for a moment

“Well, just cause” Sarah started, nervousness laced into her tone “I mean I would have guessed that Benny and Y/N were going to get together eventually.” Rory and Erika just nodded in agreement while Benny tried to suppress a nervous laughter.

“I mean, come on guys” he said “ I’ve known Y/N for just as long as Ethan.�� 

“Yeah, but you two just always seemed, I don’t know, closer?”

“Well” Ethan interrupted “ seems like you were wrong on that one.”

Suddenly aware of how rude she sounded, Sarah babbled some lame excuse and left quickly, face red from embarrassment. Rory and Erika left as well, each in their own direction, but not before congratulating the couple once more. Benny was the only one left.

“You good Benny?” E asked

“Yeah, I guess it’s just interesting seeing you like this”

“I hope you’re not mad or anything I mean we…” you were quickly cut off by Benny

“No, no, absolutely, not! I’m really happy for you guys! My two best friends are in love, that’s really cool!” A pink tint made its way onto your cheeks hearing Benny say “in love”, even though you knew it wasn’t true. E smiled at you and hid his face in your hair. You wrapped your arms around his neck and he placed his hands on your hips, swaying you two back and forth for a moment

“Alright, well I gotta go. Chem starts in a few” you told your boys and headed to class, not before hugging both of them and leaving Ethan with a quick peck on the cheek

As soon as you got to class however, you texted your “boyfriend”

“Think that went pretty well”

“I think so too. Everyone seemed to buy it!”

“I know!” you said and the conversation ended like that. 

You switched your attention back to your teacher, who was discussing your next assignment but even though your eyes were on her, your mind was replaying Sarah’s comment on repeat. You and Benny, huh? You couldn’t say you disliked the idea or that you’ve never thought about it. You’ve always felt different when hanging out with him compared to all your other friends.You felt more free and comfortable. You couldn’t stop the smile on your face from the fuzzy feeling you got just thinking about Bens and you together.

“So how long are we gonna be doing this for?” you texted Ethan. Now that you thought about it, you could never date Benny after this. The sudden realisation made your stomach twist in knots. He would never even go on a date with you if he thought you to be Ethan’s ex! Bro code or whatever but you couldn’t blame them!

“I don’t know for sure, I don’t see why it should last more than a couple months.”

“Ok” you didn’t mind helping E. He was a great guy and one day, some amazing girl is gonna see that and be all over him, even if it’s not Sarah! And he’s going to fall in love and have a beautiful wife and a happy family and this thing you are doing right now is just gonna be a silly high school memory to look back at. You tried not to overthink everything like you usually do and go with the flow, have fun.

It was surprisingly easy to do. Holding hands and occasional cheek kisses didn’t mean much and you never had a “proper kiss”, telling everyone you were simply not fans of PDA. It didn’t feel much like you were a couple, just closer friends. Touchier.

About 4 months down the line, you and Ethan go on your last “date”, which really just meant pizza night at Morgan’s.

“Thanks for all this Y/N, I know you didn’t have to and it might have been awkward at times but it means a lot that you went with it all this time” Ethan says sincerely while pouring you a glass of soda

“Don’t be silly E! You are one of my best friends. I would do anything for you.”

“Yeah but, now you and Benny won’t be…” he didn’t finish his sentence, as if he wasn’t sure if bringing this up was even a good idea or if it was gonna make you mad. You told E about your crush on your best friend not long after your first day as a “couple”. You couldn’t lie to him and quite honestly, you needed someone to vent to. The more you thought about Benny, the more it hurt and while you weren’t mad at Ethan for bringing it up now (you knew he had the best of intentions), it was putting you off

“Let’s not talk about that tonight” you said softly

“Right, yes, of course! Sorry” you giggle and reached out for your glass of soda, raising it up

“A toast!” you declared dramatically, making E laugh “To our breakup!” Ethan raised his own glass and clicked it with yours 

“To our breakup!” he said before you both took a sip of your drinks

You laid down on the couch, getting ready to watch Scare Finder. Your head was resting on one of Ms. Morgan’s decorative pillows and you placed your feet on E’s lap. He rolled his eyes at you and you giggled

“I love you!”

“I love you too babe” he joked before laying down next to you and wrapping you in a hug. The couch was a bit too small for the both of you to lay down side by side and you felt the left side of your body  hanging off the edge but E’s arms were around your waist, holding you and you felt safe

“Can we..” Ethan whispered nervously “can we keep cuddling during shows even if we aren’t boyfriend- girlfriend anymore?” 

“Yes of course” you giggled

“Good, cause this is really comfortable” he whispered in your neck

“I know, I love it too”

~~~

 Your breakup was a much bigger deal than you anticipated.Your friends seemed not only shocked, but heartbroken too. You didn’t tell them anything about why you ended your relationship, saying it was too early and you didn’t feel like talking about it but that you were still close friends and nothing was going to change

Things went back to normal afterwards, except now you were single and so was Benny and you couldn't help the invisible pull, dragging you closer and closer to him. Everyone of his silly jokes made you crack up and you couldn’t even be mad at him when his failed spells ended up in a big mess that you and the friend group needed to solve. You hadn’t realised how much you missed him until you broke up with E. Whether or not that relationship was real, it felt like a real reason to stay away from Benny. It felt like you were taken because everyone else belived you to be. You couldn’t make a move on him because everyone knew you to have a boyfriend but now you didn’t and you couldn’t help yourself from looking at B in a different light.

You were over at his house, helping him pack some herbs he had to organise for his grandma, as punishment for wasting all her old ones on some spell. You were stuffing dried leaves in tiny jars, while Benny was busying himself attaching little tags to them, with the name of each plant.

“Thanks again for coming to help me, you didn’t have to”

“Anytime Bens, you know I’m always here for you” you looked at him and smiled sweetly. He looked into your eyes and said

“I know, Thank you” you nodded and switched your focus back on the plants, hoping he wouldn’t notice the blush on your face. Lucky for you, he started telling a story that happened in his geography class and things slowly fell into their usual, casual place, at least up until you had to leave.

You placed the last little jar in its respective spot on the shelf

“I think this is it, right?” Benny asked

“It should be”

“Perfect, I’m in dire need of a snack. You want chips? I have some upstairs”

“No, it’s late, I should head home”

“Um, ok yeah. No problem” but none of you moved after that, you just looked at one other for a little bit, until the awkwardness got too much and you took your backpack and headed to the door

“Thanks again” Benny said right when you reached the door

“No problem” and then time froze again. You got lost in his pretty eyes and barely noticed his chest rising and falling faster with every second that passed until, you both found yourselves in each other's arms, kissing deeply and desperately, as if you’ve waited all your life for this. Your hands tangled in his hair, pulling at loose strands, his hands running up and down your back, bringing you as close to him as possible. All your senses were intoxicated with him and finally, the little pit in your chest disappeared. Your lips fit together like puzzle pieces but than, all of a sudden, Benny pushed you away aggressively

“No, I can’t do that!” his back turned to you, but you saw the red in his face and his hands went to his head, massaging the back of his neck just like you had been doing

“Benny…”

“No, no, you are Ethan’s ex and we can’t do that! I can’t do that!”

“B, listen to me!” you tried to step towards him but at your slightest movement, he jumped back, finally turning to face you

“Y/N, that was a mistake and I’m sorry! We shouldn’t have done that! It was a mistake” your eyes stung from the tears threatening to spill down your cheeks

“Don’t say that…” you could barely hear your own voice and were genuinely surprised when B replied

“Of course it was! As much as I wanted to do it and as right as it may have felt, it’s barely been a few weeks since your last relationship with MY BEST FRIEND and your best friend too and we can’t, I CAN’T do this to him! You, you guys dated and…”

“But we didn’t!” you said

“Of course you did, are you out of your mind?” Benny looked at you, teary eyed and desperate “I saw you, we saw you! Holding hands and cheek kisses! He had his arm around your back every moment of every goddamn school day and every time I wished it was me! He had all of you and he could hold you during movie nights and spend all his free time with you and kiss you and run his hands through your hair and everytime he did it I imagined that I was in his spot, hoping you would look at me with the same love and admiration that you looked with at him but now it’s too late! It doesn’t matter that he didn’t cherish you better while he had you because I still can not take you! I can’t do that to him!”

“Benny it wasn’t real!”

“What does that even mean Y/N?” he was yelling now, but you knew he wasn’t angry, just hurt. You saw the tears in his eyes and how hard he tried to stop them from running down his face.

“We weren’t ever dating! We just pretended!” the madness in his eyes turned to a question, an invitation for you to continue “It was all a show Bens. He wanted to impress Sarah. He asked me to fake a relationship with him.”

Benny leaned over the table, resting his body on his arms. He seemed to be thinking for a while, until he said “That’s a stupid idea”

You laughed “I thought so too when he told me” Benny seemed to think some more before saying

“Such an Ethan idea to have” which only made you laugh more

“So it was never real?” he asks you finally

“No! It was just an act” but even now, Benny couldn’t say anything. He was looking at his hands nervously. You took a deep breath and said the one thing you could think of

“He knows if that’s what you are wondering” the boy looked at you with questioning eyes again “Ethan I mean”

“Ethan knows what?”

“That I like you” Benny straightened and looked at you with soft eyes once more, you felt your cheeks heat up and turned to walk away but Benny quickly grabbed your wrist and pulled you into him, holding you in a tight hug. 

“So, does that mean I can kiss you again?” a small smile tugged at your lips

“Please do”

[robininthelabyrinth]

prompt: after their father died, the Nie bros were raised by Wen Ruohan, and are forced to survive in the backstabbing tangle of Nightless City politics.

Congratulations! You have also won the “I didn’t mean to write this much” fic prompt lottery, to the tune (again) of about 30k. I hope you enjoy!

Note: any fic warnings will be only on Ao3

-

Fire and Light (ao3) - part 1

“It’ll be all right,” Nie Mingjue murmured to Nie Huaisang, who was curled in his arms, shaking and terrified. The carriage rumbled and lurched around them, traveling down the long path to the Nightless City, where they would now be staying. “It’ll be all right. We’ll manage, somehow.”

He didn’t believe a word he said, of course. How could everything be all right?

Their father was dead. Murdered – it was rather unquestionable at this point. Wen Ruohan had broken his saber from a distance, driving him mad, and Nie Mingjue had known it was Wen Ruohan, but no one had believed him. No one had wanted to help, to intervene, to take action. Even at home, they’d just started resigning themselves to having to take care of Lao Nie as he died by inches when the murderer himself had shown up at the Unclean Realm to ‘help’ them in their moment of need.

Even half-mad, their father had tried to fight back.

Wen Ruohan had put him down like a rabid dog, wringing his neck and tossing him aside.

He’d then announced that Nie Mingjue and Nie Huaisang, now orphans, would be brought back to the Nightless City and taken into the Wen sect to be his wards, to be appropriately reeducated and brought up well. Brought up properly.

And as for the rest of the Nie sect –

At least they survived, Nie Mingjue reminded himself. Even if they have to work for the Wen sect, even if the sun banner flies in the Unclean Realm…at least they’re not dead.

At least Huaisang is with me.

He didn’t know what to expect when they arrived. He didn’t think it would be anything good.

-

Their rooms in the Nightless City were large, but cold.

They were wards of the great Sect Leader Wen, they were told when they arrived. That meant that they would be treated with respect, as if they were truly young masters of the Wen sect. They would get the best tutors, the best clothing, the best food and drink…they would be masters of the world, if only they bowed their heads and were obedient.

(If they were not obedient, they would be punished. The exact nature of that punishment remained – unspecified.)

“Are they going to hurt us?” Nie Huaisang whispered late at night, curled up in Nie Mingjue’s bed. He’d been hiding in his own, shaking and terrified, until Nie Mingjue had crept out to check on him, daring the unspecified punishment if it meant confirming his brother was all right. Obviously Nie Mingjue couldn’t leave him like that, so he’d brought him back. “Are they going to do to us what they did to a-Die?”

“No,” Nie Mingjue said, with moderate confidence. “They’re not. They’ve put in too much effort, made this all too public, to kill us now. Though I’m not ruling out the possibility that they might freeze us to death by accident. How is it so cold here? It’s south of Qinghe! The climate should be more temperate, not less! And have they never heard of tapestries?”

“Da-ge…”

“Don’t think I don’t feel those ice-blocks you call feet at my waist!”

Nie Huaisang giggled, as Nie Mingjue had intended. “You’re being silly, da-ge.”

Nie Mingjue pretended to huff angrily, tossing his head like a bull, and it made Nie Huaisang giggle again, the way it always had. “Fine, fine,” he grumbled. “I’ll keep you warm, I guess. It’s my duty as your da-ge, isn’t it?”

“What’s my duty?” Nie Huaisang wanted to know.

“To be my spoiled brat of a didi, of course,” Nie Mingjue said, the way he always did, but this time Nie Huaisang shook his head in denial.

“Now that we’re here,” he clarified, looking at Nie Mingjue with wide, trusting eyes. “What do you need me to do?”

Nie Mingjue knew, as Nie Huaisang did not, why their lives had been spared: it all lay in that word, reeducated. They would be indoctrinated into Wen sect beliefs, Wen sect customs, and by the time they were sent back to rule Qinghe as Wen Ruohan’s puppets, they would be more Wen than Nie. Even for him, it would be difficult to resist; for someone as young as Nie Huaisang, with his childish memories already slipping through his fingers like sand, it would be virtually impossible.

Asking him to resist would serve no purpose but to torment him when he inevitably failed.

“Be happy, didi,” he finally said, and pressed his lips to Nie Huaisang’s forehead. “Be happy as you can, as you always have. Don’t let them take away your smile.”

-

The next day, they were introduced to Wen Xu and Wen Chao, the actual young masters of Qishan, sons of Wen Ruohan. Wen Xu was a handful of years older than Nie Mingjue, eighteen to his nearly-fifteen, while Wen Chao was less than two years older than Nie Huaisang. Neither of them seemed happy to see them, scowls fixed firmly on their faces, sneers of disdain twisting their lips.

“Do you train the saber?” Wen Xu asked Nie Mingjue, who raised an eyebrow of ‘what do you think I train’ in return. “A boorish weapon, but then I suppose your ancestors were butchers.”

“I look forward to taking classes with you,” Nie Mingjue said, thinking to himself that one didn’t have to be especially clever to know the history the Nie sect proudly proclaimed at every turn. “They’re clearly very enriching.”

Wen Xu blinked at him and then turned his face away, his lips pressed together – whether in annoyance or, possibly, a sense of humor very deeply buried, it was difficult to tell.

“Father has expectations of you,” he finally said instead of responding to Nie Mingjue’s jibe, and there was no humor in his face now. “You’ll meet them, of course.”

Unspoken was that they couldn’t afford not to. Either of them.

Nie Mingjue lowered his head. His entire sect – all his cousins, aunts, uncles, whether surnamed Nie or not – were back in Qinghe, closely watched by Wen sect commanders. There was a sword to their throat, and therefore also to his.

He, too, could not afford to disappoint Wen Ruohan.

Wen Xu’s shoulders relaxed a little when he saw Nie Mingjue’s submission – he had clearly been charged with their care, and had just as clearly worried about his ability to fulfill his mission should they choose to rebel – and he nodded, more to himself than to them. “There’s classrooms, and training grounds,” he said. “I’ll show you where they are, as well as the dining room – there are set times for meals, and attendance is mandatory – and of course the necessaries. You don’t need more than that, at least to start.”

“Are there rules we should keep in mind?” Nie Mingjue asked, thinking about his brief visit to Gusu.

“Many,” Wen Xu said. His expression was stormy. “Some of them are even spoken aloud.”

-

“Da-ge! Da-ge!” Nie Huaisang ran up to him, lip quivering and eyes glistening wet with tears. It was a very sad, even heart-rending sight; it used to send Nie Mingjue into a frenzy to see him like that. But by now he’d learned better and he didn’t even blink, even though Wen Xu faltered, his sword twisting off in the middle of their spar as if he expected Nie Mingjue to lose focus at a key moment and injure himself. He wouldn’t, of course, and he instead used the moment to tap Wen Xu’s sword pointedly with Baxia, claiming the point. “Da-ge, I fell down again!”

“Excuse me,” Nie Mingjue said to Wen Xu, and turned to kneel before Nie Huaisang. “Did you, now?”

“Uh-huh!”

“And did you hurt yourself?”

“I did!” Nie Huaisang stuck his hand out. There was, maybe, a bruise on his wrist. If one squinted. It was probably just mud, actually. “It hurts awful, da-ge. Kiss it better?”

“That doesn’t really work,” Wen Chao scoffed, only a few steps behind Nie Huaisang.

“Shut up, it does,” Nie Huaisang shot back, temporarily forgetting that he was supposed to be pitiful, and turned back to Nie Mingjue. “Well, da-ge?”

Nie Mingjue nodded solemnly. “It’s my job,” he agreed, gathering Nie Huaisang up into his arms and pressing his lips to the ‘wound’, using the motion to infuse a little bit of spiritual energy as well. Not enough to actually make a difference, and certainly not enough to justify Nie Huaisang promptly declaring himself all better, but he liked to do it anyway – a little connection between them.

Wen Chao looked at them both in suspicion, his brow wrinkling. “That doesn’t really work,” he said again, but his voice was weaker this time, more questioning.

“It does too work,” Nie Huaisang announced. “Maybe if you’re really nice, I’ll let da-ge fix you up too next time you fall down.”

“I’m not going to fall down! I’m not a baby like you!”

“Everyone falls down sometimes. There’s nothing shameful about it,” Nie Mingjue said, and pointed to a bruise on his own face. “I myself fell down just a little while ago. Your brother helped. Several times.”

Wen Chao gaped at him, even as Nie Huaisang giggled.

“And Huaisang? You’re already very good at being a big baby and we all know it. You can stop practicing your skills at any time.”

Nie Huaisang rolled his eyes at him, still laughing.

Nie Mingjue ruffled his hair and sent them both away, Nie Huaisang in the lead and Wen Chao following after, the latter shooting strange looks back at Nie Mingjue over his shoulder.

“You’re too soft on him,” Wen Xu said from behind him, even as Nie Mingjue rose to his feet. “He won’t thank you for it, later.”

Nie Mingjue shrugged. “Later is later,” he said philosophically. “Now is now. Can you show me that move you did earlier, kicking out my feet? It was very well done.”

Wen Xu stared at him. “The one – where I knocked you to the ground?”

“That’s the one. Do it again, just slower; it’ll be hard for me to pick it up, otherwise.”

“You’re just asking – no, never mind. Don’t you care that I beat you with it?”

“…no?” Nie Mingjue hazarded. Was this some sort of weird Qishan Wen hang-up? “How am I supposed to learn if I don’t lose?”

“In training, like everyone else.”

“That’d only teach me how to win when everything goes right,” Nie Mingjue pointed out. “I want to learn how to win even when I’m losing. Here, you show me that and I’ll show you the trick I did this morning, with the disarming.”

Wen Xu tensed up. “I don’t need your tricks.”

I don’t need your pity, he meant, and Nie Mingjue didn’t understand him at all. Wen Xu was at home, his little brother safe, his sect secure – why would Nie Mingjue pity him?

“Consider it a favor to me, then,” Nie Mingjue said, thinking back to how his uncle used to handle the especially prickly tempers in their sect, which was never short on them. “My grasp on the move isn’t that good – teaching it to someone else is the best way for me to improve my own understanding.”

Wen Xu hesitated for a while, thinking it over as if he thought there was some sort trap in the offer – what trap it might be, Nie Mingjue wasn’t sure – but then he nodded.

“All right then,” he said arrogantly. “I won’t even count it as a favor. Consider it a gift, since you’re so new here.”

-

They were there for about a month by the time they met some other people their age.

It was enough time to start to get used to the monotony of it all. They woke up in the morning and were free until breakfast – Nie Mingjue often got in some extra saber training, Nie Huaisang usually slept in – at which point they would meet in the cold, miserable dining hall with enough space to fit two dozen people but which only ever had the four of them, being served by voiceless servants.

They would remain there for enough time to burn a stick of incense at minimum, half a shichen at the maximum, and then they would proceed to their classes. There would be alternating classes and training, all based on some mystifying schedule that seemed to change every day but which clearly had some sort of order based on the boredom with which the Wen heirs regarded it, but always lunch and dinner in the same cold dining room, all alone, same as ever.

It was therefore a surprise when they came down for breakfast and found two other children there: a pale-faced girl about Wen Chao’s age or a little older and a skinny, shy-looking boy closer to Nie Huaisang’s. They were wearing Wen colors, but that didn’t mean anything – so were the rest of them. Neither Nie Mingjue nor Nie Huaisang had been allowed to bring any of their Nie robes to the Nightless City other than the ones they’d been wearing, and those had been splattered with blood. Nie Mingjue had carefully preserved them and still intended on finding a time to go try to see if he could salvage them in the wash, just as soon as he figured out where the laundry was.

His own new robes, in garish Wen colors that made him feel sick every time he looked down, itched and pulled on his body when he moved – they were badly sized. It seemed the seamstresses of the Nightless City hadn’t been expecting someone of his size and shape, although the array of robes he’d found in the closet made him realize, with gut-churning nausea, that he had been expected, that Wen Ruohan had prepared in advance to receive his new wards long before he had committed the act of murder to obtain them.

He hadn’t complained about the discomfort of the badly sized clothing – he hadn’t dared – but Wen Xu had been irritable about it for days now. Based on his rants, it seemed like he suspected that someone had made the robes ill-fitting on purpose to restrict Nie Mingjue’s full range of motion, a scheme designed to make Nie Mingjue humiliate Wen Xu in front of his father when the right size clothing finally did come in.

Nie Mingjue didn’t understand the calculations Wen Xu made, the paranoia involved – who would do something like that? why? what would even be the point? – and he didn’t especially want to, either.

He looked at the other two children. The girl stared down at her food, not making eye contact, but the boy stole glances at him – perhaps he and Nie Huaisang were as much as of a surprise to them as they were to him.

“Good morning,” he said to them. “My brother and I are surnamed Nie. What about you?”

Wen Xu snorted loudly, rolling his eyes. “They’re Wen,” he said scathingly. “Our cousins, from one of collateral branches of the family; the ones in the mountains. Father has taken the two of them on as his wards on account of their unfortunate circumstances and promising talent.”

“Unfortunate circumstances?” Nie Huaisang wondered aloud, and Nie Mingjue sighed to himself at the sheer rudeness of the direct question. “What’s so unfortunate?”

“Our p-parents are dead,” the boy told him quietly, stuttering a little.

“Oh,” Nie Huaisang said. “Ours too.”

There was a moment of silence, the entire room disbelieving, and then Nie Mingjue started laughing.

The sound of his laughter verged on the hysterical, hurting his throat, but he couldn’t seem to stop. Not because it was funny, of course, it wasn’t funny, would never be funny, it was still raw and burning and painful. It probably would be for the rest of his undoubtedly short life. But news travelled fast in the cultivation world, and while he couldn’t say for sure, Nie Mingjue suspected he’d be hard pressed to find someone who hadn’t heard about Wen Ruohan murdering the old Nie sect leader and taking his children by now.

Judging by the horrified expressions on the Wen cousins’ faces, they definitely had, and the sheer awkwardness that paralyzed the entire room just made the entire thing pathetically – well, laughable.

“Da-ge!” Nie Huaisang hissed, cheeks turning red, but he was smiling a little, too, mostly out of the infectiousness of Nie Mingjue’s laughter. “Don’t embarrass me!”

Nie Mingjue leaned over and ruffled his hair. “Extra etiquette lessons for a week.”

“No!”

“Someone has to teach you to think before you speak,” Nie Mingjue said, still chuckling involuntarily with the aftereffects of his bout of inappropriate humor. “Not every thought that passes through your brain has to reach your tongue, you know. Consider holding some back. Cultivate an aura of mystery.”

Nie Huaisang grumbled and went back to picking at his food.

“Aren’t you going to punish him?” the girl asked suddenly. She was staring straight at Nie Mingjue. “You didn’t embarrass him. He embarrassed you.”

“I’m his older brother,” Nie Mingjue said with a shrug. “If he’s not embarrassed by me and I’m not mortified by him, something’s clearly wrong –”

“Da-ge!” Nie Huaisang wailed.

Nie Mingjue put some extra meat into his bowl to apologize for teasing, and Nie Huaisang subsided, making faces at him as he did.

“You’re weird,” Wen Chao announced.

Nie Mingjue didn’t think so, but all the Wens averted their eyes away from him as if they were silently agreeing, so maybe he was.

-

It turned out that the girl’s name was Wen Qing and the boy, her brother, was called Wen Ning.

“Don’t any of you have courtesy names?” Nie Mingjue asked, a little desperately, and it turned out that the Wen sect had the strange tradition of referring to people by their given names until they were properly acknowledged. Acknowledged as what wasn’t specified, but they all seemed to have a sense of definitiveness about it, as if expecting it to happen at some distant date.

Qinghe had the exact opposite tradition – given names were for immediate family only, sometimes a secret kept just to the parents, and everyone else went straight to using the courtesy name almost immediately after the first month ceremony.

“But you haven’t done anything by then,” Wen Ning said, worrying his lip with his teeth. Nie Huaisang had been devastated to discover that despite being small and thin as a stick, Wen Ning was exactly three weeks older than him – he’d been looking forward to calling someone didi for once, and now he was off sulking about finding himself the youngest yet again. Nie Mingjue was sure he’d get over it quickly. “Nothing impressive, nothing worthy of acclaim…what can a baby possibly do to deserve getting a name so early?”

“They were born, they are alive,” Nie Mingjue said. “What more do they need to do? Isn’t that worthy of recognition all on its own?”

He got strange looks again.

It turned out that Wen Qing was the talented one of the pair – she was training to be a doctor, and all her teachers spoke very highly of her.

“That’s wonderful,” Nie Mingjue said, and meant it. “Medical skills are a rare pearl that ought to be treasured; with the world always in need, there can never be too many doctors. I look forward to being treated by you in the future.”

Wen Qing blinked owlishly at him. It appeared that she was unaccustomed to praise.

“If you ever need someone to practice on, let me know,” he tried – he knew pretty words were far from his forte, and actions were better anyway – but that didn’t seem to help.

“I’m not good at anything,” Wen Ning volunteered, wringing his hands. “Jiejie refused to leave me at home by myself, but I’m not - good. At things.”

“Everyone is good at something,” Nie Mingjue assured him, the words coming much easier this time – he knew this particular routine well, given Nie Huaisang’s routinely poor physical performance in a sect that placed such a premium on it. “Some have strengths that are lauded by society, others merely ones that give color to it, but both are valuable and worthy of praise. You will find your talent, given time.”

Wen Ning appeared rather dazed by the concept. “But – what if I look for my talent and it turns out I really am no good at anything?”

“Then you’ll be good at being cared for,” Nie Mingjue said firmly. “Someone has to keep us older siblings in business with something to do.”

“Oh,” Wen Ning said, hugging himself until his face turned red, and then he ran away.

Nie Mingjue watched him go, feeling a little helpless. He hadn’t meant at all to be cruel, or condescending, or whatever it was that had so affected Wen Ning. Why was it, he wondered, that whenever he addressed those surnamed Wen, everything he did seemed to end up having the wrong reaction?

[cosmiclatte28]

90′s LOVE (Sungchan x you, Mark)

The MV IS OUT!! and I really like their concept. This is like how EXO nailed the football concept and now NCT nailed the Hockey concept!! I am so excited that I have this in my mind... 

I hope this is not boring and yeah give Sungchan some more love! 

warning : i don’t want to soil the plot, but there’s some kiss..

PART TWO HERE

You bend to untie your skating shoes; you're done with today's skating class. The locker is already crowded with the trainee for the next schedule. The ice hockey team from your club is here to play today. They're the best team in town, NCT U Dinosaur and next week they are playing against Gorillas. You bet it will be an interesting match with the Dinos winning of course, there's no doubt with that tall new center they have and the super tight bond between the players. It's like their mind is already connected and they can always pass the puck with ease. You excuse your way to your own locker, well with their padded costumes and tall bodies, you're struggling to find your way to the locker.

"Excuse me," you say between each steps and the members are all friendly to you, hey they always meet you because your class is before theirs and so you always see them preparing themselves. "Oh hey there (y/n)," Mark, your best friend and secret crush, greets you with a quick side hug. He squishes your shoulder and you just laugh nervously obviously surprised and shy from what he did. He's super friendly with you to the point where you wish he can see you as someone more than a friend. He lets you go when his other friend calls him and you make your way to the end of the locker. "I see someone is left behind again," a tall shadow appears on your peripheral views. You sigh, knowing this is once again Sungchan teasing you for your one-sided crush on Mark. Well, you knew Sungchan earlier than you knew Mark, Sungchan once went to the same elementary school as you did, so there's nothing awkward between the two of you. You got separated but meet one another again in this skating rink. Him as a hockey player, you as a figure skater. "Shut up, he's called over." You try to push the negative thought away.

Deep inside your heart, you still have the slightest hope that Mark is liking you back. Sungchan just laughs at you, he puts his hand over your head wanting to ruffle your hair, but your bun doesn't allow him to. He awkwardly puts his hand down, lucky you did not realize this. "So, you're going to stay and watch us practice?" Sungchan has hope in his tone. You look around and see your brother Ten already entering the Barn (the rink). "I guess I have to wait for Ten." you stuff your skates into your bags and grab your slippers. "Oh okay cool. Wish me luck I need to warm up." Sungchan smiles to you, you just click your tongue, "Okay big boy, good luck." you fist bump him and he makes his way out of the room. You change your clothes and make yourself comfortable in the bleachers. With one cup of hot tea and a phone in your other hand, you waste your time on the internet. "Hey you wanna go home?" Ten skates to your side and asks over the rink. You see the time, and shake your head, "I got nothing to do, I'll watch you. Focus," you shoo him away and he just pulls you his nose scrunch face. Their practice ended nicely, and you have your eyes glued to Mark on all of the game. Dude, he's a good wing man and Sungchan is a tough center. His scoring is accurate and he's super calm in the midst of the game. Your brother is playing as a wing man too. Practice ended with Mark's team winning and they all crowded the room back with their sweaty bodies. After a shower, you find yourself going home with your brother. "Next week is game day, you must watch us!" Ten says excitedly on the way home inside the bus. "Sure, I mean I am on a term break for preparing the state skating, I can watch your games." You squeeze your brother's hand. "How's your practice today?" he asks you this time. You shake your head, "Not good, I cannot do the quad axel yet and my biggest rival, Taeyong, can do that easily. I mean even when we skate on different categories... I still feel I lost to him." Ten hugs you from the side and cheers you up, "Hey you're doing great okay, you just need a few more practices It's okay." You shake your head, "It's not. He did it in two tries and I still can't do it. Maybe mom is right, figure skating is not for me." Ten looks at you in amusement, "The hell are you saying? You worked hard from seven years old and you're thinking of stopping because of one move where people acknowledge as something nearly impossible to be done?!" You laugh at yourself, "Silly? maybe I should join the hockey team. Maybe Mark will pay more attention to me." You're open to your brother about your feelings, he knows your silly one sided crush on Mark and Ten has already told you repeatedly to move on, but you're so stubborn. "Still not over him eh?" Ten changes the topic. You blush and nod your head, "He's so sweet." Ten actually knows Mark is always sweet with everyone, no he is not a player. He is just warm and welcoming to all girls, Ten knows Mark longer than you but you never listen your brother. "For once can you listen to me?" he desperately sighs, you shake your head. Ten stops. "Let me just tell you this, someone else is always there for you, but when you're busy counting stars, you forgot the moon." Ten shuts his mouth afterwards and you find his sentence confusing. What is wrong with Ten? Sungchan goes back home with his roommate, Mark. Together they walk under the warm moon and talk about random things until Mark asks Sungchan about you. "So I heard you know (Y/n) right?" The taller guy just nods his head, "Yeah why?" "It's just that is she available?" Mark directly asks this and Sungchan is surprised, is he interested in her? No way this is happening. Sungchan notices the small smile Mark tries to hide but failed. "Well as far as I know she is not seeing anyone." Sungchan admits he really wants to lie and say you're not available, but you will kill him. "Oh a cute girl like her is still single?" Mark's eyes dilate twice in size. Sungchan rolls his eyes, "Maybe because she is waiting for someone to make the move." Mark whistles, "Classic, and you? You're dating anyone?" Sungchan blushes, "No one in the moment." Mark just nods his head, "Uh maybe you can ask her out, you seem to like her." Sungchan almost froze on his steps, wait was he really obvious? He wants to yell at Mark "Oh hell yeah I am asking her out when I know she has a crush on you... you dense..." He holds his words and just toss Mark a silly look, "Nah, not now. She's not interested in me." "Why not try?" Mark nonchalantly asks. Sungchan wishes he can spill the beans, but no he can't inside his heart he only scream "Because I know that I will just be her rebound when she realizes you're really not interested in her." "I don't know Mark, why don't you try win her if you like her." Sungchan tosses back the bomb and Mark just chuckles "I am already committed." "Hell what? You never told me!" Mark blushes, "Well it's not usual so I'm not really telling anyone." Sungchan understands and touches the shorter's shoulder, "Who is he?" Mark smiles, "Haechan, it's Haechan our defence." Sungchan smiles happily for his brother, he slaps his back, "Congrats bro!" Mark just giggles, "Thanks, come on let's go in!" They arrive at their apartment and Sungchan feels his head breaking down.

So how can he tell you Mark is unavailable, and he knows you'll be so heart broken. Sungchan thought of all the possibilities and ended up sleeping. He didn't see you anymore until the game day. You are there sitting on the bleachers with your oldest brother, Taemin and the two of you are super excited. You see Sungchan on his way to the dressing room and you dash quickly to see him, you just want to wish him luck. "Sungchan-ie!!" you reach his hand and he stops in track, looking back he sees you "Oh it's you!" his smile erupts. You hand him a chocolate bar, "Good luck! Score many points today okay? Play safe" you pat his back and he can't hide his silly face, "Thanks, I will do my best. Hey where are you going?" he asks when you move away. You mouthed MARK and leave him. That's when he realizes he should've stopped you from looking Mark but he's too late. Sungchan sees you frozen in track by the door of the locker room, the energy drink you bring for Mark falls to the ground and before he can reach for you, you've ran away. Sungchan wants to run after you but his captain Winwin calls him. "Shit," Sungchan sees Mark and Haechan on the corner making out and his smart brain is enough to understand you learn the truth the hard way.

Sungchan is a professional, once he is in the Barn, he’s busy with the game and he sets aside all of the emotion and problems. He’s determined to console you after the game, so first he needs to win this game and then win your heart.

The game ended with fantastic scores, Sungchan performs very well and scores many today. You cheer excitedly by Taemin’s side. The two of you jumping excitedly when the team wins.

You’re still sad when you saw Mark earlier, but here you are once again in the waiting room congratulating everyone in the team. You hold your tears when you get a hug from Mark. His hug sure feels different now, you know it you really stand no chance. You walk to your other friend, Sungchan and you surprise him with a hug. You never hug him first, but today you feel like he’s the only one you can trust.

“Congratulations” you whisper and Sungchan excitedly picks you up from the floor. You yelp but let him pick you up, well he’s way taller than you.

“Sorry,” he whispers back, “Sorry I did not run to you earlier.”

You gulp, oh so he saw you. “No don’t be. I’m fine. You need to focus on the game earlier.”

“Yeah I did, all because you came here and gave me the luck I need.” He still has you levitating and clinging to his big tall frame.

You squirm in his touch, “Okay put me down,”

“No. Not until you cry yourself and calm down.”

Your lips tremble, Sungchan sure is a smart man.

“I am not going to cry,” you lie to him

Sungchan shakes his head, “You will. I know you want to cry now. He’s gone already, no one is here you can cry.”

You sigh, “Please.. please put me down.”

He puts you down and sits beside you.

“I am a fool wasn’t I?” You bite your lips, eyes already wet.

Sungchan pulls you into his embrace, “Pour it all out.”

You stain his jersey with tears, and you punch his chest angrily.

“It hurts,” those are the last words you say before closing your eyes and just feeling the warmth Sungchan gives.

Ten comes into the room and catches the scene, he quickly runs to take you over and lets Sungchan changes his clothes first. The younger man did what Ten said and Ten also knew what happened. Well earlier once the game ended, he clearly saw Mark kissing his boyfriend, and Ten knows you’re crying because of that.

You look up to Ten and with hiccups you ask him, “Hyung,  I focused on the star.. and now when the star is gone… did I lost my moon too?”

Ten sighs, you remember what he said that night. Ten looks into the tall man who’s cleaning up his gears and smiles, he rubs your back and brings your teary face to see him, “Hey you did not lose the moon. I can assure you, this time the moon is still here.”

“Really?” you sniffle

Ten brushes your hair away, “Yes honey, you just have to look closely.”

Your eyes catch Sungchan’s tall figure and everything clicks.

“I’ll try, I don’t want to rush…” you shy away from Ten’s gaze.

Ten smiles, “It’s okay, he waited this long, he can wait a bit more.”

Sungchan hears that and just smile, he leaves the room so you two can talk more privately, but deep inside his heart he knows if he plays the game right, he can win your heart now.

 endddd 

please support nct u 90′s love, be it streaming or just appreciate their music and maybe tell someone else about the song! It brings back memories :D

[sleephyjhs]

Him As Your Boyfriend (Seokjin Headcanon)

pairing: boyfriend!seokjin x reader

genre: romance, fluff

note: help me spread the seokjin boyfriend agenda, this man is the only boyfriend ever

note 2: jimin is the only member left and i’d love to do one for him :( feel free to send in the request for him!

m.list | requested

EVERYDAY LIFE

you won’t disagree with me when i say

this man is the perfect boyfriend/husband material

he’s full of love

practically overflowing

incredibly gentle and caring

but will also do his best to win any argument and prove you wrong with humour

you know like the jokey arguments he usually has with jk?

yeah those

i can easily imagine him debating with you for what crisp flavour to get that week

or where to eat on vacation

sometimes he’d give in to you

but more times than not he’d stand his ground

buy you an RJ to make up for it :(((

as much as seokjin would tease you with silly arguments

he’d never fail to look after you

whenever you’d try and do something around the house

he would come up behind you

hug you

and just waddle behind you as you tried to free yourself from his grip

think of him as being a human bubblewrap :((

now

what kind of boyfriend headcanon would this be

if i didn’t mention all the meals he’d make for you

when you started to live together, the kitchen would absolutely be the main social room for you guys

having an island to sit around and cook at was very important to you both

and you’d do your best to help him

but just out of courtesy

seokjin would either give you the easy tasks and take on the harder ones himself

or return everything you’d do for him by offering to cook on his own

either way, you’d always look forward to coming home to the meals he’d make for you

i imagine that jin would be so focused on making sure you were happy

that sometimes he’d forget to take some time for himself

so whenever he’d have a free weekend

you’d book some places in a fishing boat and participate in his interests like he did yours

i can’t even begin to imagine how much fun he’d have teaching you how to fish

and how proud he’d be whenever you caught something

no matter how big or small

even better when you bring it home and find a way to incorporate it into a meal

his camera roll just being photos of you

holding all your catches with the biggest grin

and he just smiles at them when he misses you nooo :((

HIS GESTURES

okay okay

the best date with seokjin

and you cannot argue with me on this

theme park

he seems to really enjoy them

i remember when they went to america he spent his time at six flags

and said he prefers amusement parks over zoos

so

because of how extra this man can be

i can very much imagine his gift for an anniversary being one big ol disney date

taking the same instagram photos by the castle as everyone else

but mugshots of each other in each different land and area

and trying all of the different street foods

as well as the higher end restaurants

and just having fun yknow?

i highly doubt there’s ever a dull moment but you get my drift

if not a theme park then

this is gonna sound strange but stay with me

a european market

yeah i know that’s not very romantic from the outset

but taking time with jin

to just stroll around this city plaza

that’s packed full with colourful stalls

clouds of steam coming off all different cuisines

boxes of old, forgotten vinyls

tiers of the brightest, most fragrent of flowers

i’m not sure whether you’d both be looking intently at what was on display

or if he’d just stand back, holding paper bags full of goodies you’d bought

just admiring how delicate you looked

browsing over the handmade jewellery

or inspecting the bunches of colour coordinated flower bouquets

HIS ATTITUDES

seokjin is one of our introverted members

and is known for his manners and politeness

i think if a situation arose

where you found yourself in a confrontation

his approach might be more to talk you down

instead of directly diffusing the situation

“it’s not worth it” kinda

however

if it ever came to you being harassed

by the press/a stranger/creeps

that’s when he steps in

i don’t think he’d ever resort to intense confrontation

and if he did it would take a lot to get him there

jin is one of those quiet but angry people

his voice would just go ice cold

i’d hate to be on the other end of that stare omg

but like i said

this man’s manners are on the next level

i’m sure i’ve seen somewhere that in korea it’s one of the main things he’s praised for

and no shit bro

holding doors and offering a hand out of cars is the bare minimum

say if you were wearing a short skirt or dress

he’d insist on making you wait until he could cover you with his blazer or a scarf or something

at parties or large gatherings, he’d always make sure you were having fun

because as soon as you arent

he isnt

^ this is EXACTLY the kind of seokjin love we like to see here!

[lilspidermonkey]

Obey me brothers x MC shorts

My first time writting about the demon boi’s, and hopefully not my last! I hope whoever is curious enough to read enjoys these short stories!

A/n: Obey Me shorts with the bros.

Basically, the bois are up late or wake up and have the urge for water (Stay hydrated my dudes!) but are distracted by MC who is awake and not feeling too great!

Hope thy enjoy!

 Warnings!: Ahhh not really any? There’s maybe some implied things and a bit of groping, kissing and possibly hickies.

We have the fluff gloves on with this one!

  Lucifer: Clearing his throat, Luci got up from his desk where he finally completed a mountain of paperwork, stretching his arms and feeling the urge for some water.

Leaving his room, he headed down the hall to see you sitting on the staircase, back up against the wall, knees to your chest and a sad expression.

Blinking in slight confusion, Lucifer walked over to you, gently clearing his throat to get your attention.

Slightly startled you blinked and looked up at the towering oldest brother, his expression soft and curious.

You smiled, “Lucifer.” You acknowledge him.

He hummed with a smile, “MC, what’re you doing on the staircase at this time at night?” he asked.

Giving a teasing grin you chuckled, “I could ask you the same thing.” You said.

Lucifer raised his eyebrow, making it known that he was not going to fall for your teasing antics.

Heaving a sigh, you clutched your knees more into your chest, “Sorry, I was just having trouble sleeping, and I didn’t want to annoy anyone, but also didn’t want to be in my room.” Your cheeks flushed slightly. “And I wanted to kinda be as close to you as possible without disturbing you.”

Lucifer smiled, stepping down to the step you were on, “May I?” he asked.

You looked up at him and gave a smile with a smile.

The tall man took a seat on the step you were also on, smiling at you, “If you are ever having any troubles, whatsoever, you are more than welcome to come to me. No matter the time or day.” He reached out to grab your hand warmly. “In fact, next time you are having any troubles, I expect you to come to me, and I’ll help you however I can.”

You felt yourself blush more as you nodded.

Lucifer gave a charming smile, standing up and holding his hand out to you.

Returning the smile, you gently slid you hand into his, and he effortlessly pulled you to your feet.

Gently pulling you along with him, he took you back into his room, pressing you up against his desk, he caged you in between his arms and smirking down at you.

You blushed but reached up to cup his face, giving gentle touches to his face.

Approving of the affection, he pushed into the touches.

You chuckled, and he smiled gently at you, as he leaned more to you, connecting his lips with yours, his hands moving to clutch onto your waist, pressing himself more against you, as you moved your hands from his face to neck and into his hair.

“I’ll make sure to be there for you, whenever you need.”

  Mammon: Yawning, the greedy demon stretched his arms into the air as he mumbled complaints to himself about needing water so late at night.

Hearing a small sniffle, his ears perked up and, in his curiosity, he followed the sounds.

Turning the corner of the lounge, he saw the fire going as a small figure curled up into the corner of the couch.

Raising an eyebrow, he moved behind the couch, slouching over the couch, “What’re you doing?”

In completely shock a high-pitched squeak of surprised left you as you turn to meet Mammon’s blue eyes.

Seeing that your eyes were teary and red, his own eyes widened in shock, “W-what’s wrong with you!? What happened, huh!?” he asked in genuine worry.

Blinking and wiping your tears away, you cleared your throat, “Ah, sorry, I didn’t think anyone else was awake.” You said, sniffling and covering up your face.

Mammon growled and came around the couch, taking your hands away from your face and staring into your eyes, “What happened? Why are you sitting here alone and crying, huh?” he asked.

You looked down, “It’s silly.” You mumbled under your breath.

Mammon growled again, “Spit it out already! I can’t help you if I don’t know what’s wrong.” He said.

You kept your eyes avoided, “I just had a nightmare, it’s fine, so you don’t have to worry or anything.” You said.

Mammon huffed, “Who said I was worried? Huh? I-I wasn’t worried!” he released your hands and scratched his cheek sheepishly. “But you should know by now that you should come to me whenever and whatever, especially when you’re upset like this!”

Chuckling, you gave a small smile, “Thank you Mammon.” You said.

Mammon chocked on a response but settled on clicking his tongue and grabbing your hand again, “Come with me, dumbass.” He said, pulling you along with him.

Eventually pulling you into his room, but not having much time to say anything, Mammon instantly brought you into his chest, wrapping his arms around you.

Surprised, you froze at first, but you soon gave into the warmth and returned the hug, snuggling into him.

Mammon cleared his throat, “So, ah, do you want to talk about it? Or maybe you need a distraction or something?”

You could tell from his speech that he was trying his hardest to hide that he was not exactly sure on how to help, and he was failing.

Appreciating the gesture, you shook your head against him, “That’s okay, being with you has already made me instantly so much better, thank you Mammon.” You said.

Mammon turned red, his hold on you tightening as he picked you up, walked over to his pool table, and sitting you down on it.

His beautiful blue eyes glared into yours, “You’re lucky you have The Great Mammon to help you out.” His eyes softened a bit. “But you know, I’ll always be here, so you better come straight to me for anything, you hear me?”

Your heart squeezed as you cupped his face, smiling down at him as you brought your foreheads together, “Thank you, Mammon.” You whispered. “You’re the best.”

Pressing together, you both brought your lips together, sharing a sweet kiss, your hands warming his cheeks and his stroking your thighs.

“You’re my human, I’ll always be here for you.”

  Leviathan: Gaming late into the night and forgetting normal bodily needs, Levi remembered how thirsty he was.

Reaching for his fourth water bottle, the bottle emptied out three drops, resulting in a scowl from the sleep gaming otaku.

Pausing his game, he got up and went to set off onto a mission to get more water.

Opening his door, the boy almost shrieked at the top of his lungs at seeing you sitting beside his bedroom door.

Noticing the demon, you flushed in embarrassment, “Ah, I’m sorry! I didn’t think you would come out!” you said shyly.

The boy cleared his throat as he looked up and down the hallway and back at you, “What’re you doing sitting there this late at night?” he asked, confusion clear on his facial features.

You pushed some hair behind your ear, “I, ah, haha, I kinda was having some troubles sleeping, and I didn’t want to interrupt you, but I really enjoy listening to you play your games, so I was just going to stay here until I got sleepy and head back to bed…or something.” You explained embarrassedly.

The demon of Envy flushed red, “W-well, you really wanted to, you could’ve come inside, I wouldn’t ever mind if you came to see me, for any reason…you still can if you want?” he asked awkwardly, his face red.

You smiled up at him, “Are you sure?” you asked.

Levi groaned and held his hand out to you, “C-common, lets go.” He said.

You held his hand and he pulled you up and into his room, sitting on the ground up against his bathtub bed, he gestured for you to join him.

Smiling and blushing, you made yourself comfortable by sitting into his lap, curling up against him.

Levi turned a bright shade of red as he seemed to be struggling to be functioning.

You chuckled, “Are you uncomfortable?” you asked him.

The boys’ eyes darted to you, “N-no, that’s not i-it.” He relaxed a little. “Sorry.”

You chuckled and cuddled into him as he continued to play his games.

Watching the boy play you glanced up to see his face concentrating but still with slightly flushed cheeks.

You smiled and reached up to cup his cheek and bring yourself up to land a kiss on the corner of his mouth.

Levi froze and shot to you with widened eyes, but you just smiled at him, “Thank you, Levi, you made me feel better.” You said.

Levi’s seemed to calm down as he leaned into you, catching your lips with his.

“Come to me for anything forever.”

  Satan: Reading the ending of a book he had read for the twenty fourths time, Satan realized he was lost in his reading and had not noticed the time.

Deciding to return the book to the library, have some water and finally turn in, the blonde set off.

Turning into the library, Satan walked in to see you curled up in one of the chairs, book in your lap as you read silently.

Satan smiled and walked in, catching your attention, his smile growing at your own.

He looked you up and down, “Caught up in a book to realize the time?” he asked, ready to admit that he had also made the same mistake.

You hummed, “Actually, I was struggling to sleep, and I got a little frustrated. So, I thought that I would come here and just lose myself in a good book.” You showed the cover to him. “Almost finished your recommendation.”

The Demon of Wrath came towards you, “I’m sorry you were struggling to sleep.” He said.

You shrugged with a smile, “It’s okay, happens every now and then to everyone. Plus,” you beamed up at him, “I got to see you, so it’s not all bad.”

Satan brought his hand to his face in an attempt to cover his blush, how could you be so cute?

Snapping out of id embarrassment, he leaned down and rest on the arm of the chair, “Is there any particular reason why you were struggling to sleep so badly?” he asked.

You gave a weak smile as a response, “Can’t get anything passed you, huh?” you asked him.

He tilted his head, “I just know you. Want to talk about it?” he offered.

Heaving a sigh, you lowered your head, “I was just feeling…kinda low. Like,” you heaved another sigh. “It’s kinda hard to bring up.”

Satan reached for you hands, clasping them in his, “You don’t need to force yourself, take your time.” He comforted you.

You gave another smile, “Thank you.” You shrugged, “I just kinda felt…not enough? I’ve been getting along with everyone, but I just feel…unworthy.” You said, eyes glued to Satan’s hands holing yours.

Satan reached up and cupped your face, making you look into his eyes, “You are honestly such an amazing person. I highly doubt anyone is brave enough to put up or put yourself into the situations you do, just to be able to protect the people you care about, or even just met.” He gave your hand a kiss. “If you ever feel like this ever again, I want you to know, that you are so amazing, in my eyes.”

You smiled at him, leaning into his warm touch on your cheek, “Thank you Satan.” You said, blushing in his hold.

Satan grinned, taking the book out of your lap, putting it to the side, Satan pulled you up and into his arms.

The two of you embraced as he walked you back into the bookshelf, smiling down at you as he put his hand back onto your cheek, leaning down, meeting you halfway as you reached up on your toes, lips locking together.

“The best thing to happen to me is you.”

  Asmodeus: Annoyed at having his beauty sleep interrupted by needing to have a drink of water, Asmo went downstairs, the kitchen and grabbed a glass of water, and went into the dining room. And that is where he spotted you, sitting in one of the chairs at the dining table, your head resting on the table with your arms stretched out next to your head. With a slight delight going through his body at seeing your form, he walked ever to you, but soon saw the heavy sobs that silently left you that stopped him in his tracks. His delight turning into concern, Asmodeus walked over to you slowly as to not alarm you.

gently placing a hand on your back, you still slightly jolted with surprise, but soon looked up at his concerned loving eyes with sad ones.

The man tilted his head, “My dear, MC, what happened, are you alright?” he asked with concern.

You gave a little sniffle, “I'm fine, I'm sorry did I disturb you?” you asked quietly.

Asmo Gave a little smile, “My dear, if you need to talk about anything, I am here for you. You don't have to put on an act.” he said as he began to rub your back with the hand that was already there.

You gave another sniffle as your face slowly began to break, but you still didn't want to show or talk about anything related to why you will like this.

Sing miss the boy didn't try to press you anymore, but instead, grabbed your hand and ushered out of your chair, enter follow him.

Following along with him, you were soon dragged into his bedroom, where he sat you down on his bed and reached over for his skin treatment basket, that he had away in his closet.

Coming back to join you on the bed he pulled out some playing time and looked at you with a smile, “understand if you don't want to talk about it, but I still want to help in some way, so I'm going to distract you by pampering you!” He cheerfully exclaims.

As you smiled and went along with him and his distractions, you began to calm down and Siri open up just the caring demon.

You curled your legs to your chest, “I ended up staying awake all night because started having really bad thoughts, and I was trying to run away from them by getting out of my room, but they just followed, and I ended up getting really sad. So, I'm sorry and keeping you up so late to be with me.” You admitted.

Asmo reached his hand out to cup your face bringing you forward to kiss him.

Pulled back, the beautiful man only smiled at you, “As important as my beauty sleep is, you should always know that I’ll always be willing to help you, my dear.” He giggled while giving a mischievous smile, as he slowly pushed you down onto the bed and lean over you. “I’ll be more than willing to give you all the distractions you need.”

You blushed, put kept your eyes contact with him, “I wish I was as perfect as you are.” You said.

Asmo blushed also, but his smile grew as he planted kisses along your collarbone and up your neck to you ear.

“You’re my definition of perfect.”

 Beelzebub: Waking up and going on his second midnight snack run, Beel walked into the kitchen, seeing you sitting on top of the countertop, back against the wall and knees tucked up to your chest as you hid your face away in them.

Blinking in confusion and concern, the boy walked over to you with worry, “MC?” he called.

You noticeably jolted in surprise and looked up to meet Beel’s concerned face.

You blinked, “Beel, I thought you already came by for your snack run?” you asked, voice cracking a little.

Beel rubbed the back of his neck, “I sometimes come back for a second one, most of the time I can settle with just one, but sometimes I can’t resist going for a second one.” He explained.

You gave a chuckle, “That makes sense.” You said.

Noticing that your laugh didn’t match the look in your eyes, he tried to catch your attention, “What’s wrong?” he asked, turning it back onto you.

You met his eyes and gave a small smile, “Don’t worry about it, I’m okay.” You said, not wanting to worry him.

Though that didn’t really work.

Beel lowered his head, “I understand if you don’t want to talk about it.” He said, his demeanour turning into the sad puppy Beel.

Having this look clutch at your heartstrings, you gave a sigh.

You lowered your legs from the bench, “I’m sorry, it’s just, I kinda went to sleep having bad thoughts, and in turn had a bad dream, so I came here to kinda escape.” You explained.

Beel perked up and walked over to you, “You could always come to me, especially since you helped me with my nightmares.” He said.

You chuckled, “Thank you, Beel, but I didn’t want to disturb you after you had already had your midnight snack.” You said.

Beel blinked, “Did you look for me and find out I already had it?” he asked with curiosity.

You blushed and fiddled with some of your hair, “Well, not exactly, I sometimes come here because…” you bit your lip, hoping down from the countertop and blushing harder. “Because sometimes when I’m in the kitchen, I somehow feel closer to you. Which sounds beyond weird, but it’s like a comfort to come here, since I can kinda sense that you come here so often.”

Beel walked over to you, looking down at you with a blush hiding away in his cheeks, “I get what you mean, the senses are like memories, since me and you do actually come here a lot together too.” He said.

You nodded up at him with a giggle, “You’re right.” You agreed.

Reaching his hands down, he grabbed your smaller ones, entangling your fingers together, “Do you want to talk about your bad thoughts and nightmare?” he asked.

You relaxed into his touch, leaning against his chest as you watched your fingers play together, “I guess I was kinda scared, somehow coming up with scenarios in my head about not being able to come back to the devildom, not being able to be in contact with everyone…with you…and I got scared.” You shook your head against him. “I don’t want to stop making more and more memories with you.”

Beel nodded, reaching his hand free to cup your face and look up at him, “If we ever get separated, I’ll always find a way to get back to you.” He said.

You blushed again, “Me too.” You said.

Beel smiled and leaned down to catch your lips with his.

Reaching your arms up to wrap around his neck, he reached his own down to wrap around your waist, lifting you up with ease and putting you back on the countertop.

He pulled back to give your collarbone and neck some love bites and kissing you more.

“Making memories with you is my favourite thing to do.”

 Belphegor: Since Belphie sleeps most of the time during the day, he’s a little more active at night. Even though he could sleep more, he finds it easier to just not sometimes.

Going into the living room to sit by the fire, he saw that it was already lit and there was another body by it.

He blinked in confusion and walked over to you, “Why aren’t you asleep?” he asked.

You jumped, “Ah! Jeez! Don’t scare me like that!” you exclaimed.

The sloth demon gave a shrug, “It’s crazy late, how are you still awake, you’re usually dead asleep by now.” He said.

You sighed, “Guess tonight just isn’t my night. I tried to sleep, but even though I’m crazy tired, I just couldn’t manage to get to sleep.” You explained.

Belphie thought for a moment, but soon smiled as he grabbed your hand, pulling you up from the ground and ushering you to follow him, “Come with me.” He said.

You followed after him, and once you got dragged to a particular staircase, you knew exactly where he was taking you.

Once arriving at the attic, the boy closed the door behind you, took a seat on the floor that was cushioned by pillows and blankets, and smiled up at you, “Common, let’s sleep here.” He said.

You smiled and joined him, “I should’ve known to come to you about sleep, since you’re the master and all that.” You joked.

Belphie chuckled, throwing a blanked over the both of you as you cuddled close together, “I always know what’s most comfortable for a sleep.” He said.

You blushed, “I don’t always sleep well, but I somehow always manage to sleep well while with you.” You said.

the boy smiled and ushered your chin with his fingers, landing a kiss to your lips, I always have the best dreams when I’m with you.” He grinned. “Because you always seem to make your way into my dreams every time.”

You blushed and smiled, “I hope that doesn’t get too bothersome.” You said.

“Nah.” He gave you another kiss.

“You’re my favourite dream.”

   A/n: Wow! Okay this lowkey took me a little longer than I would’ve hoped, I apologise for any spelling and/or any grammar mistakes!

I hope you liked it!

[bookishofalder]

Pretty Girl - Blurb 2

Summary: Pretty Girl can’t get her mind straightened out after meeting Detective Zimmerman.

Warnings: Swearing, spider.

A/N: A blurb I wrote up as a thank you for 200 followers! Love you all!

You were washing your hands under cold water as you stared at your reflection in the mirror above the sink, your eyes wide from embarrassment and nerves. Today, you admitted to yourself, had taken quite a surprising turn.

You had heard all about the surly detective during your first week, as you worked to form a friendly relationship with the staff at the CSPD. You paid just as much attention to those speaking about Detective Zimmerman as you did to everyone else, and found yourself intrigued at the mixture of admiration and humour their words always laced with. He clearly was among the highly respected within the station.

You’d overheard Ron laughing at the pile of paperwork he had stacking up during his vacation. You made a point on Friday afternoon to complete as much of it as you could, organizing each folder as you went. It was only when you finished that you had considered whether he might be someone who didn’t like others touching their paperwork, but it was done. Better to beg for forgiveness.

Today though, you were reeling, and it had nothing to do with the paperwork.

You’d worn your lucky blue dress for work and made two loaves of banana bread, hoping he’d like at least one option, excited to meet him.

Of course, no one had said he had such a presence, both physically and just in his overall persona. No one had bothered to prepare you. It was silly to think that anyone would warn you, it’s not like Donna could have taken you aside and say ‘by the way, you might want to rip your clothes off the moment you lay eyes on him.’ Totally normal reaction.

You scoffed at yourself in the mirror.

But Christ, when those honey-brown eyes found yours, you couldn’t stop the way your eyes widened at the moment. He was breathtaking. You’d hoped he hadn’t noticed, but when he made his inference of your friendliness towards Ron, you instantly began to worry he would think you were a flirt or a ridiculous school girl type. You had seen the regret flash in his eyes when he noticed you flinch at his words. You understood that he didn’t mean anything by it.

He just came across so...gruff, it was hard to read him. And you were usually so good at reading people.

As you dried your hands with a scratchy paper towel, you considered the enigma of Flip Zimmerman. In just a brief introduction, you had turned into jelly and instantly wanted more; more conversation, more facial expressions to study, more handshakes. Was that normal, you wondered? Or was he handsome enough to make you lose your head? It had been a long time since you’d been in any sort of relationship, but that was no excuse for your reaction.

Movement out of the corner of your eye disrupted your thoughts, and you glanced up only to jump back into the wall behind you as a decent-sized spider crawled down the wall.

“Fucking hell.” You muttered, spinning and hightailing it the fuck out of there. You hated spiders. You’d see if you could find a bro-

“Argh,” You gasped, exiting the bathroom and walking straight into a solid wall. Only, the wall reached out and steadied you before you could fall back from the force with large, gentle hands. No way.  

“Damn it, darling,” You met Flip Zimmerman’s eyes, your head having to tilt back because of his height. Jesus Christ, he was fucking tall. “I’m sorry, are you alright?” His brows were furrowed in concern as he steadied you before stepping back. Something about the intensity of his gaze struck you, heat pooling in your stomach.

You suddenly felt entirely too nervous as you stood alone with him, his manner intimidating. Did he realize this about himself, you wondered? “I’m fine, goodness, I should apologize, I ran out of there like a bat out of hell.” Wait, what? When have you ever used that expression before?

Flip raised a brow at your words, “Something scare ya?”

Well, the fucking spider did until I saw you again.

Oh great, you had to tell him you were afraid of a tiny little spider. This was not your day.

“I, um,” Fuck, you thought. You closed your eyes and tried to find the right words, so as not to sound like a complete idiot. “It’s silly, I was washing my hands and noticed a big spider and I really, really hate spiders-I live alone and I can never kill them easily, I always get the broom so I can stay far back, so I thought I’d run out here and find a broom-“ You broke off when a smile split his face. You had to blink a few times to clear your head.

He had the most beautiful smile you had ever seen.

Your grin came in response to his, but words failed you entirely as you looked upon the transformed man before you. You wanted to make him smile like that every day.

“I can kill it for ya’, no need to resort to desperate measures,” He joked, and you giggled because apparently, you had lost the ability to function otherwise. “But do me a favour?” His smile fell into a more serious frown, his eyes flashing with concern. There was that intensity again.

“What’s that, detective?” Ah, there was your voice. About time, you thought.

Flip took a breath before speaking, “Accept my apology, for earlier. I’m a grumpy S-O-B and my words came out harsher than I intended, I only meant to tease. I’m sorry.”

He ran a hand through his hair nervously as he spoke, the action sending warmth shooting straight to your core. You suddenly felt the urge to take his worries away, smooth out his frown. You had to cross your arms to keep yourself from reaching out to hug him, such was the strength of your desire. He was apologizing to you, and all you could think was about how to get him to smile again.

You worded your response carefully, wanting to make light of everything while still conveying that you were a competent human being. “Of course I accept, detective. Jimmy warned me you were a mean lumberjack-his word, not mine. I just-“, You stalled, finding the right words, “Worried I’d given the wrong impression, is all. I’ve got a good work ethic and don’t want anyone thinking I’m silly or chatty over hardworking.”

He looked astonished at your words. His voice was quieter when he replied, a low timbre, “You organized all my files for me, while I was off?”

“Yes-why?” You asked, curious.

Flip laughed, a booming rumble that made you flush.

That smile. Damn, damn, damn.

“Darling, that knocked two hours of painful catch-up off my plate and we hadn’t even met before, I can already tell you’re impressive, so if anyone here ever tries to question that, you send them to me.” His eyes moved to the door behind you, as if just remembering how you both ended up in this conversation in the first place, “I’ll go kill that monster in there for you.”

He began to move away before you had found your voice again, though when his hand pulled the door open you heard yourself say, “Wait!” He looked around at you, and you grinned up at him, saying the only thing that came to mind, “Thank you, Flip.”

When he had disappeared through the door, you let out a breath, your shoulders caving forward in relief.

Well fuck. It was official.  

You were in a world of trouble.

But then, you’d never been afraid of a little trouble, had you?

Tag list: @tashastrange89 @finn-ray-nal-beads @fizzywoohoo @iamnotthecatladynextdoor @morby @pradaxstyles @10blurredsmoke10 💜

[cabinofimagines]

In the end, cleaning wins.

Percy x gn!reader

Summary: Percy and Y/n are trying their best to be adults. Between work, school, being a demigod, and keeping up the apartment, something or someone was bound to snap.

A/N: Bro I’m always so bad at writing fight scenes since I’m such a peacekeeper lmao. I try to avoid conflict often so rip if this isn’t good.

-Day

_______________________________________

Being an adult is exhausting. 

No seriously, it is. Percy hadn’t slept in over 26 hours at the fault of his new job at the aquarium. It held unusually odd hours, the only upside being a nice pay and working with sea creatures. He loved it, but the position and people he had to work with were obnoxious in many ways.

He stayed up all night trying to cram for a chem exam coming up, but he would’ve slept an hour at least if he’d known the bullshit coming his way. He left home yesterday morning for his bio lecture where he zoned out for 2 out of the 3 hours. Unfortunately, homework was assigned based on the day’s lecture. Amazing. Then, he was called into work directly after because the opening manager flaked out. Also amazing.

The school was across town from the aquarium so he figured he could catch some sleep on the subway, but before he even boarded, a group of dracaena ambushed him. He took off running, hoping that maybe he could lose them instead of having to fight. If he fought in this sluggish state then he’d probably screw up and shish kebab himself.

 He could probably just run to the aquarium from here, take a few back alleys and shake off the slithering psychos. He turned to check if they were still following and to his surprise, they were right on his heels. Pretty fast for creatures with no legs. Or would having the ability to just… glide be faster? Like being on skateboard?

Now really wasn’t the time to be thinking of dracaena with skateboard bodies.

He turned sharply and took the fire escape three steps at a time. He wasn’t sure where this was going, but he was fairly certain that in the prospect of jumping buildings, the person with legs had the upper hand. He could hear the dracaena hissing out things like “get back here, sssson of the sssssea god” or “come here, child”. How the Hades are they still behind him?

He saw the edge of the building approaching and realized that maybe it was a little too far of a jump. But he was already flying over the gap and praying that his ankles don’t snap like twigs when he lands. 

Luckily, he made it. He hit the ledge with his chest, his arms pulling him up. He scrambled to his feet, ready to turn and fight if that jump didn’t shake them. Turns out that it did work, because he’d the pleasure of seeing the failed attempt of the hissing heathers falling one by one into the gap between the buildings. He heard them yelp out curses on the way down, but wasn’t sure if they combusted into dust or not. 

He decided to roof hop for most of the way to work, one because it was a little faster this way and because he had less of a chance to run into bored monsters. Man, he was glad that he didn’t have a manager to answer to this time, they’d probably just be glad he showed up.

---

Percy prided himself on being a pretty chill person both at work and on the regular. However, there wasn’t a day that passed where he wondered if he should just hop in one of the tanks and pretend to be a fish. The sea otters seem pretty stress-free.

He was exhausted and running on energy drinks he’d bought from the gas station a little ways from work. What was supposed to be a 6-hour shift on his one day off turned into him working from 11:30 am to midnight after the evening manager decided to leave early. Percy was never one to complain when others went home before him, in fact, he usually chooses to go last unless he has homework due at 11:59. But when Cooper decided Percy could handle closing the aquarium by himself, he lost it. 

He took the last bus home, thankfully, his trip home was quieter than his trip to work. He sat in the back, head tilted toward the window as he tried to calm the headache that tortured him. He was pretty sure that Y/n would be asleep by now, they had an early morning and he didn’t expect them to wait up for him… but tonight, he really hoped they did.

The promise that Y/n would be there, asleep or not, was comforting enough to him. He wanted nothing more than wordless cuddles and a deep sleep right now. 

----

Walking through the building door he noticed the hall light was off– correction, it was blown. No biggie, Percy had found his way in the dark multiple times, but the stairs seemed to be a different story. He tried so hard to be quiet on the way upstairs, but he managed to trip over the ledge. He swore quietly, fumbling for the railing and hoping his neighbor was dead asleep.

Ronnie often threw fits over the amount of noise the couple made, even if it wasn’t much of a ruckus, Ronnie always claimed that his keen ears could hear everything. He still hadn’t forgiven Percy for the quip he made about maybe turning his hearing aids down, but he will. Hopefully.

Somehow he made it to the apartment door in one piece fumbling for his keys and unlocking the door. He took note of the darkened place and figured that maybe Y/n really did go to bed. It’s alright, Percy was ready to crash and catch a few hours of sleep.

But the lamp was on in their bedroom and the door was cracked open still, so… are you up?

Percy kicked off his shoes and dropped his book bag by the door, trudging over to the bedroom and nudging the door open. Sitting upright in the bed sat Y/n reading a book he’d bought for your birthday. Percy smiled, you looked so cute bundled up in his old uni t-shirt. 

Your eyes shifted to him, crinkling with happiness, “You’re back?” You didn’t move though, clearly comfortable under the heavy duvet. 

He nodded with a small smile, moving over to your side of the bed and placing a quick kiss on your forehead, “I’m gonna take a shower and grab something to eat, you go ahead and get some rest.”

After he turned to leave you heaved a sigh, not sure how to bring this up when he’s as tired as he is. Maybe this could wait until tomorrow? Then he’d be less tired and maybe… no, you already put this off long enough. He’ll be tired regardless of when it’s brought up, might as well get it over with.

So you sat there, not really even reading the words on the page anymore, your thoughts wandering from the universe the author had written about. It really shouldn’t have been this nerve-wracking. It’s a basic thing that needs to be done in every house and you were getting tired of doing it every single time.

Cabinets shutting brought your attention back to the present. Reluctantly, you pushed the duvet back and shuffled towards the kitchen, Percy eating a PB&J sandwich coming into view. He looked like a little kid, leaning against the counter in his black sweatpants and a graphic tee, munching on a small sandwich he made. You grinned and leaned beside him, ignoring the confused glances he gave.

“You miss me that much?” He joked, mouth full of food.

You snorted and looked down, something you tended to do when you got nervous. He seemed in a good mood despite whatever may had happened today, so it’s now or never.

“I actually wanted to talk to you about something,” you mumbled, “And I know you’re tired but I feel like this is only going to get worse if we don’t talk about it now.”

Percy blinked and continued to eat, his silence a cue to continue. He didn’t really want to talk about anything right now, he just wanted to eat his sandwich and go to bed. But it seemed important so he figured he’d survive a little longer.

You studied your sock-clad feet closely, “I know we’re both really busy and it’s hard to find time for certain things like time with each other, time to study, or cleaning. But it’s something we have to find time for, y’know?”

Percy hummed, “I can ask off on Saturday if you want? We can spend the day together, we haven’t had a whole day in a while.”

You gave a small smile because while that is a concern, that’s not what you were talking about. You won’t say no though. You stole a glance at him, “I have missed being with you, I guess.”

“You guess?” Percy said a little louder, poking your stomach teasingly, “What’s that supposed to mean?”

You chuckled, swatting his hand away, “Be quiet! Ronnie will be at our door in a second, you know that.” Just do it, he’s in a good mood! “I was actually talking about the cleaning…”

At that, Percy took a look around. The dishes weren’t overflowing and the laundry wasn’t piling up, it didn’t look like something needed to be addressed. He finished the last of his sandwich, “Okay? What needs to be done?”

“Well between the two of us there is hardly any time to do anything else right? Well, it feels like I’m the only one taking care of the place-”

“But I do take care of the place,” He interrupted, “I pay the bills and I pick up after myself so-”

“But you don’t.” You spoke exasperated, “You don’t always pick up after yourself. Look, you left the bread and the PB&J out!” A fight isn’t what you wanted so you tried to approach it a different way. You took a deep breath, “...I understand you’re busy, I am too. I just want you to make a conscious effort to put things away where they belong.”

He scoffed, a disbelieving smile on his face, “I’m not a kid anymore, Y/n. I know how to clean up after myself, my mom made sure of that.”

“Then why don’t you? You used to be really good about helping me out–”

“I’m exhausted Y/n, what do you want me to do?!” 

“Fucking help me, that’s what!”

It went quiet, staring the other down and wondering who would back down first. It was silly honestly, but you were tired of picking up the slack. The work in the apartment used to be equal but lately its looking a lot like you do 88% and Percy does 12%.

You relented, huffing and shaking your head, “Okay then.” You turned on your heel, going over to the front door and putting your shoes on along with a jacket. You needed to calm down, a little fresh air to maybe come up with a different way of approaching this. 

The convenience store across the road might still be open. You could grab one of those bottled iced coffees for tomorrow morning, maybe a small snack too. Hopefully the small errand would be long enough for you to think of another approach. Maybe one where Percy was less of an ass, or less tired, whichever one really.

Percy followed you around to the door, his crossed arms dropping to his sides when he noticed what you were doing. He furrowed his brows, “Where are you going? It’s past midnight.”

“I’m well aware of the time, Perseus.” You hissed, “I’m going out to grab a few things.”

He shook his head, his black hair still wet from the shower, “You can wait until morning for that, come on!” he spoke lowly as he approached you, “let’s just get some rest...”

You pulled from his reach and twisted the door knob open, walking out without another word. You closed it behind you and padded over to the stairs, hopping down the unlit steps like you normally did. 

Unluckily, your foot narrowly missed the next step and without the light to see where you could potentially catch yourself, you fell. Yep, you hit every step on the way down. If Ronnie hadn’t heard the argument you just had, he had to have heard your swears as your body fumbled down to the 1st floor.

Percy flung the door open, the light from your apartment lighting up the dark stairwell. His footsteps thundered down the stairs and there he sat in front of you, words flying out of his mouth so fast that you didn’t even know what he was saying. The fall caught you so off guard that you weren’t sure what was happening right now.

Ronnie threw his door open, profanities slipping out his mouth at the noise, “And this is why I never rent to young couples!” He shouted, but the threat of his words were tame without his dentures to help him spit it out. He turned his head to the bottom of the stairs where Percy leaned over your confused figure, fumbling over his words and oblivious to Ronnie.

“Well shit...” Ronnie muttered, backing back into his apartment quietly.

You snapped out of your daze, noticing how much your ankle actually hurt. Okay you’ve definitely dealt with worse, but the pain was still annoying. You started to push yourself off the steps and into a standing position, using the railing to steady yourself on your good foot.

Percy’s hands slid up your body, settling on your waist and attempting to help you back up the stairs. He kept his mouth shut on the way into the apartment, knowing that you’re probably even more irritated now.

Once you were sat comfortably on the couch, he rushed off to grab a bag of frozen peas to put on your ankle to stop the swelling. You did appreciate the thought, but you were not dealing with this any longer than you had to.

“Percy, there’s some ambrosia in my dresser, bottom drawer on the left.” 

He blinked and wandered off to the bedroom, shuffling through your stuff before muttering, “It’s not even in here.” He spent a couple of more minutes looking around for the Ziploc bag you had, but clearly wasn’t really looking.

You hauled yourself off the couch, chuckling and shaking your head at his antics. Hobbling into the room you saw that he was looking in the night stand, not the dresser like you told him to. No wonder he couldn’t find it. 

“Kelp head, I said the dresser not the night stand.” You laughed, limping over to the dresser and lcoating the bits of ambrosia. Percy was by your side in an instant, leading you back towards the bed and helping you situate yourself there comfortably. You said nothing as you opened the bag and nibbled on one of the pieces, a warm feeling washing over you.

You could feel the pain in your ankle easing off slowly and hopefully it would only be a little sore by morning. Percy took the bag from your hands and set it aside wordlessly, he muttered something about closing the front door before leaving the room.

You could tell he felt awkward about what just happened and he probably felt a little guilty about the argument you just had, even if it wasn’t all that serious. The two of you have had worse fights about worse things, but this is the first time in a while. It was bound to happen.

He came back in right as you shifted under the blankets, turning the light off and slipping underneath with you. He didn’t snuggle up to you right away, waiting to see if you were still pissed at him, but you didn’t make a move to kick him out the bed.

“I’m sorry for being such a dick, Y/n.” He whispered, “I didn’t know how much it bothered you and I’ll try to clean more often. I swear.” 

Nothing was said, for a moment, Percy thought you’d fallen asleep, but you turned slowly to face him, eyes scanning his face in the dim light from the window. You brought a hand up to his face and traced his jawline gently, “That’s all I wanted you to do, stupid.”

He huffed and inched closer to nuzzle your nose with his, “And all it took was a sprained ankle for me to figure that out.”

You laughed and knocked your forehead against his, “It’s my fault for being so deadset on grabbing coffee for tomorrow morning. I should’ve just gone to bed.”

“Do you want coffee now? I can go grab it–”

“No, I’m not getting up tomorrow. Go to sleep, fish brain.”

[captainficspace]

Included- Ben’s Day

Fandom: The Umbrella Academy 

Characters: The Hargreeves Bros

A/N: There’s not enough fics with the guys being bros. And Ben is a ray of sunshine and deserves the world.  

     Because the 60s had no internet, Klaus and Ben were determined to make up for lost time the best way they knew how. They set aside a lazy Saturday morning for  watching hours-long Vine compilations, even though they still knew just about every one by heart. They took the task upon them this time to assign every clip to one of their siblings, which only made the videos even funnier.

“Diego is the toddler running with the knife and mom is the one going ‘NO!’” Klaus said. Ben snickered. He was pretty sure there were moments in the house that were damn near identical to that clip.

“Absolutely.”

“The girl with the awful glitter eyeshadow is Allison.”

“That’s you.”

“Hurtful.” Klaus couldn’t exactly tell him he was wrong, exactly.

Just as they were going to debate whether or not a clip of a Chihuahua trying and failing to run up the stairs truly matched Five’s energy, a scream interrupted their trains of thought.

 “Again?” Diego and Five were locked in some battle that had been going on-and-off all week, starting when Five deciding to launch a near-lethal tickle attack on Number Two.  There were several sets of footsteps now clattering around upstairs, each getting closer to landing until one stopped altogether.

“Five must have gotten away.”  Klaus mused.

Another stopped.

 “Incoming in three, two…” Diego dropped from over the edge of the bannister, sticking the landing on the living room floor.

“You could have just used the stairs.” Ben said, before realizing Diego couldn’t hear him. It would have taken all of three seconds, but his dramatic entrance didn’t mean a thing because whoever he was pursuing was nowhere to be found.

“Five’s not here?”

“Nope. What’s the occasion?” Klaus asked, as if he was unaware that the two of them had been acting like complete children for the past four days.

“He knows what he did.”

Five materialized at the top of the stairs, staring down at the TV. He watched for a second, a faint smile crossing his face.

“The one with the guys yelling at the duck reminds me of you and Ben.” And he was off down the hall once more, Diego tearing up the stairs after him.

It took about thirty more seconds before shrieks were heard. The screeching went from muffled threats of violence, to jagged streams of profanity, to high-pitched cackling, occasionally broken up with screams. Everyone could depend on the stages of Five’s laughter like clockwork.

“It sounds like he’s getting him good.” Klaus went to turn up the volume, but realized Ben was listening closely, a wistful grin on his face.

“It hasn’t changed.”

“You miss it, don’t you?” He gently poked Ben in the side and he squirmed, biting back a smile. They had all been ruthless with him as kids. He was too fun not to. All of the siblings would pile on him or hold him down and tickle him silly until his laughter went silent, only letting out squeaks mixed with hiccups.

“You literally torture me every spare second you have.”

“Liar.”  More screeching came from upstairs. Diego must have found that sweet spot on the back of Five’s knees.

“We could go watch. Get some blackmail material.”

“…you want in, don’t you?” Ben refused to meet his eyes, trying to act invested in the Vines again and not the fun going on in the other room.

“Oh, look it’s the ‘Welcome to Chili’s’ guy. If that’s not you, I don’t know what is.”

“Do you want a visitation?” They hadn’t done it much at all since they had gotten back. Getting trust back was hard enough and it was such an awkward time of wordless apologies that even talking about possession again seemed much too soon for the longest time. But when Ben was having one of his down days, a few hours in a tangible, living body seemed like the least Klaus could give. Being able to walk in the rain or visit the farmer’s market or hug his brothers and sisters was such a gift.

“Won’t it be weird to jump in like that?”

“I let you take over at movie night that one time and you picked out- without me, for your information-“ Any claims got caught off by a new surge of hysterics coming from upstairs. Klaus noticed how Ben’s eyes lit up at the sound.

 “Just go. Have fun.” He hopped up and got into the proper stance for Ben to take over, giving him a wink.  Nine times out of ten, Klaus would be doing the same, eager to finally make some better memories.  Ben got up as well, Klaus not having to tell him twice as he took a few steps back to get a running start and threw himself into Klaus’ body.

The body shuddered as Ben took over, and he caught his footing with a lurch. Back inside. Everything came as a shock at first. It did every time, feeling a little like coming out of a dream. The dream was real enough, of course, but not as real as being truly present. Except unlike previous “visitations” where Klaus would let him take over in the garden or on the street, he knew exactly what he wanted to do.

He felt downright giddy racing up the stairs, following the laughter down the hall and around the corner where Diego had Five pinned to floor of his room, holding him down with one hand and digging into his ribs with the other. The smaller brother cackled and writhed, kicking uselessly as his cheeks grew red.

Ben wished he knew how to announce himself, for all they knew, it was Klaus standing in the doorway in such an awkward, uncharacteristic manner.

“Klaus! Help!” Five gasped out, desperate enough to call for backup, but not yet desperate enough to beg Diego for mercy.

“Oh, I’ll help. But Klaus isn’t home at the moment…”  Diego slowed his assault, still firmly holding Five to the floor. His eyes lit up and Ben felt his chest grow warm seeing the excitement clearly written across his face.

 “Ben?”  He nodded, so happy he couldn’t think of anything else to say.

“By all means-“ Diego gestured towards their squirming brother still pinned to the floor. As fun as that sounded, Ben had a promise to keep to Five. He lunged for Diego instead, taking him from his kneeling position to flat on his back.

“You traitor!” Before Ben could launch his attack, Diego grabbed him by the shoulders and reversed their positions. As kids, they were an equal match for each other, down to their deathly ticklish tummies. They could go wrestle for what seemed like hours, arms locked, until they both went for the risky move of attacking the other’s worst spots at the same time and would end up screaming with laughter. Now, not so much. Damn Klaus and his noodle limbs. Ben was now finding himself in the exact same way he had walked in on Five, now the two were staring over him, an especially devious smirk on Diego’s face.

 “You think it’s gonna be that easy huh?” Ben was already giggling. He never could pull it together when he knew he had gotten himself backed into a corner. He blamed the anticipation; he hadn’t been tickled in this body yet. Who knew what that would even feel like?

 Five, who had been trying to scowl at Diego as he caught his breath, suddenly grinned. “That’s not how Klaus laughs at all.” Even when Ben was reaching his absolute limits, his laugh stayed bubbly and sweet. Klaus cackled like a witch and would wind up hoarse after a tickle fight or a good story. Hearing Ben’s breathless, squeaky laugh coming from Klaus’ voice and body was jarring, but strangely adorable and endearing.

“You’re right. Good lord, it really is you, huh?” Ben tried to answer, but Diego started to squeeze at his sides and he couldn’t even begin to hold his laughter in.

“I think you should prove it again.” Five said, smugness dripping from his voice.

“I-I got youhou out of this mess and-“ He yelped, trying to get his arms out of Diego’s grip so he could cover his face. The feeling was nearly driving him out of his skin. He could feel everything. There was the feeling of being pinned down by hands he couldn’t phase through and the feeling of the carpet beneath him as he squirmed and the awful, awful feeling of Diego skitter his fingertips across the surface of his belly. Klaus had been wearing a crop top when Ben took over and that made everything so much worse.  

  “So if you laugh like Ben, I bet you’re…sensitive in all the places he is too.” He giggled all the more at the fact Diego still couldn’t say the word, even when he was in the rare place of power for once.

“What’s happening?”  Luther appeared in the doorway, no doubt intrigued by the latest battle in Diego and Five’s ongoing saga. Apparently Klaus was involved in things now? Maybe they had settled their differences and picked a mutual foe. Five wasn’t above joining in a one-sided tickle fight, content to poke away at Ben’s ribs.

“Ben’s visiting for a bit and already got himself into trouble.” Diego announced. Luther took it as an invitation to join them, switching places with Diego to properly hold Ben’s arms down so there were four hands on him. .

“Good to see you again.” Ben couldn’t even get a response out, only able to shake his head and squeeze his eyes shut as tears pricked at his eyes. Somehow, his tickle spots had made the journey with him into Klaus’ body, and his brothers exactly remembered just how to attack his ribs and belly.

 He was gasping for breath now? When was the last time he had felt breathless? Klaus tickled him all the time and even though he used “I can’t breathe” as a reason for him to stop, it was more because he was reaching his limit that anything else. He couldn’t even pay attention to the ways his siblings were teasing him or how way his laughter was ringing in his ears. He couldn’t begin to get past feeling. There were so many other parts of these interactions he forgot about. Blushing was one because for the first time everyone could see him. The ways his sides were beginning to ache was another. The way it felt to be manhandled in all its playful roughness and to laugh with complete abandon. It was something that felt so alien, but also like coming home.

“Do you remember the claw monster?” Five asked, flexing his fingers and vibrating them into Ben’s ribs.

“He remembers being a squeaky toy, that’s for sure.” Diego added, prodding up and down his sides, just to prove his point. Ben’s laugh was full of little squeals and squeaks; and to everyone’s delight, he hadn’t outgrown it.

“And that spot right around his portal. He screamed so loud that one time.” Luther said, thinking back to when they were younger and would “inspect” the port “just in case” and tickle around and around the edges until he cried laughing.

“If I recall, there was something that used to drive him wild.” Diego said, circling back to Ben’s exposed belly, leaning in close and taking a deep breath before blowing hard.

“NO!”

And it was too much.

He didn’t mean to leave Klaus’ body, but there was something about Diego’s scruff making contact with his stomach that had launched him out of the physical plane.

The others didn’t see Ben leave, but they saw how Klaus’ body shuddered and they all pulled back at once.

“Did…did he just?” Luther asked, biting back his own laughter.

“What-what happened?” Klaus was back in control but still trying to put back the pieces of how he got there. How did he end up on the floor? Why was his heart racing? He felt like he just did 20 sets of sit-ups while holding his breath.  When he looked over to Ben for an answer, he refused to say a word, hiding his face in his hands.

 “Apparently he’s still just as ticklish as we remember.”

“His soul actually left your body.” Five said, giggling.

 “You fucking tickle-exorcised Ben. I don’t believe it.” He tipped his head back and let out a wheeze of laughter. In the corner of his eye, Ben flipped him off, cheeks darkening. Klaus didn’t tell the others, but he was still giggling. He didn’t need a body to feel safe and appreciated, exhausted and content. The visitation had helped, but when Klaus’ hands glowed blue and everyone could see him for a second as he squeaked and hiccupped, all he could see was fondness on his brothers’ faces. They hadn’t forgotten how to make him feel included and happy. Ben hadn’t forgotten he was loved.

[antigoneidk]

Oh no|t.h. (part 2)

a/n: this is for you guys! seriously i had something completely different in my mind but your requests were so hilarious that i had to combine them.i really hope you enjoy this as much as i did(storytime i had the same talk with my parents years ago but the thing is i had found a photo..yeah i’ll stop okay enjoyy)

warnings: nothing really!

please read the part 1 before this so you can understand:)

_

Three days have passed since the accident. You tried to avoid talking to your kids about it, first you didn't know how to start this conversation, second you had no idea how you were supposed to explain how that works and third they were so young, so cute and innocent. You and Tom decided to let it go for a few years more.

Harrison and Tuwaine had come to babysit while you and Tom had some things to get done. Soon Harry joined to. They were the only ones that you trusted your kids with and after all they all seemed to have fun every single time.

"We will be back soon okay?"he let your daughter down and kissed her on her head but she didn't care, Harrison seemed more fun than her dad. Tom raised his middle finger to his best friend without the kids looking, making all of you laugh before exiting the house.

"Hey kids do you wanna watch a movie?"Harry asked and loud happy screams came from their mouths. They sat on the couch next to each other, the boys fighting and the little girl staying quiet just for a minute before making her way to Tuwaine's lap she loved so much.

The movie started, the big boys not interested at it but the little ones were into it for a while, looking at the screen in awe with the effects and the incredible moves the heroes were doing. "Woah" was the only word they knew at that moment.

Soon as the movie ended, they all started fighting around the house or chasing each other jumping from the one couch to the other, one of the boys crawling to Harry's back, the only girl in the house sneaking to the kitchen for treats, discovered after from the others.

They all started searching for something to eat. The chocolate biscuits were the solution to their problem.

"Can I ask something?"the soft voice of your daughter caught the attention.

"Go ahead princess"Harrison tickled her small tommy, her giggles filling the house.

"Why mama and dada don't wear their clothes when they're in their room?"she took a bite from her biscuit, her big brown eyes blinked fast waiting for an answer.

"Excuse me? What do you mean?"Tuwaine sounded clueless.

"We saw dad playing with mum in the bed but with no clothes"one of the boys explained normally.

"I'm still not understanding a word you guys are saying. They were playing?"

"Yes and mum was screaming"the girl interrupted."I think dad was hurting her"

"Bro no way! No no no" Harry shouted and walked up and down with his hands in his head.

"What?" Tuwaine asked him and turned to Harrison who wasn't understanding either.

"What what? They had sex"

"In front of them?"

"What's sex?" both questions were asked at the same time. The two men looked at each other and laughed at the situation. On the other hand, the kids were waiting for someone to explain them what was sex and why their mum was getting hurt.

"Oh my God" Harrison tried to catch his breath but failed. "So you guys walked in while they were playing huh?" He finally said with a red face, ready to laugh again.

"Yes and now we want to play it too but we don't know the rules. Can you guys teach us?" the younger boy, only for two minutes, stopped Harry from walking frustrated.

"Um you can't play this game now okay? Just wait till you grow up please" Tuwaine picked up the little boy and held him in his arms. " You're too young for this"

"But we want to know so that our mum won't get hurt again"

"Oh believe me she was enjoying it" Tuwaine said and made Harrison laugh again hard. "And I think that you guys will be having a new baby in your family" he added.

"Really?"the girl's eyes light up at that sentence. She was claiming about having a baby sister now that the twins were boring to her.

"I still cannot believe it though" Harry was still shocked. "They didn't tell you anything?"

"No! We tried but mum said that it was nothing" the other twin was now running to the living room, hoping that the others would join him in another round of fighting.

"Well we can't say a word so just get over it and come" Harrison hit Harry on his shoulders and pulled him with the rest of them to the other area so that they can play.

The front dooropened and the two of you showed up smiling. Tom as soon as he saw the mess that was taking place there decided to join, causing loud screams from your kids running towards him.

"Mama"your daughter raised her arms and you offered her a big hug before picking her up."When is my little sister coming?"she asked and you stood still in your place looking at her shocked from her silly thought.

"What?"your heartbeat increased fast.

"Harry said that you were playing um..sex and T said that I'm gonna be a big sister" she hugged you again but if your eyes could kill the three man that were laughing now, they would have bury them too.

"I didn't say anything trust me" Harry tried to explain him self but your boys cut him off. "No you said sex. What's sex dad?"

"Okay you guys are going to your rooms to play I'll be there in a few. I have something to do" Tom said with a soft voice but the anger was about to come out in the surface.

All of them left you and you approached the couch were all of them sitting, holding back their laughter.

"What the fuck was that?" you crossed your arms in your chest.

"They saw you and they had questions. We didn't say a word I swear"

"But they thought that you y/n were in pain and wanted to learn how to "play" so that can help." Harrison couldn't longer hold his laughter, so as Tuwaine. Harry was looking at the two of you with his hands on his face.

"You know what keys do right?" he finally asked and your face had turned to all of the colors. He was right. It was stupid of you not to think about it. You didn't know if you felt embarrassed or angry with them. But the confusion was written on your face. You sat down looking at the black screen of your T.V. and blinked. Their laughs did not help you. Tom sat next to you holding your hand in his.

"How are we supposed to tell them now? And what do we say?" you leaned to him with closed eyes.

"Let's just start and we'll see"you turned to him with raised eyebrows "I guess we don't have another option now"he fake smiled at his friends   that smiled back at him.

"Go go" Tuwaine encouraged the both of you forcing you to find your kids and have that talk. You hesitated for a moment but they saw what they saw and you had to fix it as much as possible for them. You didn't want your kids to be traumatized for life, which they were already but that was another story.

Tom opened the door for you and him. You both stepped inside and found your children playing in different areas but when they saw you, they all smiled.

"Kids we want to talk to you. Come here" he sat on the floor. You followed him letting this to him.

"Are we going to Disney?" the twins asked at the same time and you smiled at their sync that you were used to. They all sat next to each other, with your girl in the middle as the big one.

"No. We actually want to talk about what happened two nights before"you trembled at your own words. They all watched pretty calm, sending you those kind of vibes too.

"Can you teach us how to play?"

"We can't play this game together baby. Is something that happens between two people when they love each other and they are old enough to do it"the kids looked confused as hell.

"Then why are you hurting mummy?"your daughter crossed her arms and gave him a death stare. Yes she was your daughter one hundred percent.

"She is just like you"Tom said to you laughing pointing at her"I didn't my love. She wanted to if I'm being honest"you were now the one death staring. You shook your head and smiled to your kids.

"I wasn't in pain if that's what you're concerned for"you run your fingers through her shining long hair.

"Then why you were screaming?"she asked again. Tom smirked at you as he was curious for your answer.

"Um..it's just that..can you ask me this when you're older? Will you be able to remember?"she nodded her head and you smiled like a clown, the scary one. This was uncomfortable in so many ways that you didn't know where to start. And their faces looked so dumb that you wanted to laugh but the topic of your conversation made you almost cry.

"And will we have a sister?"your only blonde child sat on your lap, sneaking a kiss of yours.

"We don't know yet. Maybe your mum isn't pregnant"

"Sex is for making babies?"this was the conclusion they had after all of this?

"Not only, is for purposes that have to do with our bodies"you said biting your lip and looking at your man with guilt. You wanted to disappear from there, you prayed for that but nothing.

"What purposes?"of course this was the next question.

"Mostly for having fun" Tom raised his hands in the air but you couldn't help your judgy face.

"And how does it work?"oh no.

"Let me explain"he took a serious face, ready to give the speech of his life. "Let's say that a woman has a flower and a man is a bee. The bee has to enter the flower, in a specific way, so that new flowers can grow and other bees will help and grow even more"his hands were moving shaping things so that they can understand but all of the them, including you, looked at him, blinking their eyes silent. This was too early for them.

"Okayy. I think we talked enough about it"you helped your kid stand up after you."You have an idea now if what sex is but the important lesson now is that we knock the doors before we enter a room okay?"you slowed your words, trying to help them memorize the rule you just made.

"Yes mama"their voices blended so well, like a choir.

"Good,now I'm going to the kitchen to cook with your dad, come"you and Tom left the kids room,laughing.

"What happened?"Harrison asked throwing his phone away, his attention on the both of you.

"How that came to your mind?A flower and a bee?"you asked him, your mouth opened.

"I changed it a little bit but they got it don't worry"he kissed your cheek and sat on the couch.

"Did you see their faces?"you tried to recreate their faces, causing all of them laugh.

"Say what you want to say I did a great job"he run his fingers through his hair now, smiling at his good teaching lesson he gave to your children.

"Guys I think the next time we gonna have to the work" Tuwaine said disguised by Tom. You laughed at it but deep down you wished they did after all of this.

[givemestories-givemelife]

Blueberries, Lavender & Hot Matcha Tea  (Part 2)

A SasuHina ficlet

PART 1| Part 2

AN: THANK YOU SO MUCH TO THOSE WHO COMMENTED, OR RE-BLOGGED, OR LIKED THE FIRST PART TO THIS FIC. It truly means more than I can say. Helped a lot with motivation and it’s super cool to know that people are reading the things I write. I hope the follow up chapter doesn’t disappoint <3

Summary: Hinata has a run in with a familiar face.

Warnings: Brief mentions of grief and anxiety (because Hinata’s a nervous butterfly) but nothing remotely heavy. Also there’s alcohol consumption.

Word count: 6167

                                   __________________________

Lavender

Hinata knows that she needs to start putting herself out there. She can’t stay holed up comfortably in her room while years of her life pass on by, listening to cigarettes after sex under the safe warmth of her white fluffy blanket that still smells like her late mothers perfume, and sniffing essential oils like they’re some kind of soft-core drug to distract her spiralling thoughts from every embarrassingly mortifying predicament she’s ever found herself in.

She’s been trying really hard not to think about spilling her extra hot matcha latte all over this potentially handsome stranger a few days ago. She thinks - potentially - because she did not have the courage to look at the man's face after maiming him and probably ruining his expensive suit!

Hinata’s sure she must have ruined his entire morning, which must have ruined his whole day, and now he probably hates her. Oh goodness, Hinata strongly dislikes the thought of people out there in this world walking around hating her.  

Wow, these thoughts are entirely useless, she really needs to stop her brain from going down these awful paths.  

Today Hinata has decided to try really hard not to wallow in the comfort of all her numbing guilty pleasures.  

So, when Sakura Haruno, the loud and outgoing girl with pretty pink hair, who always smells like strawberries and vanilla from her photography course asked if she wanted to hangout and work on their portfolio’s after class; Hinata was thankful for the distraction.

They had spent that afternoon drinking green tea at the kitchen table in Sakura’s little homey apartment, showing each other their favourite pieces and sharing feedback.

“You have to include this one, it’s so cute” Sakura gushes, pointing at a print of children finger painting; a mischievous little boy is smearing bold red paint all over the face of a girl whose expression is twisted in pure terror.

“You have a real talent for capturing the essence of people.” She continues in a dreamy tone, “it’s like you’re able to capture the moment they’re most alive, even if it’s just the little moments, y’know?”  

Hinata blushes at the complement, “th-thank you Sakura.”

“It's kind of ironic that people are your main muse considering how afraid of them you are.” She teases.

“I’m not sca-AhyH!”

Of course, that’s the moment a woman with a giant blond ponytail barges through the door brandishing a bouquet of peonies making Hinata squeal. “Sakura I swear to god if you ate the last of the ice-cream again, I’m gonna- Oh! hello there.” The crazy flower lady stops mid-threat noticing a stranger in her apartment.

“Ino this is Hinata from class, Hinata this is my roommate Ino.” Sakura introduces, failing to constrain her laughter.

Ino’s demeanor does a 180 as she gently rests the flowers on her lacquered kitchen counter and approaches Hinata in a trance like state. “Your hair is so long and gorgeous, it totally reminds me of the violets we have at the flower shop -- you have to let me braid it.” She breathes and Hinata’s eyes are as wide as the sky outside.

“Ino, tone it down you’re going to scare her.” Sakura chides, rolling her eyes, not at all surprised by her roommate's antics. “Do you always have to act like such a spazz?”

“I am but a simple girl who is a slave to all things beautiful.” Ino proudly counters running her fingers through blue strands and Hinata mentally notes that she smells like a garden.

Sakura’s phone vibrates on the kitchen table, “it’s Naruto,” she says glancing at the screen. “Wondering when we’ll be coming over.”

“I don’t know, an hour or two? Tell him we’re bringing Hinata!” Ino adds excitedly and starts to braid blue hair without permission. “You should come out tonight with Sakura and I, meet the rest of the gang.”

“Oh.” In high school Hinata was never able to make friends with girls, and spent most of her time in the photography club’s black room developing pictures. Her introverted nature made it difficult to connect with people, but in this moment, the prospect of meeting Sakura’s friends, and the inclusive enthusiasm from these girls is making Hinata a little emotional. “I-I don’t know.”  

“Hinata, you don’t have to come if you don’t want to, but I think it could be good for you,” Sakura encourages.

“Carpe diem bitch,” is Ino’s convincing addition.

Hinata giggles, absent mindedly sniffing her wrist searching for the comforting sweet scent of the fragrance she’s wearing today, “yeah, okay.”

Ino makes a pleased sound and saunters over to a kitchen drawer to snatch a pair of scissors and clips the head off of one the peonies, then ties it into the base of Hinata’s braid. “You really have no idea how cute you are Hinata,” she coos observing her work in admiration and Hinata feels warm all over.

Hinata likes the rapport between Ino and Sakura, there’s something about their friendship that she finds inspiring.  

When they split what’s left of the chocolate ice-cream and start getting ready for a night out, Hinata can’t help pulling out her camera and snapping shots of Ino with her shades of purple and Sakura’s vibes in red. Hinata feels outshined in her usual high waisted mom jean and oversized grey patterned sweater.  

But that’s okay, she still feels like one of the girls.

~~~

Ino had made a strong case for wanting to get her steps in for the day, (since her fitbit said she had only reached 8243 so far) convincing the girls to walk to Naruto’s apartment instead of taking the bus. On their stroll Sakura and Ino began giving Hinata character profiles of everyone she was going to meet and Hinata found them to be quite amusing.

Ino playfully starts with, “Shikamaru’s like, my best bro. I’ve known him forever, smartest guy I know but a total stoner and he doesn’t give a fuck about anything.

“Choji gives the best hugs and he loves giving them, so if he looks like he’s going in for one - just let it happen - you’ll hurt his feelings if you don’t.”

“Naruto and Kiba are basically the same person and are the biggest loudest dorks on the planet,” Sakura chimes in, “but they’re also super friendly and kinda funny if you can get over their lack of brain cells.”

“Then there’s Sasuke,” Ino says, and hearing that name strikes a familiar chord with Hinata, triggering flashes of fond memories. “He’s really hot, but kind of a dick,” Ino hugs herself smiling at a distant memory, “basically, we all know each other from going to the same high school -”

“Ino and I had the hugest rivalry back then because we both wanted him.”  

“What happened?” Hinata really wanted to ask if they were talking about Sasuke Uchiha, but didn’t want to interrupt the momentum of their story.

“We were so stupid causing all sorts of drama in our little social circle nearly tearing it apart, and Sasuke wasn’t having any of it, one day he told us to grow the fuck up and to leave him alone.” That did kind of sound like something Sasuke would say, but that would just be too big of a coincidence, wouldn’t it?

“We both cried.” Sakura snickers sheepishly.

“Eventually we finally realized that friendships should be forever-”

“And boyfriends are whatever.” Both girls enthusiastically finish the rehearsed line making silly faces at each other.

Hinata giggles at that, whishing she had taken a picture, “awe, that’s so cute.”

“And now he’s one of our good friends, but I just want to warn you that he can be cold and he can be mean and if he says something dickish, please don’t take it personally.”

Hinata hums, only half listening to Ino. Was it possible that when Hinata arrives at this apartment she was going to be face to face with the childhood friend she hasn’t seen in over a decade?  

Guess she’ll just have to wait and see.

~~~

When Hinata enters the apartment, her senses are immediately overstimulated; it smells salty like ramen and sour with beer which clashes with how clean and pristine the space actually is. It’s decorated with blacks, whites and a few splashes of colors, but overall has a very minimalist feel.

Hinata barely has time to kick her shoes off before she’s surrounded by strangers, and can’t stop the heat from suffusing her face from the disorienting barrage of unwanted attention.  

“Hey bitches!” Ino yells at the group, “we’re here! We know you missed us!”

“This is the beautiful Hinata,” Sakura adds, and Hinata really wants to hide under a rock somewhere. “Be nice okay, she’s really shy.”

“Hey I’m Naruto.” A blond man appears beaming at her, outstretching his hand. “I have never seen eyes that look like your eyes before!”

“Oh.” Hinata went to shake his hand but was interrupted by another hand grabbing hers and kissing it, which is so uncalled for.

“And I’m Kiba, don’t listen to that guy, he’s a complete moron.” He says with a wolfish grin and Hinata has no idea what’s going on anymore.

When she tries to turn away, she’s met with the kind face of a stout man in a green Zelda t-shirt with his arms wide open for an inviting hug. She decides to accept her fate by awkwardly stepping forward wearing a confused pout, and lets the arms of a stranger wrap around her in what is surprisingly one of the best hugs she has ever received. He smells nice, Hinata thinks. Savoury and warm like a thanksgiving dinner. For a moment she actually feels safe, like a veil has been thrown over the sudden wave of chaos, giving her a quiet moment for her heartbeat to settle, “I’m Choji, it’s really nice to meet you Hinata, try not to worry so much, everyone here is harmless, I promise.” He says, rubbing gentle circles on her back.

When Choji pulls away, he sends her one last reassuring smile before padding off towards the ponytailed man currently dying of laughter, and joining him on a leather couch. Choji grabs a handful of potato chips from a bowl on the marble coffee table and starts earnestly snacking.

Snacks! Snacks sound really nice right now! Tasting tasty things can sometimes be a good distraction when Hinata is overwhelmed. She self-consciously shuffles forward towards the provisions, drawn towards the colorful array of fresh fruits, grabbing a small handful of blueberries and popping one of them in her mouth. She tries to ignore the pair legs in her periphery... she needs a moment before making another introduction.

Hinata jumps feeling a presence directly behind her, she twirls around to see Naruto pulling back appearing extremely guilty.

What was he doing?  Was he pointing at her hair?

“Hehehe, sorry about that,” he says, smiling sheepishly, and scratches the back of his head, “I was just pointing out to my friend here, how beautiful your hair is, what a wonderful shade of blue,” he made a weird face directed at someone over her head, “are you enjoying those, blueberries?”

Okay.

Hinata hears more laughter coming from ponytail boy on the couch.

Weird.

Hinata turns to see who Naruto is looking at and-

Oh.

Sasuke?

Sasuke was here.  

It was her Sasuke!

She instantly looks away, eyes wide, staring down at the hardwood floors.

Well, not her Sasuke. But an older version of the one she knew as a child. The one she met that one summer years ago and spent nearly every day with him before her mother fell ill and her family moved away in the wake of tragedy.

And he was... Glaring at her? No, he was glaring at Naruto? He kind of looked like he recognized her, but why would he be glaring?

“This is fucking stupid,” Sasuke seethes and takes off towards the kitchen, where Kiba and Ino are talking and drinking.

Ouch.

Sakura approaches Hinata with a glass in hand, Hinata stares at the ice clinking as she offers it, “vodka soda, with lime?”

Well, one drink couldn’t hurt, Hinata thinks.

She glances over at a brooding Sasuke leaning on the kitchen island sipping his beer.

She might need it.

~~~

It’s nearly an hour later and Hinata feels the dread sinking deep into the pit of her stomach. She desperately wishes she could conjure up some courage, approach Sasuke, and see how he’s been after all these years, but he still hasn’t left from his spot in the kitchen.  

She’s starting to believe that maybe he doesn’t recognize her, which is a rather sad thought.

Hinata also appears to be at the butt end of some sort of mean inside joke that she doesn’t understand, ponytail bo- Shikamaru and Naruto joined Sasuke in the kitchen and kept making not-so-subtle glances her way -- but whatever -- she’s a big girl, she’s not going to cry about it even if she wants to.

Currently she’s sitting on the puffy leather couch between Choji and Sakura, Sakura is sharing the memes she’s saved onto her phone this month with Ino and Kiba while Hinata stares down at the melting ice in her drink and Choji attempts to calm her with platitudes.

Hinata doesn’t regret coming tonight despite feeling like the biggest fool in existence.

After all, tonight she actually has the opportunity to reconnect with someone she still thinks about, even after all these years.

She has always wondered what had happened to that bratty boy she met that one summer.

The sinking feeling grows deeper and Hinata feels her heart beating in the drums of her ears.

She takes one last tentative sip before downing the rest of her drink and summons every ounce of bravery she didn’t know she had to strengthen her resolve.

She stands from the couch with shaky determination ignoring Choji’s concerned inquiry, then forces one foot in front of the other strait towards the guiding bright lights of the kitchen.

The easy conversation awkwardly dies down when she arrives beside Naruto and Sasuke. She feels both their gazes land on her, and Hinata spots an ugly orange magnet on the stainless-steel fridge Sasuke is leaning on that has the phrase - believe it! - stamped on it and chooses to direct most of her focus on the positive affirmation.

“Uh, hey Hinata, you doing okay?” Naruto asks, slightly taken aback. Hinata nods still focusing on the magnet, face heating up as the beginning of a buzz tingles in the corners of her mind. “Can I get you another drink?”

She looks down at the empty glass she grips and nods again, muttering a quiet thank you, and handing it over. He takes it and moves further down the island to chat with Shikamaru and starts making her another.

“Hi Sasuke,” she forces passed her chapped lips.

“Hello Hinata.” Sasuke says, sounding about as uncomfortable as she feels and she looks up, hopeful, to meet his burning gaze and quickly looks back at that stupid orange magnet.

“So, you do remember me?” She asks, confused as to why he’s been ignoring her since her arrival.

“I remember how two days ago you ran into me quite rudely, burning me with tea.”

Hinata’s brain short-circuits.  

“Wait what!?-”

No! No no no no no. Impossible. No.

“-That- that was you? oh my god, oh no! I am so sorry about that, I really wasn’t looking where I was going, I-I can’t believe this, I swear you just came out of nowhere though, oh my goodness, I can’t believe that was-”  

“Please just stop before you give yourself an aneurysm.” Sasuke lifts his hands in a placating manner and Hinata snaps her mouth shut. “So that’s not how you seem to know me?” He asks, further rankling as the conversation drags on.

“So you don’t remember me.” She says mostly to herself, completely humiliated by this entire exchange, every time she opens her mouth it’s like falling down a flight of stairs -- Hinata seriously wishes she would reach the bottom already.

“Remember you from... where?”  

“I-I mean I guess it’s not that surprising, we were only nine or ten at the time and it-it was only one summer... over a decade ago... You-you never really did call me by my name either.” Hinata says focusing on her twiddling fingers, her voice barely above a whisper, a pensive smile framing her lips at the memory.

There’s a long drawn out silence before Sasuke slowly asks, “...Tomato face?”  

Hinata feels her face burn red at the old moniker, nodding. “Yeah...”

“Hyuuga, Hinata. Shit. Yeah. I do remember.”

The culminating tension finally releases from the moment and Hinata smiles at the black and white tiles breathing just a little bit easier.

He remembers.

“Wait... Did I hear you call her a tomato?” Naruto returns with a mildly amused Shikamaru in tow, handing Hinata her drink, and looks between the pair completely intrigued.

~~~

It didn’t take long for the word to spread that Hinata and Sasuke were childhood friends and everyone congregated into the small-ish kitchen asking curious questions.

It also didn’t take long for everyone to lose interest when Naruto nudged Hinata and started grilling her for embarrassing details of what a prepubescent Sasuke was like, earning him a surly glare. Hinata shyly shrugged saying, “I-I don’t really remember, it was a long time ago.”  

Safe to say -- Naruto didn’t buy it, but surprisingly didn’t press further, and the group dispersed, leaving them to reacquaint.

The conversation between them after that was unfortunately still quite awkward, thankfully, Hinata wasn’t entirely to blame.

They exchanged small talk, Hinata mentions that she actually works at Heaven’s Little Corner and was just coming off her shift early when she ran into him the other day, and Sasuke talks about going to school and getting a Bachelor's degree in Business and how he focused on E-commerce after graduation. Overall, their -- re-connecting -- consisted of the typical pleasantries involved in catching up, and Hinata couldn’t distinguish if she was disappointed or relieved when their conversation came to a lull and she couldn’t think of anymore pointless verbiage to drag it along.

What she really wanted was to reminisce over hot days on the beach, collecting tiny crabs to occupy the sandcastles they built, and how Hinata had found sand in her hair days after the event. She wanted to talk about ice-cream and food fights and sneaking out to gaze at the stars in the night sky way past their bedtime, and how they pondered if aliens exist.

“I think the universe is too big for there not to be something out there somewhere.”  

She remembers Sasuke saying, thoughtfully looking up.

“I-I think you’re an alien.”

She said back, earning her an indignant huff.  

“Whatever tomato face.”

She wanted to talk about how simple everything was when they were kids, how she misses that naivety and how scary the world had revealed itself to be over the years.

Hinata was never good at making friends, even as a child, but she could still look back and she knew that Sasuke was one. He had been the last mark on her childhood that had made it a good one, the last moments she had to truly be a kid before she lost her mother, the truest love she had ever felt, forcing her to grow up.

Instead silence overtakes the kitchen and they both stare at their drinks unsure of what to say.

Sasuke isn’t how she remembers him at all. Yeah, he has the same face, just matured, and the same haughtiness, but the spark for life that had once inspired her seemed to be gone.

Which is an unfair thought to have, she admits, but she can’t stop herself from thinking it.

“Well I think it’s time to go on an adventure,” Naruto awkwardly offers.  

“An adventure?”  Hinata repeats, eyes growing wide.

“Naruto’s idea of an adventure is leaving the house and walking around the block.” Sasuke says rolling his eyes.

“Hey anything can be an adventure if you let it!”

~~~

It smells like damp grass and Hinata nearly jumps out of her skin as Naruto’s roar of triumph echo's off the surrounding buildings, catching the glow in the dark frisbee Kiba threw him. Sakura and Ino had joined them in their late-night excursion and Hinata can’t suppress the giddy giggles from watching them stumble about attempting athleticism when they are clearly four or five drinks deep.

She snaps a few photos and decides that she likes Naruto’s philosophy of approaching even the mundane aspects of life as an adventure.

This whole day certainly has felt like one.

Hinata puts her camera away, feels the chill in the October air, and pulls her scarf tighter. She casts a glance over at the park bench where Shikamaru was smoking a joint to see that he’s now casually chatting about... string theory? -- to Choji, who continues to nod his head like he understands.  

Her trailing gaze then lands on Sasuke and-  

Hinata immediately looks back towards the glowing air bound frisbee.  

He was watching her - he looked suspicious - Hinata doesn’t know of what.

“Hey Sakura,” Hinata tries to call out, voice wavering, “it’s getting late, I think I-I should start heading home.”

That seems to put a halt on the physical activity for a moment, she’s then hugged by every frisbee player.

“It was nice meeting you Hinata.”

“Come back any time.”

“Yes please! We need more girls in our group, Sakura and I are severely outnumbered.”  

“Are you sure you don’t want us to walk you?” Sakura slurs slightly, pulling away from the tight embrace.

“I’ll be fine, thank you Sakura,” Hinata smiles at her newest friend and turns to leave but stops at the bench to wave goodbye at Choji and Shikamaru, earning her a warm smile and a lazy nod. She looks at Sasuke’s arms proudly crossed over his broad chest and says, “it was nice seeing you again Sasuke.” And makes her way down the busy street, casting one last glance behind her just in time to see Sakura jump on Ino piggyback style to catch the frisbee in an impressive display of drunken camaraderie.

She smiles wider to herself. Wow. Today was a good day. An Adventure! Even if seeing Sasuke again was really weird and awkward and not at all how she wished it could have gone, she still met a lot of new people – Sakura's friends are so nice! They made her feel right at home and didn’t make her feel too weird about being shy and -

“Hey, Hinata.”

Hinata startles, hearing the sound of her name accompanied by footsteps catching up and her breath hitches when she turns to see Sasuke slowing down next to her.

“S-Sasuke? What are you-”

“I’m going to walk you home,” he snorts like it’s obvious, stuffing his hands into the pockets of his black jacket, “it’s late.”

“Oh,” Hinata hugs herself, suddenly feeling extremely self-conscious and maybe even a little nauseous as they walk in silence, their steps in sync.  

She can feel the heat of his gaze on her and Hinata makes a point to stare at the crispy autumn leaves on the pavement – yeah – Hinata has no idea what to make of this.

“You know it finally makes sense now, why I couldn’t stop thinking about you.”  

Hinata trips over nothing, “you what?”  

Leaves. Look at the leaves. The beautiful burnt orange leaves. Just. Keep. Looking.

“At the coffee shop, there was something about you, I couldn’t get you out of my mind. Guess I thought you were familiar somehow.” Sasuke shrugs, with an air of nonchalance as they cross the street.

“Oh,” Hinata’s starting to feel warm, she doesn’t know if it’s from their quickening pace, the two drinks she’s had or how Sasuke is close enough for their shoulders to brush.

“It’s kind of crazy that we’d run into each other like this, after all these years.”  

Hinata stops walking and Sasuke mirrors her. There’s something in his tone that catches Hinata off guard, something almost fond? Hinata looks back in the direction of his friends, they’re about five blocks away now.  

Sasuke seemed... different than how he’s been all night -- more open somehow. Maybe he feels weird about their earlier interactions too, but didn’t feel comfortable acting this way in front of his friends? Sasuke’s always been a very private person, even as a child.

“Yeah it is,” Hinata bites her lip and throws him a timid fleeting smile, silently wishing she knew what was going through his mind.

“So, why did you come back to Konoha.”  

“I-uh-” Hinata starts playing with the hem of her sweater and reminds herself it’s good to open up, “-wanted to figure out this life thing for myself – be independent - if my dad had his way, I’d never leave home or do anything that wasn’t part of his plan-” she tapers off, distracted by the approaching sound of music, a dumb smile spreads across her face when she sees an old skinny man on a sparkly bicycle riding past them on the road blaring ‘Dancing Queen’ from an oversized speaker he probably installed himself -- he seemed so – in the moment, like all that existed was him and the music filling the streets that he owned – Hinata silently mourns the missed opportunity of capturing that moment forever in a-

“You were saying,” Sasuke pokes her shoulder harder than necessary, bursting her from her reverie, and starts leading her down concrete stairs away from the bustling main road of the city, towards the waterfront.

“Right,” Hinata continues feeling energized from the random encounter and embarrassed from being caught drifting away in a daydream when they were in the middle of a conversation, “it was – uh - hard to leave my sister, but she encouraged me to go, that I should at least attempt to do the dream chasing thing.” Hinata pats her shoulder bag in reference to her camera. “I saved up some money and here I am, making it up as I go.”

“Hm, you always were snapping pictures everywhere you went.”  

Their steps slow to a stop once they reach the cold metal railing where tourists gather during the day overlooking the docks, but it’s mostly quiet at this time of night.

It smells cold from the breeze and salty from the ocean. The lampposts must need changing because the only light is from the half-moon in the cloudless sky, casting them in dark shades of blue.

Hinata takes a deep breath observing the skyline and the colorful lights reflecting in the undulating ocean waves, then asks the question that’s been bothering her since their seemingly kismet reunion. “What do you remember after all this time?”

“I remember...” He trails off, Hinata doesn’t miss the sly edge in his tone. “That I had told you I’d marry you one day,” his voice is deep, almost gravely when he takes a slow playful step closer and Hinata swears her heart skips several beats noticing their breaths mixing in the cold air between them. “And that... you were technically my first kiss.” He says with a sarcastic snort, stepping back, and gesticulates somewhere behind them. “You can’t tell them about it though. Especially Naruto, the idiot would never let me live it down.”

Hinata blushes at the memory and attempts to mask her frown with an indignant pout, trying not to take the jeer personally.

Sasuke always did like to mess with her.

“You were my only kiss.” Hinata then whispers without thinking and regrets it. She immediately hates the implications -- like she’s some inexperienced-love-sick-twenty-something, who’s never gotten over her childhood crush.

Hinata sighs, briefly drowning in her own self-deprecating thoughts, gripping at the railing, eyes a passing ship, and pretends she can’t feel him studying her, surprised by the admission.

“What do you remember?” He asks back, finally breaking the silence.

She bites her lip, thinking, a rush of memories flashing one by one, settling on their goodbye -- her sobbing because she had to move away to a new city thousands of miles away that had special doctors who could treat her mother, how Sasuke was speechless and could only squeeze her tight in the first and only hug they had ever shared.  

She remembers how he always told her she should stand up for herself, even against him, and she remembers how sometimes when she was around, he’d bite his tongue, holding back petulant sneers.

There’s a small quirk to her lips when she softly says, “Looking back, I-I always thought that we brought out the best in each other.”

There’s another long silence and Hinata once again feels the heavy weight of his gaze examining her, he reaches out and she stiffens when he gently grips the base of her braid touching the bright pink flower there.

“Did Ino do this?” He quietly asks, and there something hidden in his voice that shifts the mood of their conversation, and he’s close again, close enough for their visible breaths to once again mix, his fingers trail down towards the tail end of her braid.

“Uh huh.” Hinata breathes, watching his fingers play with the tip of her strands.

“Why can’t you…” he starts to ask, unsure, but curious, “never mind.” He let’s go of the braid, huffing lightly in frustration and leans on the railing, looking out towards the roaring waves.

Hinata’s stunned by his sudden apprehension. "Why can’t I what?”

“I said never mind.”

“But… I- I want to know.”

“Why can’t you look at me?”  

“Oh.”  

Sasuke sighs, “you don’t have to answer.”

Hinata bites her lip hard, internally wincing. “I-it’s not just you it’s most people really.” She starts, racking her brain for the right words “- It’s -it’s embarrassing… Well everything is embarrassing but, I get anxious about nothing all the time? And looking at people. I don’t know. I get paranoid that they can hear my thoughts or something? Not that I’m thinking about anything weird, well sometimes I am… it’s easier when they’re not looking back at me... Anyways... I guess it’s just become a bad habit now…” she sighs and smiles bitterly at the mess that just flew out of her mouth. “So, to summarize, looking at people kind of sometimes really freaks me out?”

“I see,” Sasuke says, Hinata glances at his mouth, he’s smiling a little, it’s almost warm in an amused sort of way, which completely disarms her.  

Hinata’s tongue feels dry, “uhm, do-do you ever feel anxious?”  

“Never. I get annoyed or frustrated with people very easily though, which can be problematic, not that I care”

“I guess some things never change then.” Hinata teases gently.

Sasuke smirks, he seems ready to retort with a quip but retreats and opts for something entirely different, “are there things that help you with your anxiety?”

There’s something about the question that makes Hinata feel warm all over, she never really gets to talk about these kinds of things without it feeling like it would dampen the mood, but there’s surprisingly no judgement in his tone, he seems genuinely curious, which encourages her to open up some more, "I find different scents to be calming, so I wear whatever my current favorite essential oil is on my wrist every day and whenever I feel too overwhelmed,” Hinata begins to explain in a rush pulling her sleeve up to demonstrate and presents Sasuke her wrist, “I close my eyes, count down from ten and-” Hinata’s breath catches in her throat and her eyes fly open when Sasuke gently pulls her forward by the wrist and she feels the softness of his lips brush over her pulse, then draws in a slow breath to scent the fragrance she chose to wear that day, “...and... sniff.”

Oh goodness, is it getting hot out here? Because Hinata’s face feels like it’s about to burst into flames. Hinata debates pulling her arm back but is currently enraptured by the softest look she’s seen on the Uchiha’s face this evening.  

This feels way too intimate, and Hinata thinks she likes it. Hinata thinks that maybe this is what’s been missing in her life. The feeling of being close to someone in more ways than just proximity. Is it possible she’s been physically and emotionally touch starved for years without realizing it?

That’s a thought that petrifies her. How sleeping on your basest human needs can become a habit, and you find yourself going through the trivial motions of existence, not bothering to search for more, for something that makes your heart sing, twist, and turn into itself the way that muscle pumping blood through her circulatory system at a quickening pace is doing right now.

“Lavender,” Sasuke murmurs against her wrist and his breath feels hot on her skin, Hinata struggles for breath when the sensation brings her back to the present moment and she realizes that she’s been staring directly into his darkened obsidian eyes, boring into hers and she finds herself unable to look away. A subtle look of achievement flashes through them when he softly asks, “you okay there?”

Is she dead? Is she imagining this? This whole situation with the soft touches coinciding with depressing epiphanies triggered by Sasuke smelling her suddenly seems completely absurd, and Hinata’s not sure she’ll be able to form a coherent sentence any time soon.

“I uh, uhm.” There’s definitely something wrong with Hinata’s voice when she attempts to speak.

“I think that...” Sasuke smoothly adjusts their hands to interlock their fingers and his hand feels so warm in hers, “you should go out with me.”

What is happening?

“No.”

Hinata kinda meant to say yes, but sure, no works too?

“What?”

“I mean, I don’t think that’s a good idea.” Hinata winces slightly. Gosh what is she even saying? Is this some sort of weird defense mechanism because she’s afraid of getting hurt?  

Sasuke nods slowly, narrowing his eyes, “why not.”

Don’t you have to risk getting hurt to get anywhere in life that’s worth while?

“I-I don’t know.”

“Hn.” Sasuke breaks eye contact and lets their holding hands fall. Hinata reels at the loss of warmth. He turns away from her and crosses his arms over the railing and looks out towards the dark rhythmic waves of the ocean. Hinata worries her bottom lip between her teeth as she studies the man before her. The moonlight is hitting the sharp angles of his face just perfect, and Hinata’s in awe. He’s all grown up now, and by default that means Hinata is too. Yet, here they are, the oldest they’ve been, and still the youngest they will ever be.  

Nostalgia floods through Hinata’s system, deciding to grab the moment instead of letting it pass. She’s not sure when she pulled the camera out of her bag, but the flash went off before she understood that she was taking a picture.

Sasuke jumps slightly at the flash and is pulled from his brooding thoughts, shooting her a puzzled glare.

“Sorry, that was kind of weird of me. I just – I just thought you-you looked erm... nice in the moonlight?”  

A bewildered look flashes across Sasuke’s face before a small smile begins to form and he laughs! He actually, genuinely laughs while shaking his head in what appears to be disbelief.  

The only thing Hinata can do is smile sheepishly distracted by how handsome he looks when he lets go of his composure, the light in his eyes makes him look younger, like the Sasuke she knew all those years ago.  

Hinata wonders if any of his friends get to see him like this.

He looks down at the pavement, shoulders still shaking, smile still present and pinches the bridge of his nose while taking in a slow breath and on his exhale, he reaches into his pocket, pulls out his phone, unlocks it, hands it over and says, “give me your number.”

Hinata tentatively obliges, pulling open the add new contact page, filling in the blanks then handing it back. Sasuke starts typing something in his phone and asks. “Do you work Sunday?”  

“Uhm, yes?”  

Hinata’s phone buzzes, when retrieving it from her bag she sees a text from an unknown number.

>> I’m going to come by after your shift and I'm taking you out. Don’t even bother using your mouth to respond.

Hinata feels her fingers tingling and tries to open her mouth to speak, closes it, bites her lip to try and stifle her giggles and resists the urge to slap herself in the face for acting like a complete airhead.

She pushes her fears aside one more time tonight...

And takes the damn dive.

<< Okay <3

                __________________________

AN2:  Wow, okay. A month later and I have the second part to this little story. This is the first time that I’m posting something I didn’t just throw together in one sitting. I’ve also never posted anything that was longer than 1200 words and it’s unexpectedly a little nerve-wracking??? OKAY SO, I guess there’s going to be one last chapter and it’s going to be like 90% SasuHina interactions? And spoiler alert they’re finally going to make-out. I have this SasuHina headcannon where they’re both private people who generally keep to themselves -- so people think they’re a boring couple, but when they’re alone together it’s like they’re in their own little world, and that’s the dynamic I’m looking forward to exploring in the final part.  I’m not sure when it’s going to be up since I have a bunch of other stuff I need to work on so it depends on how the inspo hits me, but I do have plenty of fun ideas!

[offbrandmercyplates]

Bedtime Stories (Emster)

Bro I had a lightbulb. Lemme know if writing fanfiction is okay or not, but this was just too cute and I had to share it! It was based off the bedtime stories comic!!!

********

“But the prince travelled from house to house, looking for anyone who the shoe could fit. He came across monsters with big feet, monsters with little feet, and monsters with no feet at all! But he never came across the young, beautiful monster that he remembered from that night, with the lilac tentacles that slipped perfectly into the glass slipper." 

Papyrus’ head lulled against Sans and his eyelids began to flutter. Bee had to contain a chuckle, as she’d learned by this point that whenever she did chuckle at the two sleepyheads they instantly became alert and would demand at least one more story. 

"Finally, he came across the grand house of Cinderella and her family. When he knocked on the door, the stepsisters were overjoyed! Their tails wagged and their ears perked up as they welcomed him inside. However, both of their feet were too big to fit in the shoe.”

Sans smiled to himself. Even at this young of an age, there was joy in the karmic justice of the stepsisters’ fate.

“Cinderella, meanwhile, stayed to sweeping the stairs, listening to the conversation, trying to figure out some way that she could enter without her stepsisters stopping her. The prince sighed as both of the step sisters failed, but as he turned to leave, Cinderella ran down the stairs and called out to him." 

Bee cleared her throat. She was never good at doing voices. 

”‘Wait! I would like to try on the slipper!’ The prince swiveled around. He could already feel the memories of the beautiful maiden coming back to him, though this time she was in rags, and covered with ash.“

”'My love, is it truly you?’“ Her voice switched to a deep register, and the two brothers chuckled at her, clearly not getting it close to what an actual man sounded like. 

"But, as she and the prince got closer to each other, the step mother, lurking in the corner, had a wicked idea. She pretended to be approaching the stepsisters, but on her way over, she pumped into the prince, and he dropped the slipper. As soon as it hit the floor, it immediately shattered into a thousand pieces." 

"Oh no! How are they gonna get married now?!” Papyrus looked genuinely concerned. Even though she should know by now that every story that she told would set Papyrus on edge, every single night she was always alarmed by just how empathetic he was. It made her proud. 

“I dunno bro, maybe that, uh, fish godmother can help?” Sans responded lazily. At least Bee was sure that he was paying attention. 

“Cinderella merely chuckled to herself. 'There’s no need to worry, Your Majesty, for you see, I have the others.’ And she reached into her pockets and pulled out the seven other glass slippers for each of her tentacles.”

“Hooray!” Papyrus snuggled under the blankets a little closer to his brother. 

“And so, the two went back to the castle and were married that day. And they lived happily ever after. The end." 

"What happened to the stepsisters? And the mom? Did she leave them?” Papyrus’ eyes widened. 

“They weren’t very nice to her, bro.” Sans was always the more strait-laced.

“Maybe not, but I still think that they deserve a second chance.” Bee could feel her cheeks glow with pride. 

“I think Cinderella agrees with you, Papyrus. She invited her stepmother and stepsisters to live at the castle with her, and over time, because of her kindness, the sisters and mother felt guiltier and guiltier. One day, they got on their knees and begged her for forgiveness. And she gave it to them." 

"See. I told you.” Papyrus playfully nudged his brother.

“I don’t know. If I were Cinderella, I would want that fish godmother to give me a car or something. And g. So I could drive away and buy a house.” Sans did take after his father.

“Well, you can think about that tomorrow,” Bee leaned in and gave each brother gentle kisses on the top of their skull, “Goodnight Sans. And goodnight Papyrus.”

“G'night.” Papyrus yawned.

“Yeah, g'night.” Sans also yawned, though he tried to suppress it. 

Bee turned off the lamp and the room was plunged into calming darkness.

“Sweet dreams.” She whispered, before gently edging out the room and shutting the door. 

She popped her head into the bedroom. Gaster was nowhere to be found. Well, he only goes to two locations in this house, and the bedroom is empty. Lab it is. 

Bee climbed down the stairs, listening for any sounds that could give her an indication of just what had kept him up so late. No explosions or screaming, which was always a good sign, but no confused hums or joyful muttering as he copied down his latest theory. 

She gently knocked on the door, before doing as all mom’s do and opening it without waiting for answer. 

There, in front of her, was a delirious Gaster, with small dark circles that she didn’t know he could have under his eyes. He was writing feverishly in a notebook while various colorful substances in jars and vials on the desk danced in the background. 

“Are they asleep?” He didn’t look up.

“They are. That means you should at least try to get some sleep as well." 

He sighed before rubbing his face with his bony fingers. He was in no mood to protest.

"I know.” He dropped the pencil and stood up from his desk, draping an arm around Bee’s shoulder as the two walked out of the laboratory together. As they passed through the doorframe, his arm extended a little further around her shoulder to switch off the light. The two traipsed up the stairs.

“What story was it tonight?” He peered at her from the side. 

“Cinderella." 

"Never heard of it.”

“It’s about a girl who’s stuck with an evil family, but she ends up going to a ball in secret with really nice clothes because of her fairy godmother, but she has to leave before midnight, but before she goes she leaves behind a glass slipper. The prince fell in love with her that night, but since she’s gone, he takes the glass slipper and tries it on every woman in the kingdom until he finds the one that can fit it. So he finds her, and they get married.”

“Makes perfect sense.” His sarcasm gave Bee a trace of a smile.

“Even in the long version it doesn’t make any sense. Especially since our Cinderella had 8 tentacles, so she had a bunch of slippers." 

The two reached the top of the stairs, and Gaster shut the door to the stairway behind them. He moved like clockwork, as this ritual of her retrieving him from the confines of his lab had become a nightly ritual for them. As he shut the door, the two continued walking. As they approached the bedroom, he turned his head to the side and looked at her directly.

"That’s a human story, right?” Bee nodded in response to his question.

“Then why are the characters monsters?" 

Bee just chuckled.

"They’re not monsters in the version I was told, silly. I just,” she gestured inanely, “changed around some stuff a little bit." 

Gaster’s confusion did not vanish from his face.

"I think that the boys deserve to see monsters in the stories that I tell them. It would suck to only get told human stories, don’t you think?" 

Gaster contemplated the idea a little bit, before nodding. 

"Interesting. I never would’ve thought of that myself.” He began to unbutton his shirt, while Bee pulled her dress over her head. 

'Well, good thing I’m here then.“ The two continued to undress in silence before slipping into comfortable night clothes, and then collapsing in bed. 

Gaster held Bee close. He could feel the thumping of her soul. Sleep began to droop in both of their eyes as they settled into bed with eachother. 

"Thank god you’re here.” Gaster mumbled into her curly hair as the two drifted off into sleep.

~~~~~~~

Um?? UM?? UMMM????????

THIS IS SO CUTE OMG THANK YOU????

I’m absolutely floored

just

the boys being so curious and analytical

Emmi being such a MOM

their ritual of her retrieving gaster from the lab

the fact that she changed the story so it would be with monsters so the boys could see monsters in a normally human tale?? WHICH IS SOMETHING EMMI WOULD TOTALLY DO?????

11/10 FIVE STARS THIS IS INCREDIBLE THANK YOU SO MUCH

ALSO FANFICTION IS ABSOLUTELY ALLOWED HOLY SMOKES

[moonlightflower21]

Importance

A/N: this was supposed to be a drabble but it turned into a fic. angst, as always.

~They say if you really love someone else, let them go. For if they return, they were always yours. And if they don't, they never were~

Donatello had never believe on true love before. He was a mutant ninja turtle living in the sewers, trying his hardest to protect his city from impending doom caused by his enemies. So love wasn't exactly on his list. Plus who would even find him good-looking, considering every interaction with humans had resulted them screaming for their lives. That was, until you had entered his life. He was so glad for you, he started to love every moment spent with you. He looked forwards to your visits, always eager to be the first one to greet you.

It was a game he liked to play in his mind, pretending he was yours and that you were his. Ultimately he knew that his fantasy would come crashing down but he pushed those thoughts aside, he just wanted to live in the moment for once. Not thinking about the consequences that would come after. Not about the heartbreak that would linger for months to come. How much he should have resisted the urge but his heart wanted to play this dangerous game.

His thoughts now consumed about you, he could only imagine how it felt to touch your skin. Who would be the lucky one to hold you close to their heart. And who would be the one you went to for comfort and happiness. It sucked that you were his first person but he could never truly be the one to reach your heart. To be able to love and cherish you timelessly like you so deserved. He had to twists the urge to tackle you in a hug when you were around, refraining himself from touching you longer than acceptable. But there were times, where he genuinely couldn't help himself. You understood him like no other and it was almost eerie how much your interests were so similar to his.

He tried to flirt with you, god he tried. But either you were just not interested or you were just were oblivious. He liked to believed it was the latter option, the first would have surely broken him. As a shy and reserved turtle, being bold and outright wasn't his scene neither did feel right. He wasn't Mikey, to simply just ask you out and to so easily chat with you. So, he went with what felt right. What he thought you'd appreciate.

Earrings. It seemed silly but he worked so hard on them, constantly fixing them to what he believed would be your preference. He analysed the type of jewellery you wore and made it accordingly. His heart fluttered when he recalled you seeing them. You had gasped softly, touching them so gently with the pad of your index finger and his face flushed in embarrassment and nervousness.

"I-I realise it's pretty weird but-" He blabbered anxiously but he was completely thrown of guard when you threw your arms around his neck. "They're perfect, thank you Donnie! I needed new earrings anyway" you grinned, stepping back and taking your old ones out. "As a matter of fact..." the earrings were a perfect fit, shining underneath his lab lights.

"How they look?" You smiled, turning your head to the side allowing him to see the creation he made in all its glory on it's intended user. "Beautiful, you look beautiful... with-with them! Of course.." He chuckled nervously, his heart thumping with love at the acceptance of his gift. No one had seen this appreciative, this happy. "Ah, damn. I gotta run, tonight" you looked at your phone, and then back at the tall turtle. "I'll see you tomorrow. Night, Don" you hesitated a little before planting a sweet kiss to his cheek. You watched his eyes widen, mouth slightly parted as though he wanted to say something.

"I..." he broke off, when your lips came into contact with his cheek. For the first time in a while, his intelligent brain had failed him and he stuttered trying to think of a comprehensible sentence. 'C'mon Donnie!'

"Catch you later" you chuckled, waving goodbye at the turtle and disappearing out of his lab. To say he was elated was the biggest understatement of the year. His brothers knew he was happy, they noticed the small twinkle in his eyes in the morning when he grabbed his coffee. They saw the boost of energy and enthusiasm when you came over and they saw the happy smile on their brother's face when you talked to him. It had been so long when a human understood him for what he was, nerdy talk and all. Not wanting to change a single thing, talking to him as if he actually mattered. Even taking an interest in his works, finding him to be so interesting. He still couldn't get over it. And for that moment, everything was perfect. But as quick as that moment came, it left.

Time spent in the lair was rare, you were busy with other things and your life. Which was understandable, of course. Your world didn't revolve around theirs. But still, not a warning not a word to anyone. Donnie tried to continue with his life, but it felt strangely empty. No one to talk to him, no one to joke around with. His brothers were always there, but it wasn't the same. Not without you. He would be lucky to receive two text messages from you on a day. And as much as he wanted to pretend you were just focusing on your work, the foreboding pain and heartbreak weren't far away. His lab felt vacant, without the presence of a curious human asking questions and engaging in conversations. He never quite felt this alone in his lab before and he hated to think how much he needed you. One of the first human to come into contact with them and see them for who they were, rather than what. So why had you left so suddenly? The answer was deep in his gut, he wasn't important to you. It was a bitter pill he would have swallow, sooner or later.

"Ah shit!" He cursed, as the experiment he handled dripped on him. The burning liquid scalded his hand, blistering the skin almost immediately. He clenched his hand, eyes squeezed shut as he tried to reduce his small whimpers falling from his lips. He threw off his glasses and his goggles hearing the clattering of the equipment in doing so, running to the skin in the corner to help alleviate the burning pain in his hand. The burning sensation dulled to a throbbing instead and he breathed out, feeling tears streak down his cheeks. But they weren't due to the injury. His eyes blurred once more as he shakily closed the tap, biting his lip to help no sounds escape his throat.

Why was he crying over this? He felt so ridiculous, so pathetic but... he couldn't help it. His chest tightened, taking a breath seemed an impossible task with how tight his chest felt. He slumped to the ground, arms cradling his knees close while the pain his hand was long forgotten. It was a physical injury, it could heal with some ointment and a bandage. But when the pain comes from the heart, it's so hard to block it out. It wasn't something you could cover up and pretend it wasn't eating you out alive, pretend that you were okay when you truly weren't. Donnie never really wore his heart on his sleeve, never really showing anyone how he really felt unless it was important. But with you, it felt like his heart was in your hand and you just playing with it however you pleased. He missed how it felt to be loved by another. Even if you didn’t fully reciprocate the true feelings he had for you, having a little love was better than none at all. He didn't remember how long he stayed on the floor of his lab, all he wished was for you to enter his lab again. But you never did.

Patrol was something to take his mind off it. He texted you, but you never seemed to answer them. You didn't seem to want to. And as much as it killed him, he stopped sending text messages. He stopped worrying over it. His brothers saw his energy deplete slowly, how much he drank coffee now since he couldn't sleep. How much his appearance had changed from over thinking and the lack of any good rest. How snappy he was and how much anger he would have. But one night, that had all changed.

"Donnie..." Mikey whispered to his older brother, his face shifting to one of worry. Donnie kept his eyes focused on the building Leo specifically told them, not interested in what Mikey said. "Hm?" A small answer was given and Mikey sighed, coming closer.

"What's wrong bro? You've been acting so... cold lately. It's Y/N, isn't it?-" "No it's not! I-" Donnie fumed but paused when his anger raised at his youngest brother. Mikey merely stood, allowing the silence to provide his answer instead. Donnie's eyes closed, brain feeling like mush at the sound of your name. No tears, not today. Not right now

"I don't want to talk about it, Mikey-" "Don-" but before Mikey could further protest, his eyes caught sight of a very familiar looking shadow. It was you, holding hands with another person. You were laughing, joking around with another individual. The same person who acted this way towards his brother had now moved on so easily without a care. This couldn't be true, right? His breath hitched, looking back at his older brother debating whether he should say anything. Maybe you guys were just best friends, but when your lips met another pair... it was clear as day you thought otherwise.

Donnie saw, oh he saw it all. His heart felt like it was in throat, head dizzy from seeing you for the first time in weeks. He tried to say a word but it was useless, what could he have possibly said to justify your actions? This wasn't a best friend move, you truly moved on away from him. How much pain did his heart have to take to move on from you? How much times did he have to break before the reality sets in? Breathe, Donnie. Breathe 

"Donnie.." Mikey whispered, his heart broke seeing his brother so distraught. The genius blinked thrice, looking at his younger brother. The sympathy, the sadness in his baby blues confirmed his deepest fear. He wasn’t trapped in some nightmare, this was real. He had to face this. "Don't, just don't...." he hissed out, turning in his heel and flipping away. He ignored the protest of his younger brother, focusing instead of getting the hell out of there. He didn’t realise he was crying when stinging tears slid down his cheeks. His lungs burned for oxygen but he couldn’t seem to stop himself from running. His knees gave way on a rooftop, just as he was about to jump off. Any psychical injuries he had couldn’t overcome the one he was feeling in his heart. Is this how heartbreak felt? Surely he had to be in a relationship for that? 

Throwing his head back in exasperation and pain, he spared a glance at the full moon sitting above his head. Thoughts bounced off his mind, but he recalled a memory of you both sitting side by side watching the night fall. How much you both spilled your hearts to one another and a lone tear fell at how he will never be able to experience that with you. He knew it was too good to be true, why did he play that dumb game? Why did he willingly let himself in harms way, knowing there would be no way you could ever choose him. Even if Donnie wished and prayed that you would, your heart belonged to someone else. That someone wasn't him. He tried to hard to fit into your pretty perfect picture, forgetting how much it would hurt him when he realised that you could never feel the same way. And yet, even now he couldn't hate you. For who would want to be tied down to a pathetic mutant?

Imagination was a wild thing, and sometimes it lands you in pain and loneliness.