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nsharks · 2 years

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bleeding blue | apocalypse au

part three —other parts

pairing: Simon "Ghost" Riley x fem!reader words: 3.3k tags: death. blood. zombies of course. single dad ghost. there will be sex but it isn't here yet. slow burn. enemies to lovers. summary: After losing your companions, you run into a skull-masked man and his daughter. They are your last hope for survival. a/n: let's build some relationships :)

From behind a tree, your eyes narrow with concentration as you draw the string of your bow. The feel of it in your hands offers satisfaction; you used to love new makeup, blushes and creams, or sweet custards from the market. Now, you love a good weapon.

Is there anything Ghost doesn’t know how to do? And you thought Paul had skillful hands.

You’re not sure exactly where Ghost and Blue have gone, because after leading you out the gate of their camp, Blue showing you the exact maze of steps needed to avoid their booby traps, they went their own way. Again, they disappeared among the white trees. You were left to pick a direction and stick with it. So you ended up here, the opposite way of the pond, with your eyes finally catching sight of a small deer. A fawn.

It’s young but perfect.

The blood that courses through its limbs switches on the predator part of your brain. It will be enough to keep you fed for at least a week, perhaps more, and promote the healing of the wound that aches with each shift of your waist. You inhale, exhale. The arrow is ready to release.

A single gunshot rings out.

Straight through the fawn’s eye.

It doesn’t even have time to cry out as it falls over, a small thud filling the quiet air. Your heart skips a beat and your eyes flicker in the direction of the gunshot, but you already know who has stolen this kill from you. In the distance, you see his bulky form, the lowering of his rifle, and then you see the girl bounce down from a tree and whirl towards the dead animal.

Are you kidding me?

You want to snarl and sneer. Instead, you flare your nostrils while lowering your bow. Meters away, Blue kneels down by the deer and you see her gently mouth words to its corpse. Perhaps, a childish parting that helps her feel better about its death. Ghost arrives and bends down to Blue’s level, and you can’t see his mouth with the mask on, but you know he is speaking to her by how he gestures his gloved hand around.

You’ll have to find another animal.

Squirrels aren’t your favorite meal. They’re not much compared to the taste of venison. But if you char squirrel meat just enough, it can get a nutty flavor that, with your eyes closed, you can pretend is a juicy slab of chicken home-roasted by your mother.

There is no room to be picky.

There is no room for wants anymore, only needs, and from behind the tree, you move your gaze to spot a grey squirrel that will be enough for the day’s needs. You take aim again. You’d put your washed hair in two French braids to keep the strands from interfering, but without ties, they are starting to come undone at the ends. There was a time when you cared about the fashion of your hair. Now, styling is a tactical choice.

Squirrels are trickier. They are small and require greater marksmanship than you are confident you have. Archery was never something you did until the world bled grey and demanded it of you.

The animal flicks its bushy tail, prancing about over thick tree roots. You wait for the moment it stills.

“How’s it going?” someone says, and you jump back in a step, fingers nearly slipping and releasing the arrow off at the ground.

Blue. You whirl around to see that she’s snuck up in a tree behind you, nimble and light on her feet, with curiosity filling her eyes as she sits perched on a branch, one that would be too high for you to ever climb. Her brown hair is hidden under her hood, the tip of her nose flushed pink from the air, and she rubs her hands together to brush off the crumbs of tree bark. Her movements remind you of the squirrel.

It takes a moment for your muscles to soften. You glance back at the squirrel and it’s already scampered off.

“Going great,” you tell her flatly, sighing through your nose. You can be patient with her. She’s nice, young. She’d snuck you extra food. “Shouldn’t you be with Ghost?”

“I’m just stopping by to tell you that we’re leaving. And—“ she squints her eyes in the distance for a moment, “That there’s a couple of those fucks due south.”

Those fucks.

Lovely. You glance around at the unfamiliar trees. From down here, you don’t see anything, but from her vantage point, her scope of sight is better for scouting threats.

“They’re pretty far off. Just be careful, okay?”

“Thanks. I will,” you nod.

Her bright stare then flickers to your braids. “You did your hair... What are those called again?”

She frowns, searching for the word somewhere in a corner of her young brain. You’re surprised that a ten-year-old girl doesn’t know what French braids are; they’d been all you wore as a kid. But then you realize her normal life came to an end at age five. Perhaps many of the memories have faded, replaced with more useful knowledge that her father has had to stuff in there.

You swallow. “Braids?”

“Braids,” she repeats, tasting the foreign word with a click of her tongue. “Right. They look really cool on you.”

“These ones are pretty shitty because I don’t have anything to keep them in.”

Blue starts to say, "Maybe you could—"

But a gruff call cuts through the trees, beckoning her head to turn.

"Blue. Let's go."

Your own eyes follow the voice and land on Ghost some odd paces away. He is already staring at you through lidded eyes, a palpable energy rolling off his body in waves that you can feel even from this distance. Over his shoulders, he carries the fawn with ease. Large palms clasping the knobby ankles. A steady drip of its blood creates a red stain in the snow beside his boot.

He looks horrific. A smear of crimson on the skull. Dressed in all black, carrying a dead animal as if it is nothing. You recall how he'd pushed you to the ground like you were nothing, too. You swallow the thought.

Before you can even look back at Blue, she's already gone. Whirling down from the branch and running over, following in his footsteps as they head back.

It takes another agonizing hour but you manage to kill a squirrel. The Greys don’t find you, luckily. You stuff your coat pockets with some pine needles and decide to call it a meal, knowing that you will have to hunt again tomorrow.

This area of the forest is still new. In your brain, you’ve already etched some markers to find your way back: the pond where they found you, a circle of pine trees to the right of their camp with a big stump in the center, a small creek past the hill. But the way you return back today leads to you approaching the camp from the backside, and you notice something.

Behind the cabin is something covered in a big black tarp. The tarp is peppered with fallen twigs and snow, but still, you think you make out the shape of a vehicle underneath.

They have a car—?

Irritation finds you. How did Ghost manage such things? A goddamn cabin, a deep trench that you assume he dug all by himself. And now a car. Did he also have petrol stored somewhere? By the looks of it, the tarp hasn’t been moved in a while. What is the car for? Is this what he uses to get medicine from the cities?

You almost scoff as your boots crunch the snow.

You won’t have any of our medicine.

There hasn’t even been a chance to consider how you might fend for some yourself.

For now, you will just focus on food.

Ghost has tied the deer upside down on a branch by the time you are back. You carefully recall the way through their traps. Blue has to unlock the bolted gate for you, but then she runs back to Ghost, who hands a thick blade to her.

“Go on, then, kid.”

“I hate this part,” she mumbles, but he lifts her up so she can reach the knife to the animal’s hind legs, beginning to skin the hide top-down. She wears a concentrated expression as she does so, nose scrunched, and you can tell that skinning deer is a skill her small hands have practiced before.

Ghost is the one to butcher it.

You skin your squirrel.

They use the fireplace for cooking, and of course, their dinner is prepared first. While you wait, you undo your braids and snack on the pine needles. Blue is surprisingly quiet, helping her dad cook a little and playing with Grim on the floor, but also flickering her gaze to you every minute or so.

“Your hair is curly now,” she comments softly during dinner. “From the braids?”

“That happens when you take them out,” you say after swallowing a piece of meat. There’s nothing to wipe your hands on, so you use your trousers as a napkin. Your mother would’ve had a fit.

“Do you…” you clear your throat, glancing at Ghost and then back to the girl. “Do you want me to braid your hair after dinner?”

She nods sheepishly, but Ghost huffs out a low breath. “I could do that for you, Blue.”

“Ghost,” she sighs. “You don’t know how.”

“How hard can it be?”

But Blue licks her lips and shakes her head, mumbling, “I want her to do it. She’s good at it.”

The way Ghost looks at you is rarely anything but uncomfortable. However, when you sit down on the rug with Blue, your hands finding purchase in her hair, his eyes seem to burn holes through your body deeper than any time before. It is as if letting someone touch his daughter physically sickens him, and causes his breathing to turn weighted and deep. He begrudgingly allows it but supervises, sitting on the couch as you begin braiding her hair.

Grim sits in her lap. She strokes his fur.

“You have pretty hair,” you tell her.

Blue softly wonders, “How can hair be pretty?”

“I… I don’t know,” you say. “The color, the length. It’s just pretty, I think.”

“Ghost cuts it for me,” she says, turning to look at him.

“Wait, don’t move. It’ll mess me up.”

“Oh, sorry,” she turns back but continues. “He gets it wet and has me lay my head on the tree stump so it’s all flat. Then, he chops it off with his knife. Right, Ghost?”

His response is a low hum. It’s stiff, pushing through a tense jaw.

You finish the two French braids, running your fingers over them.

"I don't have anything to tie them, but they look really nice on you."

It is then that Ghost stands up and disappears for a minute. When he returns, he has a roll of black thread that you believe he used for your stitches.

With the knife from his belt, he cuts two pieces, bends down, and silently offers them to your palm. Blue lights up. You tie off the braids and she stands, toying with them happily, and asking her dad what he thinks. Finally, you notice his shoulders soften.

"Beautiful," he murmurs quietly, just for her. He strokes the braided hair and then gives a gentle brush of his thumb over her cheek. "Always look beautiful, Baby Blue."

"Don't—" her cheeks flush and she briefly flashes her eyes to you, "Don't call me that."

"Used to call you it all the time,” he grumbles. “Gettin' too old for it, are you?"

What you learn Blue isn't too old for is curling up with him on the couch. This is the first night you stay in the cabin after dinner rather than retreating to your shed, simply because they've left some embers in the fireplace for warmth. You sit on the floor beside it. Blue sits with Ghost and he pulls out a book to read quietly to her.

You try not to look.

It touches you in a way you didn't think it would. It seems so normal. For a moment, you imagine a world where things could be different. A world where Blue wore braids to school every day. A world where Ghost could pick a new book out, rather than read the same ones over and over. A world where, maybe, you could have a family of your own, rather than be an uncomfortable witness to theirs.

But your family is nothing now. You never even knew what happened to your parents. The end arrived when you were away from them. No wifi. No service. Whether they died or turned Grey, you could never be certain. A pit in your gut told you their end happened years ago.

You’re brought out of your daze when Ghost stands from the couch. Blue has fallen asleep. He carries the girl to her room, and you take it as a sign to leave for your place outside.

But before you can open the door, his voice stops you, dropping down to an even lower octave.

“Hold on.”

You turn. “What?”

“We need to talk.”

Despite the warmth from the fireplace, your blood goes icy rigid. You stand there and press your lips. “If this is about the braids, then I won’t do it again. I was just trying to be nice.”

“No. Not that,” and he holds your stare, unwavering, “It’s about your old camp. The other day, you said there were… hoards of ‘em.”

The words roll off his tongue thoughtfully as if this is something that has been mulling over in that brain of his for a while. Thoughts belonging to a skull. A ghost. A father.

Ghost continues gruffly, “Where were you?”

“West of here,” you say. “Jesus, I think, at least. I couldn’t really tell where I was going.”

“How far?”

“Far, but not that far.” Your eyes drift to the floor. “By the forest’s edge.”

“We don’t see that many of them here,” Ghost mutters. This might be the most he’s spoken to you in five days. “Only ever a few at a time. Ten at the most.”

“That’s how it was for us. But more came, and then,” you exhale, “And then there were too many.”

Your eyes close, recalling the frantic manner in which you escaped. The last glimpse of your old life had been the mangled arm of your sister, thick bites cutting down to white bone. In a way, you were glad there were enough of them to kill her.

Your eyes reopen. “We should’ve had an escape plan, something for emergencies. We got too complacent after making it for so long.”

All Ghost says is, “Yeah. You should have.”

And then he is dismissing you with a lazy wave of his hand, turning to give you his back. You scowl, roll your eyes as he is not looking, and leave the cabin. Your spine already aches before you even lay down on the floorboards for the night.

You wonder if Ghost has his own emergency plans; what would have to happen for him to abandon this perfect setup? How would he do it? The memory of the car out back finds you as you drift off. But your sleep that night is haunted by terrible, grey dreams.

It usually is.

Hunting on your own is different than hunting with Paul. There's some learning to do. You have to study the tracks on your own and observe the marks of antlers against the trees. For the first week, you don't get a single deer. Only squirrels. One skinny hare. Ghost and Blue don't go with you; the fawn, rabbits, and stored cans and jars hold them over.

Most evenings are spent braiding Blue's hair. I like the way it feels, she claims. Ghost gets used to it. He still watches from the couch but rather than stiffly staring, he lays down and relaxes, placing a hand over his chest.

The next time they go hunting, Blue's hair is still woven in the French braids when you catch an interesting sight through the cabin's window. She stands on the dining chair to reach Ghost's mask, peeling it off. You can only see the back of his head: brown hair, chopped short.

So there is a human under that thing?

She sets the mask on the table and picks up a clean one. A different one.

When they come out, Ghost with his guns and Blue with her knives, he appears more like a father than a character from a horror film. There is no plastic skull. Instead, a cutout in the fabric reveals the tops of his temples and the strong bridge of his nose. You would never say it, but you prefer this one.

Blue must catch your staring because she tells you, "The other one was starting to smell. I made him change."

"Good call," you quip under your breath.

Again, you go your separate ways. You head for the pond. You think you can hear them somewhere nearby, but ignore it, focusing on the deer prints in the snow. It's hard to tell if they're fresh. It hasn't snowed in two days.

Your footsteps quiet to a halt when you hear light crunching sounds. Another living thing is close by. You take position behind a thick pine, eyes scanning the wooded area and the pond to the right of you. But you know the sound of deer, and you're starting to learn the sound of Blue.

She's scampering towards the pond, just her. You can't see Ghost. As protective as he can be, he allows the girl some length to her leash. Offers bite-sized moments of independence. She's allowed to play in the tree just outside their camp before sundown, but only if he is watching. So you imagine he has let her run off ahead only because he is somewhere nearby.

From the distance, you watch her lurch for a squirrel.

She is quick about it.

Grabs the neck, and holds it up. A quick slice to the jugular. Blood seeps. She frowns, closing her eyes and murmuring something that, in the quietness, you think is along the lines of: I'm sorry. Tried to make it quick for you.

And then she begins to skin it, right then and there.

Young, nimble hands taught to survive.

As she does so, you decide you've seen enough. You have your own food to find.

But as you move from the tree, your eyes drift to find another watcher. A form takes shape behind a distant oak, near the pond. Your heart spikes; a Grey? But no— a Grey would already be running towards her scent. This shape belongs to a human, a withered man with hair that juts out in grey clumps, and crazed eyes pointed right at her.

More so, a revolver pointed.

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#simon ghost riley x reader #simon ghost riley x you #simon riley x reader #simon ghost riley #ghost #cod #zombie apocolypse au #zombies #call of duty

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cryoculus · 2 years

Text

— imagine being loved by me! ⟢

pairing: xiao | alatus x reader

summary: the one where your best friend gives you ten tattoos over the next ten years. the problem? you fall deeper in love each time the ink stains your skin.

word count: 7.1k words

tags: modern au, tattoo artist!xiao, childhood friends to lovers, angst with a happy ending, relationship study, non-explicit smut

warnings: emotionally stunted xiao but i fink everyone knows that already, mentions of needles, there's smut but it isn't detailed

notes: this blog's been dead for Months but i thought i'd revive it with this fic that my beloved @delvalentine commissioned me to make! i love u to DEATH, v, i hope i did your requests justice :')

header art cr: yuca7302 on twt

01.

“Ow, fuck! Can you be more careful?!”

“I am careful. You just have a shitty pain tolerance.”

“Wow, that’s not something you should say to your first willing client,” you huff, trying not to pull away as Xiao repeatedly punctures the skin of your forearm with pen ink and a not-so-sterile sewing needle. “My family could sue you if I die from a blood infection, you know.”

Xiao rolls his eyes. “Something this small won’t kill anyone. Plus, you came here on your own volition, so stop complaining.”

“Are you saying you’re just going to let me die of sepsis if everything goes to shit?”

“Pretty much.”

You didn’t know what to expect when your best friend of several years asked if you wanted a tattoo of your favorite constellation. It’s been a running joke between the both of you that the two moles on your forearm looked a lot like two-thirds of Orion’s belt, and that maybe, in another life, you would’ve been born with all three of its stars on your skin.

You should’ve known that Xiao likes to blow your expectations out of the water—whether he intends to do so or not.

It’s sundown when he finishes embedding black pen ink beneath your slightly inflamed skin. Xiao doesn’t comment when you repeatedly complain about how much that fucking hurt, and that you’re never agreeing to do it again, but you don’t miss the way his eyes occasionally flit up to the starry sky before shifting to your new ‘tattoo’ as he walks you home.

You don’t think you’ll ever forget that night. How you admired the amateur handiwork in the soft glow of your nightlight while thinking about the boy who gave you a star fashioned with his own fingers where others would’ve given flowers instead.

But then you remember Xiao is nothing but your best friend, and it’s a little…weird to be thinking about him like that.

Must be the sepsis fucking with my head, you muse before flicking off your nightlight, and the room is plunged into pitch black darkness.

02.

You’re eighteen when you realize Xiao is completely serious about this tattooing business.

It comes as a not-so-pleasant surprise to you one day when your high school’s guidance counselor approaches you while you’re hurrying over to your next class—asking if you’ve seen Xiao around these days because apparently, your best friend hasn’t been attending his classes for a better part of the semester.

Of course, you receive the news with a scowl. While you don’t exactly see him all that much at school because of how different your schedules are, you never expected to find out he’s been playing hooky all this time.

You don’t particularly like sticking your nose into other people’s business—especially not Xiao’s, since you know how he likes to keep to himself better than most. But for some reason, you aren’t able to resist, and end up calling him after excusing yourself from your two-hour Biology lecture.

Once your classes are done, you head over to a nearby tattoo parlor whose address Xiao texted to you right after you squeezed his whereabouts out of him during that phone call. It’s located in one of the more run-down parts of town that your parents would’ve detested Xiao for inviting you to. But whatever prejudice you might’ve had about the denizens of this district all go up in smoke once you meet the owner herself.

��You should’a seen Xiao practicing with our machines a few months ago!” Beidou, as Xiao had sheepishly introduced earlier, barks out a laugh before slinging an arm around your best friend’s shoulders. “Said there’s someone he wanted to give permanent tatts to. I’m guessing you’re the guest of honor?”

“Beidou,” Xiao groans. “It’s not a big deal. I already practiced on her before.”

You don’t completely catch it when Beidou makes an inappropriate joke as a response to what Xiao just said—eyes trained on the fading dot on your forearm. It’s been two years since Xiao gave you your first ‘tattoo’, and even if the receding ink makes it look like one of Orion’s stars are starting to die out, it’s still there.

“Okay,” you say in the middle of their bickering, startling both Xiao and Beidou in the process. “I’ll let him ink me if he wants to.”

Xiao stares at you with brows furrowed. “You sure?”

No, you’re not sure because as much as you want to support Xiao in what seems to be a budding passion of his, you’re certain that your father is going to kill you when he sees a full-blown tattoo on any part of your body. You barely got away with the artificial mole that Xiao did for you a few years back.

“Positive.” You back your words up with an indignant huff before sifting through the pre-made designs on Beidou’s catalog. “You just have to put it somewhere not everyone can see, I guess.”

Beidou snorts out another jarring laugh when Xiao clicks his tongue to alleviate the embarrassment that’s painting his face just a touch of red.

Earlier in the day, you intended to scold your best friend for not taking his studies seriously, but ended up going home that day with a new piece inked onto the skin of your left hip: a little spruce twig that you last remember seeing in your old hometown—years before you even met Xiao.

There’s no particular meaning behind it, apart from a hint of sentimentality and rebelliousness. It’s your first actual tattoo, and one of your best friends gave it to you, free of charge. Even if it hurts ten times more than Xiao’s novice needle method from two years ago, you end up loving it more than you thought. One time, you stare at Xiao’s intricate handiwork in the mirror for so long that you nearly run late for your first class of the day.

(Another thing that makes this particular piece memorable is the process itself.

Xiao is a person who’s always been startlingly precise in everything he decides to put his head into. When you learned that he wanted to become a tattoo artist, you instantly felt like there’s no other path more perfect for him than this.

Yet you couldn’t help but notice how his fingers sometimes trembled as he gave you your first piece—with you lying chest-down on Beidou’s tattoo chair in nothing but your shirt and underwear. It shouldn’t have been strange. Xiao has seen you dressed down like this dozens of times before.

But when all’s said and done, he refused to meet your eyes, and you don’t have the slightest clue why.)

03.

You just can’t stop staring when you see Xiao’s half-sleeve for the first time.

It’s meant to be a phoenix, he said, but you can’t really see it because the patterns are too abstract to make sense of. Still, the azure ink sits nicely on top of his built bicep, and you have to tell yourself that you’re just trying to find the stupid phoenix as an excuse to keep ogling him.

Thankfully, your weird fascination lasts for only about a week until you’re back to shitting on him like you always do.

By some miracle, Xiao manages to graduate high school despite being on probation from his excessive absences. He’s actually smart if he makes the effort to hit the books, but you’re not sure if he’s planning on going to college with how comfortable he is with being one of Beidou’s most in-demand tattoo artists.

You ask him about his future plans at a party being thrown by the previous captain of the football team in his parents’ lavish penthouse somewhere uptown. It took a great deal to force Xiao into tagging along with you as your plus one, and you’re going to make good on his acquiescence by interrogating him about things he normally skirts around.

“I told you, I didn’t take any entrance exams,” he grumbles against the rim of his red cup. “I’m managing just fine working for Beidou, so I don’t see any reason to go to college.”

You’re about to argue that Beidou’s tattoo parlor won’t be open forever, and that he needs to think about broadening his career options until a bunch of girls with linked arms shuffle closer to where you and Xiao were lounging on the couch. You don’t talk to them a lot, but everyone in your grade knows the infamous Pyro Trio.

“Hey, Xiaooo,” Hu Tao drawls with a smirk, pushing up her sleeve to reveal the branches of a cherry blossom tattooed on the delicate skin of her arm. Behind her, Xiangling and Xinyan snicker like it’s some sort of inside joke.

You intend to shift your gaze elsewhere. Clearly, you’re not the person these girls want to speak with. But the sight of the ink on Hu Tao’s skin makes the back of your neck prickle with misplaced irritation. Xiao must’ve been the one who did her piece, which shouldn’t be a surprise. Though he’s this year’s most notable absentee, rumors about Xiao’s handiwork haven’t gone unnoticed among the students in your (now) alma mater.

That doesn’t mean you have to like the idea of your best friend inking other people that aren't you, though.

You decide to excuse yourself from Xiao’s company—given that Hu Tao is giving him plenty of attention already as is. Your best friend utters something you don’t quite catch as you walk away, and you don’t bother turning around to ask him to repeat himself.

(As you stuff your face with shot after shot, you force yourself to just keep dancing to the rhythm of whatever song is blaring to the speakers. You didn’t give two shits about the fact that Hu Tao keeps feeling up the stupid phoenix tattoo on Xiao’s arm. Nor did you care about the fact that your best friend—who’s normally evasive when it comes to casual contact—seems like he doesn’t mind at all.)

The night ends with Xiao begrudgingly getting behind the wheel of your car, since you’re obviously in no state to be driving anyone home. When he announces that he’ll bring you back to your apartment, you slur out a drunken protest—asking if he can take you to the tattoo parlor instead.

“What?” he asks incredulously. “Why?”

You huff, curling in on yourself on the passenger seat. “The cherry blossoms you gave Hu Tao were ugly as shit. You can do a better piece on me. Y’know, as practice.”

Both of you know that you’re bluffing. Xiao’s pieces are one of the most intricate you’ve ever seen, even if he is a rookie tattoo artist, and that you don’t have a lot of points of reference to compare to. But instead of taking offense at your mindless jab at his work, Xiao slots the keys into the ignition with a defeated sigh.

“Fine. You mentioned wanting spider lilies a while back,” he says before propping his arm against the car seat as he backed up on the street. It’s the perfect angle to moon over his not-so-phoenix tattoo, and if you were any more intoxicated, you would’ve reached out and squeezed his arm.

“Where do you want it?”

You know he meant to ask where you wanted him to put your prospective tattoo, but the question sends your mind straight into the gutter. Thankfully, you still have some semblance of coherence lingering in your drunk thoughts, and you answer with:

“Right hip. Opposite end of the spruce twig.”

When Xiao heaves another sigh and steps on the gas pedal, you don’t think much of it—still convinced it’s completely normal to expose such intimate parts of yourself to your best friend so he can tattoo a fucking flower just above the swell of your thigh.

04.

“You have been watching way too much anime.”

“Come on! At least I’m not having you tattoo the names of my shitty ex-boyfriends on my ass, right? Just give me my modified Tanjiro hanafuda and Fullmetal Alchemist flamel!”

“...Is this your way of coping with taking up a nursing course? Is it that stressful?”

You whine as you hold your phone closer to your ear, already picturing the look of disbelief in Xiao’s face when you asked when he’s free to give you your next tattoos. You still go to college in the same city, but it’s been weeks since you last saw him.

“You have no idea,” you groan. “It’s like my first year, and I’m already burned out! How is that even possible?”

Your best friend grunts on the other line. “Maybe if you stopped being such a perfectionist, then maybe you’ll learn to be more content. Less stress on your part, too.”

“Ah, no can do. I never do anything that isn’t perfect,” you chuckle. “

“Yeah, I saw you score at the top of your class during your, uh… what was it again? Biochem exam?”

For someone who doesn’t exactly give a damn about anything outside tattooing and other similar forms of artistry, you find it endearing to know Xiao actually remembers all the things you rant about in the wee hours of the morning. You don’t hate biochem, but if you have to draw another chemical configuration, you might just pop a vein.

“Okay, let’s say I agree to tattoo those weird doodles you sent,” Xiao propositions, “do you even have any free days? You usually study on weekends, right? I don’t think you’re free to drop by the shop even if you wanted to.”

Fuck. He’s right. You still have a few major exams coming up in the next two weeks. If you wait that long until you get your silly weeaboo tattoos from Xiao, you would’ve already gotten over your momentary hyperfixation on the TV shows that were salvaging your sanity in the middle of the semester. It wouldn’t feel as thrilling to get them anymore.

“I’m free…” You trail off, eyes darting to the digital clock by your desk then to the course notes you have opened on your laptop. You haven’t studied as much as you wanted to for your upcoming anatomy test, but…

“Right now, actually. Can you pick me up?”

You can hear him frowning. “Don’t you have a car?”

“I do, but I don’t wanna drive when I have plastic wrap all over my body.”

“You’re exaggerating. It’s not all over your—”

“Jesus, get the hint, Xiao. I miss my best friend, and I want to have a quiet evening cruise on his motorcycle before he gets me inked again!”

Xiao falls silent, and this time, you’re having some difficulty picturing what expression he’s wearing on his face. You like to think you’ve startled your un-startle-able best friend, but that’s pushing your influence too much.

“Okay,” he says, more agreeable than you thought he’d be. “I’ll be there in thirty. Don’t you dare fall asleep on me.”

05.

When you introduce your first serious boyfriend in a while to Xiao, you’re a bit annoyed with how prickly he’s being.

Sure, it’s wired into his system to be the snarky asshole everyone knows and loves, but if there’s anyone else who knows about the tragedy that is your love life better than yourself, it’s Xiao. When you finally land a decent guy to settle down with, you at least expect him to be a bit more supportive.

“Actually, we came here ‘cause we planned on getting matching tattoos,” your boyfriend, Yin, explains with a dimpled smile. “Isn’t that right?”

You stifle a soft laugh, a bit embarrassed to agree, but too in love with your boyfriend to protest.

A few years ago, you distinctly remember drunkenly rambling to Xiao about how stupid it is to get couple tattoos especially when relationships these days are built on flimsy foundations.

If you break up, what then? You have a physical reminder of that person on your body for eternity? No fucking thanks!

“Sorry, we’re closed right now, as you can see,” Xiao grunts before jabbing his thumb at the sign he just turned at the door. “You can try some other time, though.”

At the time, you were pissed at Xiao for denying your little request. He always agreed to ink you during ungodly hours of the day, but now he’s playing the ‘shop’s closed’ card just because he doesn’t like your boyfriend?

But then, you end up grateful for his attitude exactly a month later.

“Fucking cheated on me with some bitch from his Physics lecture,” you sniffle on Xiao’s ratty sofa as he makes you some tea in his kitchen. “I can’t believe I nearly tattooed our anniversary on my wrist! I would’ve had to fucking amputate it in the end.”

Xiao sighs before placing a piping hot cup of honey lemon in front of you on his coffee table—crossing his legs together. He doesn’t tell you I told you so, like others probably would if they were in his shoes. Your best friend just stares at you with withering understanding, no matter how stupid the choice that got you here in the first place turned out to be.

That’s one of the many things you loved about him.

“You were supposed to have ‘XV’ inked together, right?” he asks.

You huff before tossing some of the soiled tissues you used into the bin. “Yeah. We made it official on September 15th.”

“Well, if you still want the tattoo, you could just give it a different meaning.”

Scowling, you stare at Xiao as if he just grew a second head. “What the hell are you talking about?” Is he really suggesting for you to get the same tattoo that he denied you and your ex a month ago?

Xiao shrugs noncommittally before taking a sip from the tea he prepared for you. “It’s been fifteen years since we became best friends. That’s worth commemorating, at least. Unless you suddenly don’t give a shit about that, too?”

Your jaw hangs agape at the sudden reminder. October 15th. When you were four, you accidentally spilled orange juice all over Xiao’s teletubbies backpack, and when he forgave you on the spot, you crowned him as your first bestie.

That was fifteen years ago. Holy shit.

He startles when you abruptly shoot back to your feet, earning yourself a perplexed stare from Xiao who just wants you to sit down and drink your damn tea—

“Is Beidou’s shop open?” you ask. “I want her to do our matching tatts.”

Xiao grimaces. “Our?”

You nod brusquely, tugging at his arm. “Yeah, I’m allowed to have matching tattoos with you, ‘cause you’ll never walk out of my life, right, Xiao?”

He’s always been a stubborn little shit, so you don’t really expect Xiao to relent as quickly as he does. You nearly stumble to the carpeted floor when he lets you pull him up—faces hovering so close to each other, you nearly choke on your own breath.

It doesn’t help that Xiao has definitely…put in a few inches of height. Back then, you used to tease him a lot for being taller than him, but now?

“Never,” he whispers so softly, you wouldn’t have heard it if you weren't as close to him as you are. “Now drink your stupid honey lemon tea so we can head to the shop.”

About two and a half hours later, you’re sitting on the vacant seats in the shop’s waiting lounge—a familiar sting still sizzling beneath your ribcage from where you had your first matching piece with Xiao permanently inked. You made him swear to have his own ‘XV’ tattoo made on the same place, and he makes good on his promise when he emerges from the workroom, wearing nothing but his dark-washed jeans.

Unlike yourself, you rarely see Xiao in various states of undress. The most skin you could get out of him on most days is the lean muscle of his tattooed biceps, and sometimes those are enough to have you staring dumbly at him for several minutes.

Now, though?

You learn that he has several tattoos on his torso—spread across his skin like patchwork. It makes you wonder if he did some of them himself, or if he had Beidou work on them for him. Still, despite the plethora of new ink stains to gawk at, his weird phoenix tattoo remains as your personal favorite.

Along with the newest piece he got not five minutes earlier—the tattoo he shares with you.

“Are you happy now?” he grumbles, letting you marvel at the perfect roman numerals just below the jut of his ribs. “It’s a good thing Beidou gave it to us free of charge, you know.”

You giggle. “All of my tatts so far have been free of charge.”

“That’s only because you’re special to me,” Xiao sighs before freezing up in the next moment—like he didn’t mean to let that slip aloud.

You smirk. “Mm? What was that? I didn’t hear you.”

“Fuck off.”

06.

Much to Xiao’s disappointment, your shitty taste in men doesn’t exactly end with Yin.

About three months after getting the tattoo to commemorate your fifteen years of best friendship, you meet Kaeya. He’s an exchange student, and you know better than to form any sort of attachment to someone who isn’t going to be in the same continent as you by next year.

But you let him in anyway.

You allow Kaeya to get to know you in ways that not even Xiao is familiar with. The smooth-talking foreigner likes to kiss every single one of your tattoos—lamenting the fact that they’re all inked in spots hidden from view. You laugh every time he brings it up, saying your parents are going to kill you and Xiao if they saw any of the pieces your best friend did for you over the last six years.

“That best friend of yours…” Kaeya muses once he’s done bringing you to paradise and back, smoking a cigarette that makes you wrinkle your nose with distaste. He would’ve been perfect, if only he wasn’t such a chronic chainsmoker. “He’s in love with you, isn’t he?”

You nearly fall off the bed at his bold declaration.

“W-What the fuck are you talking about?” you stammer. Xiao? In love? With you?

Kaeya shrugs. “I dunno, sweetheart. If I was a tattoo artist, I wouldn’t let anyone freeload my craft as many times as you did—even if you are my best friend. Unless I was down fucking bad for you, of course.”

Xiao doesn’t like Kaeya, but the reasoning behind it is a bit different from why he doesn’t like your ex. He knew Yin wasn’t a good match for you. Kaeya, though? The two of you had inarguable chemistry. The only problem was he was a free spirit that didn’t like to be tied down by commitments—something you clearly struggle with.

When you reassured Xiao that Kaeya is nothing but a way to scratch a passing itch, he merely scoffed and told you to do whatever you wanted.

Could his dismissiveness be because…he’s in love with you?

That can’t be right. You’re the one who knows Xiao best. If he hypothetically does catch feelings for someone—much less, you—you’ll surely be the first to notice, right?

Right?

Kaeya chuckles before tracing the XV tattoo along your ribcage with a cold finger—almost like he’s teasing. You roll your eyes before crawling back on top of your midnight lover, kissing him just to shut him up.

When you drop by Beidou's the next day, Xiao is nowhere to be found.

“Didn’t he tell you?” She gapes. “Our boy’s starting his own shop downtown! He had the soft launch and everything a week ago. I was wondering where you were.”

“Uh…”

You’re not sure how to break the news that Xiao has been giving you the cold shoulder ever since you got together with Kaeya. But finding out that he put up his own tattoo parlor without even telling you?

If Kaeya turns out to be right, and your best friend really was in love with you, he sure as hell wasn’t acting like it.

Deciding to play along with whatever game he’s playing, you make an appointment to get a new piece inked under a fake name. Xiao accepts it right away and schedules you for an early evening slot. You make it a point to arrive twenty minutes late just to get a rise out of him.

When he sees you at the entrance to his shop, you almost let yourself feel smug about the unadulterated surprise on his face. Almost. You’re still pissed off that he didn’t invite you to one of the most important milestones of his life.

He fulfills your request in silence—the French word for green inked unassumingly on the underside of your shoulder blades. Xiao doesn’t say a word about his evasiveness, nor does he address the fact that you, his literal best friend, are standing in the shop he’s kept a secret for god knows how long.

When he still refuses to talk, you slam your payment on top of a nearby table—intent on storming out of the building even if he hasn’t wrapped your newest piece in a protective layer of plastic yet. Xiao barks that he doesn’t want your fucking money, and you end up throwing your hands in the air, asking:

“Then what the hell do you want?”

You expected him to blow up in a fitful of rage. He’s never been good at anger management, you knew this well. But instead, he crosses the distance separating the two of you and crushes your mouths together.

“You,” he whispers hoarsely, desperately against your lips. “I’ve only ever wanted you.”

Kaeya calls you multiple times that night—even leaves a text message asking where you are and if you’re free. You aren’t able to answer any of them though. Not when you’re busy being railed into the next life by your best friend of fifteen—going sixteen—years in the same bed that Kaeya just had his way with you a week ago.

When Xiao’s lips graze each and every tattoo he personally inked onto your pliant body, it’s leagues different from when Kaeya does it. It’s like your best friend is leaving a trail of fire sizzling beneath your skin everywhere his mouth trails along your hypersensitive flesh.

Even the way he makes you fall apart from a blistering orgasm is ten times more intense than every session you had with Kaeya and Yin combined.

There’s no affection nor is there adoration in Xiao’s gaze as he fucks into you—golden eyes fueled by something carnal and zealous, but you knew better than to call that love.

When morning comes, Xiao isn’t here with you, and you don’t know which emotion to feel.

Kaeya, at least, has the decency to leave a note whenever he has to depart early. But all that your best friend leaves you with is a sinking feeling in your stomach, and a glaring realization that you did not want to make when you’re crying all alone in your apartment at the crack of dawn.

Kaeya was wrong. Xiao isn’t in love with you.

You’re in love with Xiao, and you immediately know you’re in deep fucking shit because of it.

07.

It’s two weeks into your mission of complete radio silence when Xiao finally breaks.

You’re in the middle of a pharmacology lecture when your phone buzzes in your pocket. You knew it wasn’t Kaeya because he’d already packed his things last week and headed back to his home country. The bastard even asked you for a quick farewell fuck, but you turned him down right away and gave him a kiss goodbye instead.

When you find out it’s a text message from the same person you’ve been trying to avoid all this time, you’re all too quick to parse through its contents.

Xiao: I'm sorry. Can we talk?

That’s how you wind up standing right outside of his new tattoo parlor.

You haven’t been able to take a good look at it the last time you were here—too frustrated with your best friend to really make sense of your surroundings. But he’s put up his new shop in a pretty good part of town. You wonder how Xiao managed to afford it all.

Then again, he’s been working at Beidou’s shop for years. You knew he had a decent number of regulars, as well as potential clients that are highly interested in his work.

For once, you let yourself be proud of him. Even if he didn’t put your name on the guest list for his soft launch.

Xiao looks a little sheepish when he lets you inside and flips the sign on the front door to give the two of you some privacy. You aren’t faring any better. The last time you saw him, he was balls-deep inside of you—fucking you like you’re the most despicable woman in the world.

“So there’s this…collage piece I wanted to try,” he starts, and you fight the urge to roll your eyes.

Of course when Xiao invites you over to talk, you shouldn’t have expected any actual talking to take place. That’s just not his style. He’d rather make up for whatever mistakes he made by inking another stupid tattoo on your body, but honestly? You’ll take whatever you can get.

When you saw his sketch of a Statue of David peppered with four-leaf clovers, you couldn’t even dream of parsing the meaning behind the piece. The only thing that makes you relent is an old memory of you and Xiao hunting for four-leaf clovers in your mother’s garden—even putting the effort to plant whatever you could find in a pot in hopes that they would grow bigger.

It takes him hours to complete the entire thing. This one is probably the most realistic piece he’s done for you, and you can’t help but watch the intense concentration on his face through the mirror on the wall as he inks it a few inches above the last tattoo he did for you.

You’ve never really realized how…breathtaking he looks like this.

His fringe falling across his pretty gold eyes, the comfortable set of his jaw as he focuses on his work, and the soft slope of his cupid’s bow despite how harsh the words that come out of his mouth can be.

Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.

You really are in love with this guy.

When he’s finally satisfied with his work, Xiao puts down his machine before wiping a sheen of sweat off his brow. He already looks so fucking good while he’s working. How is it fair for him to look even more gorgeous right after the entire process?

“Come on, let’s wrap it up,” he says before stretching his limbs. The action makes the cropped shirt he’s wearing ride up his torso a little, and you’re teased with a glimpse of the tattoo he matches with you.

Your heart nearly leaps to your throat, and if it weren’t for the dull sting of your newest tattoo, you would’ve been entranced by the sight of him entirely.

“Sure,” you say, even if your heart is begging for you to just be honest with him. To let him know how you’ve felt all this time because frankly, you can’t keep carrying the weight of your own feelings for much longer.

But then you remember how…apathetic Xiao looked like the night he dared to tell you he wanted you. There was no love to be found in his animalistic gaze, and you fear that he’ll turn you even further away at the slightest hint of more-than-friendly affection from your end.

You can live with this. His fleeting yet heated touches. His deep, piercing stares.

You’ll do anything to preserve what you have with him now—even if that means sacrificing everything else you could still dream of.

08.

Sometimes, you think Xiao is making you hope on purpose.

Sure, your friendship was more or less salvaged after offering your Statue of David tattoo as a quiet apology. You’re back to teasing him for all the most minuscule things, and Xiao is back to being your voice of reason in no time.

These days, though, you don’t really have much time to hang out with him like you usually do. You’re in the last year of your nursing degree, and your shifts at the hospital on top of your regular academic workload render you much too exhausted to catch up with any of your friends. Xiao included.

But there comes a night when he visits you in your apartment when you’re busy studying for a tricky surgery exam—a bucket full of fried chicken, and a bottle of sparkling water in hand. What kind of fiend would turn away an unannounced blessing like that ?

You munch through the midnight snack Xiao brought for you all while forcing him to do your flashcards with you. He knows the drill, anyways. Though he’s been out of school for years, Xiao is still familiar enough with your study habits to be of substantial help during these trying times.

While you’re in the middle of differentiating the different types of sutures, though, he proposes an idea.

“It’s been a while since I inked you with a sewing needle and pen ink, isn’t it?”

You narrow your eyes, taking a swig of your carbonated drink as your gaze flickers to the pseudo-Orion’s belt on your right forearm. The third star has all but faded from view over the years.

“Yeah, why are you asking?”

Xiao rummages through his knapsack for a few seconds before bringing out what seems to be a small sewing kit, and a jar labeled ‘Indian ink’. You gulp in equal parts dread and anticipation.

“I figured out how to make the tatts stay longer,” he says, a gentle smile settling over his face. “You want me to give you a new one? I can even revive good old Orion, too.”

You sigh. Who are you to turn the love of your life down anyway?

Xiao gets to work while you’re lying sideways on your bed, flinching every now and again because he decided to outline the spitting image of the flower vase sitting on top of your nightstand along the curve of your waist.

Unlike your first experience with manual needling, your pain tolerance is much better. The only reason you’re squirming every time Xiao embeds the ink into your skin is because you’re fucking ticklish. All those years of being intimately acquainted with Beidou’s tattoo machine were all the sensory training you needed, it seems.

When Xiao is done with this piece, he pulls you into an upright position, making you hold out your arm so he could resurrect the first tattoo he ever gave you. You roll your eyes, but let him do as he pleases anyway.

At this point, you’ll let him do anything with you.

It’s nearly three in the morning when you’re putting away the dishes and glasses you and Xiao used for the night. He’s kind enough to throw out the trash while you clean up in the kitchen, and when he meets you back in the living room to exchange farewells, you don’t really want him to go.

“You have morning classes tomorrow, right?” he murmurs as he pulls you into a firm embrace, careful not to press down too hard on your new tattoo. “Take care. Don’t burn yourself out too much. All your hard work will be for nothing if you end up keeling over before graduation.”

You can’t help it. The soft timbre of his voice coupled with the fond look in his eyes tears all your defenses asunder. As you look up to meet Xiao’s uncharacteristically doting gaze, your chest twists more and more as you keep yourself from lunging in for a kiss.

“You’re such a pessimist, it’s almost funny how caring you sound,” you chuckle. “Go on, now. Shoo. It’s late.”

Before you can push him out of the door, however, Xiao catches you by surprise when he leans down to peck your lips. You stay frozen in place even as he pulls away—smiling so prettily, you can hardly believe this guy is your perpetually pissed off best friend.

“Good night.”

Unlike the last time he left you all alone in your apartment, you’re filled to the brim with an emotion you can’t quite name. It’s far from the emptiness that made a home in your heart when you thought you were in love with someone who didn’t love you back. But you’re not about to call it happiness either.

Whatever this strange feeling is, you let it sit in your chest for a while longer, and it lingers even when the memory of Xiao’s lips stops prickling against the skin of your own.

09.

On the day of your graduation, Xiao asks you to drop by his shop after the rites have concluded. You tell him that he’s self-centered as fuck, and that this is your day, so if he wants to use your body as a practice canvas again, he’s going to have to wait tomorrow.

You don’t tell him that you’re sulking because he didn’t even show up to congratulate you for surviving four gruesome years of nursing. But you suppose that someone who never went to college in the first place wouldn’t be the best at sympathizing with this particular milestone in your life.

He shows you his latest sketch when you make it to his shop the next morning—and you can’t contain the look of disbelief that colors your features when you realize what it is.

“A bouquet that’ll never wilt,” he chuckles, one finger expertly pointing out the flowers he’s drawn on the neat page. “Orchids and hydrangeas: your favorite. Violets: you press a bunch of these in books every summertime. Pink baby’s breath ‘cause you wouldn’t stop gushing about them at your sister’s wedding.”

You aren’t able to stifle the flattered giggle that spills from your lips. “Can’t believe you actually remember all that. What’s the lily of the valley doing there though?”

“Oh, this?” Xiao hums with one brow raised. “Your mom had lots of them in her old garden. Those are my favorite.”

“And, pray tell, why is your favorite flower going to be permanently tattooed on my body?”

Xiao doesn’t humor you with a verbal answer right away. Instead, he wheels his revolving seat closer to you so that he’s close enough to press your foreheads together. Your breath hitches when his mouth curves into a loving smile you’re starting to get used to seeing.

“Because you’re mine,” he says simply. “Now, are you going to tell me where you want me to ink your eternal bouquet or not?”

10.

You’re a complete sap when it comes to weddings. Everyone knows this.

It’s for that reason that none of your guests are surprised when you end up crying in the middle of exchanging vows with your fiancé. Xiao sighs before taking out a handkerchief from his front pocket, dabbing at the tears streaming down your face. For someone who comes on so tough to other people, you’re awfully sentimental.

“Sorry, sorry—” you sniffle, thanking every single god out there for the invention of waterproof mascara. “Okay, I’m ready now.”

The rest of the session proceeds swiftly. You get to kiss your best friend of more than two decades and call him your husband in front of some friends and family. The matrimonial rites were held in a private resort at the base of a mountain. Both you and Xiao wanted to preserve the intimacy of your wedding as much as you could. After all, you didn’t need all that flashy and grandiose wedding prep to prove to the world just how much you want to spend the rest of your life with Xiao.

Your thoughts stay the same even as he lays you down in the king-sized bed of the cabin you had to yourselves. He sighs in between kisses as he strips you off your wedding garbs. You’re surprised he’s taking his time with you. Xiao has been eye-fucking you since you started walking down the aisle. It was so bad that even Beidou made a few off-hand remarks about the sexual tension during the reception.

“I was thinking,” you breathe as he grinds his hips against yours, “of getting another tattoo. My last one.”

Xiao lifts his head for a moment, one brow arched. “You’re married to a tattoo artist, and you think the tattoo you’re getting after the wedding is your last one? You’re dreaming, princess.”

“Fine. Point taken.” You roll your eyes. “But anyway, I want a dragon tattoo riiiight…here.”

Your husband watches with rapt attention as you guide his hand to the spot you’re talking about—just below the collection of your favorite flowers inked above your waist is a blank stretch of skin. Xiao’s lips twitch into a fond smile as his calloused fingers graze your flesh.

“Still against having showy tatts?” he asks before pressing a soft kiss on the spot you pointed at.

“Mhmm. You see, my dad doesn’t care if I’m married and have my own life. If he sees that I have tattoos, he’s still going to murder me,” you chuckle. “So yeah, tatts are staying under my clothes until he grows old enough and forgets that he hates seeing ink on other people’s skin.”

“I’ll keep that in mind then.”

When Xiao ravishes you for the first time as your husband, your chest overflows with love for him. Not everyone is lucky enough to have their best friends by their sides for as long as you did, yet you ended up tying the knot with yours. Although the entire process was more than twenty years in the making, you suppose there’s no point in rushing anything.

After all, Xiao is as permanent in your life just as much as the ink stains on your body.

“Look,” you chuckle once Xiao is done cleaning up in the bathroom and settles down right next to you on the bed, “Kaeya sent us a postcard. He says congrats on overcoming the emotional constipation.”

“Throw that thing away,” your husband grumbles, pulling you away from the pile of postcards on the nightstand. “Why are you even keeping touch with him still?”

“So I can use him as an excuse to get you jealous, and have you fuck me rough?”

“Oh, princess. If you wanted it rough…” he starts with a sigh, rolling his neck with a smirk. You gulp, wondering if you’ve bitten off more than you can chew this time around.

“All you had to do was ask.”

⟢ end notes: it's been a while since i wrote for genshin, so i hope you liked it! thank you sm for reading ^^

#genshin impact #genshin fanfic #genshin smut #genshin xiao #xiao fanfic #xiao smut #xiao x reader #genshin x reader #genshin headcanons #cryoculus

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cosmicanamnesis · 2 years

Text

everybody loves a coffeeshop au

[part 2] [part 3] [part 4] [part 5] [part 6] [part 7] [part 8] [part 9] [part 10] [part 11] [read on ao3]

October 10th

The first time the cute metalhead came into the Waystation, Steve was on bar and didn't catch his name. His order wasn't complicated, but it was long. Three medium black coffees, one small London fog, a large half sweet vanilla latte with soy milk, and a small hot chocolate. He'd paid in cash, leaving the change in the tip jar, and left in a hurry balancing the drink carriers on top of each other. If it hadn't been in the middle of a rush, Steve would've run around the counter and offered to hold the door for him.

Fortunately for Steve, he came in the next day, at the same time, with the same order, and Steve was on register this time.

"And can I get a name for the order?" Steve asked, punching the drinks into the computer.

"Eddie," the man said.

"Awesome. We'll have that all at the end for you," Steve said with a smile. Eddie dropped his change in the tip jar and wordlessly walked away.

One of Steve's favorite parts of the job was getting to talk to beautiful people. Not everyone was, of course, but a few times a day a customer would come in with long curly hair or beautiful eyes or a charming smile and Steve would fall in love with them for thirty seconds and then usually never see them again and it was fine. It was fun. It was harmless.

Eddie had all those things, all the things Steve was a sucker for, but unlike all the others, Eddie kept coming back.

It took a month or so, but eventually everyone in the shop had either taken or made Eddie's order so many times that they all knew what it was and could start making it before he'd even reached the counter. Or rather, immediately abandon Steve and force him to make it.

It was fine with Steve, though. He didn't mind making long orders, and it gave him a chance to chat with Eddie, not that he ever did. If he were a little braver, maybe he would talk, maybe ask where Eddie works, maybe get the story on why he comes in alone every day to carry an entire office's worth of drinks out.

Maybe get his number.

But Steve wasn't braver, and instead of talking to him, he contented himself to just make the drinks and sneak glances whenever he could to admire the way Eddie's hair fell over his shoulders, the way his rings glinted and drew attention to his hands, the way he would sometimes stick his tongue out, just a little, if he was really absorbed in whatever he was doing.

Steve really wanted his number.

December 3rd

“Steve!” Robin yelled from the register. “Your boyfriend’s here!”

“He’s not my boyfriend,” Steve huffed, but came up front anyway as the bell on the door chimed. “Hey Eddie. Usual?”

“Yeah, thanks,” Eddie nodded, handing Steve a wad of ones and fives. He dropped the change in the tip jar, like every day, and went to the end of the counter to wait. Steve watched him as he made the order. He wasn’t doing anything, just looking at his phone, but the cold outside had flushed his cheeks bright red and Steve couldn’t help but stare.

“Is it snowing out there yet?” he asked, putting lids on the plain coffees and popping them into a carrier.

“Huh? Oh, no. Is it supposed to?” Eddie seemed surprised that someone was talking to him, but he looked up anyway, slipping his phone back in his pocket.

“That’s what I’ve heard,” Steve shrugged. “Pretty much every old lady in here this morning has complained about their arthritis and the weather, so I just assumed.”

“Oh, yeah?” Eddie laughed, leaning on the counter. Steve wanted to listen to him laugh all day.

“Yeah,” he smiled. “Perks of the job, y’know? Never have to check the weather, just wait until somebody with a bad knee comes in.”

“I always thought that was a myth.”

“I dunno, man,” Steve shrugged again, sliding the drink carriers onto the counter. Eddie was smiling at him, wild curls framing his face. “They only had to be right a couple times to make me a believer.”

“Well,” Eddie said, carefully stacking the drinks on top of each other. “If it starts snowing later, I might start believing it too.”

Steve could’ve sworn Eddie winked at him on his way out.

“Oh my god, that was pathetic,” Robin said, reemerging from the back. “If you’re gonna flirt with him, just flirt with him. Is it snowing yet? Fuck off.”

“Wait, did Steve finally talk to that guy?” Chrissy, their assistant manager, poked her head out of the kitchen.

“Yeah, sorta,” Robin chided.

“I honestly don’t know what you see in him, Steve,” Chrissy said, bringing a tray of pastries up front to put in the case.

“What? What do you mean?” Steve crossed his arms.

“Nothing! Just… He’s kinda weird, isn’t he? Like, standoffish?” She looked to Robin, who nodded. “I mean, you do you, but…”

“Wait, is this why you guys always shove me up front when he’s here?”

The girls looked at each other and then at Steve.

“Yeah, pretty much,” Chrissy admitted.

“You’re the only one that doesn’t mind him, so… He’s your problem,” Robin agreed.

“Proud of you for actually working up the nerve to talk to him, though.”

“Yeah, even if it was just about the stupid weather.”

Sure enough, it started snowing within the hour.

December 30th, Afternoon

Robin had begged Steve to swap shifts with her so she could go on a date. Normally Steve was an opener. He liked it, because he was naturally an early riser and opening meant more time after work to get shit done. But she had begged, and she was his best friend, so even though taking her closing shift messed with his whole routine, he agreed to swap. Plus, it meant he would have all of New Year’s Eve off, and that was pretty cool too.

It also meant accidentally finding out where Eddie worked.

Steve lived close enough to the cafe to walk there, and the walk took him past places that were usually still closed when he came in in the mornings. Antique store, jeweler, boutique, boutique, hair salon, tattoo parlor…

Steve took a couple steps back and looked in the front window of the tattoo place. Eddie happened to look up from whatever he was doing at that exact moment and gave him a confused sort of look. Steve just smiled and gave Eddie a small wave before going back on his way.

Well, it could’ve been more awkward.

#steddie #steddie ficlet #i mean it wont be a ficlet when i'm done with it but w/e #stranger things #stranger things 4 #text

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tiny-pretty-sana · 10 months

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i will take good care of you | mina x chaeyoung

pairing: mina x chaeyoung genre: fluff warning/tags: au, stablished relationship, domestic girlfriends w/c: 3.1 k a/n: i’m back with more fluff but i promise you i’m trying new things. sorry in advance for the mistakes you might find because english is not my first language but especially because it’s 7 am and i haven’t slept ໒꒰ྀིっ˕ -｡꒱ྀི১. i’m still surprised by the response the first thing i’ve ever posted got, so i’ll be happy if this one receives half as much love as that one did. feel free to leave any comments, feedback, suggestions or requests 🤍

After Chaeyoung hadn't stopped sneezing and blowing her nose since she arrived soaking wet from the rain the previous afternoon, they decided that canceling their Sunday date would be the best option. Their visit to the botanical park has now been replaced by a day at home watching movies. The exam period is coming, so it was reasonable to make Chaeyoung stay at home so she doesn’t get worse. It takes them some time to decide, as the younger one felt guilty because they had already bought tickets, but Mina manages to convince her girlfriend to stay on the couch with a blanket, tea and a box of tissues beside her while she goes out to buy medicine, her favorite snacks and some ingredients to make miso soup.

"I'll take good care of you" is the last thing she says before kissing Chaeyoung’s lips and leaving the apartment.

She would be lying if she said she isn’t surprised to see that when she's back in their apartment, her girlfriend is still in the same place where she left her half an hour ago, only now she has a book in her hand instead of the mug of tea that now sits empty on the living room table. As Chaeyoung focuses on her book, she places everything she got in the kitchen and grabs her Nintendo to continue building and decorating her Animal Crossing island on the other side of the couch. Moments like this are the favorites for both of them, they just need each other's company as they spend time enjoying their hobbies in a comfortable silence.

They are both introverts who enjoy spending time at home playing video games, reading, drawing,writing, assembling Lego sets or watching movies. It's something they've always enjoyed separately, and since Chaeyoung accepted Mina's proposal to move into her apartment, it's become something they do together. Now, across the room, across the couch or using the other Nintendo Switch controller, they have someone with whom they share playful glances, smiles, exchange thoughts, talk about their days at work or college, about lives or share their problems. In moments like these, they just need to feel each other's presence. For them to be in silence doing their own thing while intertwining their legs under the blanket doesn't feel much different from a date outside in a nice place.

It's these things that make Mina wonder if they'll always feel this way or if it's a passing thing that will end when she gets used to living with Chae. Meanwhile, on the other side of the couch, Chaeyoung underlines the sentences in the book that remind her of Mina and thinks that she stay in this moment all her life without ever getting tired of seeing Mina in front of her focus on her videogames with the tip of her tongue sticking out, concentrating on the game, just like she does when she cooks a new recipe or when she prepares some presentation for work.

An hour later, Chae puts the book away, takes off her glasses and holds the bridge of her nose with two fingers "I can't focus, I have a headache" she complains, making Mina sit up immediately "Let me get you a glass of water so you can take a painkiller". Chaeyoung gestures for her to get back to sit with her. "Don't worry, I think I just need to get some sleep" she says as her girlfriend looks at her with a doubtful face "I promise I'll take it if my headache doesn't go away" she replies, earning an indulgent smile from Mina.

As soon as her girlfriend falls asleep on the couch she goes to the kitchen to make some miso soup, lunch for both of them and looks up movie recommendations on her phone while waiting for the water to start boiling. And of course, tea is a must.

It seems that sleep was good for Chae because when she wakes up, she seems to be in a better mood and even a bit more talkative, so they spend lunch talking about what movie they should watch. When they’re done, Mina takes care of clearing the table and cleaning the dishes despite Chaeyoung's refusal when her girlfriend tells her to brush her teeth and go back to the couch.

"Mina-chan!" she whines. "It's just a cold, don't treat me like I'm dying. Let me help you."

"Your exams are coming up and you and I both know that if you get sick now, you'll only be more anxious because you won't be able to do as much as you'd like. At least one of us has to be responsible" Mina says, giving her a scolding look, and Chaeyoung has no choice but to nod her head and follow her directions.

Mina doesn't have to explain herself for her girlfriend to get the message since the cold is due more to Chaeyoung being careless than to the sudden rain of the previous day. In the morning, when the gray clouds covered the Seoul sky and didn't let even a ray of sunshine show, they both commented that good rains were on the way and they hoped that at least it wouldn't be so heavy as to spoil their Sunday date. Exactly that date in which both should now be holding hands, smelling the fragrance of the flowers and taking a thousand photos and maybe, in the case of the art student, doing some sketches or drawings. And despite this, and despite Mina's recommendations, Chaeyoung decided to go out without an umbrella, arguing that her new raincoat would be more than enough and that, unlike the umbrella, it would not ruin her outfit. But in case that hadn’t been enough, for when she arrived completely wet down to her socks and even clothes under her raincoat when Mina reprimanded her for not having listened to her, the younger girl explained that in fact it wasn’t because she wasn’t carrying an umbrella but because she, Dahyun and Tzuyu decided to run and dance in the rain when they left the library after an intense studying session.

Knowing that her girlfriend's two best friends were involved, she wasn’t surprised by what happened. Separately, Tzuyu and Chaeyoung are quite quiet, introverted and they rather go unnoticed, but if they get together with Dahyun nothing good can happen. Apparently in one of their classes this week, a teacher lectured them about youth, art and living life, which inspired them enough for them to spend at least an hour in the rain several days later in the middle of a storm.

Considering what happened, she wasn't going to take Mina's point away, but that's not going to stop her from complaining. "Oh come on, it's a silly cold" she snorts and before she can continue speaking, she sneezes so hard that her glasses fall off. "Okay, but don't take long" she relents.

When the dishes are clean, dry and in place, Mina returns to her side of the couch and gets ready to watch the movie, but she doesn't put it on, so she looks away from the TV and when she turns her head, she meets the huge expressive eyes of her girlfriend, who looks at her like a like a kicked puppy. She laughs softly and shifts her posture to lie down behind her and be the big spoon. It’s then when her girlfriend considers pressing the play button.

Only ten minutes pass until Chaeyoung says "The movie was recommended by Nayeon-unnie, it's probably good. I didn't know she studied film in college" she says, to which Mina simply hums as she concentrates on what the characters are saying and what the subtitles say, as there are parts in Japanese that she doesn't want her girlfriend to miss. Occasionally, Mina whispers in her ear some of the lines or words that she feels are oversimplified in the subtitles, but it's still Chae who keeps talking the whole time. She describes what happened in the scene as if they weren't watching the same thing, comments on how neat the costumes are, talks about how beautiful she thinks the composition is, suddenly switches to the Japanese occupation in which the story is set, asks about something she doesn't have time to read, laughs when she realizes that just like the protagonists, one of them is Korean and the other one is Japanese, she then clarifies that in this case it is the Korean who has to learn Japanese... and Mina starts to be slightly annoyed.

She’s a person who enjoys silence and is easily overwhelmed by too much noise or loud voices, like when they get together with their other seven friends and there are a lot of conversations going on at the same time. She knows it's something she needs to keep working on, but if anything, a red line for her is people talking while watching series or movies. Just like her beloved girlfriend is doing right now, who doesn't seem to pick up on the little interest her rambling receives, being answered only with monosyllables, short sentences and humming. They have been watching the movie for a while now and she’s squirming in her seat because of the discomfort and her urge to say or do something about it. her urge to get it over with is interrupted when she remembers that the girl in her arms is sick and what she needs right now is more care, the least she can do is listen to her thoughts and concerns. Even if she has decided to share them right while they are watching a movie in each other's arms.

Just when the scene in which the protagonists share a moment of intimacy comes and takes Mina's breath away, Chaeyoung speaks and it takes all of Mina’s will to restrain herself and take a deep breath until she hears what her girlfriend has to say now. "Mina-chan, don't move away; it's cold."

And that's when Mina puts all the pieces together and moves her hand to her girlfriend's forehead. As expected, it's quite warm compared to hers and then she leans down to place her lips on her girlfriend's forehead, who without quite knowing what Mina's intentions are, smiles in anticipation of a kiss on her forehead. "Baby, you have a fever" she says softly. "Pause the movie. I'll get the thermometer and some medicine." That's certainly not what Chae, who now had her eyes closed ready to receive the next kiss on her lips, expected to hear. Mina can't help but laugh at the sight before her, but she quickly gets up to get everything she needs from the kitchen and bathroom. After a year of dating her, she should know better.

Luckily, there haven't been many times when one has had to take care of the other while they were sick, but enough times that Mina knows that Chaeyoung starts talking non-stop when her fever starts to rise. It's something that will always make her giggle, it's an odd trait that she finds adorable. "Was I talking that much?" Chae aks to her girlfriend, realizing what's going on, to which Mina nods and chuckles. "I was about to lose it" admits the older one, making her girlfriend blush. "Sorry, I didn't realize" she apologizes and Mina shakes her head as she gets up to grab the thermometer and a couple of other things.

"Here" she says as she returns with the thermometer the box of pills, a sachet of vitamins and a glass of water. "You should uncover for a while, Chaeyoungnie" she says, using a soft voice as she tries to take the blanket she is wrapped in, but her girlfriend grabs it and looks at her with a pout "But I'm so cold". Mina laughs softly "Yesterday you didn't seem to be bothered by the cold, come on, let’s get the thermometer on you".

Mina wasn't mistaken, the thermometer after five minutes reads 39°C, and the first thing she does is pull the blanket aside this time for real and go get a towel. After taking the medicine, they play the movie back on and now that Chae is starting to feel worse, it’s no longer being interrupted by her ramblings, but by all the times Mina has to get up from the couch to re-wet the towel, until she checks her temperature again and it has dropped a few tenths of a degree. Before the movie is over, Chaeyoung falls asleep. She has replaced the blankets with her girlfriend and now is curled up resting her head in the crook of her neck, she warms her hands under the older one's t-shirt and has one of her legs between hers. Mina, now unable to move and not knowing where the remote is, ends up watching the movie alone until the last word of the credits because she finds it impossible to wake her girlfriend when she is sleeping peacefully in her arms.

Fifteen minutes have passed — maybe thirty or an hour — at this point she doesn't even know and she decides it's time to go to bed. She carefully separates her body from her girlfriend's and whispers sweet nothings, trying to wake her up. "Chaeyoungnie, let's go to bed" she whispers for the tenth time and this time she finally gets a "Hmm?" but nothing else, so she decides to take charge of the situation and gets up to pick up her girlfriend until she sees the restrained smile on her face that ends up giving her away. "You're awake! Come on, let's go to bed." Chaeyoung shakes her head and uses her sick privilege, and those eyes with which she gets anything from Mina, and asks her to carry her to their bed.

It doesn't take long for them to fall asleep, but at some ungodly hour of the night, the younger one doesn't stop moving and shivering, thus waking up the older one. Still asleep, with her eyes half open and the dim light coming through the window, she gropes her girlfriend's forehead to check her temperature and when she notices the hairs of her bangs soaked in sweat, she sits up right away and looks again for the thermometer and the towel. This time it reaches 40°C so she immediately uncovers her and places the towel on her forehead, also cooling her face and neck down making her shiver and whimper. "Mina-chan?" she asks with her eyes closed as she doesn’t have enough energy to open them. "I'm here. Your fever is up again, but don't worry. Try to sleep; I'll take care of you" she reassures her and when she sees her weakly nod her head, she caresses her face gently and runs her fingers through Chaeyoung's sweaty hair.

That's how she spent the rest of the night, cuddling her girlfriend, wetting the towel with cold water from time to time and checking the temperature, which didn’t drop below 38ºC all night long. Between one thing and another, she has had time to drink two coffees and has taken the laptop to get ahead of work, knowing that it is best to spend the day with her in case she has to take her to the doctor. When dawn breaks, Mina writes an email to her company informing them she won’t be able to attend work today, she presses enter and listens to the beep of the thermometer, checking that the temperature has finally dropped. She places the laptop on her bedside table, takes off her glasses, deactivates the alarm on her phone and finally lets herself fall asleep.

The sun finishes rising, illuminating the entire room, this time it is Chaeyoung who wakes up. Beside her, she finds her girlfriend with noticeable bags under her eyes, her glasses and laptop beside her just like when she suffers from insomnia. This time, she’s also holding the towel with which she has been using on her forehead all night long. Although the image melts Chaeyoung's heart, she can't help but feel a pang of guilt at the thought that her girlfriend has had to spend the night awake taking care of her because of her poor choices. Soon, the guilt is replaced by the warmth she feels in her chest as she looks at her girlfriend, thinking how grateful and loved she is. After a year together, she still finds it hard to believe that a person like Mina is in love. And not only in love but willing to love her even more with the hairs of her bangs sticking to her forehead from the cold sweat of fever, or like that time when, after finishing her sculpture project, she suffered a contracture and had to help her bathe for five days, or when she drank so much with her unnies that she spent half the night vomiting with her head stuck in the toilet while Mina held her hair and just like today, she then prepared miso soup for her on each of those occasions. According to her, it works to cure everything.

With a smile on her lips, she carefully strokes Mina's hair and covers her with the blanket as she feels her cold skin making her wake up. "Take the medicine. I'll make you some breakfast in a little while, give me five minutes" she hears her say in her newly awake voice. And, unlike the day before, Chae accepts the offer as she feels she doesn't have enough strength to stand for more than five minutes.

True to her word, in less than fifteen minutes, Mina enters the room with a bowl of miso soup. "Thank you, Mina-chan" she says as she picks it up and places it on the nightstand to cool down a bit. "No problem. I made it yesterday, I just warmed it up" she shrugs as the other shakes her head. "It's not about the soup, it's about everything. Thank you for taking care of me and loving me so well. I love you" she clarifies, earning a smile from the girl in front of her. One of those gummy smiles that makes her eyes practically disappear. She says nothing, simply caresses her cheek and reaches up, seeking a kiss from her girlfriend, who, instead of joining her lips with her whispers "You're going to get sick" by way of warning, a warning they are both willing to ignore. "That's not going to stop me. I can't think of a better plan than spending anothers day at home with you instead of going to work. Besides, what was that thing your teacher said for you to end up in the rain... Live, feel, eat, love, laugh, travel and kiss without thinking about tomorrow?" She teases her girlfriend again about the rain incident and Chaeyoung nods her head before kissing Mina. "I guess I'll have to take good care of you" she whispers against her lips.

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h-didanart · 7 days

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And as promised, here they are! Movement notes for the Sunrise Arc Theatre AU! First off, because they’re like my favorite character or something, the Blood Twins!

Known for being incredibly close to one another, these two tend to twirl and circle each other whenever they perform together, it’s one of the things that got them their roles to begin with, alongside the fluidity of their movement and the way they convey emotions through their body language. They have fun when they perform together, that much was clear since the very beginning, they bring a dangerously fun vibe to the stage with their blurry red twirls and fuzzy bluish spins.

To best exemplify their teamwork let’s take a look at their “solo” songs

From the First October Takeover arc, the Dismemberment Song was Hunter and Harvest’s singing debut, used by the lore in Bloodmoon and Eclipse’s battle. During the first verse and chorus only one twin will be around but by the second both red menaces will be on stage. They circle and taunt Eclipse (played by Tabby), dodging most of his attacks and tag teaming him until they “fuse back together” which means that one of them sneaked into the background and will exit stage soon.

However there was an exception to that line of events, the very first performance of this arc, wherein it had been agreed that instead of having Hunter grab a hidden scythe prop, Harvest herself would shapeshift into the scythe. Despite the rehearsals and in spite of both twin’s slow realization of how taxing a choreography this song was, they went fully with this plan, ending up in what is now the official recording of the play. And it looked cool. It did not feel as cool, however, once the adrenaline of the performance wore off and both twins found themselves extremely exhausted. When asked they both said that it was worth it but neither would ever do that again.

Quite the introduction by all means, and certainly one of their favorite performances, but there’s another song the twins like more. And it couldn’t be any more different than their introduction

End of year 2023, post Takeover, the Bloodmoons find themselves at odds with one another after being reunited, but they aren’t the type to part for long and soon enough find themselves sorting out their disagreement in More Than Anything. Hunter and Harvest spin around quite a lot in the last third of this heart wrenching duet, in contrast to them staying the furthest apart they’ve been when both are on stage at once during the first third of the song. Tho unlike their first song, they don’t have difficulties in the choreography here, spinning around comes naturally to them, it’s the emotional escalation of the song that proved to be tricky.

Specifically for Hunter. He’d end up crying after basically every rehearsal, needing about five minutes to compose himself, so when the actual performance came around, it took all his willpower to not break out into sobs onstage. Harvest for her part hadn’t cried during rehearsals, if anything her voice would get quieter, an indication that she was getting emotional, but not much else. Until it was time for the first performance, and to everyone’s (including Harvest) surprise, she did cry. How those two managed to finish the song with an extraordinary amount of not many voice cracks is beyond everyone.

Still, even with such a reaction from them both, this stands as their favorite song to perform together.

Now on the other side of the coin, we have the times when the twins aren’t moving in their usual ways. They don’t twirl, don’t spin, you can barely tell they’re there or they stick out awkwardly. The Hallucination Bloodmoons and Bloodmoon II are the clearest cases of this.

The change can be appreciated more during the non-song parts of the play, however if enough attention is paid, the change in behavior can also be seen in their performances.

Following Sun around and observing him from the background, the Hallucinations act nothing like the physical Bloodmoon.

Barely show any emotion, and barely move at all, having to act as the Hallucinations was a very tough job for the twins, not moving around just isn’t natural for them. We suppose that adds to the uncanniness of the characters.

Jigsaw and Bloodmoon’s duet, Battle of the Bands, showed the first signs of the dissonance between the so called brothers. At some points it appeared as if Bloodmoon was trying to copy and predict Jigsaw’s movements, movements that wouldn’t be usual of the bloodthirsty killer, even bumping into Jigsaw at a failed attempt at a spin once.

Funny thing it is that Ruin and Hunter actually have great chemistry on stage. It was their idea to have it appear as if Bloodmoon was trying to improvise their movements since they weren’t connecting with Jigsaw’s. Foreshadowing, said Ruin when asked.

And speaking of foreshadowing, we’d be damned not to mention one of the most pivotal moments in the killing duo’s arc.

Placed in the middle of the arc, Ruin’s iconic rendition of You’ll be Back is a fan favorite, whether the admiration comes from the singing talent or the charm put into it, no one can deny just how fun this song is to listen to. Unless you’re Bloodmoon and it’s your 5073rd time listening to it.

From the beginning, Bloodmoon is not thrilled about this one. Refusing to get up or even look at Jigsaw, they comedically timed the extra pause the Brit took before the iconic lyric dropped, still clearly not wanting anything to do with it. Soon enough they are dragged out of their seat and are made to dance by Jigsaw, but for once they don’t seem to be having fun. There’s a turn on Bloodmoon’s behavior when Jigsaw gets aggressive for a second during the second half of the song, they appear weirded out, put off, maybe even a bit scared, they had previously made excuses for they supposed brother’s behavior, but were they really sure they didn’t mean it at all? By the time Jigsaw is carrying them, Bloodmoon turns to the audience, an unclear expression on their face. The virus turns it around them once more however, by invoking some of the usual dance moves of the twins, spinning Hunter around but not themselves.

Even without the earlier context of the plot, the choreography makes it clear that there’s a really big conflict boiling in the background, even with the funny lyrics and cheeky mannerisms of the Virus. An odd mix of comedy and uncomfortableness this one is. Very fun to perform for the actors though, Ruin having memorized the song by heart and Hunter often finding it extremely difficult to not move alongside the rhythm.

Something worth noting about this one should be the many attempts it took for Ruin to be able to correctly carry Hunter. There were many times where the smaller bot slipped to the floor or when both animatronics fell at once. They still refused to change the move, both claiming that it was important to the character’s arcs.

And now with enough context for the Blood Twins’ movement, let us look at some other of their performances!

Playing the part of the Hyenas in Be Prepared, Harvest is poked in the forehead by Moon (playing KillCode). Quite the comedic scene on a song about the arc’s villains teaming up

Having a couple seconds to spare, we see Hunter goofing off a bit right before getting wheeled on stage for the scene of Bloodmoon falling into their coma. How he manages to go from a goofy mood to kinda-technically-dying in so little time is a mystery

Another of the Hallucination’s appearances, this time more resembling of a ghost, Harvest can be spotted in the background all throughout It’s Quiet Uptown. Her stoic demeanor is turned to a sort of compassion during this song, just another of the things in this performance that are meant to make any who see it cry

Hunter can be seen during some parts of Right Hand Man, though you’d be luckier to try and spot his voice amongst the backing vocals. Honestly though, that whole scene is a bit of a mess so you can be spared for missing his appearance

The Crescent family’s song, I’ve Got a Dream, is chock full of small moments of characterization for all members. Whether it’s Stars reading out Queso’s lyrics for him as he signs, the collective “children” rolling their eyes at KC’s mention of romance, Flare fetching everyone’s props, or Harvest pushing Monty offstage, there’s not a second where nothing is happening on stage

Both the twins (playing the Hallucinations) are seen on stage alongside Flare (playing Eclipse II possessing them) and Sun, clapping their hands and stomping their feet in unison with the music. It doesn’t come off as a surprise that the twins can act in unison, but it doesn’t remove the creepy aspect of seeing their silent frames stare at Sun as he moves around, movements perfectly coordinated

The argument between Jigsaw and Bloodmoon II is one of the most important points in the Takeover, being what fully places Bloodmoon’s allegiance with the Celestials. Hunter manages to deliver with his short but very powerful performance of Someone Gets Hurt Reprise, his vocal range fully shining through

A late addition to the musical but something deemed lighthearted and important enough to put in, Bloodmoon I’s bizarre way of coming out to her family. Harvest was very excited when getting the news she’d be performing this song, being one of her favorites ever, she and her fellow cast members went all out on the choreography, and to say it was spectacular would be an understatement

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vinelark · 1 year

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Hi I feel like you always have the best batfam fic recs, so I was wondering if you have any recs for any Dick and Tim bonding fics (especially fics that deal with the fallout of Dick giving Robin to Dami)?

hi! so glad you like the recs, i'm always happy to give them 🥰 every time a friend expresses even a passing interest in one of my fav characters i have to stop myself from like, creating a fic rec spreadsheet on the spot.

that said, i got stumped by the second part of this one. i was like oh yes definitely, i totally have read fics for that, and then…could not dig any up from my brain or my bookmarks. i feel like there's a fic on the tip of my tongue, but in the meanwhile, if anyone has any tim & dick red robin reconciliation recs (holy tongue twister, batman) i too would love to see them!

and here are some tim & dick recs in general:

🎄 only you will have stars that can laugh by silverwhittlingknife

set early in tim’s tenure as robin; dick realizes tim is about to be alone on christmas, and they end up spending the holiday together. i love how tentative both dick and tim are about this for different (and at times similar) reasons, and how heartwarming and cozy it ends up being. lots of reflection on family in all its forms and a really good tim & dick dynamic.

🚗 I’d Fly Far Away From Here by Sohotthateveryonedied

in a somewhat similar vein, a oneshot set during tim’s robin era in which tim hitchhikes to blüdhaven after a fight with his dad. dick and tim are two people who technically aren’t brothers yet by law but already are at heart, which doesn’t make it any easier to navigate conversations about tim’s home life or either of their relationship with bruce. (they make it work, though.)

🩹 Not So Large But Definitely In Charge by dottie_dc

tim and dick get tossed into an alternate gotham where there’s no batman or justice league, but find their way to bruce and alfred anyway. this has great tim-under-pressure pov, and the amount that he and dick care about each other even through their arguments is palpable. there’s also a fantastic (and at times gut-wrenching) sequel by JackHawksmoor focusing more on dick & the bruce of this different world. (cw for: past major character death aka alternate universe dick grayson)

🤖 Very Pleasing to My Optical Sensors by waffleelrond

another early robin!tim fic, in which tim gets injured and dick steps in to translate bruce's bruceness about it. it's tentative and sweet and a little silly, and a great bite-sized fic to read when you want to see the two of them just starting out as brothers.

🌌 To an Athlete Dying Young series by SonoSvegliato

at a glance from the summaries this appears like a tim & jason + tim & bruce series (and it is!), but the tim & dick scenes land it on this list for sure. i'm a broken record here with the early-robin!tim & dick recs but man i love them here; in the second fic there's a sequence where dick is teaching tim how to grapple across rooftops that sticks in my mind as one of my top favorite bonding moments for them. (heads up that the series currently ends on a cliffhanger—it's not finished yet!)

🦉 the once and future robin by AstraEllis

and as proof that i can in fact rec something other than early-robin!tim, here's an au where instead of becoming batman's robin tim ends up adopting a talon!dick grayson from another universe as his older brother. and becoming his robin. and then finding his way to the batfamily. i'm fascinated by the tim and alternate-universe-talon!dick relationship in this, and the questions of identity/personhood that it tackles by virtue of the story it is telling. plus, talon!dick's connection to robin as a concept despite the alternate universe aspect is really sweet.

also circling back to red robin reconciliation, i do have these two longfics open in my many tabs to read/finish; both tackle the post-rr era and the dick & tim of it all in their larger plots, so i'll toss in Extant by Kgraces and The Return by lurkinglurkerwholurks to check out too!

#hope you enjoy!#fic rec #asks #tim drake #dick grayson #batfam #i'll be back if i remember more post-rr ones. where are they hiding in my brain #also please know there are so many fics i haven't read yet so let's assume there are tons of good ones that aren't listed here too #also all the non/pre-ao3 content i haven't touched yet #this fandom has so much content and i'm so glad for it

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i3utterflyeffect · 3 months

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Hi! I'm new here but im really interested in the selkie sticks au. Can you resume and explain it to me please?

oh absolutely!!! selkie sticks is one of my favorites but you could probably already tell judging by how incessantly i post about it lol

so the summary is that selkies are not humans who can become seals in this au, but instead they're sticks who can become cursors!

after the events of AVA 1, c!Alan becomes trapped in his computer as a cursor. what he doesn't know at this point is that he's actually a selkie!

usually the progression of selkie growth goes from stick -> fluffy stick (in the shape of some sort of clothing) -> stick sheds coat, and that coat can be used to become a cursor, but since c!Alan is kind of a freak of nature he goes from cursor -> fluffy cursor -> stick with coat!

anyway throughout AVA 2 and 3, he's stuck as a cursor and none the wiser to his status as a selkie! however, he does make The Chosen One and The Dark Lord! they end up inheriting the selkie status. Chosen's coat is obviously kept away from them by Alan, though, and both Chosen and Dark's coats are destroyed too much to be actually used in AVA 3.

After AVA 3, Alan at some point sheds his coat, turning into a mostly just very confused stick, and while he's on the desktop, he ends up accidentally drawing SC! SC is also a baby for no reason other than I wanted to. anyway he's forced to go into the outernet because he has no idea how to raise a stick, and ends up living there in hopes that SC can at least be somewhat normal! SC is also a selkie though so normal is relative--

he does end up meeting king very early on and it splits into two AUs where Gold either survives (because Alan turns into a cursor to break open the minecraft machine) or dies, but for clarity's sake i'm going over the one where gold dies! King and Alan end up losing contact with each other after that point :(

but anyway! Chosen eventually ends up finding out that Alan is in the outernet after finding him caught up in the crossfire with SC after a fight with Dark, and they end up kind of following him around just to make sure he's not hurting SC! Alan does eventually find out, but ends up being okay with this because. like. yeah he was kind of terrible to them, that's fair enough

he also ends up adopting the color gang (much to Chosen's disbelief) and just raising the group in general as the closest thing to normal kids as he can manage, and Chosen ends up babysitting a lot and growing very attached to their little siblings! they don't tell Dark about any of this though because. you know. Alan.

this ends up kind of blowing up in their face when Dark ends up finding out about them anyway and trying to kill Alan, which is equivalent to the showdown!! it happens when SC and the CG are a lot younger so even though Dark doesn't end up attacking the kids SC still exhausts themself pretty badly healing Alan and taking Dark out. I don't think Dark dies in this AU, partially because SC is weaker, but no one finds that out for a while--

(Also! Dark uses the virus to make a faux coat basically since their old one is damaged too badly, but this pretty badly hurts them as well :3c)

anyway! Alan basically takes Chosen in under his wing after that since they're still pretty badly devastated by the loss of Dark, and also Alan feels just generally horrible about everything. he ends up using what's left of Dark's original coat (as well as a few pieces of his own coat) to repair Chosen's coat as a gift for them, and generally things are pretty peaceful after that up until AVA 6!

i haven't completely figured out what happens yet (i mean. kind of obvious since the arc itself isn't over) but i do know Vic ends up most likely stealing Alan's coat!

Vic is a very weird middle point between selkie and not-- they have fur, but never ended up shedding, and can use Alan's coat to transform!

anyway a few notes about the au:

a selkie giving someone their coat is more of an expression of trust than anything romantic! it's just essentially saying 'hey i trust you', the equivalent of a cat showing their belly. giving someone their coat can also be something they do to comfort someone who's going through something as it's a comforting thing for them!

selkies aren't a well-known legend in the outernet and typically someone would default to going 'oh, that's a human' before going 'oh, that's a selkie' if they saw a cursor!

alan can regrow his coat if it's destroyed; the others cannot

purple is a selkie because it's fun, i said so, and also getting hit with the Minecraft Beam fucked them up a little bit

SC thinks of King as something similar to an uncle! purple has a similar view of Alan since he helped them cope with becoming a selkie

cursor!alan is ridiculously big even for a selkie. he's actually taller than king in this form. i need you to know how scary he is to literally any stick who isn't a selkie he's so so so big

No one except MAYBE Agent (and Vic themself obv) knows that Vic is partially selkie.

#tommy's foolery #anyway. hope this cleared things up anon :3c #i love this au so much. 💥#tommy's stickmen tag #selkie sticks au #tommy's aus #tommy's stick!alan #it's basically dad alan: the au with a bit of a twist

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pupkashi · 1 year

Text

karaoke

in which drunk you decided to love on genma (much to a certain jonins dismay)

a/n: hi hi friends ! thank u sm for this amazing request !! this was so fun to write hehe also combined it with this prompt ! hope you guys enjoy !!! <33

wordcount: 3,117

masterlist

warnings: mentions of alcohol, sort of modern au? mentions of taking selfies and videos, mentions of vomit and throwing up

“it’ll be so much fun please kakashi!” Asuma and Gai pleaded with their much more stoic friend.

“i don’t see why i should go out when i can be in bed early instead” he scoffed, continuing to walk with his eyes glued to his book.

“y/n will be there” gai smiled, grinning widely as he watched his beloved rival stop in his tracks, finally peeling his eyes from his book and looking at the pair.

“okay?” he’s trying his best to act like he doesn’t care much, surely they can’t tell he has a thing for you. “that doesn’t change anything” he looks down at his book, not processing a single word.

“guess they’ll spend the night talking with genma then” asuma shrugs, “let’s go Gai, i don’t think we’re gonna convince him tonight” Gai only sighs, the two giggle to each other as soon as they’re out of earshot of their silver haired friend.

“it doesn’t matter” kakashi mumbles to himself over and over again, ‘they can’t manipulate me like this, im better than that’ he assures himself, taking his usual ninja gear off and heading into the shower. he’s picking out a plain long sleeve and some pants to wear and heading out the door to the karaoke spot he knew they’d be at, ‘im doing this because i want to spend time with friends, that’s all’ he tells himself, knowing damn well he’s lying.

“kakashi! glad you could make it” Gai is smiling, embracing the much less affectionate shinobi and dragging him by the arm into the room they rented out, “the first round of shots have been ordered so i hope you’re ready to drink” he grinned widely.

kakashi’s scanning the room, waving hello to everybody, his heart dropping a bit when he noticed you weren’t even there. it’s 10 minutes later and two terribly sung songs by genma and asuma when he’s about to leave, the door opening stops him from getting up.

“sorry I’m late! i got home and then there was this problem with my sink and then i had to take my dog out and he ended up getting out and- anyway!” you sigh with a smile, hugging everybody and saying hello.

“kakashi! hi” you smile, holding your hand out for him to shake, gai had told you how he didn’t really like physical affection.

“hi” he replied, glad his mask covered the blush creeping onto his cheeks.

“looks like every seats taken, can i sit here?” you point to the open seat next to him, he nods, scooting over to give you a bit more room on the couch. “thank you,” you reply, about to say something else when you’re interrupted by genma and kurenai.

“y/n! you missed the first round of shots you’ve gotta drink double now!” Kurenai smiles widely, you’re about to protest when genma settles in between kakashi and you, already placing the shot in your hand, another in his before counting down.

“ready? cheers!” he smiles, the two of you throwing the shot back, genma hissing and groaning at the bitter taste as you place the two empty glasses down.

“alright champ no need to make a scene” you laugh, watching as genma chases the shot with some water.

“you have another one left! don’t think i forgot” he smiled, handing you another glass, you only looked at kakashi, saying a small ‘cheers’ before downing the shot.

kakashi smiled as your face scrunches up, sticking your tongue out a bit. genma’s face is already dusted pink, he’s getting up quickly, saying something along the lines of ‘round three’ but the room is filled with kurenai and anko’s terrible rendition of their favorite shows opening theme so you couldn’t be too sure.

“I’m surprised you came,” you spoke to kakashi, noticing how closed off he’d been the entire time, “a good surprised” you add on.

kakashi smiled lightly, “Gai and Asuma talked me into it” he chuckled, watching his friends grab handfuls of shot glasses and running towards your direction.

“kakashi! you’re such a heavy weight you have to take all these shots okay!” Asuma is smiling, shoving them towards his friend, you’re covering your mouth and stifling your laughter, feeling the effects of the two shots from earlier.

“y/n! take one with kakashi!” Gai shouts, the shot in his hand quickly finding its way to you.

“what do ya say copy ninja? wanna take some shots together?” there’s a small glint in your eye and kakashi can’t say no, he’s shrugging and grabbing the small glass.

“what the hell” he mumbles, the two of you clinking glasses before downing the shot.

“how the fuck do you manage to pull your mask up and down so quickly” you giggle, genuinely puzzled at the speed of the jonin.

“i actually-”

“y/n singing time!” Genma stops kakashi from continuing, grabbing your arm and pulling you to the microphones

“sorry!” you call out, not realizing how tipsy you were until you stood up and had to keep up with genma’s much larger strides.

“what song should we do? let’s do a love song!” genma giggles, the two of you taking yet another shot before the song begins playing.

kakashi is watching you intently, not bothering to hide the smile on his lips, it was hidden behind his mask anyway. the smile on his lips almost immediately drops when genma is grabbing you by the waist, holding you close to him during the bridge, causing you to giggle into the mic and miss your next line in the song.

he stopped paying attention after that, taking another shot and acting like he was part of the conversation Gai was having with the other ninjas around him.

“okay guys we have to take a selfie!” your voice pulls him away from staring at the all too interesting carpet, your face is flushed as you pull your phone out, smoothing your hair out a bit before standing closer to kakashi.

“everyone say cheese!” you burst into giggles as everyone drunkenly sings ‘cheeeeese’ for the camera, taking multiple before sitting on the couch, closer to kakashi than before.

“kakashi! hi!” you’re smiling widely at him and he’s returning the favor, waving at you.

“oh my god we have no pictures together! we need a selfie right now!” you giggle, scooting closer and snapping a couple pictures with him.

“gosh you always look so good, did you know that?” kakashi’s heart is thumping hard in his ears, his face is burning and it’s not because of the alcohol.

“you do too” is all he can manage out before genma once again sits next to you, easily draping his arm over your shoulders.

“hey sweet thing what are you doing here?” he smiles, you giggle at his antics, letting yourself melt into his side, your hand rest on his chest.

“long day at the office, and you Mr. Genma?” you tease and he sighs dramatically, “looking for love, could you be the one for me?” he’s looking at you a little too sweetly for kakashi’s liking.

the silver haired jonin is clenching his fist around the glass cup of water, his jaw clenched and he’s certain another second of whatever is happening next to him will drive him to insanity.

you were clueless that the man you’d been pining for was seconds away from prying you from genma. your head rested on his chest, making small talk with your friend and giggling at every other thing, laughing loudly at his jokes and smacking his chest.

Gai is the first to notice kakashi’s sudden surge in jealousy, coughing and ‘accidentally’ spilling his water on genma’s thigh.

“sorry! here let’s go get some towels to dry it” Gai smiled kindly, and soon enough your cuddle buddy was gone, leaving you and kakashi on the couch alone.

“are you two like,” kakashi pauses, “are you like a thing?” he’s clearing his throat after he speaks, sitting a bit straighter while your intoxicated brain processes his words.

“me and genma? no! we’re friends, i think he has a thing for someone else though” you nod along to your own words, “no yeah I’m single” a slight pause, “looking” you say, trying to shut yourself up before you reveal more than you want to.

“oh that’s good” kakashi doesn’t want to admit how relieved he felt, like the weight on his shoulders had been lifted.

but then he felt an actual weight on his shoulders, not a metaphorical one. he’s frozen in place as your head balanced on his broad shoulders, giggling as you mumbled something he couldn’t hear.

“what?” he asked, leaning down a bit, “the rooms going so fast” you slurred, blinking before narrowing your eyes.

kakashi frowned, eyes widening as your head rolled off his shoulder, he caught you quickly, letting you settle your head on his chest, his arm wrapped around you.

“is this okay?” he asked, holding you steady as you nodded, “more than okay” you giggled, you were looking up at him as he nervously smiled, a bit tense from the sudden proximity.

“y’can relax kashi” you mumble, giggling at the nickname, your eyes suddenly going wide, “wait Gai said you don’t like physical affection, i can get off if you want” you mumble, making a move to sit up and away from the copy ninja.

“no no it’s okay” he smiles, holding you a bit tighter, “i like it if it’s you” you’re blushing and giggling at his words, twirling the small bunch of hair at the nape of his neck.

“you look real good with your hair down like this” you smile, fighting the urge to kiss the man you were cuddling with.

“maybe i should wear it like this more often if it means having you this close.” kakashi doesn’t know where this confidence is coming from, maybe it’s because part of him hopes you’d forget in the morning, but he also hopes you don’t. maybe it’s the couple shots he took that got him buzzed, giving him the courage to finally make a move.

“aw how come you’re cuddling with him now!” Genmas voice causes you to slowly move your head, the room still spinning as you see him stumbling and sitting on the couch next to you.

“i like cuddling with him! he’s great at it” you giggle, letting you head rest on kakashi’s chest again, your eyes fluttering closed.

genma can’t help but pout, mumbling something about how he knew this day would come.

it wasn’t long before everyone started saying their goodbyes, the ninjas going off in pairs of more drunk and least drunk to guide each other home, everyone making sure they’d text the group chat saying they got home safe and sound.

“you got ‘em?” asuma asked kakashi, who carried you in his arms, already dozed off.

“yeah I’ll be fine, what about you?” kakashi smiled as asuma struggled to keep Kurenai upright as she mumbled something about kissing him.

“think i can manage” he laughed, waving goodbye and thanking his friend for coming out.

it wasn’t for another couple minutes of walking that he realized he had no idea where you lived. you must’ve sensed his panic in your sleep because moments later you stirred awake, rubbing your eyes before smiling at the jonin.

“carrying me home like a real gentleman, are you?” kakashi blushed furiously, chuckling before letting you down gently.

“you sure you can walk?” he asked, keeping a hand on the small of your back to keep you steady.

“think so” you mumbled, walking a bit and stumbling, kakashi tightening his grip on your waist to keep you from falling over.

“is there a trash can around here?” you asked, panic filling your body before running as best you could and throwing up in the metal bin next to the bench.

kakashi rubbed your back, holding your hair and helping you sit and compose yourself.

“god this is not the impression i wanted to give you” you chuckled, kakashi furrowed his brows.

“what do you mean?” he asked, he felt a bit guilty asking, knowing you were more likely to tell him right now than if you were stone cold sober.

“i mean you’re this super cool, attractive jonin that I’ve been pining over for god knows how long and the chance i get to make you think i deserve your affection or some shit i go and get drunk and-” you motion to yourself, “this” you sigh, your eyes screwing shut as you become mor sober by the second.

the world is still spinning, you feel a second round of vomit coming up and the reality of your situation is hitting you like a ton of bricks.

“you don’t need to earn my affection, not now and not ever” he replies without missing a beat, he wants to look you in the eyes, but quickly abandons that idea as you hunch over and throw up again.

“you’re okay, I’m right here” he mumbles, rubbing your back as you continue to expel any contents in your stomach, groaning as you finally finish and sit back up, wiping your mouth with the bottom of your shirt.

“sorry” you mumble, kakashi shakes his head, “nothing to apologize for” he smiles, helping you up and letting you lead the way to your home.

when you finally get home you invite him in, partly for his peace of mind so he knows you aren’t gonna choke on your throw up. his racing mind stops when he sees you in your plaid pajama pants and shirt double your size, your teeth brushed and hair up.

“thank you for everything tonight” your words still slurred a bit as you hug him goodbye, “I’ll see you tomorrow?” he nods as he says goodbye, pausing for a second before turning around. his fingers are itching to pull his mask down, to place a kiss to your cheek.

maybe it’s because he knows you’re the one for him, maybe it’s because he’s always been head over heels for you since the moment he saw you. he doesn’t know what takes over him.

he’s pulling his mask down and placing a chaste kiss on your cheek, you hadn’t processed what happened, much less seen his face as he’s waving goodbye and walking out the door, “goodnight y/n,” his eyes crinkling as he speaks.

when you wake up the next morning you’re wishing the world would open up and swallow you whole. not only did you confess your feelings but you went and embarrassed yourself in front of him, that paired with the insane headache you had was enough for you to cover your entire body with your blanket, too afraid to check your messages.

if it weren’t for the knock on the door you probably would’ve fallen asleep again. with a sigh you’re making your way to the front door, assuming it was genma or another one of your friends you swing the door open, your hair still a mess and toothpaste in the corner of your mouth.

“hi” kakashi smiles, almost glowing from how perfect he looked, your eyes are wide as you realize the state that you’re in.

“kakashi! oh my god hi!” you move to the side to allow him in. “god you have to stop finding me at my worst moments i swear I’m better than this” you laugh softly, kakashi grins at you as you wipe your face and try to fix your hair.

“i brought some soup, i make it for Gai when he’s hungover, figured you might need it” you’re thanking whatever gods there were because you absolutely needed this.

“you didn’t have to” you smile, thanking him for the food and setting it on the counter.

it’s quiet for a second, the two of you just standing in silence before he speaks up, “do you remember anything? from last night?” you can hear the nervousness in his voice, it’s strange to hear that from him.

“yeah” you mumble, “but we can pretend like i never said anything and move on” you smile tightly, already feeling your hands growing cold and your heart breaking a bit.

“no!” Kakashi is quick to stop you, realizing how loud he’d been he apologizes softly before continuing, “i don’t want to just forget it” he mumbles, picking at his fingernails before looking at you.

“i like you, i think you’re amazing and seeing you all touchy with genma made me face my feelings for you” he breathed out quickly, “if you’d like to, I’d wanna give this a chance.”

his dark eyes are darting to your face, reading your expression as you look back at him. his silver hair is falling over his forehead, tickling his lashes a bit when he blinks.

a smile breaks onto your face after he finishes speaking, nodding your head before you can even say anything, “I’d love to” you reply, giggling and taking an tentative step towards the skilled jonin.

kakashi wastes no time in closing the space between you two, his hand finding his way to the back of you neck, his other one snaking around you waist and pulling you so that you’re chest to chest.

“is this okay?” he whispers, you nod, “more than okay” you smile, your eyes fluttering shut as your lips crashed onto his, moving together in sync.

when you both pull away you’re flustered messes, giggling when you make eye contact with him and he’s clearing his throat as you look at him again.

“the soups gonna get cold” he says, breaking the silence and causing the two of you to smile at each other and laugh.

“you wanna stay and eat together?” you ask, kakashi smiles, “wish i could, but I’ve got some horrible genin I was supposed to meet an hour ago” he smiles nervously and you gasp.

“oh my god i didn’t know you had to be somewhere sorry!” you apologize, he’s waving his hands infront of him.

“no no it’s fine, they don’t care much anyway” he smiles, taking a step closer to you and placing a kiss on your cheek before heading for the door. “would you wanna get dinner? around 6?” his voice wavers a bit and you’re smiling widely at him.

“sounds like a date” you reply, biting you lip as you wave goodbye to him.

the two of you were smiling like idiots, kakashi didn’t mind naruto and sakura’s scolding, waving them off and doing some light training, his only thought was you.

karaoke was fun, maybe he should’ve listened to his friends earlier, he thinks. maybe it’s a good thing you were a clingy affectionate drunk, especially when it’s him your clinging to.

#kakashi hatake x reader #kakashi hatake x reader fluff #kakashi hatake x you #kakashi hatake drabble #kakashi hatake imagine #kakashi hatake fluff #hatake kakashi imagine #hatake kakashi x reader fluff #kakashi drabble #kakashi fluff #kakashi x reader fluff #kakashi hatake x reader imagine

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pinksiames · 4 months

Text

Teacher AU Headcanons!

Headcanons for my fic linked here

Gale despite being so young doesn’t really get on social media, and when he does use it it’s silly tiktoks that no one else but him find funny

He’s legally blind and extremely near-sided, he cannot function without his glasses, running into walls and stumbling over things when he doesn’t have them on

He used to have coke bottle lenses but started getting thinner lenses cause of how much he was getting bullied growing up

He’s a cat person! He loves dogs but he likes cats more since in his experience they’re more friendly (he almost got attacked by a chow chow as a kid)

He’s been thinking about adopting a cat so he isn’t as lonely at home

He’s a huge space and sci-fi nerd (obviously) and had dreams of becoming an astronaut as a kid, but realized how lonely he would get being so far from earth

His first tattoo he got was a back piece of the solar system, and every year for his birthday he splurges and gets another one! Mostly matching his theme of space and the beyond

He used to have his lobes pierced when he was a teenager but got caught by his dad, who then almost ripped his earlobe off trying to get them out of gales ears

He and Benny became friends in college! They were roommates freshmen and sophomore year and continued to talk and hang out after getting paired with different people

People have told him he smells like roasted pecans

Marge was and still is his best friend, while she still lives in Wyoming they talk constantly

They had a small fling back in high school until they both realized they were gay! But they continued “dating” to save face for both of their families

He easily became one of the more favorited teachers in the school, his classroom being open to anyone who needed it, he ends up with kids who aren’t even his students in his class

His students make fun of him for having to lift his glasses and squint at his phone when he’s trying to read something

The kids have suspicions about Gale and John being together (they’re secretly together but they don’t need to know that) it’s hard not too when John is in gales room almost 24/7, chatting him up while kids file in, bringing him lunches, calling him Buck instead of Mr Cleven when Gale sticks to strictly Coach Egan

Someone ends up making a TikTok video with him in it and it goes viral, so they get some of his students to make his own TikTok account that ends up being ran by Bucky so he can monitor who comments what (he gets jealous when people find his favorite coworker hot)

Bucky went to a local community college near his Ma’s place and then went to the university of Michigan where he played on their baseball team! He was on his way to playing in the MLB until he had a bad accident and destroyed his shoulder :(

He has a titanium plate in his shoulder! He likes to joke about how he’s practically part cyborg because of it

He ended up changing majors since he wanted to still do something in sports, going into sports management and physical education

He started coaching at a decently young age at 23 (he’s 26 now) and has basically taught in Texas since he graduated

He ending up moving down to Texas because of the teacher/coach shortage they were having, but he still visits his mom and sister during school breaks

He has his high school and college medals and trophies up on display in his office with his degrees

He loves all of his kids, making sure each and everyone of them were included, super fundraising to make sure all of them could go on trips or get the best gear and uniforms

He goes to the gym religiously but refuses to be one of those “gym bros” (he definitely is) and posts on his instagram of him flexing in the mirror or just working out in general (he won’t admit it but he hopes Gale sees the post) (sadly he never will cause Gale doesn’t use instagram)

Hope yall enjoyed my rambling!

#teacher au #clegan #gale cleven #john egan #buck x bucky #masters of the air #kay’s writing

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pinksturniolo · 4 months

Text

Cinnamon

Matt Sturniolo x Fem Reader (AU) Series

Part Two: Iced Vanilla Lattes

Intro:

Spring 1981

Cambridge, Massachusetts

Harvard University. The only ivy league school in the state.

Acceptance rate: 14%

Graduation rate: 97%

Tolerability of your mostly fake, pretentious peers: 0%

But your best friend Matt?

He makes it worth sticking around.

content warnings for this chapter: none really, some swearing and suggestive situations. mentions of depression.

read part one here <3

Two days after Matt climbed through your window, he decided it was time to go back to school, to try to get into his regular routine again. He had received a warning letter last week, with mentions of his scholarship being revoked if he was going to continue being frequently absent.

He had gotten up extra early this morning, putting on his usual pair of khakis and collared school shirt. He walks through the courtyard to the library, intending on getting some studying in before his first class of the day.

He has your journal in his hand, the green felt cover with matching ribbon wrapped around, securing it shut. It was about 150 pages or so, and halfway filled with writing between you two. He’s had it for well over two to three weeks now. Longer than he did last time.

At the end of freshman year, he came up with the brilliant idea of sharing it, the color and material of it catching his eye as it sat upon your dresser.

“What is this, your diary?” Matt snickers, snatching the journal. You two are sitting on your small bed, the mid day sunlight filling the room.

He holds it in the air as if he’s inspecting it before pulling the ribbon between his fingers and opening the cover, seeing a short paragraph of words, and flips through the rest of the empty pages.

You rip it from his hands, a disapproving look on your face. “Excuse me!” Your eyebrows furrow in anger as he laughs. “There’s not much in it anyway.” He responds.

“That’s because I just bought it.” You tell him and open the book to skim over your first entry.

It wasn’t anything too revealing, just a recipe for your mom’s cinnamon rolls.

A faint memory of when you were a little kid crosses your mind. Laughter and the smell of them baking. Sticky frosting on your fingers, your legs wobbling on the wooden stool as she helps you knead the dough.

“Did I see a recipe in there?” Matt asks, a grin plastered across his face. “Yeah. Do you like cinnamon rolls?” You respond. His smile only grows wider, the way he squints his eyes annoyingly adorable. “I love cinnamon rolls. Its my favorite desert.”

“Maybe I’ll make it sometime…” You tell him, a soft smile on your face as your eyes drift back down to the pages.

“Plan on writing more in there soon?” He says and you smooth your hand over the felt on the cover, the velvety feeling soft under your palm. You nod, and look back up at him, his eyes on your face as he waits for you to elaborate.

“I bought it at that little bookstore, you know the one across from Flagstaff Park?” He nods.

“There was a stack of them by the register. But there was only a few with this color left… and I loved how it looked so I had to get it. My mom kept a journal when she was younger… she said it helps to write down all the thoughts in your head.”

Matt’s face has a focused expression, looking at the way you run your hands over the book as you tell him why you got it.

“But I don’t know… It feels weird to write to no one. To just jot down every thought or feeling I have. Like I’m talking to myself.”

“I have a suggestion.” He says, his eyes lighting up. “Why don’t we share it? You can write down whatever you’re feeling in the moment or when I’m not around to talk to you. And then you can pass it to me. I’ll write my thoughts too and then give it back.”

“You want to share custody of my journal?” You say, a laugh escaping mid-sentence. The idea is amusing to you, but you’re interested.

“Sure. Like writing letters to each other but instead it’s in a book.” He responds, and you can’t help the heart warming feeling it gives you to see the playful smile on his face.

You smile back at him and decide it would be a fun thing to do. “Okay, why not.”

You sit in your desk, the third class of the day, pencil drawing mindless circles on your notebook. European history was your second to last favorite subject and your professor was extremely monotone, his certain style of teaching being one that writes out each and every lesson on the blackboard. His voice drones on as you continue to doodle, your attention now peeked by the conversation between two classmates in front of you.

“Did you see Matt Sturniolo this morning? He was walking to class with Vanessa Henderson. She’s so fucking lucky.”

“I know right? And he’s been looking especially good lately.”

You almost scoff out loud at their blatant gossip. It wouldn’t be the first time you’ve heard girls in your school fawn over him. You’ve even heard rumors of you two, students giving you dirty looks whenever the two of you first started hanging out. But they soon died down after they realized you were just friends and Matt had no intention of anything romantic with you.

But what did irk you was the fact that he was walking with Vanessa. She was one of the prettiest girls in your grade and practically every guy wanted to hook up with her. From what you knew, she was vapid and uninteresting, her personality made up of one sole purpose. Being the most popular girl in school and head of the cheerleading team.

Still, you weren’t the type to judge someone and if Matt, your best friend, was taking the time out of his day to talk to her, then there must be some redeeming quality about her.

You tune out their conversation as they continue, eager to get to your next class.

By the time lunch comes around, you’re starving, grabbing one of the ready-made meals from the cafeteria and sitting at your usual spot at the table under the oak tree in the courtyard. It’s peak weather for springtime, the sun warm outside but the cool of the breeze in the air making it enjoyable. Students chatter around you, some lounging on the lawn, others sitting under the shade of the brick awnings.

Just as you’re pulling out your history textbook from your bag and placing it on the table, a figure stands over you, creating a shadow over your view. You look up to see Matt, that signature smile on his face and two iced vanilla lattes in his hands. “Brought you your favorite.”

Matt used to make fun of you every time you would get the overly sweet, caffeinated drink, calling your coffee addiction “a serious problem.” But once you convinced him to try it, he was instantly hooked.

He sits next to you on the bench, setting the drink down by your book. You smile and grab it immediately, taking a sip. “Thanks Matt. Glad you decided to show up today.”

“Right well, apparently I have to start being present more if I want to actually keep my scholarship. Who would’ve thought?” He says, taking a sip of his coffee as well.

You chuckle, setting the drink down and pulling your pen and notebook out of your bag. You make notes from the chapter of the history textbook you’re currently studying. Matt picks the apple from your lunch tray, taking a bite out of it.

You told yourself you wouldn’t bring it up, but you just couldn't help yourself. The few moments of comfortable silence between you two are broken as your curiosity takes over. “You know I’m not one for gossip, right?” You say, keeping your eyes on your notes. But you don’t miss the smirk on his face from the corner of your vision.

“Vanessa is… nice. I was only walking with her because we’re partners in Biology. And she happens to know a lot more than I do. I needed a recap on the past few lessons I missed.” He responds, knowing exactly what you were going to say. He’s undoubtedly heard the rumors already swirling around campus.

You look at him and put your hands up in defense, a sheepish smile on your face. “Hey, I was only wondering. I could’ve sworn you said she was spoiled and boring last semester.”

“Like I said, I needed some help.” He shrugged, laughing lightly and took another bite of the apple, his eye contact with you playful.

You ignore the subtle green of jealousy that worms its way inside you, the thought of Vanessa tutoring him for Biology. That was usually something you two did together, and you’re a little upset he didn’t just ask you for help. Sure, you might’ve had a different professor than his for that class, but you’re certain the coursework wasn’t much different, and you would’ve gladly caught him up to speed. If he would’ve asked.

“Don’t sweat it, kid. I was just wondering. Apparently, every girl in our sophomore class thinks you’re screwing her so… just thought I would get the inside scoop. Get ahead of the curve.” You tell him, unable to restrain the teasing tone in your voice. You focus your attention on your studies again, taking another sip from your latte.

Matt simply laughs, rummaging through his backpack for something. “If I had I a dollar for every bullshit rumor made up by our class, I’d be rich.”

And then he’s sliding your green journal across the table, his hand reaching out for you to take it. “I’ve been meaning to give this back to you.”

You take it from him, shoving it into your bag. “Does this mean I get it for however long I want? Since you kept it hostage and all.”

Another warm smile from him, as bright as the sunshine in the spring air. “As long as you write something good for me.” He says, winking at you and then standing up, slinging his backpack over his shoulder. “See you in English.”

The end of the day couldn’t come any faster, and it made your heart stutter slightly in your chest when you saw Matt in his spot beside you as you walked into your last class.

Students chatter loudly as you make your way to the back of the room, settling into your desk. Ms. Ellmore’s voice rings out shortly, silencing the noise as she instructs everyone to open their books to today’s chapter.

It’s silent reading time, the room quiet except for the buzz of the AC. You’re focused on the words until you feel Matt’s presence closer to you, and turn your head a little to see him leaning towards you.

“Wanna help me study for Biology tomorrow morning?” He whispers, his voice low and deep in your ear.

Your desks were close enough to where only you could hear him. You can almost feel his breath on your neck. You keep your eyes on your book, and his are still on your face as he waits for your response.

“You know I’m not a morning person, Matt.” You say and can hear the smirk in his voice.

“Great, so my dorm? An hour before first period.” He tells you and you can’t fight the matching smirk on your mouth as you look at him now, his tongue poking into his cheek, coy expression on his face.

“Don’t look at me like that. I haven’t even said yes yet. And what about your other study buddy, hm?” One of your eyebrows are raised at him, jaw set in defiance.

"What other study buddy?" He rasps. He lets his eyes trail over your face briefly before resting on the collar of your shirt, noticing the way your pulse picks up, the thrum of your vein underneath the skin of your neck all too enticing suddenly.

Was he really that close to you? He now realizes his arm is fully on your desk, his whole upper body leaned towards you. He catches the blush on your face from the sudden tension before pulling back, Ms. Ellmore’s voice cutting the silence.

“Is there the something the both of you would like the share with the rest of the class, Mr. Sturniolo?” She says, a smile on her face as she looks at the two of you, making you shrink back in your seat, propping your fist up on your head so your arm can act as a barrier between you and Matt.

You fight to hold in your laughter as you hear Matt’s response. “No mam. It’s a private matter actually.” Ms. Ellmore narrows her eyes in fake assertiveness at him, smile never leaving her face. “Let’s save those for after class, thank you.”

Ms. Ellmore was your stereotypical "cool" English teacher. She was usually easy going and as long as you weren’t disrespectful and got your work done, she wasn’t very strict.

You don’t look at Matt again until you get up to leave once class is over, telling him you’ll be at his dorm tomorrow morning, practically rushing out of the door as he watches you, confusion all over his face.

You’re not sure what caused his borderline flirty nature earlier, but you hated the way it made you so flustered.

Once you get to your dorm room, you relax as you sit on your bed, slipping off your doc martens and book bag. The cover of your journal peeks out of the top as you grab it, untying the ribbon and opening the front. You hadn’t read it since Matt gave it to you at lunch and you were curious to see what he had written.

When you’re done going through it though, your heart is racing, your breath a little shaky. You let his words soak in, turning them over and over in your head.

What he wrote was about ten pages long, some writing in long paragraphs and others in fragmented sentences, like he took his thoughts straight from his head and displayed them on the old pages.

It started off as usual, he wrote about his family and how his Mother was doing each time he visited her over the past few weeks. He wrote how hard it was to see her grieve, and to in turn deal with his grief, unsure how to manage both. With his father out of town so often, he did the best he could.

He wrote about how he was losing interest in school, in people, in life in general. He was struggling with motivation, feeling like he was lost.

Matt was the smartest and most talented person you knew, always pushing you to do your best in school. You knew he had issues with mental health, something you could relate to, but the way he goes in detail of his emotions in his writing this time has you worried. He’s never been this upset before.

No wonder he missed so much school.

And then, he wrote about you. Or rather, to you. He mentioned how much he missed you, hearing your voice, or even eating lunch with you. His thoughts matched everything you were thinking or feeling while not seeing him these past few weeks.

I was thinking about that one time we went to Plymouth beach with Celine for the weekend. Remember? It was last summer, I can’t believe its already been a year. I just think about the way the ocean smelled, the blue shell you found under the sand the gelato we got on the way back. You told me you hadn’t felt that happy in a long time. I realized I haven’t felt happiness since that day. Its funny how I’ve felt so much sadness since the funeral, everytime I go to visit my mom, yet every time im with you… I know you can’t depend on another person to determine your happiness in life. But I feel like its always been better when you’re around.

His words are raw with honesty, tears threatening to spill from your eyes as you wrap the book closed, setting it inside the drawer of your nightstand.

Matt’s always been emotionally intuitive, not afraid to say what he’s feeling in the moment. And he’s always made it clear to you how much he enjoys being your friend, the relationship between you two pleasant. But there’s something different about this entry, like the way he looked at you in English class earlier, something that’s shifted that you don’t quite grasp the understanding of.

You let his words fill your thoughts for the rest of the night, until you’re willed to write some of your own in return to him, pulling the journal back out of the drawer.

taglist: <3

@sturniolopepsi @tillies33ssss @whicked-hazlatwhore @riasturns @christhopersturniolo @junnniiieee07 @sturnsjtop @seahorsie11 @inveigledvex @mattslolita @certifiednatelover @glassesmattsbae @eryismum @sturncakez @wh0resstuff @ribread03 @sturniololoco @75sturn @mattscoquette @h3arts4harry @chrizznmetswife @bambi-slxt @streamermattsgf

[if you would like to be added/taken off pls reply to this post or comment on my masterlist. and if u weren’t tagged, it wouldn’t let me add you :/ ]

#sturniolo triplets #sturniolo fanfic #matt sturniolo #sturniolo x reader #matt sturniolo fanfic #matt sturniolo x reader #matthew sturniolo #matthew sturniolo fanfic #cinnamon

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shit-taster-connoisseur · 6 months

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fav ship / character and least fav ship / character? 🙏🙏🙏

favorite ship:

who couldve seen this coming?/j

read more as it's just me taking any excuse to yap BDJD

honestly, how talk abt them to friends sometimes arent my actual characterizations of their dynamic/relationship. But really they're spinning in my head like a microwave everyday, so my interpretation of them of them generally change depending on settings, aus, or just my mood.

The thing that draws me to them is the fact that Fanny seems like a loyal solider(quite literally), but to where she'd definitely throw herself off a cliff for her leader/command(for rachel only really.) Meanwhile Rachel is pretty oblivious to the length Fanny would go for her – and visa versa. They're devoted to each other, yet are scared to repair their fractured friendship at the same time(mostly on fanny's side).

Honestly idk how to explain it xjsb

also the fact Fanny was Rachel's runner up for her GOT fuels me everyday, cause besides this moment, we don't really get too many moments where rachel isn't pissed at fanny for reasons.

could just be her being harsh as it comes with a leader, cause welp, fanny does fuck up a lot. But with these interactions you'd think Rachel wouldve considered ANYBODY else – besides nigel – for her second choice. so 1000000000% rachel had to have ALOT of trust in Fanny to place her as a second in command of an entire global organization, despite her trackrecord of botched missions(which, honestly i believe is why Nigel had been Rachel's first choice, because while nigel had seen mostly sucess in his teams' mission, fanny had gotten the short end of the stick and just faces failure after failure from what we've seen.)

uhhh anyways!! Fanny fell first(unknowingly) amd by the time they become teenagers, Rachel ends up falling harder and depressingly misses her GOT while she's suffering in TND orientation.

TLDR: a shitty anaylsis(barely) on how loyal moonbabes are to one another and they have trust!! I'm not normal about them

If ur curious abt my ranking for ships than here ya go:

1. Moonbabes

2. Lizzie/10

3. Wally/Kuki

4. Kuki/Fanny(or alternatively; Fanny/Kuki/Rachel)

Favorite character?

It's technically split down the middle between Rachel and Fanny, but my focus usually flipflops. So this week we got:

1. Rachel

2. Fanny

3. Chad

4. Cree

5. Negative 362 and Negative 86

Rachel: for reasons, honestly, I loved her since i was a kid. There's a lot to disect about her, and i love that, love her position, her personality, the kind of the role she plays, etc etc idk how to explain any of jt, or the specfics so you get this short ass summary instead

-also headcanon: her relationship with Harvey is rather strained, so Rachel tries to make it up to him by favoring him when it comes to mission assignments when he joined the KND, he also struggles to get her approval by completing them

Fanny: ashamed to admit, i cannot sit through a fanny episode withoht needing to pause and pace around – but like rachel, i like pretty much everything about her, she's interesing to disect as so much of her background is left up for interpretation. Like why did ahe join ths decommissioning squad? Why is she the way she is? Because of the decom squad or her time as a nurse, or just life in general bxns?

-headcanon: Her real name is Francine, and Fanny's a nickname because she thought it sounded less mature and didnt put too much thought in it's meaning in Ireland cuz she didnt live there that long (also her mother didnt have the heart to sit her down and explain it to her at her young age)

other global ops dont bat an eye to it, unfortunately Irish operatives cringe everytime they hear her name.

3. Chad is a loser. A failure. And i love him for that/j but actually, his entire character is interesting, and so much is left in the air for me to dig my teeth into and make up shit for him. One major headcanon i've convinced myself of for him is that he's related to rachel/harvey (cousins???)

-another hc: he's on the aromatic spectrum(shout to friend Amber for the idea cmdb)

4. Cree love her. I can forgive a woman of her crimes always xmsn one reason she's high up on the my list this week is she's interesting(duh), but like all the others she has so much character/info on her but little bits not filled to where i can just make up shit- canonically, i love her role, hsr character, she's an amazing villian/antagonist steals the show everytime - i'd pay warburton with my own money to write what she was like as a KND operative, she is quite skilled from the bits we've witnessed in flashbacks and in the present. One thing that runs through my mind is that Warburton in a Q&A, hinted that Cree probably wouldnt have scouted by the TND, that she was already trekking on a dark path while in the KND. BSJDB

-Headcanon: her and chad and steve have nights where they just hangs out and they watch stuff on Adult Swim. She probably likes South park

5. -362 and -86, got nothing to abt thene beyond they're silly(and possibly evil)

Least favorite Character/Ship

To be honest, i got no hate towards any of the characters in KND, they're all really interesting in their own way.

If i had make a tier list tho-

He'd be at the bottom. Only because he'd definitely call me a slur/j

And for ships, i'm not a multi shipper but i'm neutral to most.

tho fanny x a man will kill me, Cuz man, idk how you can look me straight in the eyes and tell me she's not lesbian,

Just LOOK AT HER

Thank you for the ask!!

#knd #kids next door #moonbabes #cree lincoln #chad dickson #rachel mckenzie #fanny fulbright #six's thingies

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alina-awen-writes · 2 years

Text

Floyd x GN!Reader, Soulmate AU

Prompt: Soulmates can’t make each other feel pain

Today was as normal as NRC could get. Y/n had spent most of the day watching Grimm, Ace, and Deuce try to avoid studying, helped Ruggie drag Leona to class, and was even able to avoid Crowley asking for more favors.

Now that history class was over, it was time to take the long trek back to Ramshackle. Hopefully this time they’d be able to make it home before sunset. Since the dorm has been abandoned, the road wasn’t well lit and was honestly pretty creepy to walk alone.

As Y/N passed through the main walkway, they heard a familiar laugh, followed by someone asking for more time. Not being able to control their curiosity, they poked their head around the shrubs. After seeing the two near-identical mops of blue hair, with a random student sandwiched between, it was easy to realize what happened.

While Azul was doing better about his contracts, he insisted his restaurant and lounge needed to be staffed in some way. Now instead of placing restrictions on students’ powers in exchange for deals, they would agree to ‘volunteer’.

No clue why this student thought they’d be able to hide and run from the twin eels though. Y/N knew better than anyone that when those two had their eyes set on something or someone, they’d end up getting it.

As the three slowly got closer to the hiding spot, Y/N moved next to the nearest statue. Silently hoping that they’d be able to hide well enough and stay out of sight, particularly Floyd’s.

Y/N had no clue why that eel gained an obsession with squeezing them. Originally it seemed to just be Floyd's form of cruel and unusual entertainment, but now it was on another level. Each time they tan into each other, Floyd would chase Y/N around until something else came up. Until it was time for Azul ordering him to leave, classes started, or Y/N was just lucky at finding a good hiding spot, Floyd stopped for nothing.

Now that the trio was directly in front of the statue, Y/N couldn't help but hold their breath, scared that even the smallest noise would draw attention. Apparently hopeful thinking jinxed them, because right as they were about to exit the walkway, Grimm came bustling in yelling at the top of his lungs.

“Hey, Y/N! Whatcha doing behind the statues? Oh! Is there a hidden can of tuna back there?” Yelled the blue ball of fur as he hurried over.

As soon as Floyd heard the name and saw where Grimm ran to, he shoved the escapee into Jade’s arms and rushed right over.

“There’s my favorite Shrimpy! Why’d you hide from me?” He excalimed while leaning over and showing his usual big grin.

“Oh, well…I just saw the both of you were busy and figured it would be best to leave you be. Can’t have you be late when working for Azul!” Y/N stated with a nervous chuckle, still hoping they’d be able to escape without being used as a living stress ball.

“Speaking of which, man! Look at the time! Grimm and I have a lot to study and need to get back to the dorm. Nice seeing you, talk to you later!” Trying to end the conversation on that note, Y/N grabbed their furry companion and went to run past Floyd to safety.

Unfortunately, the universe continued to work against them. Their foot caught on one of the shrubs roots and all they saw was the ground getting closer. Right before impact though, everything stopped. Quickly realizing that Floyd wrapped his hand around their waist and was the only thing keeping them up. With this realization, Y/N felt their face slowly getting warmer with each second.

“Now, now Shrimpy! Gotta be careful and watch where you step. Could’ve squashed your little friend here.” Floyd said with a smile as he grabbed Grim by the collar and moved him out of reach. Grim wasn’t one to stick around when things were going south, so he started running as soon as he could. All Y/N could hear was him yelling something about meeting up at Ramshackle.

Before they could think of a way to get out of Floyd’s arms, he started to speak. “Well Shrimpy, guess you owe me now since I saved you and your little pet. Good news is I already know what I want!”, each word made his usual grin get bigger and bigger, only making Y/N’s stomach sink lower and lower.

While Floyd had never been able to ‘squeeze’ them yet, he kept saying how he wanted to. Normally, a tight hug wouldn’t be a big concern, but with how the students who’ve been through it have complained about backaches and rumors of a few broken arms, Y/N was pretty much terrified of what they knew was coming.

With their eyes squeezed shut and hoping for a quick recovery, Y/N just hoped that Floyd would be a little reasonable and try not to break any bones. However, even though the hug felt a little tighter than necessary, it didn't hurt.

After another minute of the hug, Y/N finally worked up enough courage to talk, "Um, Floyd? I think the squeeze is done now. Could you put me down?", they asked with a small smile. Hoping that asking nicely would help.

Unfortunately, Floyd seemed far too happy as is and just shook his head in response, "No way Shrimpy! You're the first one to like being squeezed. If anything, makes me think I should squeeze you even tighter." He stated blankly.

This argument would’ve continued for awhile, if it weren’t for Jade walking up. Y/N realized that they’d been so wrapped up in dealing with Floyd, that Jade had been able to take the student to Octavinelle and come back.

“Now Floyd, you know not to play too hard with your toys. Might be best to put Y/N down before you cause bruising.” Jade said with his usual fake smile

However, instead of listening to his brother and letting Y/N go, Floyd just held on even tighter. “But Jade, Shrimpy doesn’t mind it! If they did, they’d be like all the other fishies and yell for help!”

That comment made Jade reanalyze exactly what was going on, and once he pieced it together he let his rare genuine smile come to show.

"Well, it looks like I have wonderful news for our next phone call with Mom and Dad. They'll be so happy to hear about how one of us finally found their soulmate." Jade stated while eyeing Y/N with a half joking and half serious look, before turning around and walking away.

"Wait, soulmate? That's actually a thing? Jade come back here and explain!" Y/N yelled out as Jade disappeared into the building once more.

"Awww, don't worry Shrimpy! I'll take good care of ya!" Floyd stated with a happy sigh, back to squeezing his new found soulmate and loving how they only sighed and accepted the hug.

-———————The End—————————

#twisted wonderland x reader #floyd x reader #twisted wonderland #twisted wonderland x gn reader #twst x reader #floyd #twst floyd #disney twst #soulmate au

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venomquill · 1 year

Text

So, after reading @pixlokita's brilliant comic series (which has nothing to do with this above image) and finding they'd played with a winged AU, I had to as well. I just, I had to. It was required. Having written and then trashed a story about winged people (technically bird mutants???) and one with a human with wings, I'd already developed a lot of lore about winged humans. I won't upload my sketch at gunpoint, but I used their character sheet as a reference. I hate drawing humans. Kill meeee this took days. And I forgot the tail! Just look at the pretty wings and oooh cool mask! Ignore the awfully drawn child! Anyhow~

Crying Child (AKA, youngest Afton child, known in the fandom as Evan) Would be European Robin-winged. (Like this or this) Robins are aggressive, and CC is anything but aggressive. However, genetically speaking, he would take after his father, William Afton, who is robin-winged. He's currently flightless, even though he should be learning how to fly at this age. However, his lack of confidence and the bullying from his older brother has made it very hard. He fears failing now more an ever as he's scared it would just give his brother more ammunition against him. Also, in the back of his shirt, you can see those little strips? Those are straps built into the shirt that can be buckled/unlatched and buckled/latched at will. It's the only way someone with wings would be able to put on a shirt. He still needs help from someone to latch it on for him. His mom used to do it, and then William. Then when he forgot, he and Elizabeth would help each other. With Elizabeth gone, he just tries his best. He's learned how to move them around and just press his back against the wall to get them mostly on right. Michael will sometimes tug on his shirt. But Mike's done that to other kids at school, for reasons I'll list below.

Elizabeth Afton (AKA, middle Afton child, Dad's favorite) Would be European Robin-winged, as said above. She would still be learning how to fly by the time she gets turned into ice cream by Baby. I imagine she's William's favorite by the way he literally gave her an animatronic and modeled one after her. (It ended up killing her, but that's another matter) She inherits her father's more aggressive nature and bullies her older brother. Being Dad's favorite, she can get whatever she wants. Michael being an angsty teen and her being a sweet angel, she can blame whatever she wants on him and he can't do anything about it. So he has to do what she wants or else. So Michael takes it out on...

Michael Afton (AKA, oldest Afton child, Mike Schmidt) Would be a cassowary-winged! It took me a second to come up with this one, but it made sense to me. Cassowaries are incredibly aggressive, flightless, and seriously dangerous birds. They're also terrific fathers and the mothers don't stick around. So Mikey takes after his mom and gets to be a cassowary-winged. Mom's gone (Whether she left or gets killed or both is up to the imagination), his wings are so small he can hide them under his shirt by hardly even trying, and on top of it all his little brother will learn how to fly at half his height and his sister rubs it in his face. His wings are dangerous as he has a dewclaw and the quills on what would have been the primary flight feathers are sturdy and sharp. He doesn't need long slits in his shirts and has actually torn the shoulder holes with his dewclaws/quills before. So, as a teen, he's spiteful and lashes out. He has a huge fluffy tail that gets in the way all the time. But when he grows up a little, he grows into that more "protect the children" aspect of a cassowary's nature. I did sketch him out fully, but I spent literal days on CC. Instead, I drew his mask with the intention of a pre-withered Foxy look and referencing FNaF 1's crooked-jawed Foxy. I also found through Nightmare Foxy that he does indeed have a pale muzzle. (Withered, Nightmare, Foxy bro)

#fnaf #fnaf fanart #crying child #winged kid #foxy bro #VenomQuill

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pickalilywrites · 4 months

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This idea just came to me. Levi whacks a monkey pinata with Zeke's picture taped on it. (This is all Hange's idea lol) Idk what for, but a work party I guess.

ty i hope it's fun to read ^^

take a break

levi ackerman. hanji zoe. minor rivetra. the office au. 2289 words.

It’s not a holiday, but the office is in a festive mood. While the work day doesn’t end until 5 PM, hardly any work has been done since the party preparations began after lunch. Streamers hang from the ceilings amidst floating balloons, food has been placed in the conference room, and a large banner that says “Happy Birthday, Zeke!” has been plastered on the wall. Some generic pop music that’s trending on social media fills the air. A few coworkers don birthday hats, but most are just enjoying the party without any festive headgear.

“Happy birthday, Zeke!” Connie says again for the dozenth time, punctuating his well wishes with a toot from one of the noisemakers that had been passed out earlier. Beside him, Sasha blows her own noisemaker enthusiastically.

“Thank you, thank you, although you’ve been saying happy birthday to me all day,” Zeke laughs. He rubs underneath the string of his party hat and flashes a smile at everyone around him. “You guys sure know how to throw a party. Of course, I should probably thank one person in particular for organizing all of this.”

Zeke’s gaze is directed towards a ginger woman across the room, but she’s preoccupied with hanging a piñataat the moment. She doesn’t notice that she’s being discussed until Hanji leans over and tugs at the sleeve of her blouse.

“Petra, he’s talking to you,” Hanji tells her.

“Hm? Oh!” Petra hastily turns around and shoots Zeke a smile. Her head is tilted slightly in confusion. She's conflicted on whether she should ask him to repeat what he said or just smile politely. Instead of doing either, she gestures at the piñatathat she had just finished setting up. “Should we start this? I filled it with all of your favorite candies.”

“What a lucky man I am,” Zeke says with a charmed smile.

“Oh, it was nothing really. I just remembered from one of those forms we filled out during our teambuilding workshops,” Petra says obliviously, waving her hand. She points at Connie and Sasha playfully. “I remember your favorites too! Look forward to your birthdays!”

Connie and Sasha cheer, but Zeke looks slightly disgruntled at the revelation that he isn’t receiving preferential treatment.

Jean looks up from where he’s stooped behind Zeke’s desk. Unlike the rest of their coworkers, he and Eren have decided to take a step back from the birthday festivities to pull a prank on Eren’s older half-brother. It’s a rare display of teamwork from the two coworkers who are usually at odds and have a tendency to pull pranks on each other. For this particular prank, they’ve borrowed the office label maker and are meticulously labeling all of Zeke’s belongings.

“What’s up with your brother?” Jean asks. He’s paused his work for a moment, but Eren continues working and answers without looking up.

“How should I know? I’m just his brother. I can’t read his mind,” Eren scoffs as he sticks a label on his brother’s pencil that says “Zeke’s pencil.”

Everyone is cheering now, excited for the piñata. They’re all grown adults well within their twenties at the very least, but things like piñatas and birthday parties don’t have age limits.

Petra has the blindfold in her hands, but she hesitates on wrapping it around Zeke’s eyes. She looks around, scanning the people gathered in the office. “Shouldn’t we wait for Levi? He should take a break from work and join us for a little bit.”

“He’ll probably brush us off again,” Zeke says dismissively. He tugs at the blindfold in Petra’s hand. “Blindfold me. We should just get started.”

“Alright,” Petra says reluctantly.

Zeke bends down so that Petra can tie the blindfold around him more easily. The other office workers cheer excitedly as he takes the wooden bat brought to hit the piñata. Marcel is at the other end of the piñataholding it up and readying himself to pull it out reach from Zeke’s swings while his brother Porco guides Zeke towards the piñata, making sure that Zeke doesn’t accidentally whack anything that might break. Only Levi works alone in his office, removing himself from today’s celebrations, his eyes glued to his computer monitor because he’d rather be working than participating in the birthday festivities with everyone else.

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The camera has been filming the office manager for several minutes, but he hasn’t looked up once from his work. He ignores the camera completely, but he’s never been very keen on being recorded in the first place. Every once in a while Levi will glance up and let out a sigh through his nose when he sees the camera crew still haven’t left his office. Although Levi works in silence, the sound of the festivities outside can be heard clearly from his office and the celebration taking place can be seen easily through the glass walls.

After a while, Levi sits up and gives the camera a tired look. The camera does not shy away from his gaze.

“What do you want me to do? Get up and waste my time with the rest of them? I have work to do,” Levi huffs. “It’s alright for them to take a break. If they didn’t have these birthday and holiday parties every once in a while, they’d burn out. I don’t need to recharge constantly the way they do, so it’s a waste of time if I go and join them when I could be doing my work.”

The camera continues to focus on him as he returns to his work. Only the sound of Levi typing away at his computer can be heard over the muffled noise of the festivities in the office. When Levi sees that the camera crew still hasn’t left, he looks up and shoots the camera another glare.

“Is filming me really that interesting? I’m working the same as I usually do. It’s no different from any other day.”

The manager receives no response from the silent film crew. Another sigh escapes from Levi’s tired lips.

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Hanji escapes the birthday party to slip into Levi’s office. They have a bottle of vodka in their hand and a mischievous grin on their face. They take a seat in one of the chairs in front of Levi’s desk, setting the alcohol in front of Levi with a thunk. Levi doesn’t even look up.

“Come on, Levi. You should have a little fun with the rest of us,” Hanji says. They rock the bottle of vodka back and forth enticingly, but the alcohol doesn’t interest Levi in the least.

“If you’re here to bother me, leave. I’m working,” Levi tells Hanji. He still hasn’t looked up from his monitor.

“Come on. Petra was asking about you earlier,” Hanji says. They scoot up to the edge of the chair. They lean forward, their chin in their hand and their elbow propped up against the edge of Levi’s desk. “Can’t you take a break and talk to her? I’m sure she’d love it if you told her how much you appreciate how much time and care she took into organizing today’s event.”

“I always tell her each time she throws an event. I thanked her for planning Zeke’s party this morning before starting my day,” Levi says curtly. He pauses to look out the glass walls of his office and observes Zeke tying the blindfold around Petra’s eyes. His perpetual frown deepens, making his usual displeased expression turn even more severe. He notices the camera filming him and quickly returns his gaze back to his work. “I’m sure other people have also told her how appreciative they are of her work.”

Hanji looks from Levi to Petra then back to Levi. They let out an exaggerated sigh. It’s enough to distract Levi from his work and make him look at Hanji.

“Are you just going to sit there and make weird noises? Go back and have fun with everyone else so I can do my work in peace,” Levi tells them.

“Levi, you should just ask Petra out if it bothers you so much,” Hanji says.

Levi stops typing completely. “Ask her out? That’s incredibly unprofessional, Hanji. Not only do we work in the same office, but I’m her superior.”

Either Levi is oblivious to the number of office relationships taking place under his roof or he’s just holding himself to a higher standard than his employees. Personally, Hanji doesn’t see any issue with Levi pursuing a relationship with the cute HR department head. Sometimes it feels as if Levi is intentionally making it difficult for himself to find happiness.

“So what are you going to do? Just sulk in here for the rest of the day?” Hanji asks.

“I’m not sulking,” Levi snaps even though he clearly has been sulking for the entire day and will continue to do so until the work day ends and everyone has gone home.

“Right, well, don’t come crying to me when someone else asks her out because you’re too ‘professional’ to,” Hanji says before excusing themself and heading towards the door. They linger at the doorway and catch Levi watching as Zeke guides a laughing Petra towards the piñatathat’s just out of reach. The sight of the branch manager is so pitiful that Hanji can only sigh and shake their head before slipping out the door.

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When the festivities have died down and everyone has cleaned up, people begin to trickle out of the office one by one. Only Levi remains as he was before, his gaze still fixed on his monitor. He hardly looks up whenever people pass by his office door to give him a wave as they head out for the night. It’s only when Petra stops by, opening the door a crack and sticking her head in, that Levi pauses his work and looks up.

“Are you still working? You didn’t take a single break today. I’m impressed,” she tells Levi with a smile that’s almost a little wistful. “I wish you could have joined us if even only for a little bit.”

“Yes, well, it wouldn’t do for the entire office to stop working,” Levi says. He notices the guilt in Petra’s expression as her smile wavers and adds, “It’s great that you were able to arrange this birthday party, though. These types of events help boost morale and increases productivity for the rest of the office.”

The tension disappears from Petra’s smile. She opens her mouth and is about to ask him a question when someone places their hands on her shoulders. She turns around and is surprised when she sees Zeke.

“Wonderful job, Petra. You always do such wonderful work,” he tells her. He doesn’t even bother to greet Levi or notice the way the manager is watching him through narrowed eyes. Zeke continues almost obliviously. “How about we go for a drink? I just want to say thank you.”

“Ah, drinks?” Petra repeats. She looks uncertainly at Levi who has returned to his work again. She purses her lips and then asks, “Levi? Do you want to come? You didn’t get to celebrate at all.”

“You go on ahead,” Levi replies flatly even though he has no right to be jealous. “I still have work to do.”

“Alright then. Good night, Levi. Let’s go out another time,” Petra says, craning her neck as she bids him goodbye while Zeke is already escorting her towards the door.

When Levi hears the door shut after them, he rests his head in his hands and lets out a deep sigh. If he leaves now, he can change his mind and intrude rudely on what is meant to be an intimate conversation over drinks between Petra and Zeke. Still, something keeps Levi rooted to his seat. His own stubbornness, perhaps.

The door to his office opens once more and Levi lifts his head in surprise. He’s slightly disappointed to see that it’s just Hanji.

“Still here, I see,” Hanji says with a cluck of their tongue. They hide something in their coat. There’s an impish twinkle in their eyes, but Levi is too tired to put up with any antics they might have for him.

“I don’t have any patience left. Just leave for the night,” Levi warns them.

Hanji only laughs in response. “Come on, Levi. I’m here to cheer you up. You know what you need? You need a break. You’ve been working all day.”

“I don’t need a break,” Levi says with another sigh. He stands up, ready to escort Hanji out of his office himself, but then he sees the piñata that Hanji is pulling out of their coat. He frowns. “What is that?”

“A piñata! With a surprise,” Hanji says with a grin. They flip it around to reveal that Zeke’s face has been printed on the back. “I thought you could do with a little bit of stress relief. What do you say?”

Levi observes it for a while. “Get me the bat,” he finally says.

“Will do!” Hanji says and giddily runs out to the office to retrieve the requested bat.

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“I actually don’t hate Zeke,” Hanji tells the camera with a grin. They’re giving a talking head in the break room for the filming crew while Levi finishes destroying the piñata in his office. Several thwacks can be heard in the background as Hanji speaks. “We actually get along pretty well. I just think it’s hilarious how much he gets on Levi’s nerves.”

They look back at Levi beating the pulp out of the already destroyed piñata.

“Maybe I should take Levi to one of those axe throwing places,” they muse.

#the office au #levi ackerman #snk #hanji zoe #rivetra #petra ral #zeke jaeger #asks #answered #anon #anonymous #requests

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