#did i get any good traits? i mean somehow neither of them gave me their bad eyesight which is a W

[fingertipsmp3]

And on top of everything else, my OTHER wisdom tooth (top left) is trying to emerge. Why this. Why now.

[ladymorghul]

i agree with most of things that previous anan said but the one thing i find amusing is how this person said it's bullshit they adapted daeron into aemond. like read the book and then speak of it. maybe you'll find secret pages of aemond being more than one dimensional villain on the pages. and send me photos if you find it. i often find it amusing that people who are happy that aemond isn't like in the books tend to turn around and say hey, they never gave ANY daeron's personality traits to him even after there were leaks of scripts where Sapochnik clearly cut him out of the show and how George stepped in just after Sapochnik was fired and reassured fans daeron will be included. it's clear they wanted to cut him out and any person who is fine with daeron being out of the show is no green stan at all. daeron is too important to toss him aside but how could people who haven't read the books know it, they needed to see George behaviour and then they finally understood that maybe daeron is someone essential to greens and not Sapochnik weird fantasies

i do agree that aemond was humanized, i don't know if they did it with daeron on their minds and, frankly anon, im tired of not any concrete proof that miguel is THE ONLY evil behind all decisions greens don't like. want something that's hard to swallow? unlike the majority of team black stans, at least half of green stans are rhaenicents. personally i am not interested in this ship at all beyond episode 7, but ryan likes it. he said about rhaenicent:

“I think there’s actually still hope, even with Luke’s death,” Condal said on the House of the Dragon podcast. “The problem moving forward is it’s only so much in Alicent and Rhaenyra’s control anymore. Now we’re dealing with their sons and what we know from history is that war is often fought by the young 16-22 year old angry, testosterone loaded sons of the people that are trying to hold onto their power.”

it is my solid belief that while there have definitely been things that have set ryan and miguel apart, that ryan is not you friend as a green stan and neither is grrm. grrm said he liked the show, he said he liked show viserys better, he is a daemon fan first and foremost. he's not here to save the greens lol and i don't think he's here to save anyone

also... about daeron: ryan announced before miguel left or grrm was gonna be involved that daeron exists and that there just wasn't space for him in s1. could this be a lie madeup on the spot bc people were calling it out? maybe. but how much of the fandom do you think are greens compared to team black and how much of those greens have read the books that they'd make such noise that somehow it was actually them that reminded the showmakers of daeron?

anyway yeah aemond WAS humanized and that's good. that's what you want from a weird, one dimensional history told by 3 sources. whether that means that they consciously took from daeron or not, it's not something we can know for sure. but imo the point of the show is to make all of the characters more nuanced and give them depth so imo there shouldn't be just one character that gets to play a role that's the "good one" as daeron is in the books, and i hope they do it with aegon too. however, to your credit, and i understand the frustration, aemond has been given some of aegon's stuff so it's possible.

this is what i'm saying though. i also don't agree with everything the prev anon said in terms of characters, but this type of talk is also what has started some division in the fandom of aegon vs aemond vs daeron vs whatever. like that one anon i had who called me gross names and were calling aemond "wallmart daeron" bc they were somehow both mad that i shipped helaemond and mad at aemond and helaena separately iirc.

[raamyun-and-rambles]

Musings of an Alchemist’s Lover

Fandom: Genshin Impact Pairing: Albedo x Reader Summary:  Maybe you had a third eye somewhere you didn't know of, a horn that's grown out of you without you noticing or a tail that flicks behind you whenever you weren't looking. Whatever it was, certainly there had to be something noticeably different about you that attracted the alchemist's attention and your curiosity allowed your mind to wander.

-----------

Holding Albedo's attention for more than a few seconds was no easy feat.

Unless it was a topic that tickled his fancy or something of utmost urgence, Albedo would most likely only regard the unfortunate soul with a disgruntled hum, tuning out most of their words until he manages to somewhat catch onto the main gist of their spiel. He doesn't even do anything to hide his disinterest, eyes immediately finding purchase on anything else but the speaker in front of them, musing theories to himself that he'd sometimes let slip into a whisper. This certain trait of his has definitely gotten him into trouble more than a couple of times but Albedo could hardly care. Surely discovering the world's secrets is more important than helping the Knights look for Margaret's lost cat for the umpteenth now right?

Despite being Mondstadt's favorite person and with a reputation that precedes him, Albedo was surprisingly anti-social. He had little to no regards for social interaction and this is further proved when he made himself a makeshift laboratory in one of Dragonspine's cave.

It was quiet, deserted and had almost everything he needed for his studies. If he ever ran out of supplies then he'd be able to call for either Sucrose or Timaeus - or go down the mountain himself to make sure he'll stock up with more than the amount he needs so he can hole himself up for a couple of weeks on end. The scenery was an added bonus, if the amount of sketches he's made was anything to go by, it was safe to say that Albedo liked it as well. Thick snow carpeted the floor as far as the eye can go and streams glimmered under the light of the morning sun. The air was crisp and chilly, it nipped at his nose and made his cheeks burn red, but his cave offered a comforting warmth once he's sank in front of the hearth, nursing a cup of tea or hot chocolate.

Albedo was many things, that much you could tell.

A genius, an alchemical prodigy, a leader, a brother - and most surprisingly, even to yourself - your lover.

To be fairly honest you weren't entirely sure what it was that attracted the Chief Alchemist of the Knights to your side. You were hardly anyone special after all, simply just one of Lisa's many acquaintances who spends one too many hours in the library. You were of average height and build, with a face that you could only describe as forgettable. Neither you nor your parents were well-known within the walls of the city of freedom and you lived a mostly mundane routinary life as a baker until Klee had bounded into your humble store one rainy evening, soaked to the bone and sneezing from the cold. The poor thing was shivering and had asked to take shelter from the pouring rain. You didn't have the heart to turn her away and you were more than just a little familiar about the stories of Mond's most adorable but destructive spark knight. You allowed her into your home, giving her a fresh towel to pat herself dry and a cup of hot milk and freshly baked cookies. The child bounced in glee, thanking you and happily accepting the treats with a smile that could part the skies to make way for the rays of sun. You allowed her to phone her guardian after she had finished eating and you kept her company throughout the entire wait. You turned your attention away from Klee the moment the store bell rang and your (e/c) eyes had immediately met with bright turquoise irises.

"Thank you for taking care of her." Albedo said as he knelt down to assist Klee with wearing her infamous bright red coat and adjusted her mushroom hat so it sat snugly atop her head.

"It's no problem at all, she was lovely company. I'd be delighted to have her around again every once in a while." You chuckled, remembering how she had praised the treats you made for her.

"Albedo onii-chan Albedo onii-chan!" The spark knight excitedly exclaimed, tugging on his hand with each call of his name. "______ makes the best sweets! Her cookies are really good and the bread she makes are really fluffy! She let me help her mix the dough earlier and-"

"How about you tell me all about it when we get home Klee? It's late and I'm sure ______ has to close up shop soon."

Klee deflated a bit but was quick to understand, she turned to you immediately after and flashed you another bright smile.

"Thank you for today ______ nee-chan, Klee will come back to visit another time!"

You smiled at her enthusiasm and you couldn't resist the urge to pat her on the head.

"I'll be waiting for you here then."

Albedo stood up after the exchange and finally regarded you with his attention. "We'll be off then, have a lovely evening miss ______."

"And to you too sir Kreideprinz."

You watch them walk off down the cobbled street, Klee's joyous laughter and excited chatter filling the air despite the pattering of rain against your roof. They took a turn around the corner and disappeared from your view. A small smile tugs on your features and you immediately set to work with locking up the store for the night.

Klee had started coming over more often after that night, mostly dropping by before you close while she waited for Albedo to finish work. It was no surprise that Klee often talked fondly about her big brother, praising him and telling you stories you haven't heard from any of the other residents of Mond while you prepared for tomorrow's next batch of goods. Albedo seemed like a very busy man from the way Klee tells her stories but he always seemed to make time to pick her up, oftentimes buying some bread and sweets before leaving.

It surprised you a little when he admitted he enjoyed having something sweet while he worked. Albedo insisted that it was because it gave him a considerable boost of energy but a part of you thinks it could just be because he had a sweet tooth he just wasn't aware of.

Needless to say it was due to that chance encounter with Klee that had allowed you to meet the chief alchemist himself and your relationship had only continued to bloom from there.

He was - in simple terms - wonderful.

An eccentric, true, but wonderful nonetheless and you never would have guessed that you'd ever end up as his lover nor did you ever imagine you'd be holding him in your arms, sleep slowly overtaking him as you gently ran your fingers through soft platinum locks - much like the lazy morning you were both sharing right now.

Albedo had come home at almost 3 in the morning the other night, with a throbbing headache and eyes that almost refused to open from drowse. He had pulled all-nighters for several days now, refusing to leave his lab for even a moment as he fully threw himself into his work. Nothing could ever stop him when he was in such a state, filled with elation at the mere prospect of a new discovery. It was a side of him that you admired as much as you found it problematic, it was amazing how he could wholly dedicate all his time, effort and energy towards his research but it was a definitely a point of worry that he'd also forget how to take care of himself. The alchemist immediately headed to your shared bedroom, dragging his feet across the floor while he shed himself of his coat, letting out a long yawn before heaving himself onto the mattress' soft comfort. You stirred from your sleep as the bed dipped and knowing it couldn't possibly be anyone else other than Albedo, you immediately rolled to your side and wrapped your arms around his middle, nuzzling into his warmth as his arms found themselves around you to return your embrace. There was an exchange of sleepy mumbles before you both immediately fell back into sleep.

You smile a little bit at the memory, humming softly as you continue to softly card your fingers through his hair. It was more than just a little past the time you both usually woke, but you'll allow it for now. Surely the people could wait a couple hours more for their morning bread and the knights can surely make do without the Chief Alchemist for a moment longer. So long as Albedo was getting the rest he needed you figured a lazy morning in would be alright every once in a while especially after the sleepless hectic nights he had the past few days. The peaceful expression on his face immediately filled you with relief.

"Albedo?" You whispered, afraid you'd break the serenity of the morning.

The alchemist responded with a sleepy hum, lifting his head so he could look at you as his long lashes fluttered open.

A smile tugged at your lips at his sleepy visage before you gently pressed a kiss on his forehead.

"I love you."

He gives you a sleepy smile of his own, heart swelling at the affection before nuzzling back into the crook of your neck.

"I love you too."

His lips brushed against your pulse as he spoke and his breath tickled against your skin, feeling a little playful, you then decided to ask.

"Are you sure?"

"Yes."

"But why?"

A question you've always been meaning to ask, brought about by a sudden spur of confidence.

"Because meine liebe," Albedo starts, once again pulling himself away from your warmth to hold you with his gaze - you once again think to yourself that his eyes has the most beautiful shade of green - "I love you simply because you are you."

"You're certain it's not because I have a third eye hidden away somewhere or some freaky mutation I somehow have no knowledge of?"

Albedo chuckled lightly.

"Certainly not love, and I'm sure if you do I wouldn't be the only one to take notice of it."

You hum, convinced and resumed patting his hair.

The alchemist assumed his earlier position and sank further into your embrace.

"Besides," he murmured, sleep lacing his words,

.

.

.

"I think you're wonderful just the way you are."

[kerie-prince]

change of pace

Fred Weasley x Slytherin!reader

requested: (@pinkdevile) hey bae, can i request a one shot or headcanon about fred being whipped by one of ron classmates that is a non-pureblood slytherin and kind of prodigy in magic and how would he react to her being a typical dry slytherin and being a prodigy and good at everything?

summary: What happens when a red lion who lives in the moment falls for a green snake with plans for her future? Romance, of course.

a/n: stereotypical, yes but i had fun writing this :) also, i know my posting schedule keeps changing, so sorry about that 🥺 i got lots of requests (thank you guys SO much!) and i'm trying to not make them all sound the same. i'm looking up synonyms and all that stuff lol

(gif cred)

You were the least Slytherin person in your house. But maybe that's made you even more of a Slytherin. Your traits were that of a typical member of the house of snakes. No, you weren't a rude bitch; you had ambition that rivaled that of a Gryffindor and it wasn't even one of their traits. You aimed for the stars and your pride proved that you could do that and more. You are the best witch of your class, and maybe even your school.

And it was this reputation that caught the attention of someone who is quite the polar opposite. You were calm and collected. He was a wild card and unpredictable. Fred Weasley had his eyes on you and was going crazy for you. It all started when one day, he was with his friends and brothers in the Great Hall during lunch when you had walked up to Ron and Harry, “Hey Ron, were my notes able to help you?”

“Yeah, loads. Thank you, Y/N.” Lee was in the middle of a conversation with his best friends when he noticed Fred wasn't responding to anything he was saying. “Mate, you okay?” When you walked to your table, Fred scooted closer to his younger brother, “Dearest brother, how are you?”

“What do you want?” Ron saw right through him. He knew when Fred wanted something from him, just like now.

“Well I’m offended that you would assume something,” Fred held a hand over his chest with a fake offended look on his face, “can’t a person ask about the well being of his baby brother?” Ron had a deadpan expression and Harry was laughing at Fred’s exaggeration. “Fair enough. Who was that?”

“Who? Y/N? She’s in mine and Harry’s class, why?” Ron had taken a large bite from his turkey leg.

“What’s she like?” Fred inquired. Ron thought about it for a minute, “Dunno, she’s pretty quiet.”

“If I didn't know any better, I’d say that Freddie here fancies someone,” George teased. The surrounding friends laugh and point towards Fred. “I don’t fancy anyone. I’m just asking a simple question.”

Hermione and Ginny later joined the group. “What’s all this fuss about?” Hermione questioned.

“Fred’s asking about Y/L/N,” Harry caught Hermione up to speed. “Why? You’re not thinking of doing anything to her, are you?” Hermione started to scold the older boy.

“Why is it that you lot always think I’m up to no good,” Fred sighed.

“Because you’ve never been up to any good,” Ginny teased her older brother. Fred rolled his eyes and turned back to try and find you at your table. You had a couple of friends with you and a small book in your hand as you ate. Fred was determined to get your attention somehow.

✿✿✿✿✿✿

You sat in the library by yourself. You had spent the majority of the afternoon grading first years’ papers for Snape’s class and working with Hermione and Katie on a project for Ancient Runes. Giving up your weekends to study wasn't all that bad. The feeling of being on top was rewarding.

It was funny; your parents had stopped caring about your grades all together because they already knew what they were going to read. Not that they weren't supportive or proud of you. At family gatherings on your father’s side, he loved seeing the looks on his relatives’ faces when he boasted that you were the best student at Hogwarts.

But they have told you on many occasions that it wouldn't kill you to have at least one E. They wanted you to be able to have a normal teen life and have fun. Go to parties, get in trouble every now and then. You assured them that you were fine and all and even believed it yourself. You never had interest in breaking the pattern you had set.

The library was nearing its closing time and you packed your things. When you walked out the grand doors, a tall figure came in front of you and nearly knocked down all the books you carried. His hands caught whatever you couldn't hold before it hit the floor.

“Sorry about that,” you looked up at the towering boy. Your breath slightly hitched at the sight of his attractive face. His cheekbones were defined and his skin looked soft. You didn’t realize that you were staring, nor that he was also staring at you as well. Finally, he spoke up and handed you the book he was holding for you. “I believe this is for you.”

His mouth moved, but you were so distracted that it didn't occur to you he had actually said anything until you saw him looking at you expectedly. “Oh, thank you.” You started heading towards the dungeons when he jogged towards and stopped in front of you. “Aren’t you in the same class as Ron?”

“Yes, how did you know that?”

“I saw you talk to him the other day,” he told you. “I’m Fred.” He reached to shake your hands but then pulled it back when he remembered that your hands were full at the moment.

Ah, so this is Fred you thought. You've heard of him, who hasn't? Years of being at Hogwarts, tales of him and his equally devilish brother creating havoc around campus have traveled from one student to another. How you two had never seen one another until this point was surprising. It’s not like Hogwarts was a large school, but it wasn't small either.

“Nice to meet you. I’m Y/N.” You nodded your head towards him to replace a handshake. Ten seconds of silence caused you to walk past him and return to the path to the dungeons. “W-wait!” Fred called out.

He stood in front of you once again, one of his hands positioned in front of you to block you from walking past him again. “Would you like to get a butterbeer tomorrow?”

If there was anything you didn't like, it was being put on the spot. And another thing? Your routine being disturbed. Your Sunday was all planned out. Helping Sprout with her greenhouse to earn extra house points, tutoring some younger years, and getting a head start on your homework that wasn't even due for another week.

“I’m sorry, but no.” You gave him an apologetic smile as you walked away. Once again, he ran in front of you but this time merged with you and actually caused all of your books to fall.

“Merlin, I’m so sorry,” he bent down to help you pick them up. Fred usually isn't this clumsy or nervous. He usually charms his way through anything, but he was becoming like putty out of nowhere. “Okay, well what about Honeydukes next Saturday?”

“Sorry, but no again.” You started walking away for the nth time and turned around to look at him for the last time, “Please don’t follow me again.” And you were gone. But did this mean that Fred gave up on any chance he had? No. Far from it. If anything, it gave him reason to want to try harder.

He walked all the way to the Gryffindor house and luckily found Hermione studying in the common room with Pavarti and Lavender. There was a spot open next to her and when Ginny was about to take the spot, Fred grabbed her arm and pulled her away to steal the seat.

“Um, excuse you, I was going to sit–”

“Tell me everything you can about Y/N,” Fred interrupted his sister.

✿✿✿✿✿✿

He had tried to learn as much as he could about you. Fred learned that you had the top grades. Much like Harry did, you had learned the Patronus Charm before not only before your own class, but even Fred’s charms class. Your dad's a wizard, and your mum's a muggle. But most importantly, you were a picture perfect student, and although you didn't have any apparent hobbies, you picked up just about everything with ease.

A couple of weeks had passed and every other day, Fred had made any type of excuse to come see you.

‘Oh, my next class is in this direction’ It wasn't.

‘I like that book, too!’ You were, in fact, not holding a book but your personal journal.

‘Funny running into you here!’ It was in the Great Hall during breakfast.

Now, you didn't hate these interactions. They didn't do anything to your routine, and they were actually cute attempts to get your attention. But you didn't think you had any time for anything else. Or anyone else.

“You should give him a chance, Y/N/N. Live a little. I think the top student can take a bit of time for herself at least once,” your friend Millicent advised. Astoria agreed with her, “He’s cute~.” You slightly blushed in your book and pushed their arms away.

“I’ve never been on a date before,” you whispered. The two girls looked at each other confused before turning back to look at you. “Huh?”

“I’ve never been on a date before!” You flinched when you realized your voice was louder than intended. Your friends laughed when you looked towards the Gryffindor table to make sure Fred didn't hear you. He was talking to his friends, so that meant he didn't. Only he did, but felt your eyes on him so he pretended he didn't.

“So this is the perfect reason to go out with him! Go ask him out,” Millie pushed. She was persistently tapping on your arm until you eventually stood up. You took a deep breath to gather confidence and walked towards the table of red and gold.

When Fred's eyes met yours, you turned around and walked out of the Hall. He stood up from his seat and chased after you. He kept bumping into people, including Filch in the hallways. Filch yelled for him to stop, but of course Fred ignored him and kept going.

Momentarily, he lost you in the crowd of mixed color robes until he saw you sitting by yourself on a bench under a tree. He walked towards your direction and asked you with his eyes if he could take the seat next to you. You scooted down more to let the tall boy sit down.

Neither of you said anything for a few moments. You fiddled with your fingers on your lap and he stared up at the sky. “Nice day, innit?” Fred started the conversation. “Yes, it is.”

“Good weather to go walking around Hogsmeade” Fred tried one last attempt in asking you out.

“It would be,” you accepted.

He let out a sigh in defeat, “I know I ask a lot, but maybe just this once– wait, what did you say?” You looked up at him and smiled for the first time. His heart skipped a beat and the butterflies fluttered about inside.

“I’ll go with you.” He was so excited that he jumped up and did an air punch of victory. You laughed to yourself and when he looked at you, you had an eyebrow raised. He blushed in embarrassment and scratched the back of his neck. “I’ll see you tomorrow then?”

“Promptly at 2 in the afternoon in front of the Slytherin dorms. Don’t be late,” you stood up with confidence. You walked back to the Hall to tell your friends, cheeks warmed and ears blushing. “So?” Astoria asked.

“It’s just a date, that's it,” you sounded nonchalant about it, but the smile on your face said differently. You were excited for your day with Fred and for all, unpredictable adventures to come.

A much needed change of pace.

—

requests open!

[malfoyslovies]

heather - draco malfoy

Pairing: draco malfoy x fem!reader

Summary: Y/N wishes she were the girl Draco fell in love with.

Word Count: 1.2k

Warnings: angst, self-doubting

A/N: this is a lyric fic based off the song “Heather” by Conan Gray—lyrics are in bold italics. also there’s no dialogue lol.

(not my gif)

i still remember

third of december

me in your sweater

you said it looked better

on me, than it did you

You sat alone in your common room, reminiscing about a day in December; a day you spent with Draco.

It was a good day. A day spent by the frozen-over Black Lake—him giving you his green polyester sweater, the two of you running around like idiots in the snow, neither of you having a care in the world. It wasn't a date, though. It was merely a day—just like any other day—that allowed you to spend some time with your friend.

You and Draco were friends. That's it. Of course, you wanted to be more. But Draco never knew, and now it was too late.

Now, he was in love with her.

only if you knew

how much i liked you

but i watch your eyes

as she walks by

You wish Draco knew of your abiding love for him. You wish he knew how you would literally die for him. You wish he knew how you would give anything and everything just for him to be happy.

He was happy with her, though. And you knew it was incredibly selfish, but you wished he was happy with you instead.

God, you just wished he knew.

what a sight for sore eyes

brighter than a blue sky

she's got you mesmerized

while i die

It was the girl Draco couldn't keep his eyes off of. You always noticed the looks they gave each other—how Draco subconsciously smiled in content whenever she laughed. You saw how much chemistry they had. Everyone saw. The two lovesick teens were the talk of the school.

You hated how you always got that sick feeling in your stomach whenever you overheard people taking about them. You didn't want to admit it was jealousy. You didn't want to be that kind of person.

But fuck, you just couldn't help it.

why would you ever kiss me

i'm not even half as pretty

you gave her your sweater

it's just polyester

The girl had Draco's green sweater draped over her shoulders—the same sweater that you had borrowed on that memorable day in December. You still remembered exactly how it felt on your skin, how warm it made you feel in contrast to the cold temperature the air was on that particular day. You remembered how Draco had lent it to you without a second thought, gently placing it on your shoulders with a warm smile on his charming face as soft giggles escaped from both of your mouths.

Now, it was her shoulders he had placed the sweater on, the same smile on his face as they both giggled, just as you two had. Except this time, he had placed a chaste kiss upon her lips.

Now, you felt cold again. But this time, it was a different type of cold. It was a deeper, metaphorical type of cold.

It was like ice water had flooded your brain, spreading to your torso and limbs and then wrapping around your heart until you were left with no mercy.

Now, you were sure you had lost him to her.

but you like her better

wish i were heather

Her name was Astoria Greengrass. She was a gorgeous Slytherin who was at the top of her class, both her beauty and her grades incomparable. Any guy would be crazy not to fall for her.

watch as she stands

with her holding your hand

put your arm 'round her shoulder

now i'm getting colder

You picked at your food with your fork, a lump in your throat as you watched Draco put an arm around her shoulders. She smiled big and rested her head on his shoulder before he kissed her forehead affectionately.

He was so affectionate with her, it was funny. You never thought Draco would show his vulnerable side in front of anyone other than you. But now, with her, he had no qualms with expressing vulnerability in front of the entire Great Hall.

And now you felt as cold as ever. You still felt the ghost of Draco's arm around your own shoulders. You could still hear the sound of him laughing at your pathetic attempts at cracking jokes. You could still see him smiling adorably at the subtle compliments you would give him, to which he would reply by complimenting you back.

You had realized that none of that meant anything to him anymore.

Or maybe he just never cared in the first place.

but how could i hate her

she's such an angel

but then again

kinda wish she were dead

How could you hate her? She was one of the nicest people at Hogwarts. She was selfless. She was intelligent. She would do anything and everything for the people she cared about, while also keeping the sarcasm trait of a Slytherin. She was an angel. It was impossible to hate her.

But then again, you kind of wished she were dead. It was awful, you knew, but you wanted to hurt her. You wanted her to feel the pain you felt. You wanted her erased from Draco's memory.

But Draco was happy with her, and Draco's happiness mattered most to you.

Even if it hurt like hell.

as she walks by

what a sight for sore eyes

brighter than a blue sky

she's got you mesmerized

while i die

Whenever you complained to your parents about something, they'd say, "Life isn't fair, darling." You’d always thought the saying was so simple and boring and overused, and that people just said it when they didn't have any good advice to give. You didn't think it held any deep meaning.

But now, it somehow did.

why would you ever kiss me

i'm not even half as pretty

you gave her your sweater

it's just polyester

You were stupid to think Draco would ever kiss you, that he would ever look at you with heart eyes, that he would ever love you in more than just a platonic way.

Perhaps if you had confessed your feelings sooner, before Astoria came along, Draco might've told you he felt the same. You could've been happy by now. But none of that happened, because life isn’t fair.

but you like her better

i wish i were heather

You knew she didn't mean any harm, but you felt astonishingly angry at her. Not only did she take the boy you loved from you, she took your best friend. It was as if Draco didn't have time for you anymore. You barely talked. Hell, he barely even spared you a glance anymore.

And you had no one to talk to about it. It was actually quite ironic. He used to be the person you would talk to about everything. He used to listen to you rant, or let you cry on his shoulder as he comforted you until you were smiling again.

But nothing lasts forever.

why would you ever kiss me

i'm not even half as pretty

you gave her your sweater

it's just polyester

You looked at yourself in the mirror, pointing out everything you didn't have that Astoria did. Perfect eyes. Perfect nose. Perfect lips. Perfect hair.

And Draco.

She had Draco, and you didn't.

but you like her better

wish i were

And you thought to yourself,

I wish I were Astoria.

[cybrko]

shallow citrus review

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♞disclaimer: this is just for the anime and not the manga as I have not read it yet!

♜background: Citrus was the first yuri anime I watched lol so I am still not familiar with all of the common tropes... (besides the light hair x dark hair and bubbly x toxic person matchups obviously). I had to be pleaded with to watch this because I am awful at finishing shows.

♞overall rating: 6/10 using MAL scale. It was entertaining, the art was good, and it had some plot backing up the circumstances. Definitely not a masterpiece in any way which was a shame because my friend really hyped this up for me.... I LOVE and ADORE Yuzu! She was such a lovable protagonist and carried this show 100% which is why my rating is pretty high.

♜worth watching?

This would be a passing yes depending on your circumstances, and the fact I determine this off of entertainment and not quality for this show specifically. With friends? Absolutely, because it would get a lot of laughs and secondhand embarrassment. By yourself? No for THAT kind of "me time" but yes for casual fun. I say to watch it for Yuzu.

♞character visual design

In general, I liked the overall style of how characters were drawn! It gave a feminine, delicate, high school girly prettiness that matched the theme. I am also talking about the manga too, which I didn't read, but I did skim some in the bookstore.

Yuzu: The blonde, bubbly, and slightly rebellious side of this match, Yuzu's personal kogal-esque fashion-sense is what made her unique. I want to point out that I really appreciated how Yuzu stuck out because of her personal style by using makeup, jewelry, and hair-styles (that actually CHANGED occasionally bravo!) which are against school dress code. This really added to her charm and the fact she goes against what's accepted.

Mei: Playing off the shy, studious, and reserved student council president traits, Mei's design fit that to the bill. That would of course be giving her dark hair and eyes to give a sense of coldness and conservatism. Like Yuzu, Mei also was a main character that did not force the usual making it obvious that she was important to the show. I don't have a lot to say about Mei, because she is well... normal... which is the point! So good job with that ( ་ ⍸ ་ )

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|　       not spoiler free         |

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♜some tropes I saw with comments:

schoolgirls: resulting to spicy time in their uniforms LOL which is pretty creepy ( ˘•̥ _•̥ ˘ ), but I watched this in HS so I'm valid

written for guys...: meaning quality and realism of plot automatically goes downhill for the nut... I feel like it would be super hard to tug one to citrus unless you're really desperate. if you did please never talk to me and go to therapy. I would also assume you can be found on a local sexual offender list.

not actually lesbian with one exception: I'm mainly pointing fingers at Yuzu here because Mei did kiss that middle school gremlin and was in a very short relationship with Sara. But I feel kind of bad for this because Yuzu did appear to be confused with her sexuality. I could be completely wrong about this, but this is my assumption from observations.

opposites attract: its a pet peeve of mine that this is a thing because it mostly results in failed relationships, yet TV-wise it's pretty entertaining. when can we have a love story where the characters have something in common besides sexual tension and forbidden love???

step sisters!: better than biological siblings to say the least... I appreciate some slightly more ethical taboo. Neither of them got stuck in the washing machine (which is why I have this under the spoiler section)

contrasting colors: when the couple has the opposite hair color which somehow determines their personalities. like zodiac signs but worse.

the almost do it but dont @ the last second: this trope is super common everywhere and is just a normal addition to creating suspense. I have a love-hate thing for this, as Mei or Yuzu always stopped at the last second before committing to spicy time.

♞the dumpster fires encountered:

Matsuri: The world's strangest and incorrect attempt for an antagonist ever. Take a toxic, desperate, manipulative and equally sexually frustrated discord kitten e-girl who is in JUNIOR HIGH and have her come out of nowhere near the end of the show. I really disliked how Matsuri followed the main-character route with bright pink hair that contrasted against literally every other character. Matsuri was the turning point for me where I really saw citrus go downhill in my heart, and was ultimately my least favorite thing about the show. Matsuri definitely contributed to citrus's property of being written for guys and ruined the show for me.

Mei: I have no idea how someone as genuinely good as Yuzu managed to convince herself she is in love with a person as awful as Mei. Frankly, Mei and Matsuri would have been better together as they both love to assault and manipulate others. My friend actually really liked Mei because she was 'dominant' (I'm assuming) but WTF, she was so frustrating to have as a love interest. I'm all for the perfect girl with a devious side archetype, but Mei's problematic tendencies outweighed that. Even though Yuzu treated her with kindness and support through all of that madness of Mei going back and forth of wanting to be more than sisters, Mei still treated her terribly. If you like Mei you need to enroll in relationship counseling, uninstall discord and use an internet safety filter to remember how good relationships work.

Sara and Nina: I really don't know why these two existed besides to create a really awkward feeling when watching Sara prepare to confess her sudden love for Mei. This was really odd and uncomfortable to watch in comparison to Yuzu and Mei's relationship taking much more time and effort to build up. Also the fact that Mei agreed to date Sara after leading on Yuzu for so long, I concluded that Sara demonstrated for me of how questionable and stable Mei was as a person. I also caught the feeling that Sara and Nina had their own strange slight twincest thing going on as Nina was straight up invading Yuzu's personal life for Sara's personal gain. Going along what I said about Matsuri sticking out in a crowd, these two also did and did not match the other characters in the series at all...

♜good things!

Yuzu: Obviously my favorite character was Yuzu... because of how she is a good person! Even when Sara was briefly dating Mei, she never interfered or professed her own feelings to hopefully change Mei's mind about Sara! Yuzu has a lot of charm and is a really well-made character! I actually enjoyed watching her internal conflict when Mei made her questionable advances and literally gaslighted her by acting like nothing happened. During the Christmas episode I was really impressed when she denied Mei, even though it was kind of frustrating that she didn't give in to her own desires.

Harumin: The friendship between Harumin and Yuzu mirrored what a childish high schooler pairing would actually be like irl! These two had a lot in common due to their rebellious tendencies, and they were fun to watch together rather than the drab queen of angst and darkness Mei. Why couldn't there be an innocent rom-com between Yuzu and Harumin instead?

♞conclusion

Writing about all the bad things completely exhausted me so I will stop here. Even with all of my gripes I still stand by my suggestion to watch citrus! It wasn't that bad and is kind of educational on what not to do in a relationship.... I'm no yuri expert, yet, but as a noob with low yuri quality standards it was your typical yet questionable romance anime.

[re-diesirae]

7. Leon

Leon had watched Claire like a caring friend the whole night. The woman had fallen asleep so fast that Leon knew she was exhausted. He let the woman rest on his lap, and he found his eyes wandering absently to her face.

She looked pale under the dim light, and her auburn-hair locks fell lazily over her face. Leon pushed one behind her ear, and she barely moved under the light touch.

Leon froze, fearing that he had awoken her, but the woman continued to sleep quietly.

"You must be truly tired if you let your defenses down like this," Leon whispered with a smirk.

It was not the first time that they shared sleeping quarters. During the early months after the Racoon City incident, Leon, Claire, and Sherry had stayed together. The trio had remained hidden, fearing that Umbrella would try to catch them. In those days, Claire and Leon alternated their guarding duties, and he remembered that the woman was a very light sleeper. The slightest sound would send her on her feet and ready to shoot. He had found that cute and admirable.

Tonight, however, Claire was sleeping soundly, and not even his touch had woken her. He was not sure if he should feel concerned or happy that she felt safe enough to rest with him.

After some hours, he tried waking her up, as he had promised. Claire woke up when he shook her, but she soon fell asleep again, and he did not have the heart to wake her again.

Claire did not look too happy when she found out he had not woken her, but she forgave him after he explained what had happened. They left the cottage and walked through the forest. The casual chat was helping them both to stay calm, but he had not expected the conversation to turn to the subject of her luck with men.

Claire was a beautiful woman; she was not like other girls. She had grown with Chris, so she was not the sort of a woman to lay low waiting for the prince in shining armor to come to her rescue. No, Claire was the kind of girl to save herself. She knew how to stand her ground, and some men would feel intimidated by that. In his personal opinion, that was just what he had found so attractive in her.

Claire was a strong woman, and that was appealing. If someone was not able to see that, well, that bastard certainly was an idiot. When the conversation turned about him and Ada, he quickly brushed it off.

He and Ada had a complicated relationship. There was an attraction, but he doubted there was anything beyond that. When Claire pinpointed the group of Plagas infected, Leon chose to take cover behind the bushes. They were not hard to handle, but he did not have infinite ammo, and he did not want to waste them without reason.

"I think the wisest move now is to avoid conflict unless it is necessary," Leon said.

"I am with you with that. You'll want to save your bullets for the big ones," Claire nodded, looking at him.

"Big ones?" Leon asked with a frown.

"Yeah, nasty things. They took me by surprise yesterday, and I blew up the town in panic. The explosion was a little bigger than I thought, but well, I was desperate, and I wasn't thinking clearly."

Leon looked at the woman feeling a bit guilty. He had seen the woman's condition the night before. She could barely stand, and Leon hated imagining her facing those monsters. He was somehow amazed that she had managed to come out alive.

You never stop surprising me.

"I didn't meet any last night," Leon said, "but I trust your word, any idea of what it is?"

"Nope. I've never seen anything like it. I dare say it might be a new strain. I guess we get the privilege to test them."

"What an honor," Leon said sarcastically.

Leon looked around them. Considering the situation, they needed a plan to survive. The first thing they needed was knowing their surroundings. Usually, he could count on Hunnigan's assistance in these cases, but she was out of reach, which meant they would have to do it the old way.

Leon noticed a rocky formation in the distance. It was probably high enough for them to look around.

"Alright, so plan. We need to figure out the terrain, so I think we should try to find a good vantage point to look at what we are facing. There's a rocky cliff in that direction, do you see it?"

"Yup, I do."

"I hope you are in the mood for hiking."

"Leon, if you know me the way you say you do, you'll know I'll never be in the mood for hiking."

"But I'll do what I've got to do."

"That's the spirit," he said, "Don't worry. I can carry you if you get tired."

"Excuse you. I might dislike hikes, but I don't need anyone to carry me."

"Of course. It's nice to see that good old Claire is still there."

"The old Claire has always been here," she said, winking at him. "Just improved..."

Leon let out a soft chuckle. He was glad that Claire's humor was still there. He loved that part of her. How she could make things look less grim with a funny comment or two. Her manners had become more mature, and perhaps, a little reserved, but she was still herself; sweet and lovely Claire. He could not ask for a better partner in the current situation.

Leon took the lead mainly because he wanted to ensure Claire's safety. The woman assured him that she was ok, but her appearance said otherwise. She was too pale, and the hesitance of her steps did not go unnoticed to his watchful eye. Claire was coherent. He could scratch out any head damage due to the concussion, but there could be other injuries that he had not noticed. He would need to check in their next stop.

"Strange..."

Leon stopped for a moment, looking around. He listened but heard nothing more than birds and the whistle of the wind through the woods.

"I expected more hostiles, but we've barely encountered some Plagas infected. Don't you find it odd?"

He saw Claire look around them as well.

"Well, it is a very different scenario from last night," Claire agreed, "Perhaps they are more active at night."

"That's not a common trait when it comes to Plagas, but you might be right," Leon reasoned, "Well, then maybe we should restrict our moves to daytime. It might slow us down, but between speed and safety, I vouch for the latter. Especially if there's limited ammo in the equation."

Making stops during the night and limiting their moves to the day would make them lose some time, but he had reasons to prefer to go slower this time. Claire could use the rest breaks.

"Yeah, that might be the best," she sighed.

"Don't worry. We'll make it out of this one."

"Yeah, I know," she nodded, "Leon..."

"Yeah?"

Leon looked at her. Her cerulean eyes locked with his. They were the same blue eyes he'd met that night in Raccoon, but for some odd reason, there was something different in them now.

"Thank you."

That caught Leon by surprise. A thank you was not something he expected to hear from her now.

"What for?" he asked, confused by the sudden thank you.

"Eh, well. I don't know. For being here now, I mean," Claire said shyly, "I suppose it was hard to reach me, and you didn't have to, yet...you are here."

So that was what she meant. Leon did not know why she felt like she had to thank him. They were friends, and he would have never let the terrorist take her like that.

"Don't be silly," he said, "You don't need to thank me for that. If it hadn't been me, it would have been your brother, but neither of us would let them take you away so easily."

Claire smiled.

"Yeah, you might be right."

Leon snorted. He reached out and put his hand on her shoulder. Claire was silly to be thanking him for something as simple as that. She was cute without even noticing it, and that thought made him remember something that had been bothering since all began. Why were those bioterrorists after her?"

"I wanted to ask you," he said as they began to walk again, "Do you have any idea of what they would want to kidnap you?"

"Your guess is as good as mine," she sighed. "I receive a lot of hate mail, so maybe it is someone who holds a grudge against me. I don't know. It could be someone targeting Chris, too. Both of us have rubbed some people the wrong way for a while."

That was an understatement, especially if they were talking about Chris Redfield. Leon could easily list all of the people who were plotting any possible revenge on Chris, but Claire was different. Even though Claire worked as hard as he and Chris did to fight bioterrorism, she was a lot more discreet. Claire kept her name as low profile as possible, but she was a Redfield, and the family reputation preceded her.

They reached the base of the cliff, and Leon let out a displeased sigh. It was practically a 90° vertical climb up. Even with equipment, the climb-up was dangerous. Now, without equipment, the climb-up was technically suicide.

Leon could probably handle it, but he feared for Claire.

"Well, I guess that will be an intense hike," Claire sighed, looking at him.

Leon smiled at her. He looked around, trying to find an alternate route, but he found none.

"Don't look at me like that, Leon," Claire said. "I can tell what you are thinking. I am fine. I can do it."

Leon disagreed, but he knew Claire, and if she had something in common with her brother, it was her stubbornness.

"Look, I know you can, but it is still dangerous. So I want you in front, in case you fall, I can catch you."

Leon knew that Claire was not happy with the arrangement, but she accepted and did as Leon asked her. Leon helped Claire up the cliff, and he made sure she had a good grip on the rock before following her up. The climb was not easy, even for someone with the physical condition that Leon had. He watched her back carefully as they ascended.

When they finally reached the top, Claire left herself fall on the grass gasping for air. He could see the sweat drops forming over her unusually pale skin, and he kneeled by her side.

"Are you ok?" Leon asked, rubbing her back.

"Barely," she smiled, "I hate hiking..."

"Yeah, sorry that I made you go through that."

Leon smiled apologetically. He stood up and looked around. At least their effort had not been in vain. The cliff gave them a clear view of their surroundings, but they only saw trees, kilometers, and kilometers of trees and greenery.

"Well, at least it isn't an island this time," Claire signed by his side.

Leon frowned.

Think, Leon. This time it isn't only your ass you are trying to keep alive. You must get Claire home safely.

Leon snorted. If Claire could hear his thoughts, she would be mad.

"Hey, Leon. Look over there!"

Claire's voice snapped him out of his thoughts. The woman was pulling his arm and motioning her head at something behind them. The agent looked back and immediately understood.

There was something that stood amidst the leafy sea of forest, and its shape reminded him oddly of a tower.

"Why aren't I surprised?" he said bitterly.

"Looks like trouble, but it might be a good place to start."

"Guess we won't know until we check."

"Yeah, and that usually leads us to more monsters."

"I am sure you are used to that already," Claire smiled, patting his back. "Judging by the sun, it is almost noon. If we are planning to stop for the night, we should think of looking for a place to hide, and maybe something to eat and water."

"Luckily for us, we are in a forest. There should be a water source nearby, and how good are you in botany again?"

"Good enough to not poison you. I'll keep my eyes open for eatables."

He smirked at her comment. Claire was simply adorable sometimes.

"Ok, let's go then."

NOTE: if you guys want to come and chat about the fic, or just about CLEON in general. Feel free to drop by the discord and say hi! JOIN SERVER

[boop-le-snoot]

PARTY FAVOURS I CHAPTER 31

First time reader click here

it's a mental breakdown *off-key kazoo*. One (1) incident of physical abuse from a parent. And Stephen Strange arc begins opening. Kind of angsty, but more of a filler chapter to resolve the parents-suck thing.

A couple of days was all it took for me to get back on my feet... Figuratively speaking. Neither Bruce nor Tony was particularly excited about me being up and about, I was carried to my desired destination point by one or the other on most occasions. Physically, my body grew tired very easily - I took a lot of sporadic naps throughout the day, more often than not falling asleep in someone's arms. Nobody minded, really - even Loki, who wasn't a touchy-feely person by any means, relented and acted as a body pillow for me when we crashed on the common room couch to catch up with the TV show episodes I'd missed.

Tony was very obviously on the verge of a nervous breakdown. During the few hours I had spent being chased by the Cursed Box Demon in my nightmares, all the leads towards the contractor proved to be cold. Natasha was the most irritated of them all - a late-night talk with Clint through the vent above my room revealed that she took it as a personal insult, unprepared for a simple merc to be so good at evading the world's most notorious spy.

Hulk kept taking over Bruce's body - eyes shining fluorescent green - at the times we were together, periodically clutching me to his chest with clumsy but careful movements. I pitied the mercenary should he encounter my gentle scientist - I didn't think Bruce would even attempt to hold back Mean Green. They seemed to have achieved some sort of symbiosis those days, switching between the two personalities in one body almost effortlessly. Circumstances aside, I was very happy that the tension and the persistent internal conflict inside Bruce had almost disappeared.

What made me upset was Strange. The sorcerer was behaving, well, strangely. He began avoiding all of us - his excuses of helping the search for the merc were flimsy, and Wong's long, deep sigh, when asked about the sorcerer's state of mind, spoke volumes. I suspected Stephen was either seething with anger or drowning himself in the sea of guilt; I had a hunch he was similar to Tony in a way that he hid his vulnerability behind an impenetrable wall of malice and sarcasm and dry wit.

Perhaps I was wrong. But the pent up frustration resulting from the conflict between my overactive brain and my uncooperative body had to blow - and my mother was the fire to my already short fuse. Somehow, she got ahold of the information that I was hurt indirectly because of the actions of the Avengers - and she had called the first available phone she found, which meant Pepper Potts got an earful of vitriol regarding Stark Industries, SHIELD, Tony, and everyone else, including my father. Stoic as she was, Pepper took it all with grace, replying politely to my mother until she hung up on the redhead.

Pepper placed an urgent call to Coulson immediately after that, making the already uncomfortable situation spiral into something truly disgraceful. It ended with strict orders for me to return home - not that anyone besides me and Coulson knew about it. I was a legal adult, I could choose to stay in the tower and my mother was told so on numerous occasions... Knowing her, I was well aware she wouldn't be above storming Tony's home with a small army of her lawyer friends.

Inwardly seething, melting with the anger sitting in the pit of my stomach like a sharp piece of ice, I managed to convince Tony to have Happy escort me home at the guise of gathering more necessities. Tony, being Tony, offered me to buy anything and everything I needed, but relented under my puppy-eyed pleading. It was getting harder and harder to lie to any of my men, the weight of it settling unpleasantly bitter on top of my already foul mood.

Happy grumbled in displeasure at being tailed by a nondescript black SUV - I knew SHIELD would have eyes on me 24/7 now, at least until they catch the rogue mercenary - but seemed to be happy at my general state of relative wellness in his own... Happy... way. Five-second side-grin and "Glad you're up and about, Princess," was probably the most I was going to get from the man who's nickname contradicted his personality. In my humble opinion, he should've been called Brick instead. He was built like a shit house, too.

The moment I stepped into the living room, wearing Wanda's spare sweats and Tony's hoodie, I took a slow look around the room and immediately knew this was it. Most of my anger had receded, courtesy of finally being able to get out of the tower and do something, but the ice in my stomach persisted. The smell of whiskey and cigarettes hit me like a wall, news playing on the TV doing very little to dissolve the viscid, tense silence.

"Sit down," My mother instructed me in the tone of voice she used on people in the courtroom - convicts, people who knowingly broke NDAs.

"I don't think so," I replied, refusing to give in to her bullying. I was being absolutely reckless, I knew it, and still it didn't stop me from standing up for my men. Logically speaking, it could have happened to me anyway, Avengers or not. The cursed box came along long before I'd even met Peter Parker or any of his rag-tag superhero friends.

"Fine," She turned around, steely eyes leveled on me. I was but a speck of dirt under her nails - for the first time in my life, I felt terrified of my mother. I knew what she was capable of. "Listen well, daughter of mine. I'm going to only repeat myself once," She started in that deceptively calm tone of hers. "You are to stop mingling with Stark and his... Company. Immediately. I do not want to hear any more of that Parker boy, either. You will not destroy your future and our family's legacy over some fling with a man twice your age. This little game has gone long enough and it's time for you to get back to reality."

The more she spoke, the higher my eyebrows rose. I was supposed to take orders from my own mother now? Something thin, something thin and crackling with electricity within me just snapped - like a live wire. The hairs on my nape stood up, goosebumps appearing all over my skin. "And what if I do not?" I asked, just as quietly.

I was not prepared for her reaction. One second, she was sitting on the couch and the other - my cheek was burning and my mother was standing over me, breathing the stench of alcohol and tobacco right in my face. I saw the whites of her eyes. "Then you are no daughter of mine. I did not raise you to be someone's cumrag and all this play-pretend scientist shit had to have ended in middle school. I hoped you'd grow up but apparently, you insist on being a baby," She was full-on screaming in my face, so rabid she was shaking.

All I could think of was... How wrong she was. How wrong she would be, her sad little world broken when she finds out just exactly how much I'm capable of. Long gone were the days where I timidly questioned my scientific contributions; thanks to my men - the same men she'd hated so much - I knew my value. I knew I could achieve the things that I wanted.

"If that is your choice, you have thirty minutes to get your shit and get lost. I will not have a whore of a daughter living under my roof," I had missed a good part of her rant; most likely, it consisted of nothing but meaningless insults anyway. After she'd finished, she gave me a shove towards the stairs.

It didn't bother me as much as it should, I think. My cheek smarted and somewhere deep inside, I knew that the eerie calm that had settled over me wasn't normal - on the surface, I felt only relief. The things I suspected all along, finally came to light - she didn't even perceive me as a human being, I was no more than a means to her end. A tool. A thing.

The waterworks started when I frantically shoved most of the shit I could fit in my three suitcases. Upset as I was, my scatterbrain did me a favor that time and I gathered most of the important things. Notebooks full of my research - projects that my mother had called a child's game, projects that could be patented in a week, add a tweak or two. With sudden clarity, I realized I needed none of her money. None of her... At all. In short, I was emotionally all over the place and at the end of it... None of it made sense.

I threw the credit cards with her name on them on the coffee table as I hauled out my suitcases, not sparing the bitch a glance. She was equally quiet, boring into my back with those steely eyes of hers. I felt my skin peel under her stare. In my distraught state, hauling and dumping the suitcases in my car was quick work. Detaching the house key and tossing the last things that connected me to her house on the floor at her feet was a spur of the moment decision; my mother was right, to some extent, and I still had childish tendencies. "You had no right to call yourself my mother in the first place. All you were was an egg donor with more money than you could make sense of. Enjoy your hoard, you damned dragon," I seethed, seeing her frozen in place with her arms crossed and chin held high.

Some part of me hoped she would apologize. That naïve, childish part - I knew my mother and I knew myself, and the trait that we shared was stubbornness. I sped out of the estate without ever looking back, driving aimlessly for a while until the honking coming from drivers around me began reaching alarming levels of volume; tears began flowing down my face at some point, all but obscuring my vision. I parked in the nearest place I could find, in front of a Waffle House out of all places.

Crying in a Waffle House parking lot, how pathetic was that. Logically, I knew at least five people had my back: Tony and Bruce, who surprisingly loved me back; Loki, who had become strangely clingy after my declaration - clingy in the best way. Together with Wanda and Peter, they made my heart warm and my eternally racing brain feel calm and safe.

I called my dad, he didn't pick up. I don't know what I expected of the man, but any and all remnants of my respect for him shattered, breaking into tiny little pieces as I helplessly banged my fists against the steering wheel in a fit of desperate rage. One look in the mirror and my already ashen complexion was made worse by red, puffy eyes and the blooming bruise on my cheek where my mother had slapped me. It was the first time she'd laid a hand on me; I wanted to throw up.

I sat in the car until my breathing slowed; completely and utterly clueless as to what to do. I had no home of my own, three suitcases worth of clothes and research that was useless without a lab to run experiments in, my car, and a small trust fund in my name. The recent incident with the curse box had left me mentally drained as it was, now, I could surely say that my head was empty: no thoughts.

And throughout it all, Stephen's avoidance crossed my mind. As if the self-loathing wasn't enough, as if my own blood, the people who were supposed to care for me, rejecting and ignoring me wasn't strong enough of a blow... The sorcerer's avoidance raised more anger within me. I didn't know why but the thought of him made me want to cry and seethe once again.

Logic gone out of the window, I typed in the Sanctum's address into my GPS with shaking fingers, figuring that if he wasn't willing to do the legwork, I will come to him myself and clarify things for all at once. The mixed signals were just a cherry on top of my sky-high problem sundae.

I banged on the door and it flew open immediately, a surprised sorcerer quickly turning concerned and panicky, noticing my general state of appearance. I was still wearing the same clothes and my hair was in disarray, my face looking somewhere between a coke bender and a manic episode.

"You," I stated darkly, taking a deep breath. "You need to tell me what the fuck is wrong with me and reject me, so I can move on already. And you," I poked the man in the chest, right above the fancy eye-shaped necklace, "Need to stop it with the mixed signals. Stop wallowing in self-pity. Whatever you are doing, STOP IT," My voice involuntarily raised in pitch from all those emotional rollercoasters I've been on that day. "Get back to being normal. Let me fucking live," I finished my tirade as the man stared at me, frozen and open-mouthed.

"I..." He stammered, eyeing me with concern. "What in the multiverse happened to you? What..?" He was so confused, pulling out his phone the moment I bailed my fists.

"My mother threw me out, my father doesn't give a fuck about me, apparently I'm a cheap whore with delusions of grandeur. You're avoiding me and everybody is waiting for me to blow up," I screeched, all but vibrating in my spot. "This is me blowing up. I want answers!" I demanded.

Strange recoiled from me, frowning and pocketing his phone. A deep sigh left him, the kind that made his whole body sag. He ran a careful hand through his hair before looking away and slowly pulling me against his chest, the door shutting behind me and keeping the cold out. I hadn't even noticed I was freezing; my feet were wet from the NYC winter slush and mud.

Stephen's embrace was warm and tender; I wanted to lean into it and push him away at the same time. I was so messed up, it was embarrassing. There was nothing acceptable about this situation - I felt guilty as soon as his face fell.

"Jesus Christ, baby," He mumbled quietly. "Sounds like you had one hell of a day. Let's go, I'll put on some tea," He rubbed soothing circles on my back, something that confused me - I just had stormed in and dumped a bucket of bile right on top of his head.

"I should go," I mumbled, yet had no real strength to move away from him.

"You're not going anywhere. I suppose I need to explain myself, too," He sighed, and despite his obvious discomfort, picked me up, letting my limbs to wrap around his torso like a monkey. I was careful to keep my weight off his hands, even if the trip to the fireplace room was short. As soon as I was placed onto the couch and my shoes were removed, Cloaky drifted over from a dark corner, urging me to take off my soggy hoodie, and wrapped itself tightly around me.

Turns out, semi-sentient cloaks were quite warm.

THE TAG LIST IS NOW OPEN! @another-stark-sub ​ @mostly-marvel-musings  @vozit ​ @littlegasps ​ @pilloclock ​ @shereadsinquiet @downeyreads ​ @hermione-grangers-wife ​ @individualistfem ​ @sleep-i-ness @capbrie @lillsxd @agustdowney @dee-vn @justanotherblonde23 @fanngirl19 @persephonehemingway @softie-socks @schemefrenzy @letsby @cutenessloading @romeo-the-cactus @jelly-fishy-babie @mikariell95

[cristalknife]

Kadam Week 2021 Day 5 ~ Been There, Done That, Lemme Be...

This is me trying to not start something on a platform only to post solely somewhere else aka AO3 and ff.net  you can find the complete list of Kadam Week 2021 prompts and you might find more stories on the Kadam Week 2021 AO3 collection

That said, today prompt is April Fools Day While I'm not 100% sure on this story hitting the mark, it has at least some of the prompt's elements, revolving around April fools and one of the two options, namely both Kurt and Adam hating pranking... so here we go, I present to you Been There, Done That, Lemme Be... (Or how a joke between Adam and Kurt became a new Nyada's yearly tradition.) (or read on ao3)

Adam didn't mind the differences between his home country and the states that much, not on most days at least.

April first though was the exception, usually Americans' tendencies to go overboard were amusing, but he could admit that in the past few years being on this side of the pond made him look back fondly and longingly to how things were back home.

For one, back in England, the tradition of pranking lasted only till noon, which made only half of a terrible terrible day, and easier to avoid.

But here in America, the whole day was game, and Adam didn't like how easily pranks escalated.

The fact he never had fond memories of the practice didn't help much either.

It was only by a lucky chance, that the previous years, April first fell on days when it was completely ok for him to call in sick or disappear without any suspicions.

While he blessed such coincidence at the time, it was something he somehow regretted now. Because he was unsure on how to broach the subject with Kurt, nor how it would be received.

Simply disappearing for twenty four hours without a warning, was not something he could do to his boyfriend, not when he knew said boyfriend was capable of worrying over the smaller things...

He wasn't that comfortable raising the issue, but it was something they needed to tackle together.

Adam didn't want April fools traditions to be something they got upset about and potentially snap at each other over mere ignorance.

It so wasn't the kind of talk he wanted to have, but clear communication was the key and so a talk they would have.

Without knowing it yet Kurt was facing a similar dilemma.

He never had the chance to walk away from April first, so the possibility had never ever even crossed his mind, especially since in his experience it had always been one more day where it was just more of the same…

Probably with a more cruel edge to the ‘pranks’ done to him, since apparently the date gave permission even to the kinder people to just disregard anything he might feel...

So all in all it was just one more day in his usual life.

The main exhibit example of the escalated condoned cruelty of April fools had been their outside furniture being nailed to the roof...

Everyone simply laughed it out, while his dad had to have the roof repaid adding more expenses to the list of bills to pay...

In a way Kurt had always tried to appear unaffected and bored by the repetitiveness of the jokes and pranks sent his personal way.

The substance in question might have changed during the years and the occasion, but the prank itself had stayed the same. The over unoriginal and completely lacking any creative inventive of trowing a balloon or a container filled with one of the many possibly disgusting choices.

So nothing new compared to the daily slushie facial he got in high school.

In the lucky years when he was younger, it was just chalk powder and or dirt, then the boys hit their fascination for the disgusting and the pee balloons, the slimes and eggs appeared.

The seemingly most innocuous one had been a natural blueberries smoothie… That managed to destroy a complete outfit with stains that never came out.

But now that he was at Nyada, despite having found out how surprisingly similar college was to high school, he had slightly higher hopes for this year.

If the others students were as busy as he was, then hopefully there wouldn't be any time for the traditional pranks.

At least not on school ground, and since some of his professors had been grumpy dragons on Valentine's day, by simply seeing the exchange of flowers and chocolates in the hallways, to the point that the message that not such foolishness and disruption would be tolerated in their classrooms, became the daily mantra. Made Kurt held a tiny candle of hope that he might get through that day unscathed this year.

The only uncertainty came from Adam and the rest of their friends...

The Apples were a playful and excitable bunch on a normal day, though he was pretty sure that any kind of mischief from them would be geared more toward being funny than malicious.

And despite not having known them that long, he was sure that if he asked them to ease up, they all would make everything stop immediately.

But the whole idea of the day was still making him a little anxious, with all his bad experiences, while he was always the one neither amused nor laughing, everyone else seemed to find his situation pretty amusing...

With Blaine he basically never had to worry, his ex was always too needy of being the centre of attention that never bothered to follow any kind of traditions if it didn't benefit him...

And Adam was nothing like Blaine... Which made Kurt all the more worried he'd end up flip out and explode at his boyfriend, over something insignificantly small and harmless.

But it was also exactly the reason why in the end, Kurt shouldn't have been as surprised as he actually was, in receiving a text from Adam on that subject, simply saying 'Can we please talk about April first’s expectations?'

Despite the calm 'Sure, I'll be there in half an hour unless there're troubles with the subway. See you soon xxx' Adam got from Kurt, his nerves were not as calm or collected.

Hopefully Kurt wouldn't be too disappointed. Adam knew there could be pranks not meant to hurt, but he had seen too many backfire to be comfortable with the whole principle.

His uneasiness got gladly interrupted by the doorbell announcing Kurt's arrival.

"Hellu darling" Adam greeted with a smile, he was happy to see his boyfriend even if he wasn't too thrilled about the topic they were about to discuss.

To Adam's surprise and joy Kurt hugged him and pressed a light kiss on his lips before saying "Hi there"

Adam smiled back and pointed to the kitchen where the kettle was on the stove “Tea before we talk?”

Kurt chuckled but nodded following Adam “Such a British offer, I’ll take a cup of what you’re having, thanks.”

Adam chuckled a little himself. It was more a personal preference than a real national trait, he knew quite a few fellow Brits who couldn’t even stand tea, but it was a gesture still common enough that the saying hadn’t died out yet.

Once they both sat at the table with their cup in front of them, Kurt was the first to start their talk "About April fools, is there any chance we might skip the practice altogether? I'm not overly fond of pranks and if we could avoid their cruelty I'd really appreciate it."

Adam sighed relieved then smiled nodding grateful "Believe me darling, if only it was feasible I would have tackled this year's April fools like usual, namely skipping the day altogether. It is the one day a year I miss not being back in England."

Kurt tilted his head curiously and asked "How so? And by that I mean why would you miss England on that specific day?"

Adam grinned at the quick correction, apparently Kurt had already figured out to ask clearly for things he wanted to know.

He knew it was maybe a slightly petty exercise to force on his boyfriend, but it did have the advantage of promoting and teaching how to communicate better, which was a good thing for the both of them.

"It's not like the pranks were better, if that's what you're wondering, but there is the tradition that pranks should happen only until noon and if someone pranks after noon then he is the April fool... A tradition that translating in having to hide only half day instead of the whole day..."

Kurt considered it for a moment then nodded "You know, I never thought of that solution, mainly because in my experience it wouldn't matter anyway, the only real difference on April fools compared to any other day was that more people laughed when something happened..."

Adam frowned and took another sip of his cooling tea, to refrain from offering once more to burn to ashes the kind of place that would allow such things to happen on daily basis...

“I wish we could just pass through a token space, get our stamp of been there, done that, lemme be and then be free for the rest of the day. That would be a relief if only possible.”

Adam’s outburst was more on a joking note, however Kurt was looking pretty lost in thoughts, humming softly before asking “But what if we had such place, let’s say like a table on the cafeteria with an April first menu, and at the end a pin and the request that anyone wearing a pin to be left alone...”

Adam listened interested and wondered reasoning aloud “You know, if we take this idea to the Deans we might actually get the faculty behind it and have at least the school day free of worries. It would be something… I know I’d appreciate that...”

Kurt looked up, panic evident in both his voice and eyes “Wait, you mean it isn’t safe? I thought that with the majority of the faculty acting like grumpy dragons with a toothache no one would dare... Or that at least we’d all be too busy for that?”

Adam snorted and shook his head “Oh Darling, there’re times I forget you’re still a sweet innocent wide eyed freshie... On the contrary, the odds are beyond scary... But if we get the faculty behind that then we might make it happen… And believe me, most professors would love to wear such a pin for the day and delight in enforcing the safe space.”

Kurt pouted a little at Adam’s description, but in a way he knew he was, eyes were still full of wonder for the school, despite the nasty discovery about it being so similar to high school.

But he had to defend himself so he quipped playfully “So, oh wise and jaded senior, what is your take on the idea, think we can pull that off instead and get the whole school an almost prank free zone?”

Adam pondered the question a little and asked back instead “But what could we put on the menu? I can only think of a couple of tea brews that taste like something else, one like chocolate and another like coffee”

Kurt grinned getting excited “What about variations of the theme of the meatloaf cupcakes different combination of meat patty with coloured mashed potato piped on it to seem like frosting with cherry tomatoes or parmesan on top of them as decorations.”

Adam hummed interested, “Talking of cheese it could be fun to have as opposed to those the sweet grilled cheese sandwiches, where you use pound cake instead of bread”

Kurt chuckled looking mischievously “Do you think we can manage to ask the cooks to also add apples’ fries?”

Adam snorted and playfully pointed a finger at Kurt in a mocking scolding before tutting “Cheeky aren’t we? You really want everyone to know who did it with such a signature?”

Kurt laughed carefree, almost to the point of tears “As if the gossips in our school wouldn’t have passed that information through the whole theatre social circles grapevine way before lessons start on April first...”

What had started as a half joke, in front of two cups of tea, shared by a couple who didn’t care for malicious and cruel pranks, was found by the faculty as an intriguing alternative, to a day of growling and shouting at college students acting like kindergartens.

On April first the students found at the front door the announcement that complementary ‘Been There, Done That, Lemme Be, NYADA 12-13’ pins were distributed in the cafeteria for everyone wanting a pranks free day on school grounds. Any student reported or found by the faculty, pranking someone wearing the pin would be reported to their Major’s Dean for appropriate support (read additional remedial homework) for having been unable to read and understand one of the many big announcement’s signs present on the front door and in the main halls all around their school...

In the cafeteria there were multiple choices on how to earn one’s pin. Including, but not limited to, try out one of the alumni kindly sponsored ‘surprise’ food, which for safety reasons were all properly showing the list of contained ingredients.

Officially speaking the Nyada’s faculty took the credit for the event and for the prank free April fools during the AY 2012-13.

The grocery bag containing apples, a pack of sugar, ground cinnamon and an unsigned card with just the words ‘Thank You’, found in the Auditorium 2 the next day, told Kurt and Adam that someone knew exactly who was behind it.

And from the confused faces of their Apples it was not someone from their group. ~The End~

[angryinternetduck]

fireworks

a little under 2.5k on fireworks and wine.  Harry Styles x reader.  warnings: none I can think of?  lol this was supposed to be in a fic writing challenge, but... I didn't take the prompt (fireworks) soon enough. So. Uh. Whoopsidaisies oh AND it's a reader insert ('cause of the challenge lol) so uh hope I didn't botch that. I've never done one of these before... enjoy :)

You met Harry Styles at a New Year’s Eve party. 

Your boyfriend at the time had had some sort of connection, and you’d gotten into the party, but you were borderline regretting the whole idea because now you were bored. You were drinking some sort of punch, lurking behind your boyfriend as he somehow kept engrossed in one of the most boring conversations you’d ever eavesdropped on. 

It was after you tapped your boyfriend on the shoulder to tell him you were getting more punch, after he waved you off and dove back into the conversation, and when you’d made it to the punch table that he’d approached you. 

He’d startled you, coming up behind you and saying, “Good punch, hm?” just a little softer than normal, and you gasped. “Sorry,” he said, smiling a bit, and you couldn’t help but smile back, because who could refuse those gorgeous dimples? 

“‘s okay,” you replied, and he said, “Enjoying the party?” 

“Yup,” you lied, leaning against the punch table. 

“You’re terribly unconvincing, uh…” He looked at you expectantly, and you shifted your cup to your left hand to hold out your other for a handshake. You told him your name, and he shook your hand as he said, “Harry.” 

“Nice to meet you, Harry,” you said, and he nodded. “Ditto. What’s wrong with the party, then?” You smiled, shaking your head, and told him, “It’s not that bad. I’m just a little tired, but, uh… you can’t exactly leave a New Year’s party before midnight, huh?” 

“You’re right,” Harry said, “that would be scandalous.” 

“Absolutely,” you agreed. There was a beat of silence, and then he asked, “So, er - how’s the punch? Reckon I should get some?” You smiled a bit. “I reckon you should.” He raised a brow. “Are you mocking me?” he said, pouring some punch into a cup.

“Handsome and quick,” you said, and he grinned. “Funny, too,” he said, “and proper humble. ‘m quite the catch.” You nodded, looking over at where your boyfriend was, and replied, “Me too.” Harry grinned. “See we share the humble trait, hm?” 

You bit back a laugh despite yourself and, not quite unreluctantly, went on, “Only, uh… I’m already caught. That’s my boyfriend, over there, and I should probably get back…” Harry followed your line of sight, and then nodded. “Right,” he said. “Erm - nice meeting you.” 

“Yeah,” you said back, giving him a smile. “Ditto.” 

*****

The ball dropped, and you kissed your boyfriend. 

The fireworks started, and you held his hand. 

Everybody was cheering, and you were scanning the crowd. 

The fireworks died down, and you found who you were looking for. 

Your boyfriend kissed your cheek, but you were smiling at Harry. 

*****

You and your boyfriend didn’t work out, but it wasn’t a messy breakup; you stayed friends. So when some manager asked for your number from him because he was looking for an in in your industry, he gave it over, because he was your friend. 

In fact, you stayed such good friends that, when Harry Styles texted you and admitted he wasn’t looking for an in in your industry but rather a date, you told your ex and thanked him for handing over the number.

*****

The date went well. 

But not well enough. 

He didn’t kiss you at the end of the night. 

And you didn’t kiss him at the end of the second night. 

And neither of you kissed the other at the end of the third night. 

So lovers? No. 

But friends? Absolutely! 

*****

“You,” you declared, already holding a glass of wine, “look like shit.” 

“And you,” Harry replied, “started without me.” 

“Sue me,” you muttered. “You were twenty minutes late.” 

Harry raised an eyebrow, lifting a half empty bottle of wine. “Started this twenty minutes ago, did you?” You pursed your lips, grabbing it from him and filling up your already over half way filled glass. “‘s your fault for being late. You’ve got to wash your glass, by the way.” 

Harry scoffed, grabbing it from the coffee table. “I left this here last week.” 

“Exactly,” you said. “Shoulda washed it.” 

“Wasn’t in the room, love. Out of mind, out of sight.”

You giggled. “You started without me too.” 

“Sod off,” Harry mumbled, not bothering to rinse his glass before filling it. 

“Had a date?” 

“‘f you can even call it that,” Harry said. 

“Ooh, that bad, huh?” 

“Worse. Her name was Gertrude. She took me to Spasso’s.” 

“Yikes,” you breathed. 

“And,” Harry went on, gesturing for you to follow him as he walked into the kitchen, “she was going on and on about rom coms, yeah? Like classics and shit. And then - and then” - he turned around, catching your eye for drama - “she goes I think my favorite is To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before.” 

You rolled your eyes. “You’re too haughty. It’s really not that bad.” 

Harry huffed, ducking his head into the refrigerator. “Oh, please. ‘s a tragedy. And it wouldn’t have been that bad, but after she said classics, that rubbish is just -” He paused, and reappeared, and said, “Darling, I’m not seeing any wine.” 

“Must be blind, then,” you said, nudging him aside. But then you looked, and your fridge was basically empty, and there were no bottles of wine patiently waiting for you. “It was - I had two…” You faded off, turning to look at him sheepishly. “Uh… Yeah, so I may have just finished the last bottle?” Harry groaned, rolling his head back dramatically. 

“Christ, woman, I come here once a week for an escape, and you can’t even manage to have a bottle of wine for me?” he asked in a whine. “The only time I drink sophisticatedly, the only time I can really talk, the only -” 

“Shush,” you said, putting a finger over his lips. “Shush shush shush. I’ve got whiskey.” 

Harry’s brows jumped. “Ooh.” 

You nodded at the cupboard. “Grab glasses.” 

Harry grinned, leaning in. “Love it when you tell me what to do.” 

You rolled your eyes, pushing him off you, and muttered, “You’re hammered already and here I am giving you more alcohol. Ridiculous.” Harry scoffed. “Am not!” You raised an eyebrow, pouring him a glass. “Whatever you say, Styles,” you said. 

“Right then, Miss Sober, tell me about your week, hm?” Harry asked, and you sighed, collapsing on the couch. Harry sat next to you, sliding an arm around your shoulders. You sighed, again, and swirled your whiskey around in its glass. “Well… I had another date with Kyle…” 

Harry snickered. “Kyle the cardigan guy?” 

You rolled your eyes. “He wore it once.”

“It was olive, love,” Harry said. “Olive.” 

“It was a poor fashion choice, Styles, shut your mouth,” you said back. “Happens to all of us. Want to reminisce your outfit at my birthday party?” Harry groaned, tipping back the last of his whiskey. “I was pissed, darling,” he insisted. “The lights were off. Can Mr. Cardigan say the same?” 

“He’s a nice guy, Styles.” 

“He likes Nickelback.” 

You scoffed. “You like Nickelback!” 

“Not anymore!” 

“You’re impossible,” you sighed, reaching to refill your glass. 

“Impossibly wonderful, darling.” 

“Conceited ass,” you said under your breath. “Ask me about my week, and then nitpick every little thing I say.” Harry rolled his eyes. “So dramatic, you are. Tell me something good and I’ll react appropriately!” 

“Ooh,” you giggled, “big words from the drunk.” 

“Takes one to know one, love.” 

“Love,” you echoed dreamily. “Ever been in love, Styles?” 

“F*ck’s sake, now you’re really pissed,” Harry laughed. 

“Took you this long to figure that out, huh?” 

“Pardon if ‘m a bit slow, ‘m a bit tipsy from the lack of wine ‘round here.” 

You scoffed. “Lack of wine, he says, as if it’s my fault.” 

“Oh, but it is, love - you started without me.” 

“There it is again!” you said. “Love. You’re too good at this dodging questions thing.”

Harry smirked at you over his glass. “What dodging questions thing?” 

“Oh, shush. Have you? Have you ever been in love?” 

A beat of silence, and you were almost convinced he’d answer seriously, and then he smiled at you and said, “My mummy.” You rolled your eyes. “No, Styles,” you said exasperatedly, “I mean romantic love. Butterflies in your tummy romantic love. Every second thought about them love. Warm and fuzzy feelings love.” You giggled. “Kissy love.” 

He paused for a second, and you looked up. “Take your time,” you giggled, and then Harry flushed, shaking his head. “Just thinking ‘bout your vocab, hm? Tummy, kissy - didn’t know I was drinking with a four year old.” 

“I hate you,” you sighed contentedly. 

“Hate you too, love.” 

“Can’t call me love if you won’t answer the question.” 

“Oh, my darling dear, my honey pot, my precious rose petal, my -” 

You groaned. “I’ll put on To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before, Styles, swear to God.” 

“You wouldn’t dare,” Harry seethed. 

“You’re full of yourself.” 

“Said that already, love.” 

“Different wording,” you giggled. “I can be creative.” 

“Creative, my ass,” Harry murmured. 

You whined, slapping him on the chest. “You’re rude.” 

“Got any other adjectives?” Harry asked. “Prove your creativity, hm?”  

“Rude, jackass, bastard,” you said, and then took a sip of your whiskey as you mumbled nonsense. Harry grinned. “Nice try, love,” he said, and you pouted. “I’m drunk,” you insisted, draining your glass. 

“Clearly.” 

There was a beat of comfortable silence, and you leaned forward to pour more whiskey into your glass. “Whoopsidaisies,” you murmured as your hand slipped and some sloshed onto the table. You leaned back, and took a sip, and then realized Harry was staring at you. 

“What?” 

“Did - did you just say whoopsidaisies?” 

You giggled. “Maybe.” 

“You did not just say whoopsidaisies.” 

You cleared your throat, lowering your voice a bit. “I don't - I don’t think so,” you replied in a British accent. “No one says whoopsidaisies do they? Unless they're…” Harry grinned, catching on. “There is no unless,” he said, taking up a slightly higher pitched American accent. “No one has said whoopsidaisies for fifty years and even then it was only little girls with blonde ringlets.” 

You laughed, shaking your head and leaning into him. “What if I want to be a little girl with blonde ringlets, huh?” Harry tsked, twirling a piece of your hair around his fingers. “You’re going off script.” 

“Can you imagine Hugh Grant with blond ringlets?” you giggled. 

“They’d go well with his blue eyes.” 

You sighed. “Anything goes well with Hugh Grant’s blue eyes.” 

“What about my blue eyes?” 

“They go wonderfully with your blond hair and freckles.” 

“Why, thank you. I always thought the blue stripe in my hair was a bit much.” 

“No, no, it matches your eyes.” You paused, looking up at him, and said, “Should do it.” 

“Should do what?” 

“Dye your hair.” 

Harry raised an eyebrow. “Blue?” 

You grinned. “Pink.” 

“Can you imagine,” Harry murmured. 

A beat of silence, and then you sat up and exclaimed, “Dick!” 

Harry’s brows jumped. “‘ve got one, yes,” he said, and you shook your head, pressing a finger against his chest in an accusatory way. “No,” you said, “that’s another adjective. To describe you.” You grinned. “You are a dick.” 

“Very clever,” Harry told you. 

Another second of silence. A car honked outside, and then a dog barked, and then Harry looked at his watch. “Erm - darling, I know we said we weren’t going to say anything about your birthday, but -” 

“Oh, no,” you muttered, downing your glass. 

“I might have a little surprise for you?” 

“H, I thought we agreed -” 

Harry grinned, leaning forward and taking your hands. “I know, I know we agreed, but I couldn’t help it, because this lad I know from secondary school -” He cut himself off, shaking his head. “Not important. The point is, the opportunity was too good to pass. Don’t be mad.” 

You huff. “Just get on with it.” 

“Wicked,” Harry said, and he stood up, pulling you towards the balcony. 

“Where are we -” 

“Shush,” Harry interrupted. You’d arrived on your balcony, and Harry was positively buzzing with excitement. “What am I looking at, again?” you asked, and Harry shushed you again, checking his watch. “Any minute, now…” 

He settled next to you, and you felt his hands on your shoulders, and then - 

Fireworks exploded across the sky. Sparks of color filled the city skyline, popping and fizzing out before another set went off. They seemed to last for ages, each burst more dazzling than the last, until the last one sputtered out with a cheerful pop, leaving you in breathless awe. 

Vaguely, you realized the pleasant weight of Harry’s hands on your shoulders had disappeared, and you turned around to see him lowering his fingers from his ears. He was grinning, though, looking absolutely ecstatic. 

“You hate fireworks,” you breathed. 

Harry laughed, shaking his head and pulling you into a hug. “Happy birthday, love.” 

“Oh, H,” you mumbled into his shoulder. “Thank you.” 

You pulled away first, keeping him close, and for the first time in your four years’ worth of friendship, you had the urge to kiss him. And, from the way his gaze kept slipping to your lips, you guessed you weren’t the only one feeling that urge. 

“Harry?” you whispered, feeling yourself lean in. 

“Hm.” 

“Can I -?” 

“Please,” he murmured, and he closed the distance, and you were kissing Harry Styles. 

He was warm, and soft, and tasted slightly of vanilla, but mostly of whiskey, and just a hint of mint. He was smiling, just a bit, against your lips, and you couldn’t help but revel and smile back at how perfectly you fit together. Your lips fit like puzzle pieces, your hands feeling perfectly natural on his chest, his hand warm on your cheek. 

He pulled away much too soon, and despite the desperate need for air, you felt yourself tipping forward to just get a little more, just a few more seconds, just a few moments more of that happy bliss he’d given you. 

“He’s a moron,” Harry said, and you blinked, almost in a haze, before realizing that fireworks were going off again, and you giggled, leaning against his chest. “It was supposed to be one burst,” he told you, and you grinned, looking up at him. “They’re beautiful.” 

“I know,” he murmured, and he kissed you. 

*****

Two years later, neither Kyle the Cardigan guy nor Gertrude the Spasso’s girl was invited to the wedding. 

You didn’t think they’d mind. 

The wedding was on the first day of summer, on the summer solstice. 

It was a beautiful day, and a beautiful wedding. 

Harry still didn’t like fireworks. 

He got them anyway, and as they exploded, he kissed his bride. 

*****

hope you liked it!!! if you did, a reblog and some feedback would be v much appreciated 💜 thanks for reading!!!!

masterlist | ask

[frostbite-711]

More Than Just a Dream

AN: Hey guys, thought I’d share this story I started writing on Ao3. I am having a lot of fun writing it and have developed the story far beyond the origins seen in this chapter. I hope you enjoy and feel free to reblog if you did!

Chapter 1

She dreamt of a man with green scales and emerald eyes hidden within black irises. His calmingly deep voice sent shivers down her spine when he whispered seductively in her ears. A man who was unlike anything she’d seen her entire 280 years of life.

She knew he was just a figment of her imagination. Something given to her by the parasite in her head meant to seduce her, brought on by the use of the Ilithid powers granted by said parasite. She knew she should stop using them, but she couldn’t make herself do so, if only just to see the strange alien man in her dreams.

So after exhausting herself every day by using her strange powers in order to see the strange man, she was always disappointed to wake up with no more answers then she had the day before. When she would pull from her meditations she would see the same familiar sights of her camp she shared with the others in the same predicament as her.

Until one day she didn’t. Instead of open skies and lush wilderness around her, she saw walls made from what appeared to be metal although it wasn’t shaped like anything she’d ever seen before. The area she stood was in darkness. Where the hell am I? She wondered.

She stood to her feet and began to wander toward the light she saw. Once she emerged from the alley she froze, looking at hundreds of creatures which she didn’t recognize. Then she spotted one that was familiar to her: humans

“Excuse me,” she said, walking up to the nearest human and speaking in Common.

The human glanced at her, and gave her a face of confusion before moving on, not seeming to care. She stared after them and tried to get another’s attention.

They paused for a moment as she said, “Can you tell me where I am?”

“The Citadel, duh,” the human replied before rolling their eyes and walking on.

She blinked and tried to think. Citadel? That was a church wasn’t it. But who are all these people? What are they?

One thing she knew for certain is that this was not anywhere in the material plane. These creatures were too...alien. She watched the crowd for a moment, trying to figure out what she could until she was bumped into and a tall thin creature with big bug eyes which snapped out a “watch where you’re going”. Except something was off.

She understood the words a few minutes after they were spoken, but before she understood them there was a very different noise. She began to hear all sorts of tongues she didn’t recognize, slowly beginning to converge into a language she did know. Her head throbbed and she clutched at it, grunting in pain as the headache started to surface. A headache she was familiar with.

But I’m not even trying to-

/You’re not doing it, I am/ a voice suddenly echoed in her head. /Sleep, Nyralyn, and all will be well./

She cried out in pain, her ears ringing and the lights becoming blindingly bright. Her vision blurred before she succumbed to the voice in her head, falling to her knees as her world went black.

When she came too, she was in a new place, her eyes being blasted once more by the light from above, causing her head to ache. She grunted and sluggishly lifted a hand to try to block out the light.“She’s awake!” came a voice to her side, causing her to turn to try to find the source, blinking away the light.

She spotted a human racing out of the room wearing some sort of white coat. As they left, her gaze began to focus and she noticed there were more things made of metal and shaped like boxes. She pushed herself up, feeling cloth beneath her and realizing she was on some sort of bed.

She realized she wasn’t wearing the clothes she’d been wearing earlier, instead wearing some sort of gown that was open at the back.

As she continued to gaze around the room, she noticed glowing images on what appeared to be glass nearby. She was about to go over and touch them before the human returned along with a strange blue human woman? No, they weren’t human. They definitely weren’t drow, despite the coloring. She had strange tentacle things swooping off her head, looking almost like hair. Nyralyn had never seen anything like her before.“Hello, Ms…”

“Kolith. Nyralyn Kolith.”

The woman smiled. “Kolith, we have some questions for you if you wouldn’t mind answering.”

Nyra gave the woman a cautious look. This didn’t sound good. Then again, neither did her predicament. She was in an unfamiliar environment with weird creatures she’d never seen before. She assumed she’d somehow been transported to another plane of existence, one known one had heard of before. “Depends on the questions,” she said.

The woman nodded. “First off, in order to help you, we had to take a blood sample, we’ve never seen anyone like you before so we didn’t know how to treat you. We noticed that you have similarities to humans, but enough differences that you aren’t of the same race. So, what exactly are you?”

“I’m a drow...a dark elf.”

“Alright. What is your home planet?”

She frowned, confused by the word. /Faerûn/ came the echoey voice in her head. She stiffened at the voice, trying to figure out where it was coming from, realizing the people before her were patiently waiting for her to speak. She decided to trust the voice for now. “Faerûn.”

“Interesting. I’ve never heard of that planet. Could you tell me where it is?” the woman asked, suddenly holding up a handheld thing of glass with glowing images. The image shown before her looked like a giant circle made of light. She stared at it, not sure what it was.

“Um...I’m not sure where Faerûn is. I don’t really remember how I got here.”

“I see. What is it you last remember?”

“I remember….bright lights. Something about a Citadel? Then I passed out,” she said.

The woman nodded. “While you were out we also did a scan. We noticed something strange in your brain. We’re not sure if it’s a racial trait for you, or if it was some sort of anomaly. But it could cause strange side effects or even be fatal.” She swiped on the glass and showed Nyra an image.

Nyra stared at it, noting the natural curls of her brain -- she’d seen brains before, despite being a bit shocked it was an image of one. Then she spotted something that didn’t seem to fit. It covered part of her brain, almost as if shielding it. Her blood went cold and she knew that without a doubt it was the parasite in her mind. It didn’t look exactly like the one that had been put in her eye, but she could recognize parts of it.

Her breathing began to get ragged and she curled up, pushing her hands into her eyes. “No, no, no…” she muttered.

“I’m going to guess by your reaction that it’s not normal.”

She shook her head. “No, it’s not.”

“And you’ve known about this for a while?”

She looked up from her hands and nodded, laughing wryly. “Where I come from, the only cure is death, or making a deal with a devil.”

While she sat there, she suddenly started to feel emotions of pity from the woman before her. She knew she wasn’t attempting to read the woman’s mind, but before she could help it, she slipped in. Flashes of memories from the woman sliding into her. Her name was Kali H’ryn, an Asari of about 361 years. A doctor with two loving daughters who had a Salarian father.

Then she flashed back to her own body and she groaned, clutching at the new memories now swirling in her head. Kali likewise looked a little dazed, but once she regained her composure, she looked at Nyra with both caution and intrigue.

“What did you just do?” the Asari asked, a little breathless.

“I...I don’t know. I didn’t mean to do it. It just happened.”

“It was almost like mind melding, but not exactly like it. Incredible. Is that an ability of your people?”

Nyra looked away, wrapping her arms around herself. She didn’t answer.

“I see...well, thank you for answering my questions. I assume you know that whatever is affecting your brain is spreading.”

She nodded.

“If you need any further help, please feel free to return. I don’t think we have anything else for you. Since you’re new here, do you have a place to stay?”

“Um...not yet, but I’m sure I can find something. I’m resourceful.”

Kali smiled and stood, shooing the human out. “I can tell.” She then walked over to the counter and picked a pile of clothing. “Your old outfit wasn’t hygienic and contained some possibly dangerous chemicals to some of the inhabitants here so we had to dispose of them. I’m sorry. But your other personal effects are in this drawer,” she said, opening said drawer to reveal the weapons Nyra had been wearing.

“Thanks…”

“Put those on and I’ll have someone help escort you from the hospital.” The asari paused before leaving. “If you would like, you could stay with me until you’re able to stand on your own two feet.”

“Oh….thank you,” Nyra replied and then waited for the Asari to leave before she began to dress. The new outfit was white and simple with a top and pants. She frowned. She didn’t like white, it tended to stain too quickly -- especially for what she did.

As she was slipping her blades and their sheathes on the belt of her current garments, she thought about what she’d gone through in the last few hours? She hadn’t dared ask the time. But she missed home. Hells, she missed Gale and the others. She’d hated the predicament that had brought them all together, but she’d enjoyed her time getting to know them. And now she was stuck in some other plane of existence with no way to return home. Were they even still alive? She didn’t know.

She sighed and shook herself, knowing it would be useless to dwell on it. With that thought in her mind, she decided to take the Asari up on her offer -- at least for now. Perhaps she could convince her to help her find some income. She could tell from the memories she’d received that she would need to have some sort of background, but her true history couldn’t be revealed. No one would understand. This was not a world of magic but of technology and science -- a concept she didn’t yet grasp.

Squaring her jaw, she headed out of the hospital room to first speak with Kali, and then see where the “wind” took her.

[vampiresuns]

Window Bird

I wanted an excuse to write both Anatole’s family and Leon/Anatole, so lo and behold.

Leon is @apprenticealec‘s, and uses He/They pronouns, which I use interchangeably.

Word count: 1792; No cws this time.

Leon didn’t usually come to the Heart District, if he went there at all, except for the times the band had a gig or the like. There was no appeal in that part of the city to them, yet there they were on a Sunday morning, going up the steps of the Palazzo Cassano, the Consul’s seat, to pick up Anatole for — Leon wasn’t sure. 

The shop had been alone and they didn’t want to be alone right now.

Whatever laid inside the house (an understatement) he couldn’t tell, but he could tell it was big. Very big, with corridors twisting and turning, secret alcoves and sliding doors. The foyer must have been bigger than most city homes, yet not bigger than the palace’s out of the way it echoed. 

Someone came to greet them. 

“Good morning, and welcome. What may we help you with today? Are you here for the library or are you here to deliver a message?” 

“No, I’m here for Anatole? My name is Leon and we are—“ 

“Oh, are you a friend of Aelius?” The person didn’t wait for an answer. “I’ll go see if he’s available. Do wait here, or you can wait in the drawing room to the left. Do you need any help with that?”

“No, I can find my way on my own.” 

“I’ll be right back then.” 

They weren’t right back. Minutes slipped away without anyone coming back to retrieve them. If Leon gave it a thought, it made sense no one came around the foyer. Had he given it two thoughts, which he wasn’t about to do, he would’ve figured out there was some kind of way it was known the foyer was occupied, because they didn’t ring a bell. It would come back later to him. 

Someone approached, stopped, but went by without saying anything to Leon, leaving before Leon would say anything. 

Could one of his tethers find Anatole? He had never asked if he was okay with it, but did he have to ask? He didn’t know. Leon could just check if he was busy and if he was, yet Leon thought Anatole would not appreciate the intrusion. They had spent enough time together for Leon to notice Anatole guarded his private life, keeping it away from his job. It made sense — if that were the last beacon of reprieve Leon himself had, he would do it too.

Did he care that much about Anatole? Or was it basic consideration? A Gentlepeople agreement of you shall not trespass, and neither shall I? 

The unmistakable sound of someone who needed a cane to walk took him out of his thoughts. Leon heard them say something that resembled Vesuvian common tongue, but nothing he could make up clearly. He couldn’t make out the reply either, but it sounded almost like Valerius. 

The person with the cane stood under the threshold of the foyer, tapping their cane to get Leon’s attention. 

“Are you a friend of my great grandson?” 

“Excuse me?” It dawned on Leon that Anatole had never mentioned his family, except to talk twice about where he lived. He had mentioned his parents loosely, and an Aunt who lived in Vesuvia but passed some years ago, never of his family. Only now Leon realised the Palazzo wasn’t full of workers or people who came for the library or other of its amenities, but of Anatole’s relatives. It made him incredibly human.

“I was told you were a friend of Anatole’s, are you not? What is your name?”

“I’m Leon. I am a friend of Anatole’s.”

“I’m Valerian Cassano. My great grandson was sleeping, but I am sure he will be with us any minute now. You have to excuse him, he needs his rest.” 

Valerian began walking away, stopping and yelling back into the foyer when he realised Leon wasn’t following him. “I am older than you can imagine, young thing, I am not going to go back there and get you.” 

It wasn’t a request, and it seemed better to be invited in than waiting in a foyer he couldn’t even admire or despise. 

Valerian only asked if Leon needed anything once, assuming if he did he would ask. They sat in silence in a room he described as a family parlour. They both sat in silence for a moment, Leon expecting him to want to know how he knew Anatole, but the question never came. Instead, they tap their cane again, rhythmically, trying to emulate a song Leon does not recognise.

Eventually the questions do come, but they’re not what Leon expects. The only thing Valerian wanted to know is what it is that they do, and after they reply he’s a musician, the conversation took off. He asked other things, as where did they play the most, did Leon play alone, and what type of music, but most of the conversation ends up being about Valerian’s past and the city. How they used to be an actor, the Operas in the city and Goldgrave. He spoke little of the late Consul, and made excuses for the actual one not letting them in. 

“Where is it that you know Valeriy, anyway? He is much less inclined to blend in with people—”

“Uh, sorry?”

The eye roll was audible. “Valerius, who else.”

“I— through a common friend.” 

Valerian did noy buy it, huffing a laugh instead. “Very well, everyone has always seemed to say Anatole does take after him. Though, of course, Valeriy would never sleep in the city for someone. You care about the boy.”

Leon didn’t sense any maliciousness from the old man, but it didn’t mean he liked the question. It felt too open, like Leon had made his own decisions without even noticing, but apparent to the rest of people. 

“What does that have to do with anything?”

“It has to do with everything. You could’ve just checked if he was sleeping and left. I’m assuming you sense your way somehow, remarkable, really.”

“Stop tormenting Leon,” Anatole’s voice, with the exasperated fondness some people have to their family members, cut through Leon’s internal screaming. “Hi Lee, good morning Valerian.”

“You missed breakfast, Toly.”

“I chugged some coffee.”

“You drink too much of it.”

“Blame Valeriy for waking me up in a fissy.” 

Anatole put his hand on Leon’s shoulder, squeezing lightly, as they finally said hello back. It was strange to witness him around people who had known him all his life. It felt like looking into someone’s life from a window, a limbo of an invitation, unsure if you wanted to step in, despite not having been pushed further out. 

“Did you want us to go somewhere, Lee? Sorry if I took too long.”

“Actually, I did. Don’t worry, your great grandfather put up with me.”

“And your Leon put up with me.”

Anatole laughed, delighted. “Being terrible is a family trait. Whatever he told you about me, he’s lying.”

“I was an actor, I studied people’s characters for a living.”

Anatole kissed his great grandfather’s forehead before asking Leon if they should go. As easily as he had been pulled into this private corner of Anatole’s life, he was pulled out of it. 

Anatole apologised. “He is incredibly lucid for being so incredibly old… but he must have liked you, Valerian doesn’t really speak to many people. He says it tires him.”

“How old is he?”

“About 102, I believe? I’m not sure, I don’t think many people are anyway. Besides, he keeps insisting he’ll die when he wants to die, so age is not a thing that matters.”

“Do you want your family to like me?” Leon teased him. 

“My family has little to do with anything. As of late, I don’t really sleep here all that much. If I’m not spending the night at the Palace, I’m spending it in town — speaking of which, where do you want to go?”

“How about the market, so you eat something, and then we decide.”

“Sounds like a plan to me.”

Leo began walking towards the foyer, but Anatole stopped him. 

“No, no, I leave through the back door. You can’t tell anyone where it is, though.” 

Leon followed Anatole through the house, into an unassuming corridor with an unassuming door, yet by the sound of Anatole opening it, it had some sort of mechanism to guard it. Outside, the breeze and sounds of the city awaited for them, in an equally quiet and unassuming corridor. 

Anatole closed the door after him, but didn’t advance. “Leon?”

“Yes?”

“If you ever wanted to visit while I’m here, you can use this door. It doesn’t have a bell, what you have to do is spin the doorknob three times to the right, quick and sort turns, and someone will come to open and let you in.”

“And would I find you inside?”

“Just ask. Or test your luck, you always end up finding me.”

“I could just use a tether, they do save time.”

“That’s up to you, really.”

“So, you don’t want to know if I have one on you?”

“I know you don’t, Lee. That’s not what we do.”

Leon frowned. “We could.”

Anatole stepped closer to Leon, cupping his cheek, and rubbing his thumb against his skin. In safe company he relaxed, but in shared privacy he unfolded. Perhaps, the old man had been right. Perhaps the Gentlepeople’s agreement laid in respecting each other’s boundaries not out of indifference but care. Wasn’t it so? Genuine, honest Anatole who did care for Leon, now realised he was allowed to care. He did tell them he didn’t allow people into his life if he wasn’t going to care about them. Why would he waste his energy pretending to care about something? 

Leon couldn’t see the sun, but he could feel it. He could feel it on his skin, and Anatole’s incommensurable caring for that which did have his attention felt a lot like it. The city, his family, his friends, the city once again, people and corners Leon wasn’t privy to, but which Anatole did not pretend not to have in him. 

Neither of them pretended to be people they were not. Was that honesty not caring? 

“You’d have to let me take care of you.” 

Leon took Anatole’s face in his hands, Anatole letting his own hand fall and rest over his waist. His fingers were soft over his lips, and Anatole kissed the tip of every one of them, until Leon replaced them with their own lips. 

“I think I already do.” 

It was like finding a partner for a journey you both knew would take you to different places, yet while the journey lasted, you had each other. 

[ajokeformur-ray]

~ Self-shipping ask game: Dracika🦇🩸 // Ashika🪓💙 ~

I asked @mutatedcrocuta​ for permission to use her self-ship questions and she very graciously agreed! Thank youuuu ~ 💜💜💜

Overall word count: 7, 664.

Dracula x Erika (Dracika) 🖤🩸🖤

Word count: 3, 179.

Date you got together? We met in September but we didn’t get together until November 14th 2020. I was scared of him until the middle of October and then it took some more time after that for me to work out what I wanted between the two of us. Dracula somehow knew what was going to happen and whenever I asked him to tell me, he would just smirk at me. He never said anything and he waited for me to make my own decisions on everything. Once I realised what I wanted, neither of us really... announced the relationship. It was just a... shall we try this? vibe which we both agreed to and we have yet to change our minds!

Favourite personality trait? His courage. My sweet vampire was terrified for 500 years about something which was never a threat to him in the first place. He spent all that time alone and afraid for no reason because he was always too afraid to test the things he thought he knew. I really admire his bravery, and as someone who’s scared of something very similar, I find that I can be just a little braver in my own fear, knowing that Dracula understands me on that basic level. Our fear brought us together and through that, we found love. He’s afraid of the light and I’m afraid of the dark and I don’t know about you, but that says “soulmates” to me!🥰💗

Favourite physical trait? Ohhhhh.... his eyes. His beautiful eyes which are so dark they’re like black coffee. Onyx, perhaps. They can be so soft when he’s talking to someone or they can be cold and calculating. When he smiles, they melt into pools of warm chocolate and I similarly melt when I look into his eyes. I also love that damned smirk. When he knows he’s five steps ahead of everyone in the room or when he suspects something which later turns out to be true... his smirk makes me feel weak in the knees even when I’m sitting down.

Couple song We don’t have a couple song. There’s not really... anything out there which I’ve found to resonate with the both of us. Like A Vampire by Catrien Maxwell is one I listen to when I want his attention, though, and it works like a charm! “So how does a vampire love, Erika?” was what Dracula said the first time I played it around him. I said, “I don’t know... why don’t you show me?” and... I’ll let his display be up to your imagination.😉

Pet peeves... Mine is when he feeds off someone. And leaves them to bleed out. On the floor. Like??? I just cleaned the carpet out from the last person who bled all over the floor. It’s irritating. Just like when he then flashes me that smirk and he’s got blood all over his chin, lips and lower part of his face like??? That’s your food, close your damn mouth. Are you five hundred or just five? 😂 I find it funny but also annoying; depends on my mood. Will I clean his face off, though, and leave a tender kiss on the tip of his nose? Oh, yeah! My vampire deserves love.🥺

Dracula’s is how jumpy I am. It irritates him to no end. He has long since stopped saying, “sorry, didn’t mean to startle you” and now I tend to get either an eye roll, a patient smirk or a, “you knew I was there, Erika”. It depends on his  mood, but the one time he genuinely made me scared and it upset me, he was quick to apologise to me and he learned very quickly how to avoid doing that in the future. We’ve had to learn many a thing from each other in a short amount of time for things between us to be able to work.

Favourite outfit on them?

Picture source

He just looks... so warm and inviting but also so dangerous. There’s an obvious wall between himself and everyone else and I love the way he carries himself! It makes me want to sit on his lap, curl up and go to sleep asdfghjk🥺 and that hair.... the urge to mess it up is strong skkssk😂 I value my life, though, so I won’t... yet.😏 Dracula’s appearance is just so safe to me and he makes me smile just to see him, no matter what he’s wearing.

Favourite meal? Blood, obviously. Dracula has never drank from me. I’ve said he can many a time but “No. Not that. Not to you. You’re... too special a flavour, Erika. I wouldn’t dare to sample it. You’re exquisite.” is all I get every time I offer myself up to him. Maybe one day he’ll agree but for now, he’s more than happy to continue feeding off others. He’s careful with what he eats. I’m not, though, which may be why he won’t feed off me.😂

Early bird or night owl? Dracula’s nocturnal so our days and nights are reversed. As I get into bed, my darling vampire is just waking up. This means that I get goodnight cuddles and he gets good morning cuddles at the same time! It works well for us both and if I’m very lucky (or just really clingy or upset), he’ll stay with me for a little longer and eat into his day! He says “I love you” in his own ways and I’ve learned to hear them.

Snorer or sleep talker? Dracula doesn’t do either of these. If I get into bed too roughly and jostle him, he’ll hiss in his sleep but that’s about it. Me, on the other hand? Certified chainsaw snorer!😂

Do you have any pets together? We don’t! Dracula feeds off animals when there’s no humans around and my worst fear is coming downstairs in the morning to find that he’s fed on my animals in the night because his baser instincts took over and he couldn’t stop himself. I would never forgive him or myself if that happened, so no pets!

Pet names! (Both from them and yours for them)

I call him: Drac, Draccy, Draccy boi (he hates this one so I only do it when I’m deliberately trying to wind him up because those fangs, I - 🥵), my Drac, my vampire, my sweet vampire... my love, honey, Dracula if He’s In Trouble! 

He calls me: luna bella (beautiful moon), my dear, my love, Erika if I’m In Trouble. Dracula’s not really one for pet names. He says what he says and that’s it. 

How often do you fight? Never. We don’t ever fight. If there’s ever a line I’m about to cross, he will say my name very calmly and very quietly and the chill which runs up my spine is enough to keep me from crossing that line. With Dracula, he knows that if I ignore him, he’s close to crossing a line. We have warnings for each other, and that’s it. No fights. I can’t handle it and Dracula’s too old for that.

What starts fights? We don’t fight as I said, but those lines... for Dracula, those lines are insisting he drinks from me and refusing to back down on it (I did it once, in the early days, before I understood who he was properly), or when I won’t take care of myself in the way he thinks I should be. It’ll get me full-named with his chin dipped so that the shadows around him emphasise the lines of his face, and I’ll shiver and I’ll know I’m in trouble... so I’ll rectify it in the ways I know he wants me to, and then a hand will be laid on my shoulder so I know all’s forgiven. All it takes is my name spoken in a certain tone and he’s got me in the palm of his hand. But I’m safe, even then.

For me, I don’t have many lines at all but one of them is when I come home in the middle of the day or when I wake up and just walking through the house and then I trip over a body. Like, for fuck’s sake, Drac, do your dishes.😂 I don’t make a big deal out of it usually but once there were five or six bodies in one room because he’d gorged himself and I got pissed off because they were in my way and obviously I couldn’t get rid of them myself. So when he greeted me that morning I said nothing to him and I continued to say nothing until he’d gotten rid of his victims. He never sees what the big deal is, but I do.

We may not fight but we definitely have our differences!

Who apologizes first? We each apologise when we need to. If Drac crossed a line, he’ll apologise first. If I crossed a line, I’ll apologise first. It depends on who was in the wrong. Sometimes Dracula will give me a certain look and I’ll just instinctively say ‘sorry’. He doesn’t necessarily understand these moments, though, and he’ll ask me why I apologised and I’ll just say that I felt like I needed to because of the look he gave me. Dracula will frown but then he’ll crook a finger at me and I’ll be brought in for a hug. “You silly little thing. You never have to apologise to me. Not for anything. Do you understand?” and I try. I really do try.

Big spoon or little spoon? Dracula’s always the big spoon. If his back is to the door when I come to bed (he’s just waking up), then he will turn so that he’s spooning me because I sleep facing the door so I can see the room around me. Even with my lamp, I’m still wary and scared. I tried to have Drac as the little spoon once and within minutes we switched positions because he couldn’t stop chuckling at the seven inch height difference. I just... get to melt into him and he protects me. No harm will come to me when Dracula’s there and he loves the way he can fold me into him and keep me safe.

Dom or sub? Dracula’s the dom, definitely. The power he has is obvious and we’ll never truly be equal, not really... I mean, he’s five hundred years old and I’m twenty-three... I’ve been alive for the blink of an eye compared to his lengthy existence. I am definitely my own person and I have my own life but there’s an equality imbalance which we’re both aware of. He never plays on it, though. I trust him to not ever do that to me, and Dracula respects me too much for that. Other people are fair game in his eyes, but me? I’m his so that means I’m always under his protection.

What are their kisses like? “The kiss of a vampire is an opiate” as Drac states in episode two. So he can take me anywhere with just one kiss. He can make me feel sleepy, awake, aroused, in control... scared... He can make me feel anything when he kiss and most times he makes me feel relaxed, safe and he makes me feel his love for me. If I have trouble sleeping or if I’ve had a nightmare, he’ll kiss me and the next thing I know it’s morning and I slept solidly. During the times I doubt our relationship, he will kiss me and I feel all of his love for me. His kisses are fire but it’s... like basking in the sunlight. It’s passion, it’s love, it’s security... he kisses me like I’m the only one for him, like I’m the only one who’s ever gotten so close to him. He kisses me like he’ll die if he doesn’t and yet he’s in control the entire time. Whenever he pulls away from me, there’s a smirk on his face and the hands on my waist aren’t just to keep me close, but to hold me up, too... on some occasions he’s had to scoop me up to sit me down somewhere because I’ve gotten lost in the state he put me in. 

What do they smell like? Ohhh... he smells like... Dracula. That’s so cliché, but his name is as good a descriptor as any. He smells like cedarwood, like spiced pear and there’s a metallic tang about him... blood. He smells dark and foreboding, but also safe. I would know his scent anywhere. Sometimes when I’m off doing my own thing during the day, I suddenly catch a scent on the wind and I know he’s with me. 

What are their hugs like? To begin with, I hugged Dracula. I was never held back. I never received one from him. If I wanted one, I had to start it and I would have to finish it, too. He would just stand there and endure it. But then one day I dropped a knife and it landed on my foot and somehow I avoided stabbing myself. I wasn’t injured but Dracula scooped me up and carried me away from the knife... but he didn’t put me down right away. He stood there and he held me in his arms like I was precious cargo (I was, I know now), and when he set me down, he said that he liked “this thing you mortals call a hug” and now when he hugs me it’s with everything he has in that moment. He almost folds himself in half and his scent becomes all I can smell. He doesn’t breathe and he’s got no heartbeat so it’s quiet and it’s still and it’s warm... most often I become sleepy when he hugs me because I just relax. It’s like magic.

Who is more protective? We protect each other. In the day time, I protect him and in the night time, he protects me. We fear opposite ends of the same thing and there’s a lot of understanding and compassion in that. We’re equally protective of each other. In the day, I keep curtains closed especially if it’s sunny outside, I make sure that Dracula has places he can go and I make sure that he has food if he needs it. If anyone dares to disturb his peace within our home, I will step in. Curtains stay shut. Rooms are safe. And then at night... lights are turned on. Shadows are eliminated and Dracula stays close by. We give a part of our days to each other and in this way do we stay close to one emotionally. In our fears are we equal and through this, we found love.

Interested in children? To Dracula, “talk of children sounds like a miracle” but I would rather eat my own foot, toenails included, than have kids and he knows it.

Who needs the most TLC when sick? If either of us gets sick, then the other person gives them every amount of care which we can. Dracula only gets sick if he consumes blood which isn’t good; if someone’s dying or if they’re sick, then he gets sick. It’s very rare but he’ll expel it from his body all at once and then collapse. I clean his face, get him somewhere he can rest, and i stay by his side until he wakes up hours later. I hate it when he gets ill and thankfully it’s very rare because of how carefully he picks his food. When I get sick, which is also rare because, despite having an autoimmune disease I have a very strong immune system (yeah, I can’t work that out either), Dracula’s almost overbearing. He gets me everything I need and he is everything I need until I get better and he stays by my side through it all. Dracula and I do everything we can for each other at all times. It’s a part of our love language.

Who says ‘I love you’ first? This was also me. Dracula knew the entire time, from the day we met, what would happen between us, but he never said anything. He just... he waited. He waited for my nightmares to stop, he waited for me to approach him with increasing frequency, he waited for me to be brave enough to approach him... Dracula waited. About two months after we first met, I realised that I loved him. I invited him into my bed for the first time that night and I asked him to cuddle with me and he chuckled at me. He came into my bed, “well, this is a surprise.” and I grinned because... just wait ‘til I said what I wanted to say. So I did... I told him. He froze and then his entire body relaxed. He said, “finally.” and that was that.

Which of you is more accident prone? Definitely me!!!! I have a shitty centre of balance and honestly a lack of self-preservation so I’m constantly bumping into tables, walking into doors, tripping up or down the stairs... Dracula usually just laughs or smirks or otherwise ignores me because he’s so used to it but very occasionally I’ll actually do something which may well hurt me, and he will catch me with a shake of his head. “Careful, Erika. I won’t always be around to catch you, hm?” He’s lying. He will be. 

Bed hog? Also me! Dracula tends to just lay on his back with his arms by his sides and if there’s not enough room for me beside him, I will lay on top of him and he won’t be able to move me. I sleep like the dead and I wake like them, too. As I go to bed, he’s just waking up so he usually ends up getting up later than he planned to because he had to coax himself out from underneath me.😂 I don’t make it easy on him, and why should I? I want my cuddles and I’ll get them whether he likes it or not. He does, though, he loves the way I love him, and he just pretends he doesn’t because he doesn’t like to admit his own heart. But I can sense it - his love language is a loud one and I quickly became proficient in speaking it.

Who loves the other the most? Me. Without a doubt, I love Dracula far more than he could ever love me. I’ve never been able to work out why he’s with me but I suppose it’s because we’re safe and understood in our fears by the other person and we’re teaching each other to be brave. He is capable of love, I know he is, but I think Dracula’s beyond that. When he loves, it’s beyond description or any kind of labels mortals could come up with. He’s fond of me, incredibly so, and I think that’s as far as it goes. That’s okay, though! It means the world to even know him.

Ash Williams x Erika (Ashika)🪓💙

I’ve used a GIF of young!Ash (mid-twenties) and then a GIF of Ash in 2015 (57-ish) because Bruce Campbell’s aged like a fine wine and omgggg ~ 🥵🥵 I just love him (Ash and Bruce lmao)🧡. 

Word count: 4, 485.

Date you got together? Ash is my newest F/O even though I’ve known him since I was about eleven. We got together on the 10th December 2020. I was watching season two of the TV series and it just slammed into me how badly I wanted to protect him and how much I wanted to love him and give him the life he should have had. I asked Ash “how about it?” and he quirked an eyebrow and said, “let’s go”.🥰💗 I’ve known him for such a long time and I’ve always thought that there was more to him than I was able to understand when I was so young but I’m in a place now where I’m able to better understand him and I’m excited to dive into him and see where we go! I wish I could be with Ash for his whole life; from when he first goes to the cabin, helping him with the trauma after, then everything in the next thirty years and beyond. I love my Ashy🥺💖

Favourite personality trait? I looooooove ~ Ash’s “shoot first think never” motto. It’s his entire mentality and it means to just do it, to be in the moment. It’s also a literal motto, as in to shoot Deadites without thinking about it, but I appreciate the deeper meaning of it, too. I also love his courage and his bravery. He never wanted to be a Deadite killer, he never wanted to have to fight them for the rest of his life, but he does it and it’s honestly the only thing he’s good at. He’s shit at everything except fighting evil and he gives it his all and I love that about him. Ash really inspires me in a lot of ways. He thinks that’s ridiculous but that’s his tough-guy exterior. I know that he’s touched and just doesn’t know how to say it. So he’ll show me, instead, and if I’m not paying attention then I’ll miss it. he has a quiet and subtle love language and I’m quickly learning to speak it.

Favourite physical trait? Can I just say his everything??? I love everything about Ash🥺🥺🥺🥺 I do have a soft spot for his chainsaw hand, though. The noise it makes when he fires it up makes me smile; it’s so familiar to me. I like to kiss the stump of his hand when it’s just the two of us in his trailer; he went through literal hell and the strength it must have taken, physically and otherwise, to saw off his own hand is just... I could never be that brave. I try to be as gentle with him as I can be and I like to love on the parts of him no one else sees because I’m the only one to see them. There’s nothing about Ash I don’t love. Keep this last sentence in mind when you read the pet peeves section!

Couple song Back In Black by ACϟDC ... he plays this song in the Delta and we jam out together. It’s a light-hearted and simple moment between the two of us and let’s be fair, nothing hits like 70/80s metal. He and I don’t really have a set song, we just... listen to whatever’s in his player and make light-hearted memories from that which will get us through the worst of everything. Sometimes I’ll just ask Ash to sing with no music playing. He’s tone deaf but the sound of his voice alone is more melodious and comforting to me than the songs he likes to play.

Pet peeves... 

Mine is that, honestly, Ash is kind of gross and I say that with so much love. He leaves his beer cans everywhere, he leaves his recreational baggies of drugs everywhere and there’s some questionably crusty socks on our floor which I am not picking up no matter how many times he waggles his eyebrows at me. He leaves dishes to pile high up in the sink and then asks me to do them for him “as a favour” while he’s at work (even though I have my own things to do🙄). He’s stuck in the 80s as far as his attitudes go and that does irritate me. He knows it and he thinks it’s hot when I get riled up... I’m 99% sure he says this stuff just to annoy me. I’ll do the dishes no matter what I say in the moment and he knows it. I can’t stand having food left out, especially in summer, and I have a phobia of sickness as well as health anxieties so whenever Ash comes home and I’ve already cleaned the kitchen part of the trailer, made our bed (and left those socks on the floor, thank you. I have limits to what I’ll do),  fed Eli and now I’m at the kitchen table studying or writing, Ash makes sure to say thank you. He feels bad about it because we both know he would have done the dishes if I hadn’t, but I have a guilt complex on top of my fears and if someone asks me to do something I’ll do it even if I don’t want to because I feel bad for saying no. 

“Ah, Erika, you didn’t have to do that, I was gonna do ‘em later on.”

“It’s fine, Ash, they’re done now.”

Ash will kiss the top of my head and then he’ll come and sit beside me, keeping me company while I do whatever I’m doing. I’ll get up automatically and crack him open a beer and I can see that Ash feels bad about the comments he made before he went to work, but he also knows that I would have gotten him a beer anyway. I want to take care of him and he’s been at work all day. In return, Ash will get up and make me a coffee even though I was also about to do that.

“Ash, you don’t need to - “

He’ll just give me a Look while he leans against the counter waiting for the kettle and I understand it’s his apology for what he said this morning (it’ll happen again tomorrow but that’s okay). Ash knows I really don’t mind doing the dishes, and I know that Ash never means for things to come across the way they can. The way I react to them is on me, not Ash. We do things for each other, it’s a part of our love language, and even though sometimes miscommunications like the above can happen, we still carry on with them because my traumas are mine and Ash’s are his and we work through them together.

Ash’s pet peeve is the way I put him before myself all the time. Sometimes he’ll come home and I’ve got a beer can ready in the fridge, dinner’s nearly done (he works late most days), the immediate chores are done and Ash will come in and I’m stressed out from all the work I’ve got to do because I took my time on stuff I did for him and left myself short. I say it’s fine but it’s not and we both know it. Ash will call me out every single time. 

“For god’s sake, Erika, you knew you had to do ___ today, why did’ya focus on me?” He genuinely doesn’t understand why I love him so much and it breaks my heart every single time. He’s had such a horrible life and I just want to soften those edges as best as I can and give him something else to fight for. Ash will sigh, crack open the beer, and then when dinner’s done, he does the dishes while I catch up on my work and even though he doesn’t understand any of what I’m doing, he’ll stay beside me and keep an arm around my shoulders or my waist and make his gratitude, appreciation and concern known.

Favourite outfit on them? His blue shirt/brown trousers combo. It’s the only thing he wears in the franchise and I adore it. I often ‘borrow’ (steal) his shirts to sleep in or otherwise relax in (I’m a baggy shirt and panties only girl) and Ash thinks it’s the hottest thing he’s ever seen. He’s 6′1 and I’m 5′7 so his shirts swim on me and I love that. So does Ash and it’s the quickest way to get him to... pay attention to me.😂

Favourite meal? Ash will eat anything. Usually tacos - he’d eat them every day of the week if I let him. With me having a wheat and gluten allergy and Ash not having any food allergies at all, the lucky bastard, it can be difficult but I always make Ash’s food first if it contains anything with wheat in it, and then I scrub the kitchen down and make my own. Ash says I should just make mine first and “I can worry about my own damn food”, but I consider that to be rude of me so I always do Ash’s first. It plays into the pet peeve thing and Ash is learning to just...let it go. 

Early bird or night owl? Poor Ash has been through so much trauma in his life that he suffers from PTSD and nightmares. He usually just gets high or blackout drunk (or both, on a really bad night) so that he can grab a few hours of sleep before his own screaming wakes him up. He sleeps when he can and usually just runs on naps around his shifts at S-Mart. He’s up all hours of the day and night and he just sleeps when he can. Ash isn’t an early bird or a night owl... he’s a permanently exhausted pigeon 😂 I’m a night owl, though, and most nights I’ll stay up with Ash for as long as I possibly can. Sometimes I fall asleep in his lap because I’m so tired and I’ll wake up a few hours later and Ash has draped his upper body over me so that I’m caged in and protected while he rests. That hurts his back, though, so I massage it for him when he wakes up because I really don’t wanna wake him up when he’s asleep unless I have to. When I do have to, it’s with lots of guilt and apologies because he sleeps so little as it is. If I could give Ash anything, it’d be the ability to truly sleep with ease. He deserves that at the very least.

Snorer or sleep talker? Ash is a sleep talker. He usually says stuff like, “no, come back”, “I didn’t mean to”, “please, come back - “ after a nightmare it’s usually with a scream or with the name of someone he’s lost on his lips and it’ll wake me up and I’ll do my best to soothe him. I’m a snorer, though. Ash did once rip his chainsaw to life while I was asleep because he was repairing the trailer outside and not only did I stay asleep (I sleep like the dead), but also he could hear me over his chainsaw. So I’m known as the Chainsaw Snorer and when he introduces me to people... that’s the name he uses.😂 Charming, isn’t he? In Elk Grove, Michigan, he’s known (horribly) as Ashy Slashy and it sounds quite fitting with Chainsaw Snorer...I’m not saying we’re meant for each other, buuuut ~ 🥺

Do you have any pets together? I help Ash out with his lizard, Eli, sometimes, but other than that; no pets! There’s not really room for them in the trailer and I have my hands full with Ash anyway.😂 

Pet names! (Both from them and yours for them)

Ash calls me anything - honey bunny (flirting), sweetcheeks (casual), hot piece of ass (that one gets him glared at and he’ll look away because he knows I don’t like being objectified. He’s only teasing but I still don’t like it), sweetheart (comfort), my delicious cookie (when he’s trying to wriggle out of doing the dishes. It makes us both cringe so I don’t know why he uses it), baby (comfort). My name is only used when he’s needing me or it’s Serious. It’s the quickest way to get my attention.

I don’t call Ash much - Ashy (comfort for either of us, depending on who needs it or when I miss him or when I’m super sleepy and therefore I have no filter). I’m unsure how he feels about Ashy because of how he’s known in his hometown but that’s why I call him “Ashy” - I took a name of fear and hate and turned it to love. He deserves that. Honey (casual), my love (casual), jefe (when we’re around Kelly and/or Pablo). I only call him Ashley (his full name) when I need him or it’s Serious. It’s the quickest way to get his attention.

How often do you fight? Rarely, if ever. Ash is very casual and chilled out about lots of things and he’ll just wave things off (though he’s quick to call out bullshit), and I can’t handle conflict of any kind at all. If tension is around, Ash will either go to work, the bar, or maybe even go for a drive in the Delta to give us both some space and I’ll shut myself in the bedroom and do some work. The trailer’s quite small so that can only add to the tension so most often we just go our separate ways until we’re calm enough to talk about anything which lingers. 

What starts fights? Not much. Tension usually arises after an encounter with some Deadites. If Ash got injured, then he needs to sit his ass down and let me tend to those injuries. I can be quite firm when I need to be, especially if I’m worried. Ash doesn’t get what the big deal is, he came home, didn’t he? But I’m so scared of losing him that that can show itself in anger even when I’m relieved that he’s home. It’s the same with Ash - he’s so scared of losing me. Literally everyone he’s ever loved has died right in front of him and he is terrified of losing me. I can and I will throw myself in his way so that I take a hit meant for Ash and nothing pisses him off faster. Both of us know that anger often hides pain, it’s a secondary emotion, so when this happens, we just... we patch each other up, we cuddle and we apologise and we comfort each other and the anger quickly dissipates into what it actually is: tender love and fear of losing each other. Once the anger’s out of the way, we can get to the “good stuff”, as Ash puts it.

Who apologizes first? It depends on who messed up.  It’s usually Ash, let’s be fair; he’s shit at everything except fighting Deadites and he’d be the first to tell you that. Most people’s apologies are followed by a “I won’t do it again” but this is Ash... he will do it again so apologies are almost redundant. Even so, he’ll say he’s sorry and then he’ll make up for it... letting me hold Eli or cuddling me while we watch some crappy TV together... Once, I messed up hugely by getting myself severely injured after a Deadite encounter and I bought Ash a new TV with all the premium channels - something he once asked a demon for. I also apologised with words and Ash was more than willing to forget it all! He did, however, finally teach me how to use weapons after that point and the both of us worked to help each other out a bit more.

Big spoon or little spoon? Ash’s tough guy exterior demands that he is the big spoon but he doesn’t actually like being the big spoon unless he can take the position into NSFW territory (he calls it “getting down to business”). He usually just wiggles against me, as if he can’t get comfortable, until I get the hint and turn around so that he is the little spoon... and then he melts. He buries his face either in the crook of my neck or my chest (he’s after my heartbeat) and I’ll stroke his hair and if we’re very lucky... Ash will actually go to sleep. Ash is always the little spoon; them’s the rules! If I need comforting or if I can’t sleep etc. then Ash will be the big spoon, but mostly he prefers to be the little one. I love the way I can then literally watch over him and protect him, though, so it works out well for us both!

Dom or sub? Ash and I typically assume whatever role we need to. Sometimes Ash is more in control and sometimes I am. We usually feed off the other person to work out what they need. On the days we both need comfort, then we switch and take care of each other in order to take care of ourselves. We live for each other🥺💗 Generally speaking, Ash is the dom, if only because he’s literally double my age and that’s just the dynamic we fell into.

What are their kisses like? Ash kisses me like it’s the first and the last time he’s ever going to get to kiss me. Any moment he could die, at any moment there could be a Deadite, any moment could something take me away from him and he truly fears losing the people he loves because that’s all he’s ever known. I always know when my Ashy is going to kiss me because he’ll get this... darker look in his eyes and he’ll grab me either by my waist or my shoulders and I’ll get tugged into him. He almost slams his lips into mine and then it softens into tenderness and reverence. His kisses are either slow and he takes his time or they’re fast and rushed because shit, he’s late for work but he can’t pull himself away... No matter where his hands start, they will finish on my face as he holds me to him. I am always left feeling dazed. No one kisses me like Ash.

What do they smell like? In the show Ash wears Pinaud Clubman, which is described as

It makes me feel so safe, though the metallic tang of blood which is practically soaked into Ash’s clothes, even when they’re clean, almost ruins that sense of familiarity and safety. Almost. If Ash is at work or if he’s out with Kelly and Pablo, then I might use some of it and ‘borrow’ one of his shirts just to feel him near me. I’m not saying I’m clingy, but... I do need to have some part of Ash with me during those long periods he’s not there, just to comfort myself and keep me focused on what I’m doing. I also have my own shirt which I bought which looks like Ash; though I rarely wear that now that I know I could have just... asked Ash for one of his shirts🥺

What are their hugs like? Ash hugs the way he kisses... like it’s the first and last time all at once. I don’t ever have to worry that I’m annoying Ash with how often I want to be hugged or held because he melts every single time. He’s touch starved and in a lot of ways so am I. When Ash and I hug we cease to be Erika and Ash. We just become this... human mesh where limbs and such are entangled and you can’t really tell who’s who. Ash is four inches taller than me so I disappear into him, especially if he rests his head on my shoulder, and we clutch each other like we’ll die if we let go. Ash does sometimes feel that way because his fears come straight up to the surface and I’ll stroke his hair and tell him that I’m there, I’m okay and I’m safe and so is he. Ash’s hugs centre me and they remind me of where I am and what I’m doing and Ash never pulls away first. Even if he hugs me first, he won’t let me go until I step away. Truthfully, we both find it hard to step away and sometimes we can stand there for up to thirty minutes, taking and giving comfort and love in equal measures. With one arm around my shoulders and one around my waist, Ash holds me to him. I always have my arms around his middle and my fingers will be knotted into his blue shirts. When we pull away, the middle of Ash’s shirt will be creased; it makes me miss him all the more. He’s been late to work on many an occasion because we both know that this hug could very well be the last and we want to make it count.

Who is more protective? This depends on the situation. 

In general life and if there are Deadites involved, then Ash is the most protective person. To the extent where it’s almost overwhelming. If I go to the bathroom when there’s whispers of Deadites then Ash will literally stand outside the door or, at least, close by, and every thirty seconds or so I’ll hear him asking if I’m all right. I more than understand his concern though so I treat every check-up seriously. It means the world to me to be so important to him. 

In Elk’s Grove, Michigan, when there are whispers of Ashy Slashy and of how he went mad and killed all his friends at the cabin back in 1983, I’m the protective one. I can and I will go head to head with people to put them right about my Ash. I don’t like conflict and I avoid confrontation like the plague, but for one of my loved ones??? Hold my coffee. Ash finds it really hot and that tough guy exterior comes out because Ash doesn’t know how else to handle the situation, but then when it’s just he and I back in the trailer or the Delta, his brown eyes soften and my Ash will thank me with a tight hug, whispers of love and a kiss so powerful I forget why he was kissing me in the first place.

Interested in children? Nope. I’d rather eat my own foot and Ash just... doesn’t want to. He does have a daughter, Brandi, from another relationship and I’m friends with her (she’s seventeen by the time he meets her for the first time), but beyond that, kids are a no-go!

Who needs the most TLC when sick? Both Ash and I work through our sicknesses by ourselves and we don’t bring all that much attention to it, but Ash is, as I’ve said, so scared of losing anyone he loves that when I get sick he almost buys out S-Mart’s pharmaceutical section. He’s almost overbearing when I get sick but the joke’s on him because I get my ‘revenge’ when he inevitably gets sick, too - the dumbass still kisses me when I’m ill so as I recover, he’s coming down with it.😂 I love my slasher himbo so much...

Who says ‘I love you’ first? Ash said it first. We were driving in the Delta to go back to the trailer and he had a cut on his cheek. He had taped it up with duct tape but I had some antiseptic wipes in my bag so I was attempting to patch him up on the way home and Ash just said he loved me without taking his eyes off the road. I said it back without even thinking about it and then Ash almost got us into a crash because he took his eyes off the road to stare at me. Luckily the other car honked just in time before Ash had to slam down on the brakes or his injury would have been so much worse. 😂 In day to day life, either of us will say it first and the other always says it back. Any time could be the last time and we’re both painfully aware of that fact, though Ash knows it far more than I do for obvious reasons .I get upset if an “I love you” isn’t returned because it can lead to insecurities and tears and Ash... likes to avoid waterworks because he never knows what to do.

Which of you is more accident prone? Ashhhhh ~ without a doubt! He’s forever coming back to the trailer with cuts, scrapes, bruises...even just at work in the housewares department, if there’s a way for him to injure himself then he’ll do it. Not on purpose, mind, but he’s as much of a klutz as I am and evil follows him wherever he goes. Many a time I’ve patched him up (sometimes he doesn’t even realise he’s got an injury because he’s so used to being covered in blood and gore) and then discovered one of my own and Ash has patched me up to return the gesture. I guess you could say we put each other’s broken pieces back together, though of course there’s nothing to be romanticised about falling apart.

Bed hog? I had to think about this one, but considering Ash rarely actually sleeps, I’d say it’s me. I once managed to fall out of a Queen sized bed because I rolled over too far. I’d been lying in the middle and I have yet to work out how I fell out. But I digress. If there’s a way for me to take up all the space in a bed, then I will whether I intend to or not. Ash usually just... climbs over me if he wants to get into bed or if he wants to get out of bed. I sleep and wake like the dead so he won’t wake me unless he actually wants to wake me. If Ash can’t move me then he’ll just lay on top of me and that soothes him to sleep quite quickly... funny how these things work themselves out...😉

Who loves the other the most? I’d say we’re pretty equal in this one, tbh. Ash has lots of fears which stem around losing someone he loves (again) and that can mean that he shows his love for me almost desperately in some ways, and nothing scares me more than my loved ones feel unloved by me, so in that way I’m quite an intense person, too. We both make sure the other person knows they are loved every second we can and that’s probably why we’ll be a couple which lasts through the ages.

[aestheticseungmean]

Midnight Academy- Yeosang

You were born with magic, and because of that, you went to Midnight Academy. Yeosang caught your eye the first time you met him.

Magic Au, loosely based off of Harry Potter.

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Life as someone with magical powers can be fun if you knew how to use them. The wrong wrist motion could injure someone and the wrong pronunciation could turn someone into a frog and not a cat. Risks are a casual thing in the world of magic. There are many types of magic that each child will learn in Midnight Academy. It was a simple and quaint little school that was restored regularly. Not a crack lay in the foundation nor a chip of paint peeling from the wall at the start of the year. Throughout the year, typically, newer students blow up potions and cause the loaned rats to explode. Nasty business that is. The poor caretaker has to scrape the bits off the wall before scrubbing it clean.

You could see why he hated new students and trouble makers, they made his job impossible sometimes. If students were bad, their punishments consist of helping Mr.Darty with his job. Mr.Darty was an older elf gentleman with balding grey hair. More often than not, he was cranky as most of the staff were. He was always found accompanied by his favorite Sphynx cat, Chabiel. The two were inseparable as if the cat was his life support. Mr. Darty was not the only teacher who seemed to have an animal attached to them. Although he was by far, the one with the ugliest. Often, you’d see a mixture of miniature dragons, owls, cats, dogs, and even an occasional Harpy Eagle or Peregrine Falcon. They typically roamed the halls to deliver notes and packages to and fro their owners that the mailroom was too lazy to deliver or be bothered.

This year was a special one. It’s your first year at the Midnight Academy. Time to get away from the non-magical creatures. Muggles as they are called. You loathe your brothers whom you live with. Silence is scarce in that household and luckily, you were the only one who had inherited your mom’s recessive trait of witchcraft. She herself had not had any magic rather, she made up for it by being a very successful business tycoon. Often, you helped her manage some of her gaming companies and you tested them too. Hex Gaming Co. was the creator of some of the world’s most famous games such as Utopia, Weapons of Deception, Deception 2, Undying, and more. All of which were some magical role-playing game that was super addicting and had kids playing it everywhere. If you ever told anyone who your mom was then instant fame. Your dad, on the other hand, was not as famous but he was still a famous musician.

Aside from your brothers, the only person to know about your wealth and parents’ true jobs was your best friend, San. He had inherited magic but he’s also part incubus. You met him when he appeared on your block five summers ago. Fourteen was your current age now and you guys practically live with each other and do everything together. When most people hear that San is part incubus, they stay away because they are afraid of having their dreams visited. But what people didn’t stay to find out that San didn’t find the need to go into people’s dreams. Besides, he only found you slightly attractive, everyone else wasn’t even on the radar. Deep down you know that he might be bi but he will not let you have the satisfaction of being right.

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𝗬𝗲𝗮𝗿 𝗢𝗻𝗲

San and you entered into the school that is more intimidating the closer you get. The seeming mile-high doorway made you feel small enough already. All the new students were being crowded together to get handed their classes and dorms they were going to stay in. Of course, you will miss your brothers but you got San! You’d prefer that any day. “I hope we get the same dorms. I don’t think I’d be able to live without you.” “Me too, San. Me too.” To say that you weren’t scared for your life was an understatement. Anymore worrying and you’d be dead. Finally, your turn came around to get your scroll. The teacher administering them was undeniably short and part goblin. He had a snaggle tooth that stuck out of the bottom of his mouth and long Yoda like ears that stuck out of his head. Little hairs covered the face, they were minuscule but visible.

“Name.” The voice was gravely and harsh but you still gave him your name. “Here you go.” You took the parchment with shaky hands. San waited for you at the door. “I got Sapphire dorm!” As soon as your face fell, so did his. “I got Emerald dorm.” Emerald dorm has the reputation of some really mean and uptight people. They are usually the richest ones. “No escaping from my money now.” You groaned out. San placed a quick kiss to your cheek. “You got this.” He ignored the stares but you didn’t. Blood rushed towards your cheeks. A slender figure appeared in front of you. You recognized it as the teacher most often seen by the headmaster. Her voice was strong and dominant, perfect for teaching. She was aged like the expensive cheese your mom was forced to eat at business meetings. “ATTENTION! You are to go in and find the table corresponding with the dorm name you got. The headmaster will address you soon.” As you walked in, hand in hand with San, you were taken aback by the busy chatter. Almost immediately, you were pulled away from San and torn to the table decorated in different hues of green.

You know nobody so where to sit was nerve-wracking for you. “You can sit by me.” A hand waved in the air and you saw a boy giving you a cute smile. “Me?” He could be talking to anyone so you wanted to make sure. “Yeah! I’m new too.” With nowhere better to sit, you sat down next to the blond boy. “Hi! I’m Wooyoung and I hope we can be friends!” “I’m ________.” You smiled at him. A voice sounded through the room getting everyone’s attention. “Students. Most of you are coming back from a great year last year and I wish you a welcome. For the new students coming here this year, we all give you a warm welcome and wish you well in the following days to come. Make good friends, learn new things, and most importantly, do great things. I hope that I do not need to interfere with any problems as our teachers will deal with it accordingly. Just know, we will be paying attention.” Wooyoung and you shared a nervous look.

“For now, we feast!” Little fairies delivered the food to the table. Immediately, you recognized them as brownies. They are house fairies that live to clean as love dishes of cream. You loved the brownie that resides at your grandparents’ house. His name was Hayelam and he was the nicest creature you had ever met. At night when everyone was supposed to be asleep, you’d sneak out and leave a bowl of warm cream on the counter. It was a ritual and you couldn’t go to sleep without doing it. Maybe you could sneak some for them. Without thinking, you grabbed some cream. “Are you going to make whipped cream for this delicious pecan pie?” Wooyoung asked, causing you to look at him. “Ah no, habit. I’m going to heat it up somehow for the brownies.” “Brownies? Where?” You giggled at Wooyoung looking for actual brownies. “The house-elves silly. They love warm cream.”

Taking out your wand, you attempted to do a simple heat spell but it didn’t work. Neither did the next six tries. “Let me try.” How would he be able to do it? You watched in amazement as the metal bowl in his hands turned a soft red causing the cream to simmer a little. “Woah!” The cream was still hot when he set it down onto the table. “I’m a descendent of a fire fairy.” “I guess you could say that you’re hot.” Normally, San would give you a dirty look for your puns but Wooyoung loved it. Although he was laughing, he was dying inside from embarrassment. “Let’s dig in!” You exclaimed, grabbing a turkey leg and taking a bite. San laughed at you from afar glad that you found someone to talk to. Don’t forget about me. Get out of my head, San. Looking up, you caught him pouting but after you gave him a smile, he cheered up.

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“Mr.Song, would you be so kind as to answer this question on the board?” Your red-haired classmate stayed visibly slumped in his seat. He wasn’t the only one confused, you watched as Wooyoung got confused as well. Discreetly, you waved your wand and watched as the answer appeared on your seatmate’s notebook. Thank god that he saw it appear and reworded it. “In a sense, if you added blisterwort instead of chorus eggs then you would essentially get a toxic hair remover. Extremely dangerous if taken in as it acts as a poison as well. The victim would be dead within minutes.” “Very good, Mingi.” The teacher turned and continued on with her endless lecture. “Thank you,” Mingi whispered. “You’re welcome!” Your hushed voices caught the teacher’s attention and she was now standing in front of you. “What are you saying you’re welcome for?” Once again, Mingi froze up, you, on the other hand, were used to this pressure.

Thinking quickly of a lie, you responded calmly. “My seatmate asked me to help him with the things he doesn’t understand.” “Hmmm, all right. No more talking in my class.” The bell rang and the hallway became overfilled. “Wait up!” A hand on your shoulder made you jump. You turned and saw Mingi. He was taller than you thought, around 6’0. “Can you actually tutor me in alchemy?” “Sure. The defense room is empty around six.” He smiled and nodded. A different, smaller hand appeared on your shoulder except for this time, you recognized this hand. “San!” You were quick to hug him tight. “We have the next class together so I wanted to see if you wanted to walk with me and meet my new friend.” Playfully, you pinched him and pouted. “You’ve already replaced me?” “YOU REPLACED ME FIRST,” he whined. Mingi, who was still there, cleared his throat. “Oh yeah, San, this is Mingi, my classmate and friend. Mingi, this is San, my bestest friend in the entire world.

“What about me? I thought I was your bestest friend in the entire world and he was your BFF.” You giggled as you watched Wooyoung walk up still whining and complaining about your rejection. “Woo, of course, I love you. You two are my bestest friends in the whole wide world.” Once you introduced the two, Mingi went on his way while you, San, Wooyoung, and San’s friend whom you later learned was named Seonghwa, walked towards class. You watched as San waved bye to his newfound friend before walking into class with him and Wooyoung. In the middle of class, you watched as a 2nd-year student came in to get the teacher to break up a fight. “MR.OIEK! YEOSANG AND TJUM ARE FIGHTING RIGHT NOW.” “Lead the way, Hongjoong.” The class rushed towards the windows where there was a clear view of the courtyard.

Unfortunately, you got pushed out of the door during the madness and fell right into one of the boys. For a moment, the boys stopped and stared at you which let the teacher neutralize them. “Why are you out here Miss.____?” “I-I got pushed. Sorry, sir.” You hung your head in shame, not wanting to look into his intimidating eyes. Ignoring the pain in your wrist or the odd warm feeling on your lip, you stood up. “Yeosang, I trust that as a 2nd year you can show her to the nurse’s office.” “Yes sir.” When you started to protest, the boy gave you a look, the one your brothers gave you when you should shut up. Sighing, both of you started trekking towards the nurse’s office well aware of the fact that you’ll be missing the next class too. With Yeosang leading the way, you couldn’t help but take in his figure from behind.

“Right in here.” “I’m fine, I really don’t know why you are taking me to the nurse.” The look on Yeosang’s face made you question if you were losing your mind. “You are bleeding from a cut on your face and your wrist is sprained.” If that wasn’t convincing enough, the nurse told you the same thing. There wasn’t much she could do quickly so she gave you a concoction of herbs to help heal you. “Wait here for a few minutes so it can start working.” You nodded and watched as the old woman sauntered away, mahogany robes swishing with each step. As soon as the door shut, you turned to Yeosang who was forced to stay with you. He was entranced by something outside of the window, a bird perhaps. His features were vague but what stood out to you was a birthmark adorning his left eye. Your gaze traveled down his body, crossing over his arms and his black robe with a sapphire blue trim and down further. Underneath the undone robe, you caught sight of the pressed button-up with the top two undone showing the perfect amount of collarbone.

His gaze flickered towards you and you looked at your feet, avoiding the blush of the fact that he caught you when you were checking him out. “I saw that, you just checked me out.” A meek sorry was all that you could manage, your face ten times redder now that he called you out. Luck was on your side, the nurse returned and assessed the healing. She warned you not to strain your wrist too much until tomorrow. You agreed and followed Yeosang back to where lunch was being held. All through lunch, you couldn’t take your eyes off of the older boy and you completely ignored what Wooyoung was saying. It wasn’t until Yeosang caught your eye that you looked away, nodding to whatever Wooyoung was saying. You still threw him glances and at one point, you swore you saw him smile. Or smirk. Either way, you finally focused on Wooyoung and whatever he was saying.

Lunch ended and it was time for the next lesson. Fighting. For some reason, the school decided to do second years and first years together, something about the experience. The teacher, short and balding, partnering you up with a short boy, definitely a second year, about two inches taller. His casual laid back posture made him look superior despite the fact that you won every sparing round. “Petrificus Totalus!” You flicked your wand before he could blink and once again, he found himself bound, unable to move. “Very good work, Miss._____!” The boy, whom you later learned was named Hongjoong, congratulated you on doing well while pouting. You thought it was absolutely cute. The bell rang and you stayed behind. There was still a few hours before dinner and Mingi was supposed to meet you. A tall figure emerged behind you and then another.

“I hope you don’t mind, I brought a friend.” “Do they need tutoring too?” Mingi shook his head. “Great work at fighting today, Hongjoong couldn’t even raise his wand.” Mingi’s friend, who was as tall as him if not taller, sported black robes with an emerald green trim. Same as yours and you can’t fathom how you missed someone as tall as him roaming around the dorm. “I’m Yunho by the way.” His cute smile gave you puppy vibes and you forced the instinct to cuddle him away. Mingi introduced you quickly to move on through to alchemy. You couldn’t help but giggle when his potion failed and he screamed at it. “I DID YOU RIGHT! YOU JUST DON'T LIKE ME, DO YOU?” Eventually, you found yourself rolling on the floor laughing when Yunho had put a silencing hex on Mingi. Mingi continued to scream but nothing came out. “You only get your voice returned when you get a kiss on the cheek.” Mingi sheepishly looked at you and leaned closer. “Yunho…” He laughed and ended the hex. Mingi was taken aback at first but ultimately ended up laughing along. Maybe this year wouldn’t be so bad after all.

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Year two

Grey clouds rolled overhead signaling the start of another gloomy season. You, San, Wooyoung, Seonghwa, Mingi, Yunho, and Hongjoong trudged towards the train car that was to take you back to the academy. Surprisingly enough, you realized that the boys didn’t live that far from you. As summer rolled along, you and the six boys grew closer and of course, your brothers liked them too. Yeosang, you found, should’ve been in the emerald dorm but something got screwed up in the housing situation. The rumor got around that he was being switched back to the correct dorm though only time will tell. Although, it would be quite awkward. The seven of you were confused to find someone in your car already. A boy of a stronger build and brown hair sat by the window staring out of it. “Hello?” His head snapped towards you. “I’m sorry, am I in your area?” He was new, you could feel it, the newbie energy radiating off of him. You knew the others could too. “It’s okay! You can sit with us. I mean you’re new aren’t you?” Gosh, you love how kind Wooyoung is. He’s so sweet, you are surprised you don’t have a cavity. “Y-Yeah.” As you all settled in, the boy introduced himself as Jongho.

We introduced ourselves and soon got lost in laughter and conversation. “Did you see the new Deception: End Of Time game is coming out tomorrow?” Wooyoung asked. An abundance of yeahs and can’t waits filled the car in agreement. “You’ll love it. I did.” The boys looked at you in confusion. San laughed and nudged you. These people didn’t know you were one of the testers of the game let alone the daughter of the creator. “My mom runs that company and created those games. I test them out.” “You have to convince her to let us test some out too.” You giggled at Jongho’s enthusiasm. “Maybe during spring break. I know mom is working on a big game.” They cheered quietly. San a little more considering he’s done it before and knows the excitement of giving suggestions. It was also a bonus when the character he creates in the test is a character that gets added to the game and is already situated to his stats.

The ride to the school felt short. Jongho proved to be a perfect fit for your friend group. He sank back at the intensity of the school but you and your friends ushered him forwards. “Don’t worry! You’re only alone until they give you a dorm and there is at least one of us in each dorm.” The first year smiled and watched as you guys sat at your respected tables. It wasn’t that long of a wait considering his surname was a C. He quickly found that he got ruby dorm. It turns out for you that Yeosang and Yunho got mixed up therefore Yunho was with San and Yeosang got transferred into his rightful dorm. The headmaster made his welcoming speech before launching into an apology. “I’d like to wish a formal apology towards two-third years. I humbly ask for you to see this as a way to make new friends.”

You glanced over at Yeosang getting surrounded by a bunch of people welcoming him into the emerald dorm. His face looked panicked, clear that he was not used to all this attention. Wooyoung seemed to notice it too and felt for his hyung. “Yeosang, hyung! You can sit with us if you want.” He looked at the two of you, happy, ecstatic to see two faces he knew. A year ago, if someone would’ve told you that you’d be sitting with Kang Yeosang, you’d have laughed in their face. But here you are now, sitting face to face with the boy. His eyes met yours and you fell into a trance. “Earth to ______!” “Sorry, what were you saying?” Wooyoung repeated his words once again, not even bothered that you had zoned out once more. The bell rang and you jumped up, ready to head to the dorms, forgetting the tradition you and Wooyoung did every day last year. “Are we not going to heat up some cream for the brownies?” You turned and nodded sheepishly while grabbing a bowl of cream someone had left. Yeosang watched in amazement as Wooyoung's hands caused the liquid to bubble.

The following weeks of school consisted of review and having awkward run-ins with Yeosang. It wasn’t until your professor introduced teleportation to you that things got started. All second years had to learn how to use their magic and teleport from one place to another. And with most people, you initially aren’t the greatest when you start to learn something. For the next few days, you’ve practiced and practiced, only teleporting to the common room and back to your room. Unfortunately, the following day, you were going to be tested on your skills, and frankly, you could barely even make it out of your bedroom. This is how you found yourself at two in the morning on the roof of the mailroom trying to teleport from one end to the other.

You closed your eyes and imagined the other side and muttered some hopeful words that this would actually work. A quiet pop sounded and you opened your eyes to complete darkness. Trying to find your way out of wherever you were, you blindly walked around only stopping when you hit your ankle on something metal. The surface you fell on was a mix between hard and soft. A pained groan emitted from behind you causing you to let out a few choice words. In the midst of the rant, a light turned on and you caught Yeosang’s brown eyes boring into yours. “Well, this is most definitely not where I wanted to teleport, sorry for appearing in your bed at 2 in the morning.” The words lingered in the air and neither one of you moved. Maybe you should just give up and fail the test.

A sigh left Yeosang’s lips and he grabbed his wand. You watched curiously as he stood up and took a place beside you. “Hold my hand.” “H-Hold your what?” His hand grabbed yours and you felt the familiar swirly feeling that you got when you teleported. A cold breeze brushed your cheeks and you shivered realizing that you were back outside. “Why did you bring me here?” This was the first time, you actually went into the gym despite this being your second year. “I’ve been hearing from Wooyoung that you have a test tomorrow and I…I wanted to help you learn to teleport.” You wanted to hold Yeosang and treasure him forever but that would be quite awkward. “Okay then. What are we waiting for?”

Turns out that either you’re a great teleporter or Yeosang is a great teacher. You opted for Yeosang though because without him, you would’ve failed. In fact, you actually aced your test. The first one since the best friend test that you did with San in first grade. When the students were to return to the dorm, you waited excitedly with the little slip of paper in your hand. For the first time, Yeosang was late back to the dorm. He found you asleep on the couch beside Wooyoung who was doing his homework. “Hey, hyung!” “Hi, Wooyoung. Why is she asleep?” He asked, pointing to your form. “She wanted to show you that she aced her test and she waited and waited for you. I came out to keep her company but she fell asleep.” Yeosang carried you to your room and tucked you into your bed. He left a note with one of the post-its that he found on your desk along with your unfinished homework. He’ll apologize tomorrow for leaving you waiting for so long.

The knock on your door woke you up. When you opened your eyes, you saw the sunlight peeping in through the cloudy windows. “Rise and shine, angel. It’s almost time for class.” Shoot. Class. You rushed to get dressed only stopping momentarily to read the note attached to your now finished homework. ‘I’m sorry I kept you waiting, I had some things I had to do. Meet me on the rooftop tonight at midnight so we can celebrate your success. -Yeosang’ You shoved the paper and the note in your bag before running out to the common room. “Come on Woo! We’re going to be late for class.” You two rushed to the Alchemy classroom and took your assigned seats. A smile formed on your face as you saw your seatmate had already made it there. “Good morning, Sannie!” “Morning, Sunshine.” He smiled at your chirpiness and returned his attention to the homework he was rushing to finish.

The day buzzed by and midnight arrived quickly. Quietly, you teleported to the roof and saw Yeosang already sitting on the edge. “Such a pretty moon, isn’t it?” His question caught you off guard. Had he heard you arriving. “Yes, I suppose so.” “So I heard you aced your test for the first time. Glad I could help.” You took a seat next to him and sighed, watching your breath form a cloud in the chilly air. “Thank you. I can’t tell you how much you’ve helped me.” “I want to make a deal. For each test you ace, I’ll tell you something about me.” Yeosang is a mysterious person and plus you had so many questions about him. Why is he in the Emerald dorm? Favourite food? Cats or dogs? Why go to the academy? Why teach you? “For your first test, I’ll tell you what everyone wants to know. How am I in the ‘rich’ people dorm?”

He told you how his dad was a very famous doctor and his mother was a famous chef. His deal made you ace all your tests-with help from him of course- for the rest of the school year. By the time summer rolled around, you practically knew his entire life story, like how he loves the colors red and black or how much he treasures his drones. You knew that he vents by riding a skate board and he loves to play your mom’s videogames. His reaction was just like the other’s when you told him who your mom was. Yeosang demanded -more like pleaded but he won’t admit that- to meet your mom and praise her for her games. When you introduced him to the guys, they all welcomed him with open arms aside from Hongjoong and Seonghwa who were previously friends with him already.

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You walked around blindly, only stopping when you hit your ankle on something metal. The surface you fell on was a mix between hard and soft. A pained groan emitted from behind you causing you to let out a few choice words. In the midst of the rant, a light turned on and you caught Yeosang’s brown eyes boring into yours. “Well, this is most definitely not where I wanted to teleport, sorry for appearing in your bed at 2 in the morning.” The words lingered in the air and neither one of you moved. Maybe you should just give up and fail the test.

A sigh left Yeosang’s lips and he grabbed his wand. You watched curiously as he stood up and took a place beside you. “Hold my hand.” “H-Hold your what?” His hand grabbed yours and you felt the familiar swirly feeling that you got when you teleported. A cold breeze brushed your cheeks and you shivered realizing that you were back outside. “Why did you bring me here?” This was the first time, you actually went into the gym despite this being your second year. “I’ve been hearing from Wooyoung that you have a test tomorrow and I…I wanted to help you learn to teleport.” You wanted to hold Yeosang and treasure him forever but that would be quite awkward. “Okay then. What are we waiting for?”

Turns out that either you’re a great teleporter or Yeosang is a great teacher. You opted for Yeosang though because without him, you would’ve failed. In fact, you actually aced your test. The first one since the best friend test that you did with San in first grade. When the students were to return to the dorm, you waited excitedly with the little slip of paper in your hand. For the first time, Yeosang was late back to the dorm. He found you asleep on the couch beside Wooyoung who was doing his homework. “Hey, hyung!” “Hi, Wooyoung. Why is she asleep?” He asked, pointing to your form. “She wanted to show you that she aced her test and she waited and waited for you. I came out to keep her company but she fell asleep.” Yeosang carried you to your room and tucked you into your bed. He left a note with one of the post-its that he found on your desk along with your unfinished homework. He’ll apologize tomorrow for leaving you waiting for so long.

The knock on your door woke you up. When you opened your eyes, you saw the sunlight peeping in through the cloudy windows. “Rise and shine, angel. It’s almost time for class.” Shoot. Class. You rushed to get dressed only stopping momentarily to read the note attached to your now finished homework. ‘I’m sorry I kept you waiting, I had some things I had to do. Meet me on the rooftop tonight at midnight so we can celebrate your success. -Yeosang’ You shoved the paper and the note in your bag before running out to the common room. “Come on Woo! We’re going to be late for class.” You two rushed to the Alchemy classroom and took your assigned seats. A smile formed on your face as you saw your seatmate had already made it there. “Good morning, Sannie!” “Morning, Sunshine.” He smiled at your chirpiness and returned his attention to the homework he was rushing to finish.

The day buzzed by and midnight arrived quickly. Quietly, you teleported to the roof and saw Yeosang already sitting on the edge. “Such a pretty moon, isn’t it?” His question caught you off guard. Had he heard you arriving. “Yes, I suppose so.” “So I heard you aced your test for the first time. Glad I could help.” You took a seat next to him and sighed, watching your breath form a cloud in the chilly air. “Thank you. I can’t tell you how much you’ve helped me.” “I want to make a deal. For each test you ace, I’ll tell you something about me.” Yeosang is a mysterious person and plus you had so many questions about him. Why is he in the Emerald dorm? Favourite food? Cats or dogs? Why go to the academy? Why teach you? “For your first test, I’ll tell you what everyone wants to know. How am I in the ‘rich’ people dorm?”

He told you how his dad was a very famous doctor and his mother was a famous chef. His deal made you ace all your tests-with help from him of course- for the rest of the school year. By the time summer rolled around, you practically knew his entire life story, like how he loves the colors red and black or how much he treasures his drones. You knew that he vents by riding a skate board and he loves to play your mom’s videogames. His reaction was just like the other’s when you told him who your mom was. Yeosang demanded -more like pleaded but he won’t admit that- to meet your mom and praise her for her games. When you introduced him to the guys, they all welcomed him with open arms aside from Hongjoong and Seonghwa who were previously friends with him already.

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𝙔𝙚𝙖𝙧 𝙏𝙝𝙧𝙚𝙚

Everything was the same as last summer except this time, Yeosang was involved. The same playful banters and video games nights proceeded as normal. The adventures and park dates continued. To them, Yeosang was just another family member, not an outsider. Everything was the same down to a T. The ten of you gathered on the train once again to head to yet another year at the academy. For you, it was the third year of your life but for the older three, it was the beginning of their last year at the academy. Four years is the total amount of schooling needed to be deemed okay enough to use magic on the streets. Although, some students head onto university to further their magic education or regular education depending on who you ask. If you asked your mom, she’d say something along the lines of it’s not her place but four years is way too short.

The dorm rooms were the same as usual, clean and tiny. It almost feels like home. You sighed and sat your bags on the bed and headed to the common room to spend some time with Wooyoung. When you got downstairs, he was sitting there staring at the fire. “Hey, Woo! Long time no see.” You joked around. He smiled and tackled you in a hug. “You saw me thirty minutes ago but it does feel like forever.” He squeezed you extra tight before letting go and returning to his original seat. He patted the seat indicating that he wanted you to sit so you did. The seat was slightly warmed by the heat of the fire. It was cozy and swallowed you into the cushion. “Wooyoung?” He hummed and turned his head towards, signaling that you had his attention. “What’s going to happen to the friend group now? I mean it’s Hongjoong, Seonghwa, Yunho and Yeosang’s last year. Next year Mingi, San, you and I are graduating. And, Jongho will be last. I’m scared, Woo. I don’t want to lose us.”

His eyes softened and he ran his fingers through his hair which showcased his sad eyes. It was evident, he didn’t want to lose you and the guys either. Unbeknownst to you, from the staircase, Yeosang was heartbroken and his eyes threatening to spill tears. Before he came to this school, he was a nobody. A quiet kid who was good at school and had anxiety. He couldn’t make friends, it was impossible. Yeosang couldn’t stop embarrassing himself in front of his classmates. He had told you all this already after you aced your transformation test at the very end of the year. Your words on that night will forever play in his head as a way of remembering that he could make friends who loved him. “Yeosang-ah. I want you to know that if you ever need a friend, just call me and I’ll be there.” No way could he let you guys go. Back in reality, you cried silently into Wooyoung’s sweater. Yeosang had to control his own emotions before helping you, besides, Wooyoung looked like he was doing a good job.

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You hated Yeosang. You hated that he had you putty in his hands but was completely oblivious to it. Either you were going to confess or you were going to die. Those are your only two options until you told San and he suggested using a love potion. It seemed like a good idea at first but it soon became a fiasco. Neither one of you knew how to make a love potion, that was advanced stuff. Something Yunho would know. This is how you found yourself in the kitchen baking a ‘Love Cupcake” as the boys called it. “I don’t know if I’d be scared or honoured if a girl slipped me a love potion.” San pondered out loud to no one in particular. “I’d be scared.” “Yunho, you aren’t helping my mind.” He smiled and let out a quick ah as if he was going to say something. “This is the perfect thing for Yeosang. I’m tired of seeing you go for an oblivious idiot.”

The cupcake turned out messy and San ended up wearing more than half the icing due to a wrong cut to the tip of the bag. But all in all, you were pretty impressed with the look of the sweet pastry. The yellow cake topped with the light red icing was placed on a paper plate. You carefully held it and met up with the rest of the boys in the courtyard. “Yeosang! I have this for you. As a thank you.” Yeosang grabbed the cupcake and took a bite. He hummed in delight and watched you throw away the plate. “This is delicious. Thank you.” According to Yunho, once the item containing the potion is consumed, it will take up to twenty-four hours for it to set in. You mustered up the most innocent smile you could form. Now, you wait.

𝑇ℎ𝑟𝑒𝑒 𝑑𝑎𝑦𝑠 passed and Yeosang was still acting the same as usual. No compliments, no flirting, no heart eyes. Maybe the potion was incorrect. Not possible, Yunho aced that class. Maybe, it didn’t work. It doesn’t hurt to ask the ‘Potion Master’ if something went wrong. “Three days passed and he’s still acting the same. Is it possible that it failed?” “No way. I’ve seen this work before. There’s no chance for it to go wrong.” Now you were forced to confess. Well, eventually. You turned to go back to your dorm to vent to your diary. “Hey, _____!” That smooth, deep voice set you off. You turned towards Yeosang and stomped up to him. “You-“ you forcefully poked him in the chest. “I slipped you a love potion but what the hell? You’re not even acting different.” You threw your hands up in the air in defeat at his confused look.

“Maybe, if you used your brain, you would’ve noticed a lot sooner that I like you.” Yeosang towered over you and watched as you stood in place dumbfounded. “Close your mouth princess, you’ll catch bugs.” “Y-You like me? Like, like like?” At this point, Yeosang was fed up with your obliviousness as hypocritical as it seems. “If it weren’t against the rules, I’d kiss you.” “Screw the rules!” The boys were cheering as you and Yeosang snuck a quick kiss. “Meet me on the roof tonight for our first date.” A smile appeared on your face and suddenly, you couldn’t wait for midnight to roll around. As excited you were for the night, it seems like mother time had other plans. The seconds seemed to pass by slow, almost as if each tick was an hour itself. Finally, midnight rolled around and you teleported to the roof to find Yeosang sitting on a blanket surrounded by a bunch of food. What a perfect first date for you.

[danganronpa-ea]

Chapter 2 Blacken Free Time Events

So counting this is spoiler and if you haven’t read chapter 2, then please do ready them before you continue on this, this is a warning!

A world where those that didn’t make it or just couldn’t survive the cruel world get a chance here, A world where things are right… A world where death never happen.

 I had sat down and saw the other button which well… was for Ohta-san but I wasn’t sure if I could speak with her at all since she likely would hate me but then a sigh came as I press which then Ohta-san appear which she gave me a strange look.

 “Ah, so… you call me I take it…” She stated which I blinked. “Huh, wait hold on you… aren’t going to yell at me or try to kill me?” I asked as I look around which then the blue hair astrologist shook her head. “Well for me I don’t hold much against you, if anything my hatred goes towards both Kimura’s and Esumi, so even then… I don’t hold you as responsible since you wish to figure who killed and trying to protect the others.” She stated which surprise me.

 I figure she would hate me too but I guess we should start then…

 Ohta Hoshiko’s Free Time Events

 As then me and Ohta-san began to speak for a moment, as it seems she spoke about quite a few things even guess how my birth sign was going to be and even facts about it that I didn’t even know at all which is interesting…

 Looks like me and Ohta-san grew closer which I’m happy about!

 As then I reach into my pocket and pulled out what look to be a papers with a note which then I gave it to her. “Huh? You wish to give this to me… I suppose I’ll take it.” She stated as she grab it without thanking me but… she seem to like it.

 “So a curious question for you, Okamoto but counting you’re a gemini, you… do share some traits with geminis I tend to notice.” She commented which I blinked. “Oh, I do? Well what are those?” I asked as then she tilted her head to the side as she explained. “From what I’ve seen with geminis – they tend to be adaptable to anything no matter the scene changing, able to learn quickly and overall are curious about things which I do notice that when you speak with others…” She brought up which I was a bit surprise she was able to pick that up.

 I couldn’t but think over what she say. “Huh, that’s pretty observant of you to notice those traits, how do you do that…?” I asked as she look around. “Well, I just… tend to pick up on traits that remind me of horoscopes and how their personalities line up but I don’t interact with people much so I guess you could say I’m more of someone that watches people then really interact with them.” She speaks as she goes quiet as I frown for a moment.

 “So… are you shy?” I asked which she scowled. “Clearly not, I can speak with people just fine but just forming relationships for me is an odd concept that I can’t figure people out… like that Kimura, I… still don’t understand why she wishes to be my friend.” She admitted which I was a bit confused.

 “Well, maybe she thought you were lonely and needed a friend? I think that could be why…” I told her which she had a look of confusion. “Your… quite odd, but I guess with your talents you can make friends with people easily, but toss from foster home to foster home can be difficult to maintain relationships…” She muttered which I was surprise to learn this.

 Ohta-san was in foster homes before then… what happen to her parents then?

 Ohta Hoshiko, Ultimate Astrologist FTE – 2/5

 –

 It was then we decided to continue talking since time did not matter in dreams, correct?

 As then me and Ohta-san began to speak for a moment, as it seems she spoke about quite a few things even guess how my birth sign was going to be and even facts about it that I didn’t even know at all which is interesting…

 Looks like me and Ohta-san grew closer which I’m happy about!

 As then I reach into my pocket and took out what look to be a telescope of some kind which I notice they give off this ‘starry’ affect that kids might enjoy as then I gave it to Ohta-san who seem curious. “Most interesting item you, I feel like you wish to give this to me…” She say as taking it without thanking me but she seem to like it.

 As the other comment she made about her being toss from foster home to foster home was something I was curious about I decided to ask. “So then, Ohta-san you mention that you were in a foster home before, so I was wondering…” “How I got to be in one?” She asked the question I was going to asked which shock me but I nodded as then she continues.

 “Well, I got brought into due to both my parents having committed suicide due to a scandal of sorts, seeing as my grandparents had passed away before I was born and neither my parents were very close to relatives of any kind, it resulted in me being sent to an orphanage which well… you know how they are.” She explained which I went quiet – I have heard stories about them and how children aren’t treated that well which I gave a nod. “Well yes, I do know of it and I’m sorry it happen but did you ever find a family at all?” I asked a bit curious of this.

 However it seems that Ohta-san sadly shook her head to the question. “Never could, no parent would want a child related to a scandal and even the households I was in had problems but I guess with the unfortunate hand; ranging from alcohol consumption, gaslighting, all forms of abuse… even psychological, at times that it has led me to see all types of people and relationships.” She explained which I went pale from what she had describe which might be why she felt everyone being friendly with her is weird and strange to her.

 “But even then, not all people are like those, if anything you seem to have a bad hand with some of these homes and I’m sure the people here aren’t bad.” I told her which the girl gave me a strange look. “You think so? I’m not sure about that because… it actually was how I gain my talent.” She told me which I was surprise by this.

 Ohta-san… gain her talent from being toss from foster home to foster home which… got me curious.

 Ohta Hoshiko, Ultimate Astrologist FTE – 3/5

 –

 It was then we decided to continue talking since time did not matter in dreams, correct?

 As then me and Ohta-san began to speak for a moment, as it seems she spoke about quite a few things even guess how my birth sign was going to be and even facts about it that I didn’t even know at all which is interesting…

 Looks like me and Ohta-san grew closer which I’m happy about!

 As then I reach into my pocket and pulled out a bag that had cookies and sweets that I decided to hand to her. “What an odd item you gave me, I’ll gladly take it…” She stated as she taken the item which then she went quiet. “So you mention you gain your talent from being sent from foster home to foster homes, how was that possible?” I asked as surprise by this as then she look to the ground.

 “Well, I guess where it started was during a trip at my old high school, the thing is… we went on this trip which let’s you see space and stars, which I had fun observing of course…” She stated which I thought over what that was.

 A place that lets you see the stars and space, something that your just observing; what could that be…

 -Museum

- Biodome

> Planetarium

 As then one place came to mind. “I have heard of Planetariums, are you referring to those?” I asked which she nodded. “Yes, I was talking about this which when I was there I… even learn about the Zodiacs and Astrology which when on this trip, I saw a couple argue.” She stated as she thought it over.

 “Now I was use to my foster parents arguing quite a bit so I was use to it but I think on that day I was rather enjoying my time at the Planetarium that the couple annoyed me so… I went up to them and told them to argue somewhere else which then led to a strange question from the couple.” She paused which I grown curious.

 I mean if this was how she gain her talent I couldn’t help but wonder what she did. “about birth signs, astrology since they notice I was looking at that section quite a lot which after reading the traits and counting I can observe people; I figure the 2 were not a match since the traits they had along with there birth signs being the worse they broke it off.” She stated which I guess from her watching people could be how she pin pointed it as then she cross her arms.

 “I think a couple months later; I saw one of them again which she look to recognize me and thanked me.” She stated which I was a bit surprise by this. “She thanked you?” “Yes, it seems that after a while she found a new partner and seem much happier in that relationship, she even say she would have been close to killing her former boyfriend if I didn’t step in and I should become an astrologist or some relationship councillor which… was weird to me and how it all started since I didn’t know I had a talent in it.” She brought up as she shook her head.

 From the sounds of it, it seems Ohta-san could never understand relationships or even figure them out herself but seems to have a good idea how a relationship would go by just observing them which she sighed.

 “I mean, I never really understood relationships – let alone love, but somehow I was able to help the 2.” She commented which I laughed a bit. “Well from what I’m seeing, maybe you just know how people act and can predict the outcome?” I asked which she glare at me. “I better hope not you aren’t going to compare it to fortune telling…” She stated which I should my head. “No – you just have a good idea what relationship people have and how they work which I think might be why you can exactly predict how they work; even if you aren’t in a relationship yourself, I think with your observations you just know that some relationships aren’t built to last…” She stated which she looks surprise.

 She held her hands together as looking to the side. “Okamoto, you… have a strange way of saying things. Which I guess you aren’t wrong… I need to think this over so excuse me.” She stated as taking her leave.

 I guess what I told her did surprise her but she seem that she never considers that.

 Ohta Hoshiko, Ultimate Astrologist FTE – 4/5

 –

 It was then we decided to continue talking since time did not matter in dreams, correct?

 As then me and Ohta-san began to speak for a moment, as it seems she spoke about quite a few things even guess how my birth sign was going to be and even facts about it that I didn’t even know at all which is interesting…

 Looks like me and Ohta-san grew closer which I’m happy about!

 As then I reach into my pocket and took out what look to be something to clean glasses with which as then I gave it to her. “Oh, I… actually needed this so thank you very much.” She thanked me with a smile as then she put them away which she cross her arms.

 “I… thought over what you say and, I guess I figure out something…” She stated as she smiled a bit which was rare. “Oh, you did now?” I asked which she nodded. “Indeed, as you think that despite how bad my upbringing is – I should take pride in my talents and even see me helping relationships as a good thing.” She stated which I nodded.

 I was honestly surprise she was able to figure that out pretty quickly as then she spoke. “Even if relationships are still strange and even love is stranger, I could use this knowledge I have to form friendships with others and see company as a good thing, correct?” She asked which I also gave a nod.

 I guess counting how she seems to tell I feel she could try and befriend the others and maybe this could help with her issues. “I feel in a way… you made me understand what the importance of having friends are and… I think being friends with you might be why.” She commented as she continue.

 “Even if relationships are hard to obtain and even some where you might have arguments – it’s always important to have them in your lives; it’s healthy and good to argue sometimes and even sometimes to see things from a wider perspective which I always saw the worse in things but this talent of mine… might help people.”

 She spoke as she smiled, I think that she started to realize that friendship and even bonds can bring people closer which was something I couldn’t but be happy for her which something tells me… I feel me and Ohta-san form a pretty solid bond that I think overtime we can work on becoming friends.

 Ohta Hoshiko, Ultimate Astrologist FTE – 4/5

 Congrats you have finish up all Free time events with Ohta Hoshiko; give yourself a pat on the back!

 After that me and Ohta-san started talking a bit more and even got to learn about things that about each other and even she was able to predict how my relationships would be or even what type of people would be attracted to me – I even started to talk about things that weren’t related to my talent at all.

 But as I know, as she disappear I sighed… I know that Ohta-san could never get that lesson or even figure out relationships due to her upbringing and maybe if things were different we could try to help her with that issue…

 As then I got up and took my leave which Hamoponi notice right away.

 “So leaving I take it? Very well, see you next time then…” He say his goodbye as taking my leave since I knew I had to wake up…

[dammitadolfnomorecake]

Once Bitten, Twice Stupid prt. 46

Keith hadn’t expected to be moving in to his apartment on the following Wednesday. He also didn’t expect said apartment to be three blocks away from work. The hunter had a feeling Shiro was behind that. His brother cautious over any potential dangers Platt had to offer.

He’d seen Miriam on Monday, not that he’d admit it but he’d waited in the car for Lance to message, never leaving the parking lot. Miriam seemed in good spirits as she talked about Lance and how happy she was that he’d found someone like him. Lance was a lot like his Mami. They both had this way of talking that drew you in. She also had a razor sharp sense of humour, and the way their faces scrunched up as they laughed was obviously a family trait. A family trait that left him feeling both grateful and anxious as his own thoughts kept coming back to his mother. He hadn’t said goodbye to her. He’d up and moved country, leaving her behind and it felt weird. Almost as weird as it was to be working for Coran now.

Coran seemed to like him too much. He’d asked all about how Lance was getting on. Keith felt kind of like he was betraying his boyfriend by explaining everything that had happened, which the fae seemed to pick up on as he smoothly changed the topic to how Lance was getting on with Matt. Lance seemed to be getting on better with Matt now. Matt was a tech geek like his little sister, he’d set himself up in the living room with his laptop, he and Pidge dissolving into techno-babble that only Hunk could keep up with. Now he was in Platt, all Keith wanted to do was go back to Garrison. Their apartment was already furnished, owned by Voltron, and had three bedrooms. The windows showed views of the city streets, where far too many noises drifted up to reach them on the fifth floor. Shiro said he wanted to find them apartment, yet somehow they’d ended up going with the flow. Coran meant well, but it kind of felt like they were being kept under his thumb. Keith wouldn’t have been surprised to find hidden cameras in all the light fittings like some dumb movie.

Their stuff had been delayed in delivery, so wouldn’t be there for anything from two more weeks up to a month, making things feel even more sparse and unhomely. Like he was a stranger in someone else’s life. Pidge already blown up the chat that morning complaining that he hadn’t said anything about his sudden moving and he owed her big time for leaving. Sure, he’d left, but Pidge was where he wanted to be. She wasn’t lost. She hadn’t left Lance’s house since Matt’s return. Neither of them would be there tonight when Pidge’s parents came to dinner at Lance’s. Lance was stressed over it that morning when they’d cuddled in bed. This “move” couldn’t have been on a worse day, nor did it make much sense to Keith. Sure, Coran wanted to do skill assessments on both on them first thing the following morning, but he could have dragged his arse out of bed at ungodly o’clock if it meant not seeing Lance trying to be happy for him.

That wasn’t to say Lance wasn’t happy that he’d be working through things with Shiro. He was and he’d told him that so many times Keith had to kiss him to shut up. It was more... more... like Lance had given him a taste of what it felt like to be in a real home where hunting was secondary to living. Throwing himself down on the red pleather sofa, Keith pulled out his new phone. Blue and Lance were his Home Screen, his Lock Screen a random photo of the desert he’d found on the internet. Sure, he was being sappy and stupid, but he could really use a cuddle from Blue right about now. With his leg slung over the sofa, he hated the piece of furniture. The only thing going for it was the fact it was red

“Well, this is it. Coran said we can find our own place once things settle down. We need to go shopping for the essentials. You’ll probably want more clothes”

Lance had packed him a backpack filled with the few things he’d bought him in their time together, plus a few shirts and pairs of jeans that he’d been borrowing

“Keith, did you hear me?”

Keith kept tapping on his phone, opening his chat with Lance up. Lance had messaged him, because his boyfriend was far too damn nice. His message along the lines of guessing Keith was frowning right about now, but he needed to remember that it wasn’t forever and Garrison really wasn’t that far away. Keith couldn’t help smiling slightly. Even apart, his boyfriend still cared

“Yeah. You want to go shopping”

“Unless you’re intending on sitting there sulking”

Keith frowned, his tone huffy

“I’m not sulking”

“Right. You do know Garrison is down the road”

“I’ve been told”

“Look, Lance will be fine with Curtis. Matt and Rieva have started settling in, and he’s got Pidge”

“I didn’t say he didn’t”

Keith’s thumb paused over his phone. He wanted to tell Lance how much the apartment sucked... yet... if he did that than Lance would worry. The apartment didn’t really suck. It was clean, styled around the primary colours, plus green and black. Not his colour theme, but not hideous and not Lance’s house

“Am I allowed to send him photos?”

Photos would say what he couldn’t

“Not of the outside, or from the windows. It’s for our safety and his. You’ve got your private phone, but if you lose it, it’s safer it doesn’t trace back to this place”

Keith nearly rolled his eyes, feeling like he was channeling a little Pidge as nearly corrected Shiro over “GPS” being a thing. Pointing that out would mean Shiro would probably say no to him sending photos

“I’m going send him photos first. He’ll be worried”

Shiro sighed at him. They’d picked up the keys from Coran, so it’d been like 2 hours since he last saw Lance. Talk about being pathetic

“Keith, you only saw him this morning”

“So? It’s not my fault it feels weird being here without our things. We were supposed to take this move thing slow”

“Coran wanted us...”

“I know. Let me message Lance, then we’ll go shopping”

“Okay, kiddo. You want to pick a room?”

He kind of had to. Keith knew Shiro knew he was in a flunk over moving. When they’d come back after meeting with Coran, the first thing Lance had done was wrap his arms around him and welcome him home. Was it stupid he wanted that for here to. He wanted Shiro to wrap his arms around him and welcome him back? They’d kind of moved on from doing that and Keith had forgotten how nice it felt.

Out of the three bedroom, Keith picked the one with the least amount of light. His sleep schedule had been pretty messed up before Lance came into his life. Insomnia had come with the job, long nights of tossing and turning unable to switch off after work. Lance soothed that. He didn’t question Keith’s nightmares. He didn’t make a scene or a fuss. And Keith was grateful for that. Coran had tried to make the bedrooms more homely. The beds were all queen sized, each with a flowery duvet cover and small crappy trinkety things on the bedside table. His new room was okay in it’s own way, if you liked something that looked like it’d been put together by someone who was at least several decades out of style. Taking photos, he hesitated before sending them through to Lance. He didn’t want Lance to feel he was rubbing this new distance between them in his face, so followed up with “I wish you were here”. He hoped that didn’t sound too lame. He already knew he was being stupid and lame over the move. He’d lived for his job for so long, that he really should be used to it.

“Why am I not surprised you chose the room with the least amount of light?”

Keith tried to act like he hadn’t been so absorbed in waiting for his messages to be read by Lance that he hadn’t jumped at Shiro’s voice behind him

“Because mornings can go fuck themselves?”

“Keith, I know it’s hard, but this is a fresh start for both of us. I think it’s what we both needed. Adam wouldn’t want us to be stuck on his memory. He loved you, kiddo. He’d want you to be happy”

Playing the Adam card was a dirty trick, because Keith knew Shiro was right. His brother probably had a lot of bad memories in Rome, and hell knew he wouldn’t miss James and the rest of the werewolves

“I know. Do we really have to go shopping?”

“Unless you want to start our night with figuring out how to eat the sofa, then yes. We really have to go shopping”

“Fiiiiine. I’m getting a new cover for the bed”

“I don’t think Coran will mind”

“I don’t care if he does. Lance said he’d judge me on me, but he talks so much about Lance that it’s kind of weird”

“Well they have known each other longer than we’ve been alive. He’d got to be better than Iverson”

“Iverson can suck my dick”

“I didn’t know you felt that way. Better not tell Lance”

Keith rolled his eyes. Out of all his instructors Iverson had been the worse. Always going on about how he could do better. Always going on about how he should be more like Shiro and Adam. He’d punched him hard enough to detach the man’s retina in his left eye. He felt like shit for it. He’d very nearly been thrown out of it, but Shiro had stepped in. Needless to say he hated him even more after the incident

“Lance and I are taking things slow”

“That still doesn’t mean you don’t want Iverson to...”

“Say that again and I’ll punch you in the dick”

Shiro gave a laugh

“Okay. Okay. Point made. It’s not every day that you mind out your brother is into older men”

“I’m not. It’s just Lance. And stop making me talk about him. I don’t like missing him”

“You don’t want to miss him?”

“I don’t like feeling like I’m on the other side of the planet... I feel like... like something’s going to happen”

“I know it’s hard, but he’s not alone”

“That’s the problem. What if he turns into a bat?”

“Then they’ll cover it”

“What if he goes into heat and something happens?”

“Keith, he was perfectly okay on Sunday, and we’ll be back in Garrison for the weekend. If anything happens he has your number”

“I’m overreacting, aren’t I?”

Keith stared down at his phone, Lance hadn’t replied yet. He didn’t like that Lance hadn’t replied. He was probably busy with the others, but what if he was busy he forgot about him? Coming up behind him, Keith was lifted off his feet by Shiro, his brother dumping him down on his new bed, before collapsing next to him

“I forgot how big you’ve gotten”

“You’re just getting old”

Shiro snorted at him. Keith huffing as he slapped his brother’s stomach

“Geez. Thanks for that. Look, it’s a new relationship, I get it”

“I just feel like...”

“Lance isn’t about to forget you. He isn’t about to skip town. He’s probably busy making lunch for the others”

“I know. I feel stupid for missing him”

“Nah. Not stupid, only human. Now, can we please go shopping? I’m starving”

“Lance fed you this morning”

“So? All this morning has me hungry”

“What moving? It was three bags and your suitcase. You could have at least packed clothes for me”

“Let’s not dwell on my mistakes. This is going to be good for us. I can feel it”

“Yeah... maybe”

That was all the enthusiasm Keith could muster. He really was pathetic. He’d survived all those years without Lance, a few more days wouldn’t change anything.

*

Saturday took its sweet time rolling around. For an underground complex, VOLTRON wasn’t as bad as it seemed. There gym complex was kind of awesome. It had everything Keith could ever want from a gym, including a pool which he was excited to try out. Thursday had been all about testing physical strengths, once they’d been through full medicals... his heart passing with flying colours. Friday gave him flash backs to high school he could have done without as Coran tested their base knowledge with written exams. Allura had offered to show them the sights around the city, but Keith wanted to do that with Lance.

It wasn’t that he disliked Allura, she was just someone he didn’t know. Friday he’d tried out the gym, sensors stuck to him so Coran could analyse the data. The man pointing out the few jumps in his heart rate which he delighted in pointing out coincided with messages from Lance. Lance sending him stupid gym work out memes, despite Keith telling him Coran was monitoring his physical condition. He’d turned into one of “those” people in the last three days, those kind of people who waited for every message and leapt to check their phones at the first chance. He’d never been that before. He’d never worried over what to say, or cared what kind of face he was making. Shiro called it his “Lance face”. Keith called him stupid. He missed his boyfriend and when Saturday came, he couldn’t have been happier.

Having barely slept, thanks to over thinking seeing Lance again, his two coffees didn’t agree with him during the car ride. Shiro had to pull over twice because he’d gone pale, his stomach rolling the whole drive. Apparently the car came with the job, it wasn’t anything remarkable, a plain sedan designed to be like the other thousand plain white sedans in Platt. The only difference being it was teched up, and carried a small arsenal in the trunk in case of emergency situations. Shiro thought he was hilarious as he’d bought a solar dancing thing for the dash which was a vampire whose head and arms moved. Keith could only groan at him, supposing it was better than a dancing hula girl. If he’d said as much out loud, Shiro would have made it his mission to find one, so the hunter wisely kept his mouth shut.

Pulling into Lance’s drive, Keith nearly threw up as his nerves bloomed on top of everything. It felt like every time his social worker had pulled up at next foster home. He’d be there for a time, proven too much effort, then move onto the next family. By the time reached Lance’s house, Lance was out the front waiting. Blue trying to escape from his hold. They’d finally made it and the drive couldn’t have felt any longer if Shiro had actually tried

“I didn’t think my driving was that bad”

“I think I used the wrong milk”

Shiro had his own milk. Living with Lance, Lance automatically swapped to lactose free and he hadn’t given it any other though. Not all milk turned his insides into a pit of boiling lava, but apparently Shiro’d found another brand that did. Maybe it was easier to hide his butterflies under the guise of bad milk when it meant ignoring memories of the past

“I’ll swap it out when we get home. Need help getting inside?”

Keiths stomach gurgled, Keith hoping things weren’t about to get any worse than this in front of Lance. Lance could probably hear them... he didn’t want his boyfriend knowing. He was grown man. He shouldn’t be this nervous. This was Lance. He had no need to be nervous in front of Lance, plus, what would he say about Keith showing up sick?

“It’s an upset stomach, not a broken leg”

“Okay. Let me know if it gets any worse. I can pick up something from the chemist if you need?”

“Don’t blow this out of proportion”

“I forgot how moody bad milk makes you”

Shiro was lucky he was his brother. He wasn't being moody... Shiro should be grateful he hadn't brought up Curtis, like a moody anger loaf might. They might need to check on Matt, Rieva and Lance, but Keith would bet money that Shiro and Curtis were a hell of a lot closer than his brother wanted to admit. But no. He wouldn’t say that. Because he wasn’t moody.