#did you know you can grow sunflowers year round in some places

[oreoambitions]

housemate: we should make zucchini bread me: should we... grow some zucchini housemate: ... buying it from the store *does* feel a little like cheating now, yeah

[imbadatparking]

The Wither’s

“The Ol’ Wither’s house ain’t nothin’ but snow and coal, now. 

The gray winter pulls on its hinges and clings to it like rust on metal. The paint thickens and peels off like cracked nails, revealin’ molded wood underneath. The planks splinter and lay worn by the passage of time. It sags off the frame, like pale, dead skin too heavy for brittle bones. The windows that haven’t yet broken are cracked and half-boarded. They glow an eerie blue, curtains darkenin’ the light that tries to escape. The wind pushes against it, causin’ it to tremble. 

The surroundin’ overgrown weeds grow in tangled clumps, lost in the grass that hadn’t been mowed in over a lifetime. Damn shame too – my grandaddy used to tell stories of the beautiful sunflowers that there yard used to grow, their thick, beautiful stalks that shot up to ten feet tall, the way their mustard gold petals turn towards the sun in youthful yearnin’. Now, the only thing that grows there is them vines, full of malicious intent, and there ain’t no sun they can turn too. 

The dark oak front gate groans when the wind gets too heavy, a warnin’ against those foolish enough to approach. They’re a rare bunch, but they tend to come in abundance. The trouble-makin’ youngins who get adrenaline rushes from triple dog dares, teeterin’ on the edge of brave or just plain stupid; squatters that leave cigarette butts littered across the already gross property; CPS and CVS and all the other nonsense government spies with sticks up their asses and an itch to scratch. Jameson, who doesn’t know the difference between black and white, is certain the latter’s been comin’ ‘round just to find somethin’ wrong. I’m inclined to believe him, just this once – I can’t be the only one who’s seen them pokin’ around poor Molly’s trailer. It ain’t her fault she’s livin’ disability check to disability check.

Ain’t nobody ever been inside, and those who say they have are just flat-out lyin’. Everybody knows of the rot that sets in every year. The heat must be too much for the old wood, and the smell that wafts off it is like nothin’ I’ve ever encountered. It smells bad enough that the police did an investigation on it a while back. Someone said there musta been dead bodies in the walls, but when they tore apart the inside, the only thing they found was those nasty maggots. Apparently them nasty critters had been there for months.

The ‘Withers? Well, nobody really talks about ‘em no more. They’re just an ol’ part of this town’s lore. And, well, we’re not really sure how true their stories are, see –? They’re ghosts, now, too lost and sad to let go. 

Between you ‘n me, they were an odd couple. Jamie and Sarah were the parents, the ones who started the beginning of the end of the Withers’ legacy. They’d inherited the two-story from Sarah’s grandparents – her father had earned it from his father, had earned it from his mother. you know how it goes. Who knows who owned it first, or how long ago it was built. Apparently it’s been such a state since their daughter went up and left to become some big city hotshot. She hadn’t been the same since her brother died in that fatal accident. 

Terrible thing, the way that family attracted tragedy like nobody’s business. Or everybody's business, if you live ‘round here. Some people just can’t handle it. They drift away, dreamin’ of becomin’ somethin’ like an artist or a singer or a poet, and they end up dead, addicted to drugs, or back at the gates of this town, beggin’ to be let back in. You know how it goes – we all do. It’s the same song and dance. 

It's just unfortunate that the house has got to be the one to pay for it, just sittin’ there, witherin’ away. Us too, of course. Whatever happens to one family in this town, affects the rest of us.

But those are just rumors and you didn’t hear nothin’ from me. All that really matters, all we really know, is that that house right there has more ghosts than a cemetery. 

Some say it’s the same place where Missy Felps went and died – her innocence stolen like a final breath before drownin’. Her pinky piggytails were the only trace of her left behind, ‘cept for the stories the kids around the block whispered with exaggerated terror. Missy’s fate was left to be told by those with too wild of imaginations and middle schoolers with too much time on their hands. The adults ‘round here pretty much know better, keepin’ their mouths locked and sealed ‘bout secrets untold, as they should. Ain’t nobody want anybody talkin’ ‘bout them as Missy is talked ‘bout, so most had the half-mind and empathy to look the other way.

Missy had been the ripe age of six when her screams echoed through these ivy-clad streets. That night, the lights flickered low and yellow as they turned on, their dull glow illuminatin’ hopelessness and danger. Neighbors had run out into the street as the ambulance had wailed loud enough for the next town over to hear. News of her death had been known straight to Atlanta by the time mornin’ time had come. The sky had been colored in a hazy mix of oranges and pinks, and her headstone had been a black shadow ‘till the sun came out.

Most of the story had come straight from Missy’s ol’ neighbor, Georgia Smith.

I’m not one to talk ill on a lady, but Aunty Georgia could hardly be considered as such. She has more words to say than she outta be allowed.  She didn’t just run the gossip mill – she created it. You can hear her whispers carryin’ through the cold wind if you listen hard enough. Her weathered hands knit the tales that laysthe foundation of this town like they knit her sweaters ‘n scarves ‘n gloves. She always sits in that same rockin’ chair, an ominous creak as she rolls forward, echoed by an ominous creak as she rolls back. She has as many stories ‘bout her as she’s created – kids sayher one blind eye was the reason she knew everythin’, that she was the one who killed the stray tabby that’d turned up in her front yard, that her wealthy, white collar grandson was threatenin’ to send her into one of them mental institutes – but nothin’ could be considered true, ‘less it came straight from her mouth.

Yeah, she’s one person to be wary of, especially around your secrets. Nobody outta blame her, though, Lord knows that mansion’s been awful empty since her good-for-nothin’ husband up and left her. You know, all her kids are adults by now, out in the real world. Empty nest syndrome ain’t for the faint of heart, and she’s had that condition for years now. Most the town’s got their bets placed on the day she clocks out and never clocks back in. Jameson says she’ll last ‘till May, but there’s no way she’ll survive past April. 

No matter – the town’ll find a new Aunty Georgia once the mournin’ is done and the everyone’s done well to move on. There was an Aunty Georgia before I got here, and I’ll be damned if there ain’t when I leave. There always is, there always be. That’s the way things work ‘round here. 

Don’t worry if you’re not used to it yet, sometimes it takes a while. New soil, new roots – we all get it. Though, most of us ‘round here have been ‘round here since pretty much the beginnin’ of time. Ain’t no reason to leave. We got a market and a gas station, and that’s all we need. None of those fancy academics with their billion dollar homes – makes the charm of this place dwindle and the economy crash.

In this town, life unfolds like the lazy river that runs along the fields of cotton and sunflowers. The drawl of conversation is as slow as the molasses in the sweet tea, and always has been – ain’t no point in rushin’ when we're all goin’ the same destination. 

After all the Withers’ ain’t the only place where there’s ghosts, and they won’t be lonely for long. That’s just a fact of life.”

[necro-man-sir]

I know y'all like metaphors

So it's been on my mind for a short bit but it's a really fun way to think on things so I'm sharing it here.

The thought is gender is a lot like flowers. Like, listen

There are tons of different flowers, some bold and beautiful, some stinky and repulsive to most things, some with small blooms, some with large lush petals, every one of them has a meaning behind them, some only grow in certain places in the world, others are all over, some are stubborn and will grow in any condition available and others need specific care.

Even in the same species, each flower is different from each other.

There's the common ones most ppl think about, like roses and sunflowers, then there's the rare flowers most don't but they're still out there.

Some flowers only bloom once every few years, others stay blooming year round! They all serve their purposes, and even the most repulsive (to us) are adored by many. A corpse flower is just as important as a rose.

And that's not even talking about display. You can have a private garden or a public garden, or even both! You might not even have or like flowers. Maybe you only display some roses in your window from time to time, or you wear them in your hair every day!

And like, you can have your preferences within the common. For example, we'll use a rose as a metaphor for male.

There are so many varieties of roses! They're all roses, of course, but some are red, white, pink, some are even dyed into other colours like black or blue or green! All of them are still roses. And like, even though they're a common one to grow and love, not everyone likes roses, some people ONLY like roses! That's okay, it doesn't mean roses are good or bad, or that wearing them in your hair every day or keeping a private garden is good or bad. It also doesn't mean that if you grew up growing sunflowers, you can't go hey, I would actually like my garden to be a rose garden, now, even if I decide to dig them all up later and replace them with sunflowers again.

And like, there's no wrong way to have a garden. You can have a monoculture garden with only one flower, or you can have a huuuuuge garden full of every flower imaginable without caring if a few weeds start growing.

And like, people shouldn't feel forced to grow a certain kind of flower, or have to cultivate one that needs a lot more care and attention than they have the energy or want to grow. Not everyone wants to have an orchid, not everyone can have one. Some people just want to have some dandelions they don't have to think about, they just are.

And like, sure some people like to act as an HOA and it sucks when you're told no, you can't have a plot of sunflowers or peonies in your garden for the neighbours to see! Don't let some HOA wannabe tell you what flowers to grow in your own damn garden, it's your house!

This is a lot of words to say that we are all so individual, beautiful, varied, and important. And there's a lot more that can be said about this metaphor considering the role genders play in our lives as well as what role flowers play for plants.

Not to mention, plants don't start life with a flower already blooming. They grow, mature, and then the flowers bloom. A lot of kids don't really have much concept of gender outside of the roles imposed upon them by adults around them, or their parents. Just like someone can be like yeah! this is my rose bush I'm growing, the package says that they are meant to be red roses, but then they finally bloom and oh! they're white roses! That's a pleasant surprise, still beautiful.

Anyway I'm taking this metaphor and running with it, I find it a really fun way to think about myself and what I like to grow, who I am, and what I display. There not a wrong answer, you can walk in with a dead cactus in a tomato can and say 'I did my best' and still be good here. (thanks allie for this visual I love him)

So yeah, don't let the HOA wannabe's tell you what flowers you're allowed to grow and where.

[corkcitylibraries]

Sow…Let’s Grow: July 2024

In July the garden is absolutely teeming with life. My housemates and I built a birdbox together and created a small shelf where we can leave food and watch the birds from the kitchen window. So far, we have seen ravens, blackbirds, thrushes, and a most inquisitive robin. My peas and beans are producing fruit like no tomorrow, and we had an interesting visit from a little insect visitor. One of my coworkers is single handedly supplying me with courgettes and I have made many soups and cakes and courgette fritters with these plentiful little vegetables.

Jobs for July:

1) July is the best time to pick lavender. Choose to harvest in the middle of the day to ensure that all the morning dew has evaporated. Cut the lavender stems at the base, just where the branch leaves become stems and leave to dry in a cool dark space (although others leave it out to dry in the open to enjoy the smell). A cloth or paper bag works best as the flowers will shed through the drying process. It takes 3 – 4 weeks for the lavender to dry completely and retains it fragrance for over a year afterwards.

2) Watch out for pests such as the lily beetle. I was out admiring the garden the other day and came across some odd little gooey green blobs on the underside of my lily leaves. I removed them immediately because although I did not know what they were, it was almost bound to be a pest! Several days later and I spy a bright red beetle sunning itself amongst the lilies and after a quick internet search I came to the conclusion that it was Lilioceris Lilii a beetle that can decimate members of the Lilium and Fritillaria families. It had flown away before I could get rid of it, but I haven’t seen it since. If you have seen this bright little beetle in your garden, spraying the affected plant with sunflower oil ought to do the trick.

3) Water peas and beans regularly. They produce multitudes of fruit over the growing period and because of this they are thirsty little plants. Keep them moist and feed them if you are so inclined, I feed mine whenever I remember I have a bottle of liquid tomato feed under the sink!

4) Now is a good time to take tender perennial cuttings like fuchsia. I have taken cuttings from two varieties of fuchsia this year Magellanica Alba and Genii, the former having lovely pale pink flowers and the latter having bright, vibrant green leaves. To start, cut several stems with as little flower buds as possible, about 3 – 4 inches. Fill a pot with good compost or fine soil and pop the cuttings in. Water well and place a plastic bag over the top of the pot and fit an elastic band round so that it won’t fall off. After a couple of weeks each of these cuttings will have put down roots and will be ready to be potted on, each one a new baby fuchsia bush.

[triptuckers]

Two Homes (part 6/7) - Nikolai Lantsov

Request: no Pairing:  Nikolai Lantsov x reader Summary:  you’re finally back in ketterdam Warnings: language Word count:  3.8K A/N: I literally love the crows so much they’re my comfort idiots <3  PREVIOUS PART | NEXT PART TAG LIST (two homes and/or all grishaverse fics): @godsofwriting @im-constantly-fangirling  @ayushmitadutta @mrs-brekker15 @dancingwith-sunflowers @thegirlwiththeimpala @parker-natasha @story-scribbler @romanoffstarkovs @daliareads @meiitanoia @itsnotquimey @sanktaesperanza @whymyparentscheckmyphone @aleksanderwh0r3 @ilovemarvelanne1 @marlenaisnthappy (if your name is in bold it means I couldn't tag you) add yourself to my tag lists here 

The cold wind on your face feels welcoming. You can smell the salt and there’s water all around you. You’d made the journey across the True Sea before, but it felt like a lifetime go.

Maybe because it was a lifetime ago.

You look down at the golden ring on your finger. It feels heavier than it used to. As if you’re suddenly aware of its presence.

When you first sailed across the sea, you were Y/F/N Y/L/N. A merchant’s daughter who had joined a gang in secret. You had learned how to fight, to steal, and a number of other illegal but useful things. You had earned your place among the Crows, joining them on jobs and secretly stealing small bits of your father’s fortune job by job.

And now you’re on a ship again, as Y/F/N Lantsov. A queen, of all things. Of a country you barely know. Married to a king you met less than a year ago. 

Of course, you hadn’t given the captain of the ship you’re on your real name. You’d used a name Kaz had given you once as an alias for a job. Luckily, the captain didn’t ask much questions.

You look out at the sea again. Would the Crows treat you differently now? You wanted to believe you hadn’t changed. But everything had changed. Your entire life. Still, you loved the Crows like they’re your family, and they loved you back. But you couldn’t help but wonder if they would love Y/F/N Lantsov as they loved Y/F/N Y/L/N.

You’re lost in thought, unaware of the people walking around the ship behind you. It isn’t until you hear a loud voice, you look up. 

Someone is standing at the front of the ship, pointing ahead. He shouted something in a language you didn’t know. When everyone moved to see what he was pointing at, you followed them as well.

After making your way to the front, you see what he was pointing at. In the distance, barely visible on the horizon, you can see land. A city. Your beloved Ketterdam. 

You’re home.

You feel like it takes forever to dock and be able to get off the ship. After pulling your hood over your face to hide your identity, you finally set foot in the city again.

Nothing’s changed. You see people moving swiftly between the people who just got off the ship. As a member of the Dregs, you know they’re pickpocketing. How many hours had you spent on the docks yourself, under Kaz’ watchful eye as he taught you. 

And now, you realise you’re among their targets. You grin as you start to manoeuvre through the crowd. You know the weak and strong points, and where it was most likely to find a gang member. 

Because this part of the docks belonged to the Dregs, you make sure to give them all the signs you have money on you. You keep patting your pocket. To them, it would look like you were merely checking if your money was still there. But you know for a fact your money isn’t in that pocket, and you’re simply luring them to you.

You know how to pick pockets, so you know how it feels. You walk through the crowd, fixated on your coat pocket. When you feel something brush against it, you grab the wrist of the person who walked past you, pulling them back.

The person lets out an annoyed sound and tries to pull their wrist out of your hand, but you hold a firm grip. 

‘You’re still bad a this.’ you say. ‘You should let Jesper do it instead.’

You smile and let go of the wrist. When you look up, you meet Nina’s widened eyes. Your hood is still covering most part of your face, but you know she recognised your voice in an instant.

She opens her mouth to say your name, but you stop her.

‘Not here.’ you say, grabbing her hand and leading her away from the crowd. You’re impressed by her patience. But once you’re away from the crowd and in a deserted alley, she fires questions at you.

‘Y/N, it’s so good to see you!’ says Nina. ‘How are you? How is Ravka? Why did you come back to Ketterdam? Oh, tell me you pissed Zoya off in some way, I would have loved to see the look on her face.’

You chuckle at her rapid questions and hold up your hands. ‘Slow down, Nina, remember to breathe in between questions.’ you say, smiling at her.

‘I’m just so glad to see you.’ says Nina. 

She reaches out to you and pulls you in a tight hug. You hug her back and inhale the scent of her signature perfume. When Nina pulls back she looks at your face and smiles.

‘Bags under your eyes, but still as gorgeous as ever.’ says Nina, winking at you. 

‘Not as gorgeous as you, though.’ you say and Nina laughs.

‘You worked on your flirty comebacks!’ she says.

You smile briefly. ‘That’s what you get when you spend so much time with Nikolai.’ you say.

‘Of course!’ says Nina. ‘How is he? Why isn’t he here?’

‘I chose to come alone.’ you say. ‘I got homesick.’ 

‘Well, I’m glad you’re here, we have a lot to catch up on. Matthias finally took the next step.’ says Nina, smirking.

Your eyes widen. ‘He did what?’ you say. Before you left, you were Nina’s favorite person to talk to about Matthias. Whenever he said or did something, you were the first one to know. Nina told you she was hinting for Matthias to kiss her, but he remained oblivious as ever. Looks like he finally managed to figure out all of her hints.

‘Later!’ says Nina. ‘Let’s get you to the Crow Club first, I don’t want them thinking I’m keeping you all to yourself.’

Nina links her arm through yours and together, you start walking toward the club. You look at the familiar streets and shops, constantly smiling. You were finally back in Ketterdam. You’d missed it so much, it felt good to be back.

While it’s in the middle of the day, the Crow Club is busy. It always is. As you walk to your usual table with Nina, you spot three familiar faces. Inej is the first to see you. 

When she does, she leaps to her feet and runs over to hug you. Her hair tickles your cheek as she hugs you. Like Nina, she immediately starts interrogating you about your time in Ravka. 

After promising her you’d tell her everything, you walk the last bit to the table, where Wylan and Matthias are sitting. 

Wylan smiles brightly at you and stands up to hug you as well. He’s happy to see you as well but unlike Nina and Inej, he doesn’t ask all about Ravka. Instead, he asks you how you’re doing and how your journey was. 

You smile at him and tell him you’re fine, that the journey went well. Sometimes you still wondered why the always energetic Jesper had been able to find his match in Wylan, someone who you’d always considered so calm and quiet.

Matthias holds out his hand for you to shake, before Nina pulls him to his feet and basically pushes him into your arms. You laugh at his bewildered face as you hug Matthias as well.

Meanwhile, Inej had ordered a round of everyone’s favorite drink, and you all sit down. As expected, they all start to ask you all sorts of questions. About Ravka, the palace, the wedding, what it’s like being queen, and of course, Nikolai.

You tell them you refuse to answer their questions until Jesper and Kaz are here, so you can tell them all at once. Wylan had told you they were away on a job. To kill the time, you asked them what had happened in Ketterdam while you were away. 

Apparently, a lot.

‘I got shot.’ says Inej. 

‘Twice.’ says Wylan, taking a sip of his drink and turning back to you. ‘And Jesper almost dropped me off a building.’

‘Come again?’ you say.

‘We were on a roof during a job, Jesper wasn’t paying attention and nearly knocked me off of it.’ says Wylan, not a single hint of fear in his voice. He had changed so much since you first met him. Maybe that’s what Ketterdam does to you, it hardens you, forces you to grow up. 

‘I got in a fight with the Stadwatch.’ says Matthias.

‘And I had to bail you out of a holding cell.’ says Nina.

‘Only because someone knocked me out from behind. It wasn’t a fair fight.’ says Matthias.

Nina turns to you. ‘Heleen wanted for Inej and me to come back to the Menagerie.’ she says.

‘You’re kidding, right?’ you say. ‘You’re telling me she had the fucking guts to ask you that?’

‘Well, it was more like sending one of her new guys to deliver the message. Kaz sent him back with five fingers instead of ten, and without a tongue. I think she got her answer.’ says Nina.

‘Sounds like something Kaz would do.’ you say. ‘What else did I miss?’

‘Jesper almost let Wylan shoot with his guns.’ says Inej.

You raise your eyebrows at Wylan. ‘Jesper allowed you to touch his precious revolvers?’ you say.

‘Almost.’ says Wylan, correcting you. ‘He changed his mind right before handing me one.’

You’re enjoying their company. You laugh and catch up on what’s happening in Ketterdam, buying rounds for the table. Every now and then they ask you something about Ravka, but you still refuse to tell them anything until all of the Crows are present. 

Several drinks and card games later, the club slowly begins to empty. Just as Wylan beats you in a game of card, his eye catches someone behind you and he waves at them.

Before you can turn around, you feel a pair of arms wrap around your shoulders, and a chin on top of your head.

‘There’s only one person who always sits in this spot.’ 

You smile and turn around. Towering over you, and with a huge grin on his face, Jesper is standing behind you. Your expression mirrors his as you stand up. Jesper wraps you in a bone-crushing hug. You close your eyes, grateful for his embrace.

When you let go of him, you smile up at him, then your eyes catch the person who had been standing behind Jesper.

‘Hi Kaz.’ you say.

Kaz nods at you and you’re convinced you can spot the smallest smile on his lips. Barely visible, but still there. 

Wylan pulls two more chairs from the empty table next to yours, and Jesper and Kaz sit down. 

‘So.’ says Jesper as Wylan hands him his drink. ‘What did we miss? How much have you all heard about a certain king?’

‘Nothing.’ says Nina. ‘Y/N didn’t tell us anything. She wanted to wait until you two got here a well.’

Jesper turns to you and winks. ‘Here I am. I’m all ears, darling.’ he says.

You take a breath and finish your drink. ‘Alright.’ you say. ‘What do you want to know?’

Everything, it seemed. They asked you about life at the palace, about your daily routines, if there really was a buffet every day, and if it was as big as the stories described. And they wanted to know all about Nikolai. What he’s like, if he’s a good king, what it was like to be married to him.

You told them life at the palace couldn’t be more different from the life in Ketterdam. You told them about the gardens, the meetings which were boring almost all of the time, the triumvirate. You told them Nikolai is very sweet, handsome, and a great king. 

The rest of the night is spent talking, laughing, playing games and ordering more drinks. You’re exhausted but grateful to be back as you lay down in your old bed. Just before you fall asleep, you realise just how happy you are to be back.

It’s easy to fall back into your old routines when you walk down the stairs to the kitchen. Wylan and Inej are already there, along with a plate of steaming hot pancakes.  

You’re grateful to be back, and eager to accompany them on jobs again. Still hiding your face and true identity. Last time you were in Ketterdam, you worried about your father finding out you were a member of the Dregs. Now you had to hide the fact the queen of Ravka is running along with gang members. Needless to say, you were slightly more nervous about someone recognising you.

But when you joined Jesper, Wylan and Nina on a job later that day, their presence was enough to soothe your nervousness. 

Everything felt right. Though you had been away for almost a year, it was like you never left. The way you knew what to do without them having to tell you was comfortable. Everything was all right. You couldn’t believe you were finally back in Ketterdam.

You had missed life in Ketterdam and your crows very much. And you were thankful to see they didn’t treat you any differently. On your first night back, your life in Ravka had been the number one topic, but now you felt like Y/F/N Y/L/N again.

You joined them on jobs, played card games, chatted with Nina and Inej over drinks. It felt good to be home.

But a little over a week after you arrived in Ketterdam, you start to feel down. You didn’t know why. You’re finally back home, just like you wanted. You should be happy, grateful, not miserable.

You’re sitting at a table by yourself, silently drinking your favorite drink, when suddenly Kaz joins you.

It was unusual for Kaz to join anyone for drinks. Mostly he was upstairs in his office, doing whatever the hell he did up there. Looking for new jobs maybe, or making sure the younger Dregs didn’t do anything stupid.

When he would join you and the others for drinks, it was mostly because you all had begged him to come along. Kaz wasn’t one to join someone for a drink out of nowhere.

Nevertheless, you were happy he decided to join you.

‘How are you liking Ketterdam?’ he asks.

‘It’s good to be home.’ you say, smiling at him. 

You watch as Kaz studies your face. You know there’s something on his mind, and you’re waiting for him to speak up as you nurse your drink. 

‘Something has made you upset.’ says Kaz.

It wasn’t a question, more like a statement. You look at him in silence for a while. You tried lying to Kaz once, and he could tell immediately. You figured it was some sort of hidden talent of his. No one could lie to him and get away with it.

You look at your hands, to avoid his eyes.

‘Why didn’t you come to my wedding?’ you say.

‘We didn’t want to risk it.’ says Kaz. ‘Traveling abroad would have ended in our capture. Besides, I thought you didn’t want to marry king Nikolai.’

‘I didn’t.’ you say. ‘Not at first. But once I got to know him, well, it all changed. He’s actually a really great guy.’

You finally look up at Kaz. You finish your drink and signal to the bartender for another one. Again, Kaz is studying your face. You wish he’d look away, you always felt like he could see right through you.

‘There’s something else.’ he says.

You frown. ‘No.’ you say, truthfully. There was nothing else to mention. 

‘Come on, spit it out.’ he says.

‘There’s nothing to spit out?’ you say, confused.

‘You’re not yourself. Not like I remember, at least. You said you’d be happier once you got back to Ketterdam. Well, you’re here now. You were happy last week, when you arrived. I have yet to see you genuinely smile, aside from the night you got back.’ says Kaz. 

Why did he always have to be right? It was starting to get annoying. Kaz would tell you the truth, even if you didn’t want to hear it.

‘I thought I’d be happy to be home.’ you admit softly, avoiding his eyes again. ‘I’m not. And I don’t know why. I’m finally home, like I wanted, but it doesn’t feel like it.’

‘Y/N, look at me.’ says Kaz. 

You keep looking at the table. The bartender sets down your new drink in front of you and you briefly look up at them to thank them. Still, you don’t look at Kaz. As you reach to grab your drink, Kaz’ cane lands on the table hard. Shocked and a bit offended, you look up at him.

‘Listen to me.’ says Kaz. ‘You can have two homes, Y/N. You came back to Ketterdam because you miss us. But you haven’t taken your ring off. Despite leaving the palace, yous till use Lantsov as your last name, aside from when you had to travel across the True Sea. Go back to the palace. Tell that king of yours that you love him. And come visit us during the summer.’

You look at Kaz, letting his words sink in. Two homes. Os Alta and Ketterdam. It could work. You’d spend your days with Nikolai, and spend the summer in Ketterdam. 

Suddenly, you think back to your goodbye with Nikolai before you had left for Ketterdam. It wasn’t a proper goodbye, because you couldn’t wait to go to Ketterdam. He deserved more. 

Maybe Kaz is right. Maybe you could have two homes. 

Kaz had been looking at you as you went over it all in your head.

‘Two homes.’ you mutter softly. 

You quickly finish your drink and get up. ‘I have to go.’ you say. 

Despite it being late at night, you head up the stairs of the Slat and to knock on everyone’s door. You knew they’d be alarmed if you wake them, because there was an unwritten rule that you didn’t wake someone up in the middle of the night, unless something very bad was going on.

When you knock on Jesper’s door, Wylan is the one who opens it. There’s still light in the room and there’s a pencil in his hand. He must have been working on some sketches for a new project. When you glance over his shoulder you see Jesper sprawled out on the bad, fast asleep.

‘Is everything alright?’ says Wylan. 

‘Yes, it’s fine, I just came to say goodbye.’ you say.

Wylan frowns, then smiles. ‘You’re going back to Ravka.’ he says.

You nod. ‘I need to see Nikolai.’ you say. ‘Can I say goodbye to Jesper real quick?’

Wylan steps aside so you can enter the room. You walk over to the bed, kneel beside it and shake Jesper’s shoulders. He wakes with a string of words you can’t quite understand. 

‘Jes.’ you say softly. ‘It’s me, Y/N, I'm here to say goodbye. I’m going back to Ravka.’

He mumbles a “good for you, have fun” before falling back asleep. 

You smile at move to rise to your feet again. You hug Wylan and after another goodbye, you leave their room, walking the stairs to the next floor. 

Inej walks out of her room, holding a bunch of dirty dishes in her hands. She must have been on her way downstairs to put them away.

‘Hey.’ she says. ‘What are you still doing up?’

‘Saying goodbye.’ you say. ‘I’m going back to the palace.’ 

Like Wylan, Inej smiles. ‘Tell the king I said hi.’ she says.

‘I will.’ you say. ‘Goodbye Inej, I’ll be back for a visit soon.’

You walk to the next floor and knock on Nina’s door. It takes her a while to open the door, but you knew she would. When she does open the door, her hair is messy, she was clearly fast asleep just like Jesper.

‘What happened?’ says Nina, voice thick of sleepiness. ‘Who’s in trouble?’

‘No one’s in trouble.’ you say. ‘I’m here to say goodbye. I’m going back to Nikolai.’

‘You’re leaving again?’ says Nina. ‘But you just got here.’ 

‘I’ll be back for a visit in summer.’ you say. ‘In fact, I’m going to visit every summer. But right now I need to go back.’

‘To Nikolai.’ says Nina.

‘Yes.’ you say. 

‘Give him a kiss from me.’ she says.

‘Nina!’ you say, making her laugh.

‘I’m kidding!’ she says. ‘How about give him a hug from me?’ 

You nod and Nina pulls you in her arms. You close your eyes, trying to capture the moment. You were going to miss them. But you’d be back in summer. When Nina lets go of you, she smiles brightly. 

‘Wait here, you can say goodbye to Matthias too.’ she says. 

She enters the room and seconds later she reappears, with Matthias behind her. Just like Nina, he looks like he just woke up. He’s squinting his eyes as he looks down at you.

‘You’re leaving?’ he says.

‘For a while.’ you say. ‘I’ll be back in summer.’

‘Alright.’ says Matthias. 

Unlike the night when you arrived in Ketterdam, Nina doesn’t have to shove him into your arms. Matthias steps forward and pulls you in for a hug. 

‘Take care.’ he says as he pulls away.

Nina moves past Matthias and pulls you in for another hug.

‘That first one was for Nikolai, this one’s for you.’ she whispers. 

You blink furiously to stop the tears from falling. Saints, you really were going to miss them. But there was no need for tears, you’d see them again in summer. You smile at her as she pulls away.

‘I’m going to miss you.’ you say. ‘All of you.’

‘You’ll see us again.’ says Nina. ‘Now go! You’ve kept him waiting for long enough.’

You walk down the stairs, and grab your coat when you get to the bottom of the stairs. You poke your head around the door and see Kaz is still sitting in the same spot. 

‘Bye, Kaz!’ you say and you wave at him. 

He nods at you and briefly smiles. And then you’re out the door.

You don’t even know if there would be a ship at the docks that would sail to Ravka. But you’re still determined to head to Ravka as fast as you could. You walk down the streets toward the docks. 

You were going back to Ravka, to your king.

A/N: If you want to request something, make sure to read my house rules Here’s the list of characters I write for. Everything that I have written can be found on my masterlist. Please don’t repost my work, as I spend much time and effort on it!! Thank you for reading! Much love, Marit

[dynyamight]

“you look a little lonely” + twirls into a dance 🧡💚

send me an interaction ask bonus + action

“You look a little lonely.” + twirls into a dance

“Those dress shoes are meant for dancing with someone, you know.” Sero snickers, “Not just to look fresh.”

Bakugou huffs, “Fuck off.”

Standing in front of him, Kaminari continues to pull at his arms, beckoning him to stand. “C’mon! The teachers are ending the dance in an hour, and you haven’t danced! Not even to one song!”

Seated right beside Bakugou, Kirishima chuckles. “Guys, he’s not budging.”

“Yeah, no kidding.” Sero laughs, shaking his head, “Man, if you were gonna show up, then why sit around all night, Bakugou?”

“That’s none of your fucking business.” Bakugou sneers.

“It is, if you’re going to be such a wet blanket!” Kaminari grits through his teeth, still straining to pull Bakugou up to his feet.

After a few more attempts, all of which Bakugou simply doesn’t budge, Kirishima finally swats at Kaminari, shoo’ing the two boys away. When both friends refuse, he shakes his head.

“Go back to the dance floor, you two! The girls are missing you!” He laughs at them.

As they walk away from the round table, Bakugou finally looks over to Kirishima. “I don’t remember asking you to stay.” He mutters.

Immediately, Kirishima sweats, rubbing an awkward hand on the back of his neck. “Y-Yeah, dances aren’t really my thing, either. Hate them, actually.”

Bakugou raises a brow, wordlessly.

Kirishima sighs in defeat, looking away from him. “Right, well, I do like to dance. But,” He blushes furiously, as red as his tie, “I-I mean, you heard Sero. We’re supposed to be dancing with others. And, I’m not exactly the best.”

“Who the fuck cares?”

“Me.” Kirishima groans, “That’s who cares.”

Staring back at the dancefloor, improvised in Gym Gamma, Bakugou eyes at the several first years bundled in the crowd. From all departments and classes, he barely could recognize anyone, other than his classmates.

Yet, even then, some of his classmates looked completely different; dressed in formal wear and makeup.

But, there’s one thing he can most certainly recognize.

In the middle of the huge crowd, jumping and spinning into impressive moves, was Ashido. She had the dancefloor shouting and yelling in cheers.

Glancing back at Kirishima, Bakugou wants to laugh at how crestfallen his friend looks.

He doesn’t. Instead, he simply slumps into his seat, crossing his arms. “She wouldn’t mind.”

“Dude, I’m not asking her to dance.”

“I never said that shit.” Bakugou rolls his eyes, “But sure, go ahead.”

Fervently, Kirishima shakes his head, his cheeks blooming red. “Not in front of all those people! Maybe, if it were just the two of us, I wouldn’t mind. But, god, with everyone there, that’s-”

“Red Riot would.”

“...He would?”

“Yeah, he fucking would.” Bakugou snorts, keeping a steady, firm gaze at Kirishima. “Ain’t that manliest shit any guy could do? Pick up the girl he wants, and claim her in front of the world. The Red Riot Unbreakable would do that shit in a heartbeat.”

In his thoughts, Bakugou’s mind calls himself a hypocrite. He squishes the thought away.

Regardless, he feels prideful, as he watches his once timid stricken friend visibly grow confident, like a sunflower standing against the sunrays. Getting up from his seat, Kirishima throws a fist in the air.

“That’s right!” Kirishima exclaims above the music, “Red Riot would get the girl! He always gets the girl.”

Bakugou smirks. “Exactly. So, go fucking knock Pinky off her feet, Shitty Hair.”

When Kirishima leaves, Bakugou slumps back in his seat, crossing his arms. There was still another hour of sitting around, so might as well get comfortable.

Internally, he begins to berate himself; Why the fuck did he show up? This was the biggest mistake in all Bakugou history, and he never makes mistakes. He should have stayed back in the dorms, up in his room, alone, and at peace. Why was he here?

Sero’s right. If he was going to show up, then why sit around all night? Bored out of his mind.

And, just like that, his brain reminds him. A memory of the classroom, with Yaoyorozu asking Midoriya if he is going to attend the school dance. And, from where he was seated, Bakugou had heard Midoriya saying he would.

Midoriya was going to the dance. And, suddenly, Bakugou wanted to go.

“You look a little lonely.”

Bakugou blinks, at first thinking his own thoughts had reverbated louder in his head. But, when he looks up to check his surroundings, he’s instantly met with Midoriya, standing in front of him.

Quickly, right when their eyes meet, Midoriya visibly stiffens. “S-Sorry!” He starts, “I mean, if you have been wanting to be alone, I’ll just, um, leave you be.”

Bakugou looks down at Midoriya’s suit; brown striped coat, yellow under dress shirt, black bow tie, and those red, obnoxious sneakers. An ugly sight to see, quite honestly.

But, when he glances back up to see Midoriya’s wild curls, against his soft face, sprinkled freckles, and shining with those green irises, Bakugou feels his breath get caught in his throat.

He coughs, “Nah. you’re good.” He mumbles.

“Th-That’s reassuring.” Midoriya offers a short laugh, despite everything about his body looking nervous. “So, you are alone, right Kacchan?”

“Yeah, and I guess you can stay, if that’s what you’re planning.”

“Um, I-I wasn’t going to stay here, actually.” Midoriya stutters, his hands gripping at his sides.

Bakugou tilts his head. “The fuck? Then, why make your way over here?”

Instantly, Midoriya’s face floods pink. “Uh, funny that you ask that. I-I, uh, I was just, you know, thinking. Yeah, it was just a thought. That, um, you most likely don’t like to dance. But, possibly, you could. It was possible that, uh, you would like to dance. But, maybe not just with anyone. But, I-I’m not anyone. Well, maybe I am. And, I’m just hoping I’m not just anyone to you. So-”

“Izuku, what the fuck are you even saying?!” Bakugou yells.

“Do you want to dance with me?!” Midoriya shouts back.

“What?!” Bakugou blurts.

It gets worse. “I said, ‘Do you want to dance?!!” Midoriya shouts louder, eyes closed shut tight. “With me?!”

“I heard you the first time, idiot!” Bakugou screams.

“Then, why did you ask?!”

“It was a fucking expression!”

Slapping his hands over his flushed face, Midoriya bends over. “Oh my god, this is humiliating. Forget I ever asked, Kacchan. I promise, I will do anything. Just, forget this happened.” He pleads, muffled by his palms.

Quickly, Bakugou stands up, and grabs Midoriya's arm. Pulling him from behind, he shouts from behind, “Follow me, and don’t you fucking dare double take!”

Frantically searching throughout the gym, Bakugou’s terribly realizing that the whole place has groups spread out all over, without an open area in sight. He tries to pull them in between tables, chairs, and other U.A students. But, alas, he couldn’t find a single-

Midoriya taps on his shoulder. When Bakugou turns around, he sees Midoriya pointing over to the far left.

“Why don’t we move to the corner, in that empty space?” Midoriya offers weakly.

By the closed entrance doors, there was graciously a spot, open enough for just them, and away from the entire crowd at the end of the gym. The relief that spread through Bakugou’s chest was long, and well needed.

Slowly, they make their way over to the area, completely quiet as finally Bakugou turns to face Midoriya. Letting go of Midoriya’s arm, Bakugou is left to awkwardly keep his arms at his sides.

“What do you want me to do now, Deku?”

Unable to look directly at him, Midoriya takes a step closer, staring down at their shoes. “We’re supposed to start dancing.” He whispers.

“No shit, I know that.” Bakugou hisses, “So, hurry up and tell me what the fuck you want to do!”

Midoriya’s face blushes a deeper pink; a color that Bakugou can’t seem to stop staring at.

“I want, um, this hand here.” Midoriya nervously grabs onto Bakugou’s left hand, guiding it up to his shoulder. “And, this hand,” He grabs his right hand, “will go over here.”

It takes Bakugou way too long for his pride to notice that his right hand was never going to be placed anywhere. Instead, it was meant to be clasped in Midoriya’s calloused, warm hand.

Midoriya was waiting for his reaction, and all Bakugou had done in the long seconds that passed was stare at their hands. How fucking embarrasing.

“When are you going to move, Deku?” Bakugou grits out, hoping to play off his slow reaction.

Immediately, he feels a jolt in Midoriya, as he quickly places his other hand on Bakugou’s waist. “R-Right, um, sorry! I just got nervous!”

Bakugou internally hopes Midoriya can’t feel how drenched his hands feel.

The first few steps, Midoriya’s face cringes at each stomp on his toes Bakugou ends up making. He hates how fucking dumb dancing is, making him second guess every move, unlike any battle he has ever faced. The confidence that Bakugou once dripped in was dried out, completely nowhere to be found.

Yet, each time he makes a dreadful, painful error, Midoriya always meets his gaze with a soft smile. “D-Don’t mind.” He reassures each time.

And, dammit, that only makes Bakugou’s heart race faster, banging in his chest.

He doesn’t know when it started to get easier, but he finally notices he isn’t stepping on Midoriya as much as he did before. Instead, they were easily swaying, side by side, rocking in their small little space. The music wasn’t that much of a slow song, but they nevertheless took their time together, just the two of them.

“There’s only a few more songs left.” Midoriya says.

Bakugou huffs, looking back up at Midoriya, instead of the floor. “That fucking sucks.” He admits.

Midoriya softly smiles back, “Yeah.. It really does. I wish I had danced with you from the start.”

“..Me too.”

“Let’s try to make the world spin slower, Kacchan.” Midoriya whispers to him, still smiling. “So, the night can last longer.”

And, with ease, Midoriya lifts his arm over Bakugou’s head, and twirls him in dance.

[wlntrsldler]

unrequited (draco malfoy/ cedric diggory series)

PROMPT: You and Cedric grew up together. After the tragedy of the Triwizard Tournament, you’re left feeling empty without your best friend. Draco Malfoy steps into the picture. Will the feelings be reciprocated? Or will it be unrequited?

WARNINGS: MAJOR CHARACTER DEATH, fluff, sadness??? slow burn

PAIRING: draco malfoy x reader and cedric diggory x reader; hufflepuff reader

WC: 2.5K+

UNREQUITED MASTERLIST

-

PART 2

The next school year felt empty. You spent the whole summer with your Muggle relatives, not having the heart to go back to the places you spent time in with Cedric. Mr. Diggory fell off the face of the Wizard World, taking time for himself. After the funeral, he bid you a short goodbye, unable to look at your face without seeing the absence of his son. You couldn’t blame him as every time you looked in his eyes, you were haunted by the same emptiness that you saw in Cedric’s eyes before they forced it closed. 

You hadn’t smiled in a long time, not since the day of the final round. Ron, Hermione, and Harry tried their hardest to stay in touch with you but you refused to write back. You couldn’t find it in your heart to reply, your chest growing heavy every time you inked your quill. It didn’t seem right. 

You packed your luggage, grabbing clothes from your closet, ones that you haven’t touched since your arrival to the Muggle world. You forced yourself to detach from the Wizard world for the time being, wanting nothing else but to forget the pain you endured in your last moments at Hogwarts. It never truly worked, really. Every night you looked up to the sky and watched the stars twinkle and thought of Cedric. The color of the sunflowers planted in your aunt’s front garden, beamed with brightness and the color of happiness, and all you thought of was Cedric. The smell of fresh parchment and the aroma of his scent tormented you when you found yourself stumbling into the rabbit hole of gifts he gave you over the years; You missed Cedric terribly.

As you zipped up your last bag, the lone, yellow sweater stayed still on the hanger. The blood stain seemed to glow, reminding you of the harsh reality you had to face. Cedric is gone and he’s not coming back. You gulped, hands trailing over the intricate detail of the yellow sweater. You could still feel him. 

As you boarded the train, you shuffled past your fellow Hogwarts students, trying to find the Golden Trio. You hoped that they didn’t harbor any hard feelings due to your absence. They seemed to be the only ones you had left and you realized as you knocked on the door that separated you from them, that you might’ve just lost them too. 

“Would it be alright if I sat with you all?” You asked, voice small and trembling as their intense gaze fell upon you. 

The three stared at you, eyes showing nothing but concern over their broken friend. Hermione smiled sadly at you, scooting over her seat to make some room for you. Ron took your heavy bag and placed it beside him, helping you carry the burden of loneliness with a simple gesture. Harry grabbed your hand and gave it a squeeze as you passed by him to get to your seat. You returned the act, not having enough energy in your body to do much else. 

The space was silent. The giggling of students from the other side of the door sometimes catching your attention. You heard familiar voices, laughing, getting closer to where you sat. The twins arrived in front of the door, grinning widely when they saw you propped up against the window. 

Fred opened the door, allowing George to come in first and he followed right after. “Y/N! Nice to see you. We missed you.” 

“Nice to see you, as well.” You replied, getting up to embrace the two. 

“We were about to hunt you down ourselves if Ron didn’t stop pacing in his room wondering about your whereabouts.” George complained. 

“Yeah, he’s a room above us and he kept us up all night! Sometimes Harry and Hermione would join him and it’s three times worse!” Fred added on. “But we’re glad you’re back.” 

You couldn’t help but smile at their words. Your cheeks cramped up at the sensation of the unfamiliar feeling. You couldn’t remember the last time you smiled. You buried your head in between the two some more before laughing slightly once you heard Ron’s protests. Hermione and Harry joined a little bit after, enjoying the smile that graced your features for the first time since Cedric. 

When you arrived at Hogwarts, your heart sunk knowing that it was the first time that you would be walking to the Hufflepuff dormitories by yourself, without Cedric by your side. Besides Cedric, you really didn’t know anyone in your house. You often hung out with the Trio, the Weasleys, and Cedric, nobody else. You walked up the stairs on your own, trying to ignore the looks of pity that other Hufflepuffs shot your way. Of course everyone knew how close you and Cedric were. And of course everyone knew how much his death took a toll on you. 

You ignored the hushed whispers that welcomed you when you walked into the dormitories. You rolled your eyes at their failed attempts to be discrete, glaring at them when you caught them staring at you with their nosy eyes. You shook your head, tugging at the sleeve of your robe. 

Once you were settled in, you made it your mission to stay away from Hufflepuff’s side of the castle. A fear that you’ve always had in your heart started to bubble inside of you. A part of you always felt like you were only placed in Hufflepuff because Cedric played a huge role in your life. It was like once he vanished, the aspects of you that are meant to be in Hufflepuff left with him. After all, he was the only one who even assured you that you belonged where he was placed. You were sure everyone else in the house saw traces of the other houses in you. 

You sat by yourself in the garden, reading a book on Potions with scribbles written along the margins. Cedric’s messy handwriting always did make it difficult for you to follow along. You closed the book, suddenly feeling overwhelmed with the idea of him crashing down on you in waves. You hadn’t thought about Cedric in so long but now that you’re back in Hogwarts, it was inevitable. 

If it wasn’t the framed picture of him that greeted you once the gates opened, then it was the way students whispered his name under their breaths fearing that you might break down if you heard it spoken from their lips. If it wasn’t the lack of his presence beside you as you sat on the corner right side of the bench, being so used to him sitting to your left, then it was you turning, out of habit, to ask him what this word written in his book was and then realizing that he wasn’t there to answer. If it wasn’t the sound of laughter from across the hall, that so greatly reminded you of his, then it was the smell of the garden drawing you to the secret passageway he used to help you escape in at night. 

“Y/N!” 

You looked up from your feet to see the twins walking happily towards you. You placed the book beside you and looked up at the two boys. “Hello, boys. To what do I owe the pleasure?”

“We are planning a fun prank for tonight.” George admitted, silencing his voice to where only you and Fred could hear it. 

“It is our last year after all.” Fred continued. “But we need your help.” 

You cocked an eyebrow, “How can I be of service, Weasleys?” 

“We need a look out.” They said in unison. “We’re planning to sneak out after hours and start a light show. Explosions in the air, in all colors. No harm, of course, but just something to ruffle their feathers.” 

“What do you need me to do?” You asked, intrigued by their plan. 

“We just need you to let us know when any of Umbridge’s little brats are coming. They’re the ones patrolling now and we lost our privileges as Head Boys.” Fred stated, his disapproval of Umbridge evident in his voice. 

“Yeah, the prank is totally harmless. We reckoned everyone just needs a pick me up with everything going on right now.” 

“I’m in.” You smiled. “You two always did know what’s best for us all in times of uncertainty.” 

“That’s our job, Y/N.” They chirped before waving goodbye. “Meet us outside the Great Hall once they call lights out.” 

Time seemed to move awfully slow. The moments leading up to the night dragged on forever. You couldn’t contain your excitement the entire day. The Trio knew of the plan, telling you to calm down when you got too giddy, in fear that someone might catch on. But you couldn’t help it. It was the first time that you'd been excited about something; Something other than the mark of the day ending. 

By the time they called lights out, you nearly sprinted to the designated meeting place. You tiptoed down the hall, looking around for the two gingers that formulated the plan. All of the other students, besides the Slytherins, knew of the plan and they all played along like it was a normal night but in reality, they were all waiting for the show to begin. 

Once you spotted the boys, you rushed over to their side, giving them a brief hug before starting your job as a lookout. 

“Malfoy is out tonight,” Fred started, head turning left and right to make sure that nobody was coming. “So be careful. You know he gets.” 

You haven’t seen Malfoy since the day Cedric passed. You knew that he was aware that Cedric is no longer here but you didn’t know how he would treat you because of it. But knowing Malfoy, not much will change. He’ll continue to be the spoiled, rotten, Slytherin prince that he is, with no care for people’s feelings. He lacked empathy and sometimes you wondered if it’s because nobody ever showed him what that meant. 

You pushed the thought out of your head, clearing your mind from the complexities that is Draco Malfoy. You grinned up at the twins and prepared to do your job. Before the twins could ever step away from you to start the prank, Umbridge’s booming voice startled the three of you. 

“Weasleys!” She screeched, her shadow emerging from the corner. “I know about what you’re planning to do!”

The twins looked at each other, then looked at you. They let out a wild laugh, unphased that they might have to make a run for their lives in just a few seconds. They pushed you towards the other direction yelling, “Run, Y/L/N!”

Your eyes widened but you obeyed their orders. You ran as fast as your legs could take you, zigzagging through the halls. You didn’t realize that your feet were following an all too familiar path, a path that you haven’t graced upon in what feels like lifetimes. You stopped in front of the door to the secret passageway, air knocked out of your lungs. You could see the faint outline of the carving of your initials on the cobblestone wall that served to hide the door. You touched the marking with your finger, smiling fondly at the memory of the one who etched it. 

“What are you doing here?” 

You turned, shocked that you were no longer alone. You saw Draco, staring at you intently, eyes bright under his pale skin. He was wearing his Slytherin robe, wand at the ready in his right hand. His finger housed his Slytherin ring, a snake that seemed to hiss when you made eye contact with its emerald green eyes. He looked at you up and down, confused about your disheveled appearance. You realized then how crazy you must’ve looked; Hair in disarray from running against the motion of the wind, pajamas peeking out from under the Hufflepuff robe you wore, and tear stained cheeks. 

“Nothing,” You replied, facing away from the door, hoping that you didn’t cause much attention to it already. “Just making my way back up to the dormitories.” 

“Dormitories are the opposite direction.” 

“Must’ve gotten lost,” You said nonchalantly, slowly walking away from the situation. “It’s been a while since I’ve been here.”

“Wait..” Draco mumbled, following you as you treaded away from him, as inconspicuous as you could manage. “You were with the Weasleys weren’t you?” 

Your face dropped, “Malfoy, we were just having a bit of fun. No harm was going to be done.” 

Draco continued to stare, taking in your appearance. You were thinner than he remembered. Your eyes were sunken in their sockets, the color on your face drained, your hair grew longer too. He saw that you kept twiddling your thumbs, a sign of anxiousness maybe? Your robe also seemed to engulf you, as if you were drowning in the fabric. You couldn't possibly have gotten that much smaller. Then he realized the robe wasn’t yours. 

“Just make your way back to the dormitories.” He sighed, pointing his wand in the direction. “Don’t let Umbridge catch you.” 

You nodded your head, making your way back. You turned away from him before he could catch the expression on your face. Was Draco Malfoy actually kind? You thought of the simple gesture your entire way back to the dormitories. Why was it that he let you off the hook like that? You tried to think of moments where Draco was kind. There wasn’t much that you could think of. Your mind was littered with instances where he called Hermione a “Mudblood” and you a pathetic Hufflepuff. He constantly enraged Ron and Harry with his comments and used his power and status to make everyone else’s life a living hell. 

He wasn’t even kind to Cedric, a boy two years his senior. Draco was kinder to him, though, compared to other students, but he was still brutal nonetheless. Maybe he felt bad that you lost your only friend. But even that thought comes with the assumption that Draco understands the principle of pity and to do so would insinuate that he has a heart. Perhaps he does, you thought, but why does he insist on not showing it?

The word spread around that the Weasley twins got caught and the light show was not going to happen tonight. The students were disappointed as they were looking forward to the escape from reality that it would’ve brought them for even just a few moments. Umbridge’s reign was taking on everybody, it seemed. 

You snuggled into your covers that night, mind split into thinking of two different people. Cedric lingered in your dreams, but honestly there hasn’t been a day where he wasn’t occupying your thoughts. But tonight, you dreamt of a different boy; broken in nature, lonely, it seemed, with hair of snow and eyes of a clouded sea, of a high ranking family and deadly expectations. 

-

TAGS ARE OPEN! SEND AN ASK

@melancholiaflowers @jjjmaybank

[fandomsonrequests]

crush

fandom: ATEEZ

characters: jung wooyoung; ATEEZ

reader: gender neutral

word count: 1.3k+

summary:  to say that you weren’t interested in the boy next door the second he moved in was a complete and utter lie

a/n: another songfic. again, dedicated to @seacottons​ <3 <3 ily 🥺♡ ♥💕❤

based on the songs: do you wanna know a secret - the beatles, sunflower - swae lee, crush - tessa violet 

notes: high school! au, boy-next-door au ish 

To say that you weren’t interested in the boy next door the second he moved in was a complete and utter lie. 

It was only last year when Wooyoung moved in with his family, exiting the moving truck with his younger brother on his shoulders and running around the street. You remember their lively laughter floating to your window, making you look out of it. And that was when you knew you were screwed- he was cute as heck. 

Even though his parents and yours were good friends, you didn’t talk much with Wooyoung. It’s not that you didn’t want to. You were just too awkward to do so, afraid that you’d dumbly spit out the crush you’ve harbored for him. Even at school, you kept your interactions short. 

Little did you know that he too had a crush on you. He was kind of grateful that you didn’t hang out too long because he might do something dangerously stupid to impress you, but he wanted to change that. Especially now it was your senior year and that next year, you’d be off on your own ways. 

Fate, tired of seeing the two of you pine over each other, decided to help you along the way. 

It was in the mid-days of November where the chilly air nipped at your ears and nose and turned your fingertips red. The vibrant red and orange leaves of autumn slowly faded into a muted brown, thin layers of crystalline ice settling over them. 

Lively chatter filled the cafeteria as students filed in. Groups of teens sat together by friends or chose to sit in the corners, content with being by yourself. You on the other hand was stuck trying to find a place to sit. It’s not that you didn’t have many friends- it’s just the ones that were close to you were both out of school. One of your friends left school for an emergency while the other was in the hospital, healing after breaking her leg from a skateboarding accident. 

But then your gaze landed on Wooyoung sitting with his own group of friends. A sudden wave of confidence washes over you and you make up your mind to sit with him. No biggie right?

Gripping your tray in your hands, you inhale sharply and make your way over to his table. He was too busy making fun of his friend, Yeosang you think, to notice you coming. That and his back was towards you. His other friends on the other hand saw you coming. 

A boy with round, tiger-like eyes, pursed his lips and started to not-so-subtly kick Wooyoung under the table. Your Chemistry partner, Yunho, was giggling along with another tall boy while the rest of his friends tried to play it cool- only throwing glances at Wooyoung. 

You clear your throat, pushing away all nerves, successfully catching the said boy’s attention (along with San’s continuous pestering). He turns around and his eyes widen like saucers. If you weren’t so focused on ignoring the way your heart was beating rapidly against your chest, you would have noticed the red that dusted his cheeks. 

“Hey, Wooyoung,” You say with a small nod. “Do you guys mind if I sit here..? My other friends aren’t here right now so-” “Go ahead, we don’t mind!” The boy said all too enthusiastically to be considered normal. “Be our guest.”

You sigh out in relief, quietly thanking them in the process. The only vacant space on the table was beside San but in front of Wooyoung. You rounded the table and took your place there, once more thanking them for their hospitality. The table soon turned quiet and an awkward silence hung in the air. 

You tried to eat your lunch but caught the way Wooyoung was glaring daggers at everyone around him as they struggled to contain their laughter. You at first tried to ignore it, figuring that maybe there was some inside joke between them. But as it continued, you couldn’t help but feel something was going on. 

You felt San kick Wooyoung under the table, Yeosang doing the same and nudging the dark-haired boy. Yunho and the other tall guy started making kissy-faces at Wooyoung, throwing some pet names at him. The two older boys at the table were whispering something to each other before a boy with bright red hair piped up.

“Hey hyung, your crush sat down. Why are you so quiet?” 

You almost splutter on your milk and Wooyoung tenses up. “YAH- JONGHO! D-don’t say stuff like that..!” He yells. His whole face was as red as the younger male’s hair, his furious flush traveling up his ears and down his neck. Was he really that flustered?

The whole table bursts into laughter, save for you and Wooyoung who was now the subject of teasing. He tried to get his friends to shut up but failed miserably. You couldn’t help but giggle under your breath at the sight. 

San slings an arm over you and shakes you lightly. “Young-ah see? They’re laughing. No need to fret so much.” 

Before the other can retort, the shrill sound of the fire drill bell rang. Your responses were automatic, you didn’t know whether it was an actual emergency or not but better to be safe than sorry. You all filed out of the cafeteria and outside the school where the harsh sting of the cold ravaged the students. 

You regret not bringing your jacket along with you. But here you were, freezing your ass off as teachers and maintenance inside the school struggled to turn off the alarm and check the building. You wrap your arms around yourself, shivering from the cold when you suddenly felt something warm drape over your shoulders. 

You look up to see Wooyoung, face still red (whether from the cold or from his proximity to you), wordlessly putting his jacket over you. You had stopped shivering then, your face growing warmer at his actions. You couldn’t help but smile softly as you pull the jacket closer to you. It smelled faintly of some boyish cologne that was popular with the male population and a familiar brand of some child-safe detergent that his family used. It was just so him. 

“Aren’t you cold?” You ask him to which he responds with a shrug. 

He stuffs his hands into his hoodie, looking down at his feet shyly. “Not really, I mean- kind of. But I can handle it; can’t let you freeze to death out here.” He chuckled as he finally meets his gaze with yours. 

You managed not to pull away despite the rapid beating of your chest and the inner voice telling you to do so. “Thank you- that’s really sweet of you… I appreciate that a lot.” 

“It’s really no problem,” He replies, his infectious grin growing wider. You could feel him shuffle a little next to you, your shoulders brushing against each other. And you didn’t mind at all- you kind of liked it actually. 

“Hey  _____, when school is over today, can we hang out?” He asks you- a bit of hesitation in his voice. “We can go to the arcade or something- or stay at home if you’d like. I’d be fine with anything.”

“Just the two of us..?” You tease, a giddy feeling bubbling up within you.

“Yeah- yeah. Just the two of us.”

“Okay,” You say with a nod, receiving the brightest smile that could rival the sun. You soon found yourself grinning from ear to ear, the cold soon was forgotten as this pleasant warmth ran through you. “It’s a date then.”

“It’s a date.” 

Soon, the fire alarm stopped and you were allowed to return to your lunch. The two of you ignore the hollers and congratulatory sounds from Wooyoung’s friends when they noticed both your hands intertwined and his jacket upon your shoulders. All you could focus on was getting through the day so that you two could finally have that little date you’ve waited so long for. 

[cloveroctobers]

ANNA-JULIA “AJ” (JONES) JARLETT

IG bio/info: @/annajj9x_ | 20.1k followers| Athlete | hey peeps can you stop asking me to throw it back cuz the answer will always be no! K thx take it easy 🏳️‍🌈🌻🏒🐶

21 years old

From bath, England

Hockey player as her profession for the past three years

Her position is defense

Their team name is “rowdy alphas”...yeah some team names just didn’t make sense or they’re cringe for no reason at all

Was raised by her mom,(her mom was a teen mom & had her at 17) maternal grandmother, and her paternal aunt (dad’s younger sister, who’s more like a big sister to her at 28)

They’ve made her into the person she is, literally

Her grandmother has a bed and breakfast that they all live in

the house is Victorian style—almost as if they walked right out of charmed! Instead of a big pink house, think yellow AND purple. It was hideous but homey and charming on the inside

growing up in a house with multiple temporary strangers wasn’t odd to aj at all, in fact it felt like the norm. There was always someone around to socialize with so that was quite nice

Her father was a pro baseball player & passed away due to a automobile accident

she has his smile & freckles

aj was also involved in the accident at the age of 6 & miraculously survived with intense injuries

Has scars as a reminder

used to have night terrors because of the accident...it took awhile—years!!! for them to subside

they’re all vague memories now (but the pain is something she’ll always remember) but she preferred it that way

she’s named “Anna” after her mother’s old best friend/roommate and was supposed to be aj’s god mother but she went missing during their uni years

the name“Julia” came from her paternal grandmother who she gets her wide doe eyes from

her athleticism definitely came from her dad

Her mother luckily liked to document things so there’s a bunch of home videos of her dad in them & pictures/scrapbooks that her mom has for safe keeping

She’s more of a klutz, tiny, and wears huge prescription glasses

extremely close to the three most important ladies in her life, so she’s always been able to be open with them about anything!

when she first expressed her interest in liking both genders around 17-18 her paternal aunt was all smirks, “i knew Britney Spears was so your type, yeah?”

more like shakira but Brit was just as pretty

her mother was a “cry baby” so ofc she burst out into tears squeezing aj’s limbs and peppering her face with kisses. She didn’t view her child as anything different... as she shouldn’t & was glad that her daughter trusted them with this significant moment in her life and wanted to be as supportive as she could

got books, watched Ted talks and everything but knew she could come to the source even tho aj was still figuring it out herself

her grandma dipped her head at the new info sitting at the round kitchen table, “been there. had a few broads in my life after and during my marriage with your no good grandad. Thank goodness the bastard died before you even got to meet ‘em.” “Mum!”

what felt like the biggest weight on her chest was lifted. She knew they’d understand but a part of her had a little bit of doubt, she’s heard so many horror stories where those like her didn’t have the support she has and that made her extremely sad to think about

i see her as a person that has/had many friends in secondary. She’s always open to chat and her being on a few sports teams helped her out in her case

very competitive in anything that she does & will guarantee that she’ll beat you. (“ You wanna race to the car from here?”wins. “Who ever cleans the most dishes the fastest gets the last slice of pie.”) majority of the time she’s right but if she loses?? oh don’t let her lose to you, it’s a pity party for the rest of the time ur in her space. Such a sore loser omg

stays active, always working out + has a gym membership and makes sure she goes at least five times a week

she’s very strong, loves leg day & working on her core

she’s about 5’10

loves wearing “gf jeans” since they’re super comfy but doesn’t mind skinny Jeans with rips in the knees every now and then

trainers and chucks are her go-to sneakers

has no issue shopping in the men’s section ‘cause who’s gonna stop her? Nobody that’s who

owner of over a 100 graphic tees + vertical stripped shirts are also her favs, SWEATPANTS/joggers?! How many does she have? A lot. Snapbacks? Plenty. Will she wear them backwards? Obviously.

Physical touch is her love language. She’s comes from a family that has no issue showing their affection by touch. There is NO such thing as personal space and that still stands with aj when it comes to relationships, she sees no other way

It’s what she shows and what she wants in return, if you’re not touching her in some sort of way, then automatically she thinks there’s something wrong or that she did something

Is the jealous type. It has shown in relationships and ruined a relationship or two

Has cheated on a significant other out of pure jealousy & is not proud to admit that

Does have a wandering eye but feels now that she truly understands herself when it comes to relationships, she’ll never act on it again

I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again, I get libra tendencies from her so that’s what I’m sticking with. She likes to keep the peace (unless she’s jealous) , idealistic — always looking on the bright side of things, outgoing, romantic, and professional— especially when it comes to her team; her true leadership comes out, yet she can be indecisive, hates confrontation, self pitying — if things don’t go perfectly how she imagined/planned it to, the world is ending and everyone is out to get her, and can be unreliable—never on time

September libra to be exact

if she’s really in love/taken a interest in you then she gets nervous: blushing, sweaty palms, cracking her knuckles, tongue tied—the whole 9

she’s already defined as a puppy by her coach but when she’s in love? She’s a lovesick puppy!

her fav holiday is Valentine’s Day

thought she was going to be a pro skateboarder growing up but it took one bad fall where she thought she was paralyzed for her to choose something else

she likes her weed on occasion

Obsessed with all types of cheese except cottage, “can I put cheese on this?”

more of a jumpsuit kinda girl or dressy top with jeans & hoops on a night out

has a solid group of mates outside of the hockey team, they’ve all met and hung out a couple of times, as they should since aj feels they’re going to be stuck with her for awhile so why not?

They’re a riot when they all go out, let’s just say that there’s never a dull moment

fav color is periwinkle

enjoys ASMR, mostly in the mornings when she’s waking up. You know how people love podcasts? (Sorry seb & Nicky, she still wants to be on the show soon!) ASMR is her thing

loves tangerines, you can count on it that she’ll have one on her, “where did you pull that from?” “I’ll never share my master plan.” “You’re such a tit.”

Definitely prefers “fresh squeezed” orange juice & will make her own, she has the tools & the strength 😏

Very rare for her to get sick ;) & if she does she’s a complete baby about it

Will fight that she’s sick before she admits it, trying all sorts of horrid remedies & vitamins

loves summer & all things that come with it, the number one thing is leaving bath for however long she can for a new place to enjoy

when she arrived to love island, she was thrilled for the weather. Yes she was looking for love but most importantly a nice get away & that it was (depending on your route that is lol)

closest with seb, vieve, elladine, and tai but don’t tell the others that! (She doesn’t care if you tell Yasmin, honestly)

just because her & seb “dated” and it didn’t work out doesn’t mean they can’t be friends right? It was almost automatic for them to be platonic after it was determined there would be no romance between them, almost like sibs! like those celebs like to say—except this time these two won’t turn around and actually find romance

vieve came with seb so...but no shade aj did like vieve. She gave great advice (while seb sometimes didn’t say the right things unintentionally or what aj needed to hear) when needed, especially from a medical view and is very sweet

elladine was the one who had all the tea & ideas to match, she’s quite organized and always down for DIY’s and could suggest almost anything. If you needed someone to help you get things tidy or match/find your Aesthetic, she’s the friend you call to help

tai was the one she could be a “bro” with, sure elladine has her competive side (or controlling, depends on how you view it) but tai was the one you can run to for much needed “bro hugs”, partying, going to the pubs, playing sports with or against, checking out/flirting with babes, etc...

it was not long after the villa that aj had a revelation with her sexuality & fully owned and labeled herself as a lesbian

She was happy being in relationship with someone else or with herself, life was short and she was young so there wasn’t time to dwell and stress over things so what the hell?! Live your truth the best way you know how ya know?

probably smells like sweet citrus, almond flower, and sea salt

on chest days, she’s a sweets snacker. Loves gummy bears (also with vodka) , swedish fish, sour patch kids, etc...basically shit that sticks to ur teeth

put all her chips into hockey, while it was advised by her Counselors & mum not to do so, aj went about it anyway. She thought about the pros and cons but knew there was nothing else for her. So there were more pros than cons. She was meant to play sports, its what felt right in her soul

Made her feel connected to her father, when she’s on the field she feels that he is with her

 scrunches up her nose when she’s frustrated or confused about something

Doesn’t always grasp concepts right away, she’s a soft dummy but most of us are and that’s okay! We’re all smart in our own ways

Feels like sunflowers are always around her especially if she sees them wherever she is. They must symbolize SOMETHING, therefore she loves them

spf queen. All about it, get with it or let the sunrays ruin ur skin that’s on u

loves a good filet mignon medium-well & is probably the only good thing she knows how to make alongside a salad, baked potatoes, & her oj

sucker for romantic-comedies...it’s basically her life duh!

If she has a dog, it’s a Dalmatian or Great Dane. She needs a companion that’ll keep up with her

loves kissing, it’s her favorite form of intimacy

Quarantine life included the push up challenge for her. Gaining a few pounds in muscle and fat, bothering seb via ft, viewing old letters she wrote to her dad, spending time with her fav ladies since they were now restricted from having guests in their home, and letting boredom consume her + she hated the whole lockdown that came with it, she hated being indoors for long periods of time but she knew that’s what partly needed to be done

Posts a lot of beach, park, outings with her friends & team, moments with her fav ladies, workout videos, and guests at the b&b with their permission and if only she befriends them along the way. She’s just as active on the socials as she is in rl but she’s not obsessed with it, she knows how to live in the now. She’s all about balance!

I also feel like she never keeps her phone charged and it’s always dying on her! She had a car charger but...that’s a jungle. She needs to invest in a portable charger stat

crushing on/finds attractive: Jared Padalecki, Keanu Reeves, Barrett Doss, Camilla Luddington, Sandra Bullock, Adrian Kempe, Harry Kirton, Anya Taylor-Joy, Haley Lu Richardson, Naomi Osaka, Ming & Aoki Lee Simmons

who does she listen to? Shakira lol!! Bea Miller, Dua Lipa, Daya, XYLØ, Elley Duhé, Stela Cole, Aloe Blacc, Maroon 5, Lewis capaldi, Charlie Puth, girl in red, Hayley kiyoko, king princess, dodie, & tessa violet

Anthem: Icona Pop — we got the world

[freddiesaysalright]

Just Like a Woman - Part 12

A Roger Taylor x Reader Story

Summary: You and Roger were once in love when you were young. Only, he went on to be a rock star, and you went on to be a lawyer. Now, quite against your will, you’re representing him in his divorce.

Word Count: 3.1k

Tag List: @psychosupernatural, @someone-get-a-medic, @bensrhapsody, @deakyclicks, @crazylittlethingcalledobsession, @minigranger, @crazyweirdocalledfriday, @the-moving-finger-writes, @assembledherethevolunteers, @rose-writes-prose, @queenlover05, @26-7-49, @drowsebaby, @moon-stars-soul, @im-an-adult-ish, @ixchel-9275, @jennyggggrrr, @zyanmaik, @mypassionfortrash, @a19103, @madeinheavxn, @beepbeephardy, @rrogerchxrm, @qweenly, @blisshemmings, @seasidecrowbar, @internationalkpoplova, @ellystone, @takemetoneverland420, @coffeexcigarette, @lookuptotheskiesandsee, @thatpunkmaximoff, @angelkissys, @rocknroll-stolemyass, @simonedk, @anotheronewritesthedust1, @peterquillzblog, @mrfahrenhcit, @joseph-mozzerella, @theprettyandthereckless, @nixfreak, @johndeaconshands, @rogerandhiscar, @queenmaracasandlove, @sunflower-ben, @cubetriangle, @amy-brooklyn99, @scorpiogemini, @kiainspace, @itsabenthing, @bookandband, @makemeyourwife-loveofmylife, @grazessa, @borhapqueen92, @theonsasheart, @vektorivittu, @chanti-frn, @brianssixpence, @dancingcoolcat​, @xviiarez, @irepookie, @lnnuend0, @rogerxmeddows, @vici-xx, @bellas2silly​,@rogerrhqpsody If you’d like to be added for the epilogue, let me know!

A/N: THIS IS THE LAST CHAPTER! However, there WILL be an epilogue, so it’s not quite over yet!

Warning(s): None!

Part 1  Part 2  Part 3  Part 4  Part 5  Part 6  Part 7 Part 8  Part 9  Part 10  Part 11

Part 12 here we go!!!

Two weeks passed. The sentencing was equally as satisfying as the trial. Sully was hit with ten years in prison, but would not be eligible for parole until after serving at least five. You were sure they would appeal, but for now, he was going to be off the streets and Dominique had secured her justice. It made your entire career in law up until this point worth it. 

After the sentencing, Bill called you into his office. You were nervous about it because usually he didn’t have private meetings unless it was serious. You swallowed before walking in. 

“Y/N,” he greeted you. “Thanks for coming up. I know you’re busy.”

“No problem,” you replied. “What did you want to talk to me about?”

“I wanted to tell you how proud I am of you for handling this case,” he said. “You took it on with no experience. You also overcame your own hurt to take on Roger’s divorce. You’ve proven just how valuable you are to this firm these past months.”

You blinked, surprised by the flattery. 

“Well, I - um - thank you,” you said. “What’s brought this on?” 

“We’re growing as a firm,” he said. “And with John retiring, I’ve got to start thinking about his replacement.”

John was the other senior partner. He was Bill’s professor, and they began the firm together. Your stomach jolted. Was he saying what you thought he was saying?

He twirled his pen between his fingers and glanced down at a packet of papers on his desk. 

“This is a new contract for employment,” he said. “For you. To become a partner.”

“A senior partner?” you questioned. 

He smiled. “Just partner for now. But that is the track I see for you.”

You almost squirmed in your seat with joy. To become a partner was a dream of yours. To be on track for senior partner was even more pleasing to hear. 

“What do you say?” he asked. “We’re a good team. You deserve to help me run this place, especially after what you’ve recently accomplished.”

A smile spread across your face. 

“I say hell yes,” you told him, beaming.  

“Wonderful,” he replied. “If you read the contract, you’ll see your salary increase.”

You reached out and picked up the packet. You scanned the first page until you found the number. Your stomach did a flip at the offer and your eyes went wide. 

“What?!” 

He smirked. “That’s just a little less than I make. I thought that was fair considering how great an attorney you are.”

“That’s a lot of money!” 

“Nothing that you don’t deserve.”

You put the papers in your lap and looked at him with your mouth hanging open. 

“This is incredible, Bill,” you said earnestly. “Thank you.”

“Thank you,” he returned. “I’m looking forward to this.” 

Feeling completely elated, you signed the papers. Afterward, you called Roger to tell him the good news. 

“A partner?!” he gasped. “Y/N, that’s amazing! Congratulations!”

“Thank you, sweetie!” you replied. “I just can’t believe it! I mean, Bill did so much of the work for Dominique’s case, and he guided me through all of it, so I was just really shocked! But I’m excited I can hardly stand it!”

“Tell you what, this calls for celebration,” he said. “How about I take you to a special lunch tomorrow and we can toast to your promotion?”

“I’d love that,” you told him. 

“Perfect,” he said. “I’ll see you tonight, love.”

“See you tonight.”

You hung up and giggled to yourself. You could barely contain your emotion. Everything was coming together, like Roger said. You were looking forward to your future with him, and your promising career as a partner. 

The next day, Jane came into your office first thing in the morning.

“Y/N, Miss -” she began, but Miss Thomas swept by her and marched into your office.

“Miss Thomas needs to see you,” Jane finished, shooting the woman an annoyed glare. 

“Yes, Jane, I can see that,” you sighed. “You may go.”

She nodded and closed the door. You looked at Miss Thomas. 

“Lucy, how can I help you?” you asked.  

“I need you to help my father with his wrongful termination suit,” she said, swinging her hair behind her shoulder. 

“Okay, what does he do?” you asked.

“He’s a primary school teacher,” she said.

“And why was he fired?” you wondered.

“Because he believes he’s Santa Claus,” she told you simply.

You blinked. “I - I’m sorry?” 

“He told the children that he’s Santa - which he believes - so the headmaster fired him,” she went on. “It’s completely unfair. What, just because he’s Santa means he doesn’t have a right to work?”

“You do know that he’s not really Santa Claus, right?” you asked slowly, shock still coming over you.

“There’s no way to prove that he isn’t, really,” she said with a shrug. “Whether he is or not isn’t for me to decide. The point is, he shouldn’t be fired for it.”

“When’s the court date?” you asked, ignoring the ridiculousness of it.

“Tomorrow,” she said. “Can you meet with him today?”

Your eyes went wide. “Tomorrow?! Why am I only just learning about this?!”

“He had another lawyer, but he was terrible so I fired him,” she answered. “You’re the best lawyer I know, so I came to you.” 

“I can meet with him today, but it’ll have to be over lunch,” you said with a sigh. “I’m booked the rest of the day.” 

“Great, I’ll see you at noon,” she chirped. 

She stood up, turned on her heel and sauntered out of your office. You heaved another sigh. You had so been looking forward to your lunch with Roger, but now you were going to have to call and cancel. But as you picked up the phone, you heard the now familiar laugh of the little boy. You whipped around and spotted him crawling beneath the window behind your desk. 

“What are you doing down there?” you wondered, smiling at him. 

You had seen him at least once a day for the past two weeks. You told only Roger, who insisted you see a psychiatrist. Or maybe even a neurologist. You refused because going to the doctor was your absolute least favorite thing to do and you were certain the visions would stop. Only, they weren’t. You were beginning to consider Roger’s idea. Especially now that you were talking to him. 

He only giggled before disappearing as he always did. You shook your head, amused. Then you dialed Roger. The phone rang, and as it did, you got an idea. 

“Hello?” Roger’s voice came through on the other end.

“Rog?”

“Yes, love?”

“Could you meet me at my office for lunch today instead of the restaurant?” you requested. “I’m meeting a last minute client and I could use your help.”

“Really?” he questioned. “Sounds odd. And what about our celebration?”

“It’s Miss Thomas’s father,” you told him. “Can we celebrate tonight instead?”

“I can’t imagine what he’s like,” he said with a chuckle. “Of course we can celebrate tonight. I’ll change the reservation.

“Thank you so much,” you replied. “Get here around noon, yeah?”

“I’ll be there.”

“Love you!”

“Love you more.”

You hung up, humming contentedly. 

He made good on his promise. In fact, Roger arrived before Miss Thomas and her father. You explained to Roger what she had told you that morning, but didn’t tell him the vital question you were going to ask. 

Miss Thomas entered your office, accompanied by the kindest looking elderly man you had ever seen in your life. You wondered how he could have fathered someone like her. He was round, with cherry red cheeks, and a jolly smile. He wore a black peacoat, but you could see the red trousers beneath it. On his feet were black boots. Atop his silvery white mane of hair, he wore a red Santa hat. As he made his way through the office, he wished everyone a happy Christmas. Until finally, he was at your door. 

“Mr. Claus,” you said respectfully. “Thank you for taking time to see me today.”

“Thank you, Y/N,” he replied. “This whole business is really throwing off my schedule. And this is a very busy time of year for me.”

“I imagine so,” you returned. “Please, have a seat.”

“Thank you,” he said kindly, and he sat in a chair across from your desk. 

“Tell me a little bit about your case,” you said. 

“Well, for most of the year, I teach primary school,” he explained. “But of course, the closer the holidays get, the busier I get. So, I told the children this and why I was so busy, and then some parents got upset and the next thing I knew, I was fired.”

“I’m sorry,” you told him. “Well, we’re going to try and get you your job back, sir. Only, we have to prove that what you’re saying isn’t proof of diminished capacity, which is what the headmaster is claiming.”

“I don’t understand all these legal terms,” he said with a shrug. “I just know that after delivering the presents this year, I won’t have the usual children to look forward to.”

“Mr. Claus, have you ever seen this man before?” you asked, pointing to Roger. 

Mr. Thomas laughed heartily. “Well, of course I have! But not since he was a boy! How are you, Roger?”

“Um...fine?” 

Roger raised a concerned eyebrow at you. He clearly had never actually met this man in his life.

“Mr. Claus, do you know Mr. Taylor from his band, Queen?” you asked. 

Mr. Thomas shook his head. “I’m afraid not. Roger stopped writing to me when he was ten, and of course with all the new children, we lost touch.”

“Mr. Claus, how many children does Roger have?” you asked. 

“Why, he’s got two!” Mr. Thomas said excitedly. “Little Felix and baby Rory. Both very good children who will be getting sweets in their stockings this year!”

Roger’s eyes went wide as an owl’s. He looked over at you again. 

“I’ve never shared my children’s names publicly,” he said. “Ever.”

“And of course, there’ll be another next year, though he hasn’t got a name yet,” Mr. Thomas added with a twinkle in his eye. 

You froze as you absorbed those words. 

“I...I’m sorry, what?” you squeaked with shock. 

Miss Thomas looked at you like you were an idiot. 

“You’re pregnant, Y/N, didn’t you know?” she snapped. 

“How could I possibly know, I haven’t even missed a period!” you protested. 

You looked desperately at Roger. The color had drained from his face. You gaped at each other, in complete disbelief. 

“You’ve seen him, haven’t you?” Mr. Thomas said. “Your son?”

“M-my son?” you sputtered. 

Was that the little boy you were seeing? Was that why he resembled Roger with that little piece of you? 

Mr. Thomas’s eyes sparkled again as he winked at you. 

“I...I have been seeing a boy, but I didn’t…” you trailed off, brain muddled with everything you were experiencing.

“He’s trying to get your attention, Y/N,” Mr. Thomas said. “Have you spoken to him?”

“I’ve tried, but he always disappears,” you admitted, unsure what made you comfortable enough to say it. 

“He’s telling you he’s on the way,” he continued. “You ought to schedule an appointment with your doctor.”

You still couldn’t quite believe what was happening. You had no anticipated Mr. Thomas knowing about Roger’s children, much less the one that might exist in the future. And yet, to think that you might be carrying Roger’s son made you happier than you could recall feeling in years. 

“Mr. Thomas, I will take your case,” you finally said. 

“Hold on, this must be a trick,” Roger interjected. “I’m famous, he could have known -”

“Not if you’ve never shared their names,” you cut across him. 

“What if he’s a journalist who could somehow gain access to -”

“Roger, he’s a schoolteacher,” you interrupted again. Then you looked at Mr. Thomas. “And so much more.”

You smiled at him, which he returned. Roger was still struggling.

“This is crazy,” he said. “It’s absolutely mad.”

“There’s only one way to be sure,” you said.

You had Jane schedule you a doctor’s appointment that afternoon. An at-home pregnancy test would not do for this occasion. Roger insisted on coming with you, so before you knew it, you were sitting on an exam table, swinging your legs with anxiety. Roger was pacing in front of you. The results of this would mean Mr. Thomas was telling the truth, but it meant even more for you and Roger.

“Rog, if we are pregnant,” you began with a sigh. “What...what would you like to do about it?”

He looked at you and his brow furrowed. “How do you mean?”

Tears started to well up in your eyes. “I mean, would you want to keep it, or…?”

“Oh, my love,” he said gently, striding over to pull you into a hug. “Of course I want to keep it. It’s our child.”

“I know, but we’ve only just got back together, and we aren’t married,” you went on.

“Would you like to be?” he asked.

You blinked. “What?”

“Married,” he said. “Do you want to get married?”

“Is this a proposal?” you returned.

“It might be,” he replied. 

You frowned. “Roger, I don’t want to get married just because there might be a child. I want you to marry me only if you really want to marry me. And if you are going to propose, it can’t be in a bloody doctor’s office.”

He chuckled. “Don’t get upset, it was just a way to start the discussion.”

A beat passed and he became serious again.

“Y/N, I want to marry you because I love you more than I’ve ever loved anyone,” he said. “The only thing more foolish than getting married would be not getting married because we have wasted so much time already.”

Your mouth began to fall open as you looked at him.

“And no, this isn’t an official proposal,” he said. “I know the one you’ve always dreamed of. But this is where my heart is and I want you to know - I’d marry you right this fucking second, baby or no baby.”

“Rog, I -” you began, but then the doctor walked in. 

“Well, Miss Y/L/N, it looks like you are pregnant,” she said. 

The words washed over you. Pregnant. With Roger’s baby. The dream you had always wanted since before you even knew who you were. 

“I...I am?” you asked. “Are you sure?”

She chuckled and then turned the paper in her hand to show you. 

“I’m sure,” she said. “How did you know if you hadn’t missed a period?”

You looked between her and Roger, scrambling for an answer. 

“Father Christmas told us,” he said simply.

She blinked and looked at him like she hadn’t heard him right. “Father...Christmas?”

He nodded. “Father Christmas.”

“Well, I can’t exactly argue with that, can I?” she teased, smiling again. “So, we should start you on a few things to keep you and your baby healthy…”

She went on, and you tried to pay attention, but the only thing you could think of was the life you now knew existed within you. You looked down at your stomach, thinking of how it would look in nine months. You were having a baby. With the man of your dreams. You looked up at Roger, who was listening intently to the doctor. You were so grateful that you had found him again, you felt your eyes get warm with tears.

“Y/N?” the doctor said, looking at you with concern. “Are you alright?”

You nodded and swallowed the lump in your throat.

“Yeah, um, could we just have a minute?” you choked out.

“Of course,” she agreed. “Just call me if you need anything.”

She stepped out of the room and you looked at Roger through your tears. A shaky smile formed across your lips as you met his gaze.

“We’re having a baby!” you sobbed.

You slid off the exam table and threw yourself into his arms. He laughed as he caught you. Giving you a squeeze, he closed his eyes to the feeling of you against him. This was everything he had ever wanted as well. To be with you. To have children with you. To love you for the rest of his life.

“I love you so much,” he said, choking up himself. “I’m so happy.”

“Me too,” you returned. “Happy Christmas, Roger.”

“Happy Christmas, Y/N.”

You went to dinner that night as planned, only without the champagne. While you were originally intending to celebrate your promotion to partner, you were thrilled to celebrate a more important promotion - to mother. You felt this was the one that would change you the most, and you couldn’t wait to see how.

As you and Roger walked back to your flat, you passed some carolers. Among them stood the little boy. He had a mischievous grin on his face that made you look at his father and smile. The boy looked at you and waved before running off and slowly fading out. The wave didn’t feel like a goodbye. It felt more like “see you soon.” 

You were dragged to a stop because Roger had halted on the sidewalk.

“Rog?” you asked. “What is it?”

His eyes were fixed on the spot the boy had just disappeared from.

“Was that him?” he wondered, looking at you.

“You saw him?!” you cried.

“I did!” he returned excitedly. “He just waved and ran off! Was that him?!”

“Yeah!” you told him. “That was the boy!”

You took a giddy moment together and clasped hands.

“I’ve got the feeling we won’t be seeing him again,” you said. “Until, y’know, he’s actually here.”

“This feels so surreal,” he replied. “I can’t believe we’ve seen him.”

“It does all seem to be so magical,” you agreed. “But I don’t think I’ve ever been so happy. I know you’ve done this already, so -”

He cut you off with a sweet kiss.

“Y/N, no matter how many times I’ve done this, the thrill of being a father again doesn’t get old,” he said. “And to have a baby with you….well, you’re all I’ve ever wanted. I am just as excited now as I was with Felix. Maybe even more so.”

You beamed at him.

“I love you, Roger Taylor,” you said. 

“I love you more, Y/N Y/L/N,” he returned.

You kissed there in the street, caring nothing for the busyness around you. All that mattered was the man in your arms, the baby in your belly, and the future before all three of you.

[maythefandomsbwithu]

Hey I decided to post this on Tumblr cuz why not

tattoo artist Geralt/florist jaskier 1

It was just another day for Jaskier. It was June and business was booming. Or should he say blooming, he was a florist after all. The wedding season was well under way and orders were coming flooding in. He couldn’t wait for Ciri to finish her exams so she could help out in the shop more but for now he had to manage on his own.

He owned a quaint little shop called Dandelions Aren’t Weeds in a reasonably quiet part of town. It didn’t seem like much to an outsider but to Jaskier it was his pride and joy. He spent his days tending the plants and catering to his customers’ needs, often with a fresh bloom tucked behind his ear. He took pride not only in his business but in his appearance as well, dressing in fine, brightly coloured clothes that complimented his complexion, with just a light smear of makeup, the boldest on a day to day basis being a dark streak of liner under each eye. He looked as pretty and delicate as the flowers he sold but appearances could be deceiving.

The only thing out of the ordinary in the past weeks was all the work that had been going on the renovate the shop next door. Rumours had been doing the rounds of what it would be when it was finished. By the look of it, the one that proved to be right was that it was going to be a tattoo shop. Jaskier hoped it wouldn’t be off putting to some of his customers with more…traditional values. By the looks of it, it was due to open any day. He hoped his new neighbours would be nicer than the last ones. He sighed and continued putting together an arrangement. He had too much work to do to worry about that right now.

Another few weeks passed and Ciri finished her exams. He was definitely grateful to have an extra pair of hands; his niece was marvellous. She’d been helping him out at the weekends while she was in school. He’d decided to take her on full time over the summer, he needed the help and she was saving for a car. He definitely appreciated having someone to talk to with Ciri’s sharp wit and general good humour. Most people didn’t realise they were related though, they couldn’t see past Ciri’s blond tresses and paler skin. However, if one observed her carefully, her mannerisms were similar to Jaskier’s and she had the same glint in her eye just before she made a smart-assed comment.

The tattoo shop next door had opened too, a steady stream of people going in and out. Jaskier has yet to meet his new neighbours though. Oh well, he presumes they are busy with their opening week or something like that. He’d bump into them eventually.

Jaskier had been doing a bit of tidying up one evening. Even though they technically weren’t closed because the door was still open, it was too late for any more customers so he had sent Ciri to go and get them both a coffee from the café down the road and popped in his headphones. He hummed and bopped his way around the floor, cleaning as he went. He was so distracted that he didn’t notice the man who’d come in until he walked straight into him.

Jaskier snapped out of his day dream to find a man who was basically a blonde, tattooed superman standing in his flower shop. His long hair was drawn back from his face in a bun, accentuating a jawline Jaskier could cut himself on and, holy shit! Did he have gold eyes?!? He thought this stranger looked fantastic. Oh shit, he was staring at Jaskier, he should probably snap out of it and say something.

* Bad Jaskier! * He internally chided himself. *No ogling! *

“Can I help you mister….?” Jaskier asked, clearing his throat and yanking out his headphones. He had to be professional.

“Geralt, Geralt Rivia. I own the tattoo shop next door.” The man, Geralt, offered his hand. Jaskier noted then that if he wanted to, this guy could probably break his entire hand. However, while firm, the handshake bore no ill intent. Good.

“Ah! My new neighbour! Julian Alfred Pankratz, at your service, but I prefer Jaskier.” He gave a flourishing bow. When he said he’d bump into the neighbours eventually he hadn’t meant literally. “So, to what do I owe the pleasure of your presence this evening?” *Nothing like laying it on thick Jaskier* he thought to himself, inwardly cringing at his own eagerness.

~~ time rewind~~

Geralt was relieved the day that White Wolf Tattoos finally opened for business. The renovations and paper work of starting out on his own had caused him mountains of stress. But he had known it would all be worth it once he got up and running, and away from her.

Her being his ex-girlfriend and ex-boss Renfri. He knew from the start that mixing work and pleasure would be a bad idea but at the time he’d been too loved up to care. Everything had seemed fine at the start but she gradually showed her true colours, growing more manipulative and egotistical as their relationship progressed. It was stifling. He had no reprieve, even when they’d split, he’d see her at work every day. He couldn’t take it anymore.

That was how he came to leave Cursed Princess Tattoos to start up on his own. Well, not completely alone. He had Yennefer. Granted, she was his ex too, a long time ago, but they’d parted as friends and continued as such ever since. She had been his rock during the aftermath of his break up with Renfri. She let him live with her until he found his feet again, she’d become his business partner and done the lion’s share of the paper work while he nursed his broken heart. He didn’t know what he’d do without her.

It had taken months but his shop was finally about to take off, he could feel it. A number of his old clients had followed him when he’d left Renfri’s shop, insistent that he was the only reason they ever went near the place. There were new clients too, as expected in a new part of town, that flocked to his shop. Thanks to Yennefer, social media pages had acted as some of his best advertising. He was finally making a real name for himself.

The first week had flown by. He and Yennefer had been run off their feet constantly but he assumed things would calm down after a while. Thankfully a short period of calm came on Saturday evening, his last appointment finished sooner than expected so he could take a break and do some exploring in the neighbourhood. Yennefer assured him she could hold the fort, allowing him to take a walk.

As he’d wandered out of the shop his gaze fell on the florist’s next door. A client he had consulted earlier that day had mentioned wanting a floral piece, a flower shop was a great place to find inspiration. At first, he’d thought they might be closed but the door was open. As he entered his eyes fell on the most gorgeous man sweeping the floor. His brown hair looked soft and artfully styled; a yellow flower perched behind his ear. His dark eyeliner only emphasised how bright the blue of his eyes was, matched by his stylish blue shirt and jeans. He was stunning. Geralt was smitten. He’d realised long ago that he liked men and women but he hadn’t come across a man that he found so attractive in years.

He snapped out of his daze and cleared his throat hoping to get the man’s attention. No response. He tried again and still nothing. He stepped forward to tap the man on the shoulder only for him to turn around and walk straight into Geralt’s chest.

They stood for a moment, both dazed and staring at each other before the florist broke their silence.

“Can I help you mister…?” He’d trailed off while he yanked is headphones out. *Ah,* thought Geralt, *that’s why he didn’t notice me come in.* Geralt immediately offered his hand.

“Geralt, Geralt Rivia. I own the tattoo shop next door.” He shook the florist’s hand firmly, a hint of a smile going unnoticed in his eyes. He generally kept a very stoic outward demeanour.

“Ah! My new neighbour! Julian Alfred Pankratz, at your service, but I prefer Jaskier.”

So that was his name. Jaskier. He quirked an eyebrow at the flamboyant bow he received and resisted the urge to scoff. This was a lively one, he could tell. He practically radiated positive energy.

“So, to what do I owe the pleasure of your presence this evening?” Jaskier asked him. Another eyebrow quirk, his presence was a pleasure then, was it?

~~~Back to presnt~~~

“I came for inspiration.” He stated simply. It was the truth. He watched Jaskier’s face split into a grin.

“Oh really?” the florist, “In that case, I can very much help you. How do you want me?” With that he struck a ridiculous pose and made what Geralt could only presume he thought to be a model face, which was more of an exaggerated pout. He could only scoff and roll his eyes at the antics, ignoring any possible subtext of the latter comment.

“For a floral tattoo.” He clarified, watching as Jaskier’s smile never faltered.

Okay, maybe Jaskier was being a little too flirtatious with the ‘how do you want me’ thing but in his defence, Geralt never even flinched, merely rolled his eyes and moved on. He’d take that as a good sign.

“Ah! That I can help with too.” He gestured grandly around the shop. “See anything you like the look of?” He knew he certainly did, watching Geralt like a hawk as he had a glance around the shop. That man was something to behold.

Geralt shrugged, and moved to browse around the shop. If he was honest, the thing he most liked the look of was the owner, not his wares. He pushed that thought from his head and thought about his client. What had they discussed before?

“Sunflowers.” He said aloud, “My client said something about sunflowers.” He cast his gaze over the room searching for a bright flash of yellow, but although there were plenty of yellow flowers, there seemed to be no sunflowers. He frowned.

Jaskier noticed the frown. “I’m sorry. They’re quite popular at this time of the year, we sold out some time this afternoon.” It was just then that a flash of brilliance struck his brain. “Although, we’ll be getting more in first thing on Monday morning, if you would like to come by then?” He suggested, trying to mask the eagerness in his voice at the opportunity to see the tattoo artist again. He hadn’t known the man for more than five minutes but he felt drawn to him, despite the intimidating aura he gave off. He wanted to get to know him.

Geralt gave a deep, non-committal “Hmm.” As he glanced around the shop once more, before returning his gaze to the florist. He considered it. His client definitely said sunflowers specifically. And he certainly would not be opposed to seeing Jaskier again. He almost shook his head physically as he rid himself of that thought. *Stop it, its far too soon after her to be thinking about someone in that way* he reasoned with himself. While yes, the man was attractive, he knew nothing about him. They might have absolutely nothing in common. He might be just another heartbreak waiting to happen. With his stupid grin, and his stupid hair and his stupid, pretty eyes. *Fuck. * He needed to get a grip. Still, it wouldn’t do any harm to come back, with his customer’s best interests in mind, of course;

“Sure, I can find time.” That’s it Geralt, play it cool. He didn’t need to go rushing into anything. Besides it was basically just business and there’s no harm in being civil to the guy. Who knows, they might end up friends. Well, maybe acquaintances.

Jaskier tried to quell the traitorous swell of hope in his chest that he might have something resembling a chance with this guy. But, hey, if not maybe they could be friends at least. But for now, he must remain calm.

“Great, we open at nine.” He beamed. He glanced at the clock on the wall. Was that the time? “Also, we’re technically closed at the minute so….” He trailed off hoping Geralt would take the hint. While he would love to stand and chat all night, he had things to do.

Geralt answered with another “Hmm.”, this one more amused than the last. The smaller man certainly wasn’t behind the door. Normally most people would be more intimidated and would not try to get rid of his in such an unsubtle way.

“I’ll see you Monday then.” And with that he turned on his heel and left without another word.

“Nice meeting you!” Jaskier called after him with a wave. He was dumbfounded by the tattoo artist next door. He was so brooding and mysterious. A man of very few words and yet Jaskier was hanging off every “hmm”, let alone word. He needed to snap out of this. It was just a silly crush. And he could only imagine the stick he’d get if Ciri copped on. Speaking of, where was she with his iced latte? He needed to cool off.

[thelittlesttimelord]

The Littlest Timelord: The Fall of the Eleventh Chapter 45

TITLE: The Littlest Timelord: The Fall of the Eleventh Chapter 45 PAIRING: No Pairing RATING: T CHAPTER: 45/? SUMMARY: Elise Smith is now a teenaged Timelord. In addition to losing the Ponds, the fields of Trenzalore are calling. But first they have to figure out exactly who Clara Oswald is.

[A/N -This one is a bit longer because I couldn’t find a good enough place to split it. I got a few more surprises planned for the last chapter is next and then we move into the Christmas special! I can’t believe we (and Elise) have come this far.]

“I now pronounce you man and wife,” the priest said.

Clara cheered.

“You may kiss the bride.”

Elizabeth grabbed Ten’s face and kissed him.

“Is there a lot of this in the future?” the older Doctor asked.

“It does start to happen, yeah,” the Doctor told him.

“God speed, my love,” Elizabeth told Ten.

“I will be right back.”

They all ran into the TARDIS and Ten started her up.

“Right then, back to the future,” the Doctor said.

Elise looked around the control room and smiled.

“You've let this place go a bit,” the older Doctor said.

“Ah, it's his grunge phase. He grows out of it,” the Doctor said.

Elise hit him on the arm. “I happen to like it.”

“Yeah, you always did.”

“Don't you listen to them,” Ten told the console.

An alarm started going off and the console shocked him as the console room changed again. This time to a room with white walls.

“The desktop is glitching,” Ten said.

“Three of us from different time zones. It's trying to compensate,” the older Doctor told him.

“Hey, look. The round things,” the Doctor said to his younger incarnation.

“I love the round things.”

“What are the round things?”

“No idea.”

“Oh dear, the friction contrafibulator.” The Doctor ran to the console and flipped a switch. “Ha! There, stabilized.”

They were standing in the console room that Elise and Clara were used to.

“Oh, you've redecorated. I don't like it,” Ten told the Doctor.

“Oh. Oh yeah? Oh, you never do.”

Ten frowned.

“Listen, we're going to the National Gallery. The Zygons are underneath it.”

“No, UNIT HQ. They followed us there in the Black Archive,” Clara told them.

All three Doctors looked at her.

“Okay, so you've heard of that, then.”

“Lucky for us, I have a way to contact the Black Archive.” He pressed a few buttons and they heard Kate’s voice. “You really think so? Somewhere in your memory is a man called Brigadier Alistair Gordon Lethbridge Stewart. I am his daughter.”

“Science leads, Kate. Is that what you meant? Is that what your father meant?” the Doctor asked her.

“Doctor?”

“Space-Time Telegraph, Kate. A gift from me to your father, hotline straight to the TARDIS. I know about the Black Archive and I know about the security protocol. Kate, please. Please tell me you are not about to do something unbelievably stupid.”

“I'm sorry, Doctor. Switch it off.”

“Not as sorry as you will be. This is not a decision you will ever be able to live with,” Ten told her.

“Please listen to them, Kate!” Elise begged. She’d seen the damage the decision had done to her father.

The TARDIS lurched.

“Kate, we're trying to bring the TARDIS in. Why can't we land?” the Doctor asked.

“I said, switch it off,” Kate said.

“No, Kate, please. Just listen to me!”

The telegraph cut off.

“The Tower of London, totally TARDIS-proof,” Ten said.

“How can they do that?” Clara asked.

“Alien technology plus human stupidity. Trust me, it's unbeatable,” the Doctor told her.

The older Doctor looked at the stasis cube sitting on the console. “We don't need to land.”

“Yeah, we do. A tiny bit. Try and keep up,” Ten said.

“No, we don't. We don't. There is another way.” He picked up the stasis cube. “Cup-a-soup. What is cup-a-soup?”

The Doctor smiled and ran for the front door as Ten and Elise flew the TARDIS.

“Next time,” she muttered, “Next time you redesign the desktop, there better be a phone connected to the console!”

“I’ll keep that in mind,” Ten said.

Elise blushed.

The Doctor came back to the console. “It’s all taken care of.”

They placed their hands on the stasis cube. When Elise opened her eyes, they were in Gallifrey Falls.

Her hearts started beating quickly as memories bombarded her. Memories she thought she had forgotten. Of the screaming and the smell of death.

She fell to her knees with her hands on her head. Ten helped her up and she wrapped her arms around him, his scent calming her. She remembered clinging to him as the Timelords were sucked back into the Time War just leaving him and her and Wilf in the mansion. She remembered how scared she was and how gently he tucked her into bed that night.

He’d been dying, but he cared for her as best he could.

“Exterminate!”

The three Doctors turned to the Dalek with their sonic screwdrivers. It went crashing out of the painting into the Black Archive.

The Timelords stepped out and Elise fell to her knees again.

Clara wrapped her arm around the girl.

“Hello,” the older Doctor said.

“I'm the Doctor,” Ten told them.

“Sorry about the Dalek,” the Doctor said.

“Also the showing off,” Clara added.

The Doctor stalked up to Kate. “Kate Lethbridge Stewart, what in the name of sanity are you doing?”

“The countdown can only be halted at my personal command. There's nothing you can do,” Kate told them.

“Except make you both agree to halt it,” Ten said.

“Not even for three of you.”

“You're about to murder millions of people,” the older Doctor said.

“To save billions. How many times have you made that calculation?”

1:36 remained on the clock.

“Once. Turned me into the man I am now. I'm not even sure who that is any more,” the Doctor told her.

“You tell yourself it's justified, but it's a lie. Because what I did that day was wrong. Just wrong,” Ten said.

“And, because I got it wrong, I'm going to make you get it right.”

The two Doctors pulled up a set of chairs and sat down, putting their feet up on the table.

“How?” Kate asked.

“Any second now, you're going to stop that countdown. Both of you, together,” Ten said.

“Then you're going to negotiate the most perfect treaty of all time,” the Doctor added.

“Safeguards all round, completely fair on both sides.”

“And the key to perfect negotiation?”

“Not knowing what side you're on.”

They both stood up and took out their sonic screwdrivers.

“So, for the next few hours, until we decide to let you out…”

“No one in this room will be able to remember if they're human…”

“Or Zygon.”

“Whoops a daisy.”

Ten jumped onto the table, the Doctor following. They all soniced the memory filter in the ceiling.

The countdown now said 7.

“Cancel the detonation!” both Kate’s yelled.

“Peace in our time,” the Doctor said.

They jumped down and the two Kate’s discussed the treaty while Elise looked around the Black Archive.

“I’ve missed you.”

Elise jumped and saw her father’s previous incarnation standing beside her. “How can you miss me? You don’t even know who I am!”

“I know your favorite flowers are sunflowers. You’re constantly reading books, but you also love to paint and draw. You rarely sleep anymore because of nightmares and I know that underneath all your attitude is a scared little girl. You just don’t want him to know.”

Elise looked over at her father, standing with the Kate’s.

“I know so much about you. You’re my best friend and I miss you.”

Elise felt her hearts break. His brown eyes were so sad when he looked at her. Just like in the Naismith Mansion. Before he regenerated.

Clara ran over to the Doctor. “He’s gone. I think he’s going to do it. We have to stop him.”

Elise started to walk to her TARDIS, but Ten grabbed her wrist.

“Please. One more time.”

Elise had never met this Doctor before today, but he clearly needed this so she went with him into his TARDIS.

He put her in flight and she swayed and lurched.

“You are a worse driver than my father!” Elise yelled.

“You love it!”

The TARDIS landed and the two were thrown to the floor.

Elise started laughing and Ten helped her up.

“Thank you,” he told her.

Elise smiled at him. “No, thank you.” She’d never really gotten the chance to get to know him and as much as this day had been taxing on her, she was glad she got to meet him. And it was obvious that she met him some time in her future.

They stepped out of the TARDIS and saw the older Doctor standing there in front of a big red button.

“I told you. He hasn’t done it yet,” Clara said.

Elise looked around. “It’s the barn. The barn you told me about as a child.”

“Go away now, all of you. This is for me,” the older Doctor said.

“These events should be time-locked. We shouldn't even be here,” Ten said.

“Well by that logic, I shouldn’t be here and yet here I am,” Elise told him.

“So something let us through,” the Doctor said.

“Go back. Go back to your lives. Go and be the Doctor that I could never be. Make it worthwhile,” the older Doctor said. He placed his hand on the button.

“All those years, burying you in my memory,” Ten said.

“Pretending you didn't exist. Keeping you a secret, even from myself,” the Doctor added.

“Pretending you weren't the Doctor, when you were the Doctor more than anybody else.”

“You were the Doctor on the day it wasn't possible to get it right.”

They approached him.

“But this time…”

“You don't have to do it alone.”

They put their hands on the button.

“Thank you,” the older Doctor said.

“What we do today is not out of fear or hatred. It is done because there is no other way,” Ten said.

“And it is done in the name of the many live we are failing to save,” the Doctor said. He looked at Clara, who was shaking her head.

Elise stood there with tears in her eyes but like when they lost the Ponds, she wasn’t crying.

“Clara? What? What is it? What?” the Doctor asked her.

“Nothing.”

“No, it's something. Tell me.”

“You told me you wiped out your own people. I just. I never pictured you doing it, that's all.”

The barn around them went dark and they were standing in the Time War. The buildings were burning and families were screaming.

Elise felt like she was a child again and the dam burst. Tears flowed down her cheeks and she let out a scream.

The Doctor rushed to her side and he wrapped his arms around her. He pressed his forehead to her temple and he saw the Elise he’d rescued. The one with the big fearful blue eyes. This Elise clung to him like she had in the Naismith Mansion.

Her fingernails dug into his coat as she rocked back and forth. It’d been a while since she’d had a meltdown and today was just much for her to handle.

“What's happening?” Clara asked.

“Nothing. It's a projection,” the older Doctor said.

“These are the people you're going to burn?”

“There isn't anything we can do,” Ten said, looking at Elise crying uncontrollably in her father’s arms. He walked over to them and took Elise from the Doctor as he stood up.

The Doctor turned to Clara. “He’s right. There isn't another way. There never was. Either I destroy my own people or let the universe burn.”

“Look at you. The three of you. The warrior, the hero, and you.”

“And what am I?”

“Have you really forgotten?”

“Yes. Maybe, yes.”

“We've got enough warriors. Any old idiot can be a hero.”

“Then what do I do?”

“Be a Doctor.” He turned around and saw Elise standing. She wiped at her eyes, while Ten rubbed her back. “When I was younger, she said the name you choose is a promise. What was it?”

“Never cruel or cowardly,” Ten said.

“Never give up, never give in,” the older Doctor added.

The images around them faded and they were standing back in the barn.

“You're not actually suggesting that we change our own personal history?” Ten asked.

“We change history all the time. I'm suggesting far worse,” the Doctor said.

“What, exactly?” the older Doctor asked.

“Gentlemen, I have had four hundred years to think about this. I've changed my mind.” The Doctor soniced the red button back into the box.

“There's still a billion billion Daleks up there, attacking,” the older Doctor said.

“Yeah, there is. There is.”

“But there's something those billion billion Daleks don't know,” Ten told him.

“Because if they did, they'd probably send for reinforcements,” the Doctor added.

“What? What don't they know?” Clara asked.

“This time, there's three of us.”

“Oh! Oh, yes, that is good. That is brilliant!” the older Doctor said.

“Oh, oh, oh, I'm getting that too! That is brilliant!” Ten said, catching onto the plan.

“Ha, ha, ha! I've been thinking about it for centuries,” the Doctor told them.

“She didn't just show me any old future, she showed me exactly the future I needed to see,” the older Doctor cried.

“Eh? Who did?” the Doctor asked.

“Oh, Bad Wolf girl, I could kiss you!”

“Sorry, did you just say Bad Wolf?” Ten asked.

“So what are we doing? What's the plan?” Clara asked.

“The Dalek fleets are surrounding Gallifrey, firing on it constantly,” the older Doctor said.

“The Sky Trench is holding, but what if the whole planet just disappeared?” Ten asked.

“Tiny bit of an ask,” Clara said.

“I’m sorry. Wait. Back up. What do you mean disappear?” Elise asked.

“The Daleks would be firing on each other. They'd destroy themselves in their own crossfire,” Ten explained.

“Gallifrey would be gone, the Daleks would be destroyed, and it would look to the rest of the universe as if they'd annihilated each other,” the older Doctor said.

“But where would Gallifrey be?” Clara asked.

“Frozen. Frozen in an instant of time, safe and hidden away,” Ten said.

“Exactly,” the Doctor said.

It finally hit Elise. “Like a painting.”

[feverinfeveroutfic]

chapter six: the black night

Sam and Alex spent about an hour of that first day in Germany there in the hotel room, away from the world, and with only each other. Neither of them were fatigued from the overnight flight. She had considered on taking her journal out for herself and for a drawing of something, much like how she made a special drawing for the show in England. But she had no idea if she should share her work with Alex, especially when he caught a glimpse of her doodling a sunflower on the inside of the journal's cover.

He sat next to her on the bed, in his little shorts, white socks, and his Gary Moore shirt, and with his legs pulled up a bit, and his hands right between his thighs. She gasped at his looking on at what she was doing and she covered up the doodle with her hand. He in turn gasped in response to that. She realized that he had seen her art but he hadn't known that it was actually her.

“Is it okay if I have a peek?” he asked her in a small voice and with his eyebrows raised which enlarged his deep eyes a bit.

“It's—It's kind of private, though,” she told him.

“I liked it, though,” he confessed, still in a small voice. “Basquiat died a few weeks ago, so I like to see another artist ascend to the position of greatness at some point.”

“I'm no Basquiat, though,” she insisted.

“Well, yeah. Every artist is unique. Basquiat was one of a kind—and even from a small sliver of a glimpse into your art book here, I can tell that you yourself are one of a kind. And that little thing you were drawing just there piqued my interest a bit. So—” He bowed his head and he raised his eyebrows even more, which softened his face to that of a young boy. “—is it okay if I have a little peek?”

He then lifted his head.

“I mean, it's only fair. You got to see the beginnings of our new album—twice! You're also seeing the transition of eras between albums.”

She swallowed and she leaned forward a bit to make sure that they were alone in the hotel room: Greg had gone off with Eric and Louie to have breakfast, while Chuck and Tiffany went out somewhere.

She then moved her hand out of the way to show him the little sunflower.

“Oh! Have you seen the painting that Vincent van Gogh did? The one of the sunflowers?”

“I have, yes! A few times, actually! It's—probably one of my favorites from him, to be honest.”

His face then lit up and he snapped his fingers.

“You know—we are in Europe, and on the western side of the Iron Curtain no less. It's not like we're back on the West Coast where you kind of have to set aside a whole few days just to go from L.A. to some place in Oregon or wherever. We can get on a train and go up to Frankfurt and visit a museum.”

“Would you take me there?” she gasped at that.

“Samantha, this is Europe,” he told her. “Ever since the war ended, they've been all about a revival of culture here. So—you know, I don't really wanna sit around here in my shorts and watch German TV all day long, either. I know you don't, too.”

“I don't,” she confessed with a shake of her head.

“Well, then.” He clicked off the television and he stretched out his long lanky legs before him. “Let me put some pants on and we'll catch the next train up to Frankfurt. It's only a few hours anyways.”

“Maybe we can go up to Copenhagen, too?”

He stopped. “If there's time today, we shall see.” He flashed her a wink and then he swung his legs over the edge of the mattress, and he walked over to the bathroom with his jeans. Sam closed her journal and she tucked her pencil right up next to the spine as she set it off to the side on the bed cover. She climbed off herself to put her shoes back on; soon he came back out with his black hair a bit more frizzy than she had seen before and a big silver skull ring on his right hand.

“I can see you being a continental of sorts, Alex,” she confessed.

“A continental?” he laughed.

“Yeah. I mean, you're smart and you're in touch with the world at large, and you like art, too.”

“I dunno,” he said with a shrug, “I feel like if you're considered a continental, you actually have to hail from the continent of Europe. Remember, the last name is not only Jewish but it's Eastern European.”

He adjusted the big ring on his right ring finger: it almost looked too big for his hand.

“Why a skull?” she chuckled at him.

“Why not?” he asked as he flashed it to her. “It's actually a symbol of life. Like a carpe diem—a reminder that the clock is ticking for me and for all of us. I also wanna think for myself, too. I've also got it on my right hand because I ain't married.”

“Mr. Swinger,” she teased him, and he scoffed at that. “You are in fact a continental!” She picked up her purse and slung it over her shoulder.

“I've got a bit of money on me,” he assured her. “It's not a lot 'cause of the whole exchange rate and everything, but it's better than nothing, though.”

“I've got money, too,” she told him as they stepped out of there and into the hallway. He shut the door and tucked the room key into his front pocket.

“Remember if someone asks us, we're just hanging out together,” she told him as they walked on to the lobby and the front doors.

“Well, yeah, of course.” He chuckled at that, and they kept on going to the sidewalk outside. Chuck and Tiffany strode back into the hotel right then.

“Where you guys going?” he asked them in a big jovial voice.

“Frankfurt,” Alex promptly replied. “Taking the train up.”

“Have fun, kids,” Tiffany said with a smile on her face.

A beautiful but gray day there in Bavaria: Alex peered up to the sky overhead with his eyes squinted and his lips parted a bit as if he yearned for a glass of water.

“Think I could've brought a jacket with me?” he wondered aloud; the hazy sunlight made his smooth skin appear even more smooth than before. The little tuft of gray almost stood straight up over his brow.

“Nah, I think we'll be fine,” Sam assured him as she took out her sunglasses from her purse and put them upon her face. They walked side by side down the sidewalk: right at the corner was the sign to the train station, across the street and down the block from there.

“The trains around here run like clockwork,” he told her as they awaited at the corner, “especially those in Switzerland.”

“Like literal clockwork over there,” she said with a grin on her face.

“Exactly!” he chuckled at that. “They're nothing like the trains or the buses back in the States.” He ran his fingers through his hair, and especially through his gray stripe. “Think it's time to dye my hair again.”

“Why's that?” she asked him.

“To rid of this little thing of gray on my head.”

“Really?”

“Yeah.”

“I kinda like it.”

“You do?”

“Yeah. It's interesting. Like, why is it in a single little plume upon your head like that and not all over?”

“I wish I knew,” he confessed and they crossed the street together. Once he had caught up to her, he spoke up again.

“A few years back, I was brushing my hair and I happened to look down to the sink, and I saw a gray hair there. I picked it up and I wondered where it could've come from. So I showed it to my mom and she goes, 'oh, it's probably from your dad.' But my dad's completely and totally bald, though. He hasn't had hair on his head since before I was born—at least that's according to her, anyway.”

“Wow.” Sam was stunned by that.

“Yeah, and soon another one grew back there.” She thought of the nickname she, Aurora, and Marla had given him at the Legacy shows: the boy with the pearl in his hair. “And, you know that whole thing where you shouldn't pluck gray hairs because more will grow in their place?”

“Sort of, yeah.”

“Well, my mom told me not to do it for that very reason. What did I do?”

“You plucked that one?”

“Yeah. Next thing I know, I got a whole little pocket of gray right there in a few months time.”

She laughed at that.

“And yeah—I have to confess, I'm particularly self conscious of it.”

She stopped laughing right then.

“Aw. Really?”

He nodded his head at that with a downcast look upon his face.

“It makes me look old, you know?” he continued with a lean into her own face. “Like, I'm nineteen looking on at my twenties soon. I shouldn't be going gray yet.”

“But I like it, though,” she insisted. “Like I said, it's interesting.”

He shrugged at that. “I've had people ask me if it's a birthmark, but who knows, really.”

Sam thought about the conversation that she had had with Aurora and Marla about that little pearl of gray, about the boy with the pearl in his hair. She couldn't exactly recall everything about it as he held the train station door for her.

“Thank you, dear gentleman,” she told him as she took off her sunglasses before she headed inside.

“Herr Skolnick and Fraulein Shelley,” he corrected her as he shut the glass door behind them. “That's the only German I know so far. That's according to this guy Louie talked to while we were in there.”

“Pronounced 'froy line', you said?” she asked.

“Yeah, he broke it down for the two of us, too. It literally means 'young lady.' Kind of ironic because I'm actually younger of the two of us.”

Sam giggled at that and he led her over to the ticket booth, which stood wide open just for them.

“Two single adults to Frankfurt, please—round trip,” he kindly told the man, and he took his wallet out from his front pocket.

“A combination for you and your girlfriend, too?” he asked Alex in a light German accent, and he was taken aback by that.

“Oh, she's not my—” He gestured to Sam.

“Couples get half off on the midday rides,” he continued, and Alex and Sam looked on at each other with knowing glances.

“Uh—yeah, we'll take it,” Alex told the man; and he snickered at the whole notion. “Good idea, right, babe?”

“Yeah, baby!” Sam went along with it. Alex took out a couple of euros from hiding and the man inside handed him a pair of tickets.

“For the Amerikanischer and his kleine Dame.”

“How do we say 'thank you'?” he asked the man.

“Danke schoen. 'Please' is bitte.”

“Oh, right, right, right! Uh, yeah, danke schoen.” He gazed on at Sam with a bemused look on his face, but she couldn't help but giggle at him as he handed one of the two to her. All the way towards the platform, she resisted laughing more at him. They stood there in anticipation of the train and the gray sky overhead darkened a bit with more rain clouds. Alex cupped a hand to his mouth to stifle his laughter. Sam felt her face grow warm from the feeling.

“Man,” he muttered and he shook his head.

“For real. I was not expecting that.”

He snickered some more.

“Couldn't beat that with a stick, though,” he said in a low voice.

“No way.” Sam thought of Bill right then and his incessant penny pinching. At least there she was headed into an art museum in central Germany and not a little market the size of someone's house down the street from her. There was a good reason with Alex: if she put any thought into Bill's behavior, it would ruin her day out with Alex himself.

“I got us the parlor car, by the way,” he told her; far off to his left, the silver train turned the corner on the railroad.

“Oh, you big stud!” she joked as she knew the man in the booth was still in earshot from there. He chuckled at that. The train rolled up before them and they soon boarded it one after the other. They were greeted by the warmth and comfort of the parlor car: nothing like the parlor cars back in the States for sure.

They took the spots closest to the window, but before she took her seat there, Sam spotted a small bar tucked in the far corner of the car behind them.

“Care for some authentic German beer?” she offered him with a gesture towards the bar.

“Bitte, meine Dame,” he joked, and she giggled at him and then she stopped. “Wait, that was good. You are a continental!”

The train rolled forward and she made her way over to the heavy white stone bar tucked in the corner. The female tender with the short bob of maroon tinted black hair showed her a smile in response.

“Two glasses of—ooh, Belgian beer, please,” she said.

“Two glasses, you said?” the woman echoed in a thick French accent.

“Uh, yeah—for me and my boyfriend over there,” she told her, and she had a difficult time in stifling a giggle at that. The bartender poured her and Alex a pair of glasses of that rich dark Belgian beer; when she handed the first glass to Sam, she looked behind her to the seat next to the window and gasped.

“Oh, my god, 'e is a beautiful boy,” said the woman in a hushed voice.

“Yeah, I guess he is,” Sam told her with a shrug.

“No—cherie, listen to me. 'E is a beautiful young man. I 'ave never seen a boy so beautiful as 'im.” She turned her head back in Alex's direction: the way the gray light of the day glowed back onto his milky skin so it resembled to porcelain and onto the plume of gray upon his head, and his jet black hair appeared blacker than normal. She handed Sam the next glass of beer. “You Americans—you must take care of one another and love one another. Take good care of 'im.”

Even though Alex wasn't her boyfriend, she couldn't help but wonder how much longer they could carry the whole charade out there in Europe.

“How much are these?” she asked with a gesture to the glasses.

“Five euros, s'il vous plait.”

Sam handed her five bills and then she picked up the glasses. “Is it—merci?” she asked her.

“Oui! Merci beaucoup.”

“Uh, merci beaucoup! He's learning German and I'm learning French so it—just makes sense.”

“Right? Enjoy your ride, ma cherie.”

Sam felt her face grow warm once more as she headed back to the seat across from Alex.

“Looking—as—red as a—cherry—tomato,” he stammered given neither of them were sure the woman was within hearing range of them. Sam giggled at him and he shrugged his shoulders; she handed him the glass before she took a seat across from him.

“I should tell you that this place that we're playing at this weekend, Schweinfurt—it's a few miles from the Iron Curtain. Like the border to East Germany is literally right down the street from there. I looked at it on this atlas that my parents have before we left—it's nuts.”

“Oh, wow, really?”

“Yeah—and I saw the train route while I was getting tickets in there. It's right after Nuremberg, too. We get to Nuremberg and then we hang a left and we're in Schweinfurt. Apparently, we have a stopover there!”

“Cool! So we get to see a little peek at it?”

“Exactly. Stopover there and then it's onto Frankfurt. Beyond that is Cologne and Essen, and then Amsterdam. But that's a full day's trip, though—Munich to Amsterdam.”

“Like, something to set aside for a whole trip altogether.”

“Right! We went to Amsterdam last summer for that festival that we played—you know, Eindhoven. Beautiful there. You think Germany's beautiful. I wanted to visit the van Gogh museum but we were kinda strapped for time, though.”

“Some day,” she remarked.

“Definitely, some day.” He raised his glas to her and they made a toast to each other. They took a sip of the Belgian beer in unison: nothing like any drink Sam had had back in the States, or even the cocktails that she had with Marla back in England. This was strong and full but nothing to get the both of them drunk, however.

“Oh, my god,” she blurted out as she brought a hand to her chest.

“Yeah, that's unreal.” He gaped at the sensation and rolled his eyes a bit, and she giggled at him, and he showed her a smile in return.

Within the hour, they stopped over in Schweinfurt and Alex pointed out the window. Beyond the train station was a street: off in the distance, Sam could see the pavement recede back into the heart of the city. A part of her expected to see a full on brigade off in the distance but she knew that the Soviet Union still loomed over them, and even more so from the station there at the edge of West Germany. Indeed, she spotted two men on the sidewalk wrapped in red and black overcoats and with batons latched to their belts.

“Soviets,” Alex pointed out. “See the hammer and sickle on their chests?”

Sam took a closer look: embroidered on their chests were little medallions. Even from the train window, she could make out the shape of the hammer and sickle inside there. It almost didn't even look real, even from a distance.

“Oh, wow,” she breathed out.

“I remember when we came over here last summer to play at Eindhoven festival and Louie, Greg, and I came here to Germany first before Chuck and Eric did, and I saw one of them when we got close to the border. Probably the most surreal moment of my life. It's like 'oh my god, it's real.' You know what I mean?”

“Oh, yeah!”

Those men merely stood there on the sidewalk as if they awaited something. But within time, the train rolled out of the station and westward to Frankfurt. But at that point, it was almost three in the afternoon, which meant they only had a couple of hours to relish in an art museum.

But there was absolutely nothing in the world that Sam could get past and that was the big beaming smile on Alex's face the whole rest of the afternoon.

The cold expression that she had grown almost all too familiar with had completely vanished and gave way to one of true joy. In those few hours as they walked along the cobblestones and visited a bakery for a bite of late lunch of open faced sandwiches and Black Forest cake, and then they continued on in search of the arts to nourish themselves further, every time Sam looked over at him, he looked up at all the buildings around them with a sweet smile plastered on his face. The happiest he had been up to that point, and he wasn't even with Testament right at that moment.

They were alone together in Germany and he enjoyed every moment of it.

At one point as they walked to a bookstore on a corner, she considered putting her arm around his shoulder. She had to stop herself, however: he wasn't her boyfriend.

But he certainly felt like it as she bought him a big glazed sugar cookie from another bakery.

“I'm gonna gain so much weight hanging out with you, Samantha,” he joked as he took a slow sensual bite; he rolled his eyes into the back of his head as if he experienced an orgasm.

“Get some meat on those bones,” she retorted, and the bakers laughed at that.

By the time the sun hung low over the horizon, and the gray sky began to change colors to a rich royal blue, they began back to the train station. Alex lovingly patted his stomach by the time they stepped on the platform. She had never seen him more contented as they gave the conductor their tickets before they stepped aboard. He snuggled down in the seat by the window on the right side: that time, they didn't have a table between them.

“Back to Schweinfurt!” he declared with a big beaming smile on his face.

It was the happiest she had ever seen Alex; she nestled close to him as if he was in fact her boyfriend at that point. His body was warm from the food, his face was rosy from the Belgian beer, and his hair was soft from the moisture in the gray skies overhead. Even if it was only for a few hours, she knew she had done him good that day. She had done what the bartender in the previous train wanted her to do for him.

As the train started moving, he leaned back in the seat and closed his eyes. That time there was no arm rest between them, but a bit of a divet separated their seats, so she couldn't lean all the way over to him to cuddle with him. But he was warm and full: she had to relish in the soft feeling from his body.

He gave his dark hair a little toss and he looked at her with that sweet smile still upon his face.

“Still wanna dye your hair again?” she asked him as she eyed the gray tuft over his brow. He shrugged his shoulders.

“Don't really know, to be honest,” he confessed, “after today, I just might keep it.”

“As black as the very night itself,” she whispered to him.

“As black as night—but the gray as bright as day.” He winked at her when he said that and she beamed at him.

Soon, they made their stopover in Schweinfurt and that time around, they had enough time to step off the train. Sam went on to the ladies' room while Alex made his way over to the ticket booth for a question.

She surfaced out of there when she spotted those black curls right in front of her, but without his guitar on his back.

“Hey, Joey,” she greeted him in a soft voice, and he turned his head and flashed her a grin.

“What you doin' here?” he asked her.

“Oh, just—checking the place out,” she replied; she didn't dare tell him that she was there with Alex lest he fly off the handle at the mention of his name.

“You know, we're only a little ways away from the border of East Germany,” he told her.

“Oh, yeah, yeah, I know.”

“We get any closer—goin' down this street here—we get stopped by the cops over there.” He glanced up to the clock on the far wall. “We better hustle on back to the train.”

“I should ask you what you're doing here, then,” she retorted back to him, and she couldn't resist the grin on her face.

“I'm doin' what you're doin' and checkin' the whole place out. I got nothin' better to do, to be perfectly honest wit' ya.”

“Well...” She thought about Alex in the back of the train station, and his talking to the man in the ticket booth over there.

“Well, what? You wanna mosey on back to Munich and go grab a li'l bite to eat?”

The warm, soft feeling that Alex had bestowed onto her was still powerful and she desired for more of it. “That's real kind of you, Joey, but—”

“Oh, c'mon! You're my girlfriend after all. I can't hang out with my girlfriend in Germany?”

“You have to ask first,” she pointed out with a wag of her finger. The ringing of a bell caught their attention.

“We have to get going,” he told her and he raised his dark eyebrows at her. He began towards the train outside but Alex was still somewhere back there. They were about to leave soon; she chased after Joey towards the platform.

“By the way, I should have to ask you—how'd you get so tan?”

“I got a bit sunburnt a few months ago,” he told her with a shrug of his shoulders. “It all just peeled right off and underneath was all as brown as a coffee bean.”

The soles of his shoes padded on the concrete before them and she hurried after him. She peered over her shoulder: Alex was nowhere to be seen behind them.

Joey reached out for her hand and he led her onto the parlor car of the train, the exact same car as when she and Alex rode up to Amsterdam together. He took one step onto the floor of the doorway and she followed suit. She hung there in anticipation of him. He was somewhere in there.

She would stand there and wait for him if she had to. Even if it meant blocking passengers from boarding themselves. Even if it meant throwing all of the trains completely off schedule from each other.

“Sam?” Joey called back to her.

“Coming!” she replied, and she peered out to the incoming darkness. He ducked out from the station. She recognized that little tuft of gray from afar. He craned his neck in search of her. Even though he wasn't her boyfriend, he certainly felt as such right there as he looked for her.

She waved at him so as to grab his attention. She dared not call his name given Joey was right behind her.

“Sam!” Joey called again.

“Alex!” she blurted out. “Alex!” He turned his head right as the last few passengers boarded the car in front of her. He bolted right there and ran towards her. The train was about to leave right there.

“Hey!” Alex called after her.

“Sam, c'mon!” Joey insisted and he grabbed her by the hand and he took her aboard the train. The doors closed before Alex could come on board himself. He pounded on the doors but it was useless and too late at that point. The train rolled forward right then and there.

“HEY WHAT THE FUCK!” he shouted on the other side of the glass; his big voice echoed over the train. Joey dragged her to the seats on the other side of the train, unbeknownst to it all. Sam stood there before him, unsure as to what to do next. She knew that Joey was turning a blind eye to him.

“HEY!” Alex called out and he waved his arms about. She gasped at the sight of him there on the platform with his arms straight up in the air. She turned to Joey, oblivious to what had happened.

“Oh, no,” she muttered under her breath. She knew that the next train would be there soon enough, but she still left Alex behind, and about a mile away from the border no less. At least they were still in West Germany and they hadn't crossed over the Iron Curtain at any given moment. But if what he had told her about it remained true, he was still potentially within harm's way.

“FUCK!” was the last thing she heard before the train went around the corner and away from him. Her false boyfriend left behind about a mile from the edge of the Iron Curtain, and she went with her real boyfriend at that point.

“Care for a cuppa Joey?” Joey himself offered to her with that lopsided grin on his face.

“Um—sure.” She couldn't help from feeling out the sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach, and especially the heavy feeling inside of her chest. She left Alex behind, but then again, it wasn't exactly her fault. The train was about to leave.

Their small white china cups of coffee soon arrived and Joey was eager for the first taste. She couldn't enjoy it however. She kept on thinking about Alex, all by himself at a strange train station. She also missed the nickname Joey had given the cups of coffee as well: she couldn't exactly enjoy that for herself, either.

It would be another hour and a half before they returned to the station in Munich, and all the while, she thought of him. She wanted to cry but she couldn't, not with Joey right there in front of her.

By the time they reached the station in Munich, it was almost nine thirty and she couldn't bear to look at everyone because she knew someone would ask her what happened. Lucky for her, Joey led her to a small stretch of grass right across the street from their hotel, one that overlooked a small dark lake; before them was a narrow cobblestone walkway and a few metal tables accompanied with spindly chairs. He gestured for her to have a seat on the chair closest to her.

“I'll be right back,” he told her, and she nodded at him. She sat there, all alone, in a foreign city, and she had no idea as to what to say to Alex when he showed up again, that is if he did. Surely he knew that she waited for him at the door. Surely he would understand.

Joey soon returned to her from across the street with two cups of water in hand, and he handed her the one in his left.

“So—you guys are—touring?” she started with a clearing of her throat; she took a sip and the cold feeling upon her tongue was all she needed to feel right then.

“Yeah.” Joey turned his attention to her, complete with a thoughtful look on his face. “By the way, you've been awful quiet lately. I don't ever recall you being so quiet.”

“Oh, it's—it's nothing,” she sputtered out. “I'm just—in awe of—everything.”

Something moved about down on the grass. She spotted that little tuft of gray hair over his brow. He flashed Joey a dirty look and he looked at her with a cold glare. Even from a distance, she could feel his anger. She took a sip of her water as he walked on over to the dry patch of grass down by the waters.

Joey gave his black curls a little toss back from his neck and he showed her that lopsided grin. He then rested the side of his head within the palm of his hand.

“God, you know—it really is just so beautiful here,” he remarked with a glance up to the black sky overhead.

“Yeah—it really is,” she said with a look right into his eyes. “Like—upstate, but more.”

“Right?” She looked into his eyes so she wouldn't have to see what Alex was doing. But she could still see him out of the corner of her eye. Joey peered over his shoulder to the cobblestone walkway behind him with his dark lips still upturned in a joyous smile.

Alex had taken his spot there on the grass not too far from them, and he leaned back onto his elbows and stretched out his legs. Sam wondered where exactly she had gone wrong there with him. She would have to go back to the room with him, after she left him there within range of East Germany to his own whims. She left him there all by himself and he had hardly any money of him to top it all off.

When Joey wasn't looking, she had to talk to him.

Joey himself downed the whole cup of water in four large gulps.

“Let me get you some dinner,” he offered her as he set the cup down on the table.

“Oh, no, Joey it's—it's okay. I'm not hungry.”

“What?” he asked her with a bit of a mocking tone to his voice.

“I really am not hungry.”

“Oh, come on,” he encouraged her. “Some brats and sauerkraut to fill your cute li'l belly—I wanna treat my girlfriend well!”

She swallowed as he stood to his feet and rounded the side of the table. She watched him go across the street to the cafe next door to the hotel: she watched him go inside.

And then she turned her head to the right. Alex had turned around so he could watch her from a distance.

She walked up to him and he glared at her.

“Hey—about earlier,” she started, and he shook his head and he brought a hand to his brow as if he had a headache. She swallowed. She knew she had messed up by leaving him there, and she had to face the music with him, but she couldn't resist the sinking feeling in her chest.

“Alex, listen, he's my boyfriend,” she insisted, and she could feel her stomach twisting itself into a tight knot. Alex stood upright then and he towered over her.

“I know,” he said, terse. “But what I can't understand is what you continually see in him, though. And you ditched me, too!”

She paused right there and her mouth fell dry as a bone, more dry than any alcoholic drink ever left it feeling in the past. He shook his head about at her and nothing could deny the look of disgust on his face, either.

“You,” he stammered and he grew angrier and angrier right there, right before her, “you—you—fucking ditched me right by the boundary to East Germany. You ditched me when you knew damn well that there are Soviet soldiers over that way. How—” His bottom lip trembled and his face turned bright pink. The look of anger on his face twisted into one of heartbreak. They weren't in a relationship but she could tell that she had broken his heart.

“How—How—How could you?” he sputtered and he buried his face in his hands. Sam lunged for him but he pushed her hands away from him.

“No!” he yelped with furious tears in his eyes. “No! No, god dammit!”

“Alex, listen to me—”

“How could you become the very thing you are up against!” His voice broke to where she could barely hear him.

“What?” Sam demanded, stunned.

“You behaved just like that sad sack of nothing you call a friend, Aurora. She made my birthday all about her—you made our day out all about you. How could you!”

“Don't insult Aurora like that!” she spat, but Alex bowed his head again and he ran away from her and back to the lobby. She fumed at him even though he couldn't see her. How could he compare her to Aurora! But at the same time, as she stood there on the grass with her hands down by her waist, she couldn't help but wonder exactly what he meant by that.

She had gone off with Joey and left Alex at the train station, right within range of those Soviet soldiers.

She did.

But he had no right to say that about Aurora, even after everything she had done in the past year.

But his tears told her a different story. He wept at the very notion itself. Joey had already gone back to his room as well. She fetched up a sigh.

She had dinner with Joey but she wasn't in any mood to be with him after the fact. The day was about Alex, and she had been caught up in her own unfinished business all the while.

“I might just go to bed early, babe,” she told him as Joey walked her back to the room. “I have a headache. You know, with all the traveling and whatnot.”

“Oh, of course,” he replied, still with a thoughtful look on his face. “Besides, we're supposed to be back in our rooms at eleven, and here it is ten thirty.” Before she reached into her pocket for the room key, Joey leaned forward and planted a soft kiss on her lips. A feeling that she had missed.

It felt so long ago, and yet it was all within her hands right there.

“I love you,” he whispered into her mouth.

“I love you more,” she retorted, and he chuckled at that.

“You have a good night,” he whispered again, and he gave her another kiss before she unlocked the door and headed inside. She set down her purse on the table: Chuck and Tiffany had gone out again, and Greg was nowhere to be seen, but Alex had already crawled into bed. The bed sheet hugged his slender body so she kept her eye on the smooth curvature while she changed her clothes right there next to the bed.

She rounded the foot of the bed so she could look into his slumbering face. But he rolled over before she could so much as peel back the covers; he breathed hard and heavy as she crawled underneath the bed sheet next to him.

“Alex—” she whispered.

But he never acknowledged back to her. Joey was in fact her boyfriend, but at the same time, she had left him there at the train station. He sniffled and she knew that he was crying again.

“Alex, listen,” she started right into his ear. “I'm terribly sorry about earlier. I know you're hurt and I hope you can forgive me. But as I've said, Joey is my boyfriend. I couldn't help it. I hope you can forgive not just me but the both of us. You also had no right to insult Aurora like that. Yeah, she's been a complete egotistical bitch since she got married, but I still consider her a friend.”

But he was silent still. She sighed through her nose and she lay back down in the bed with her arms folded across her chest as she awaited for Greg to rejoin them. The whole incident left her divided. Too divided to think things over and too tired to even consider the very suggestion itself.

But she managed to fall asleep before she got to see him walk through that door, and she awoke by the time he had climbed into bed next to her.

Alex was sound asleep himself. They had trapped her in bed, but she could slide down the bed to the foot. Careful not to wake either of them, she sank underneath the covers and she inched to the foot of the bed. She slithered out from under the covers and onto the floor.

There was one guy she could talk to about all of this as she swiped the key card to the room before she crept out to the hallway. She squinted her eyes against the low lights upon the ceiling. Held low against the black night outside there.

She adjusted the straps of her camisole before she closed the door behind her. All alone in the hallway there, she continued on towards the very end. Every time she blinked her eyes, there was that image of Alex crying. She couldn't shake the image from her mind. She had been a friend to him this whole entire time. She thought about what she had said about Aurora earlier as well. Still a friend, but she hadn't been one to her in almost a year at that point. He had more of an upper hand over that.

One other guy she knew she could visit, even when the going got tough overseas, right down the hall from them.

[punkscowardschampions]

Dash & Lux

Dash: ☀️🧙🏽‍♀️🎶🥁🎸🪕🧚🏿‍♂️🌿🌼🧚🔮💃💫🔥🕺🏻🌳💗🍯🍻

Lux: That is almost exactly what the inside of my head looks like right now!!!

Lux: Is mind-reading a power that is bestowed upon you believers this eve?! 🤔😲

Dash: Right on

Dash: it’s one of many, trust

Lux: I’m ever sadder I can only be an observer now

Lux: Telepathy would be the most useful!

Dash: you gotta open your 👀 at least twice

Lux: I can 👀 at it, all of it in its splendour, just not participate

Dash: Bummer! What’s got you backing off? You don’t look like no wallflower chick to me

Lux: I got the dress code 🌻🌻🌻

Lux: Sunflowers are so strong-looking for flowers, don’t you think?

Lux: Not dainty and delicate

Lux: Well, I’m a Christian and technically this is a Pagan ritual so it’s a big 🚫🚫

Lux: I am finding it super interesting though

Dash: they don’t look strong, they are, babe 🌻🌻🌻 cleaned up Chernobyl, it’s far out what they can do

Dash: its roots, yeah, but we’re not all pagans here & we all still find something to celebrate, you could do St John the Baptist’s birthday as a christian, bonfires were big for that too

Lux: Whaaaaaaaaaat????! TELL ME MORE

Dash: about 🌻🌻🌻 or 🎂🔥🎇🎆?

Lux: 🌻🌻🌻 birthdays are contentious too

Dash: Helianthus annuus, from the Greek helios, meaning ☀️ they can remove poisonous chemicals & metals from the ground, water or air

Dash: they spread rapidly & can stabilize if not totally clear a field in 3 years, it’s 🤯

Lux: I wish I’d gone to school

Lux: Do you know any more fascinating things?

Lux: That sounds like magic

Dash: the world’s full of magic, but it wasn’t school that taught me to recognize it

Lux: Share the secret, kind sir

Dash: you’ve got the 🔑 & this here’s your kingdom, all you have to do is hang out & stay hip to what you 👀👂👃👅

Dash: 🧠➡️⬅️⬆️⬇️↗️↘️↙️↖️↪️↩️⤴️⤵️

Lux: I’ve 👅 so many wondrous tastes today

Lux: I feel full in so many senses of the word

Lux: How long have you been a member of the kingdom, stranger?

Dash: quest accepted to lay that feeling on you in every sense, then it’ll be a rad celebration

Dash: I’ve been here since I could walk, everywhere else is too big a drag to keep me

Lux: Oh, that’s so kind!

Lux: Everyone is so open and willing to teach me things

Lux: For instance, quick, when’s your birthday, wolf boy

Dash: it’s that kinda space 🦊

Dash: 20th of January 🎂 got me on the cusp ♑♒

Lux: Twins!

Lux: My birthday, which I’ve never celebrated before, is the 20th of March 😱

Lux: Someone, I’m not sure who, was just telling me about the Celtic tree signs

Lux: ‘If you were born in the month of the birch, you probably have a fresh and unusual outlook on life. People born under this Celtic tree astrology sign tend to be highly driven and are always full of zeal and ambition. They always want more and try to reach new horizons and expand their knowledge. Some of the characteristics attributed to the Birch sign are tolerance, toughness, and leadership. The Birch signs can brighten a room with their smile and quickly charm other people’

Lux: Yay or nay 🐺

Dash: you charmed so far or nah? [obviously smiling at her wherever she is as well like heyyy]

Lux: [definition of this emoji 🤭]

Dash: What’s your celtic tree sign?

Lux: ‘Those born under the Alder sign are natural pathfinders. They have the ability to move people and quickly gain followers to their cause. The Alders have a way with words, mingle easily and people love to be around them. They possess a mystic charisma, confidence and strong self-faith. Other character traits are: a good focus on goals and ideas, can’t tolerate fluff and waste.’

Lux: I am unsure but flattered 😊😊😊

Dash: I dig it

Dash: they let you know if we’re compatible? Your ♓♈ cusp makes you mad desirable to all signs

Lux: You need to see who here was born 15th April to 12th May or 2nd September to 29th September

Lux: But it says I’m compatible with you, so how does that work?! 😣

Lux: There’s so much I have to get my head ‘round

Dash: You’re gonna be 🥰💖 for me while I’m 🔍 for a 🐈 or 🐤 born on those dates?

Lux: Hey, that’s way less nice!

Lux: but I can also be looking for people born 13th May to 9th June AND 10th June to 7th July so 😋

Dash: those signs are full of it, trying to make me look uncool but don’t sweat it, I’d never cut you that low, like

Lux: If it’s not in the 💫s I can still say I’m pleased to meet you today as friends, Mowgli

Dash: Look up

Dash: if you don’t see a 🌠 I can show you a 🐺🌟 & 🦊🌟 chasing each other across the sky

Lux: [obviously literally does]

Lux: That’s very Disney 🏰✨

Dash: is that allowed?

Lux: I watched some at a friend’s house one time

Dash: & how was it?

Lux: 😭 but romantic

Dash: Anyone told you the oak king story yet?

Lux: Okay, thank Goodness

Lux: this lady with the dreads and the big back tattoo tried to tell me but I couldn’t understand her 🙊

Lux: Redeem your gentlemanly reputation and save both of us the embarrassment

Lux: Her accent was wild! 🤯

Dash: did her version start with Fadó, fadó?

Dash: wouldn’t be a wild guess

Lux: I won’t credit you with any telepathic skills this time, then

Lux: also I’d need to 👂 it again to confirm fully but yes, I think so

Dash: [send her an utterly unnecessary voice memo]

Lux: It sounds more intriguing when you say it

Dash: [obviously gotta tell her the full story in an irish voice memo purely for the #flex and the flirt cos you know damn well you’re gonna have to translate it, boy]

Lux: 🤩

Lux: Did you learn that here too?

Lux: I’ve lived so many different places and yet I only know the one language

Dash: My ma started it but when the establishment took over it was a bad scene & turned me off for time, last few years here it felt groovy again having that connection & I refound the 💚☘️

Lux: It’s really cool

Lux: it sounds old, or like elvish or something else not real

Dash: it’s a trip, you’ve gotta get someone to teach you while your fly by lasts

Lux: Oh, I live here 😊

Lux: I room with Nora, do you know her?

Dash: Beats me, what’s her deal?

Lux: Her and her brother Finley have been here for a while, but not forever like you

Lux: but there are a lot of people here so I’m not surprised you’re not sure 😅

Dash: not a clue but loads of people are too rattled to wanna get involved, could be her vibe

Dash: or she just ain’t outta sight like you

Lux: She’s totally involved, she secured like all of the sunflowers for today

Lux: well, me and Amber helped but she was definitely the most enthusiastic

Dash: 🌻👑! I do know her, but her in with Amber & instant karma means she’s not gonna mess around with me

Lux: Ooh, what did you do

Dash: jack, Amber’s hassling me cos I’m not trying to be her old man, she gets super rash & things get heavy with 0 slack

Lux: Hmm I shouldn’t have asked 🤐🙉

Dash: ask her why she’s making a move on my older bro now if not to try & lay a trip on me, babe’s lost it

Lux: Whaaaaaaa

Lux: You have a brother?!

Lux: Is he invisible?

Dash: I wish

Lux: Which one is he, point him out

Dash: [points in the direction of their house lol]

Lux: [a face of understanding like oh okay]

Lux: How does Amber know him then?

Dash: from stalking me

Lux: I don’t think she would do that

Lux: She must’ve just bumped into him or something

Dash: at my house, yeah

Lux: It’s cool, it’s not really my business

Dash: open 👀 like I said

Lux: 📖

Dash: that too 🧠💗🤲

Lux: I can agree with that sentiment

Dash: we’re groovy then

Lux: Of course 😊

Lux: enjoy your evening

Dash: back at you, golden girl ☀️🎇👸🏼

Lux: I like your outfit too

Lux: it’s very ☀️🧙🏽‍♀️🎶🥁🎸🪕🧚🏿‍♂️🌿🌼🧚🔮💃💫🔥🕺🏻🌳💗🍯🍻

Dash: [comes over and ties a chain of flowers around her wrist like it’s a friendship bracelet energy]

Lux: [clearly delighted with this]

Dash: [ask her if she wants to dance even though you know damn well she’s only observing because kind of boy you are]

Lux: [so rude lowkey when she’s struggling so hard with what she does and doesn’t believe now, we’re in enough of a dilemma without your help but there we go; thus we will go dance with you because we do want to and we can make arguments that that isn’t joining in with the rituals of it all]

Dash: [he’s lucky Amber is busy because she would fight him, but instead enjoy your dance you two]

Lux: [the audacity of your lies about her, we were so awkward like 😬 anyway, we will have a nice dance though]

Dash: [such a dickhead he can only be humbled by fire, full offense Nora because we’re ignoring you hen cos you’re clearly wise to his bs]

Lux: [there’s clearly a growing group of gals who are unimpressed by your nonsense and that will be interesting to navigate]

Dash: [Definitely, but yeah probably do slip away like a snek before any of those gals do kick your ass]

Lux: 🎃👠🐁🌠🕛

Dash: A 📘 for the 🔥

Lux: 🤔?

Dash: it’s a drag, all that heavy shit with her fam is a bummer, she gets to split but only til 🕛 that’s some 🌠

Lux: Yeah, it’s enough to get help though and then she gets saved

Dash: nah, to get shafted, she don’t get to dance with anyone else there, it’s a scam

Lux: 😅 who else does she need, she’s got the prince, silly!

Dash: someone who recognizes her next day?

Lux: Touche 😏

Lux: Being a 🤴 is a lot of work

Dash: What 🤴 told you that?

Lux: Where to begin

Lux: I’ve known several who would say as much and the 👸s would never disagree

Dash: Fadó, fadó, fadó a bhí ann…

Dash: but I’d shut it down from the beginning, they gotta be shining you on

Lux: I’m going to have to have translate open constantly, I see 😰

Lux: but very noble

Dash: I try, like you & your ☘️ it’s chill we’ve all got your back

Lux: It would be way worse if it was the only language any of you spoke

Lux: thank goodness 😅

Lux: there’s lots more that’s more pertinent for me to get a grip on

Dash: 🧝🧝🏻‍♀️🧝🏽🧝🏾‍♀️

Dash: we’ve got you on the rest too, like, goes without saying

Lux: Most everyone has been super welcoming

Dash: how long have you lived here?

Lux: Not long enough that that’s insulting 😋

Lux: but gosh, a couple of weeks? Must be

Dash: nah I meant cos I don't wanna explain to you what sorta place this is like you're fresh through the door if you've had loads of time to find your own way

Lux: Oh no, I’m a total n00b

Lux: Hazel got me here but I’ve kinda just been left to it since

Lux: Anything you wanna tell me would be appreciated

Dash: did Amber or Nora give you the tour?

Lux: Amber’s been super busy and Nora likes to stay in our room mostly

Dash: not super welcoming

Dash: but it’s no sweat, I’ll show you round, we’ll have a blast

Lux: they’ve both got their own stuff going on, I don’t expect them to drop it for me

Lux: but that would still be cool, thank you!

Dash: say when

Dash: it’ll be as electric under the ☀️ as the 🌕🌖🌗🌘🌑🌒🌓🌔🌙

Lux: I can 👀 in the dark

Lux: You choose

Lux: find me when you’ve stopped having the MOST fun?

Dash: 🐺🐾🦊

Dash: Meet me in the orchard at midnight, ditching your shoes before

Dash: there’s an 🍏🌳🍎 you can 👀 the whole farm from the top of

Lux: And you’ll remember what I look like?

Dash: you look unreal

Dash: unforgettable

Lux: I got creative with the arts and crafts 🌟⚡️☀️

Lux: I’ve always made my own clothes

Lux: well, I made them for my sisters before

Lux: looking unforgettable was not the end goal there though

Lux: that was for secret

Dash: my nan would be hip to you, she used to make her own clothes, for her girl & her sister too when they wanted, it’s still a vibe for her

Lux: I will make her something then

Lux: what’s her style?

Dash: indescribable

Dash: I’ll show you pics

Lux: Awkward if your nan is cuter than you

Dash: at our age she totally was

Lux: Awh, you’re so sweet

Lux: I have nothing nice to say about my meemaw

Dash: keep it for mine when you meet her

Lux: You’re gonna introduce me to your nan? 😊

Dash: right on, she’ll wanna put whatever you make on for you to 👀 & it’s only a few fields over

Lux: 🏞 it’s a crazy beautiful spot to live, that’s for sure

Lux: so you live with her?

Dash: Yeah, my ma grew up there & when my parents called it quits she wanted to move back

Lux: You’re close-knit

Lux: that’s special

Dash: closer than I am to my da

Lux: Does that upset you?

Dash: I don’t let it upset my equilibrium, he’s uptight, that’s his problem not mine

Lux: I understand

Lux: I don’t agree with my dad on a lot of things

Lux: it’s still sad though

Dash: I got killer people round me, a 2nd family here accepting me for who I am, it ain’t cool he don’t, but they give me what I need

Lux: I’m happy for you

Lux: Seriously

Lux: again, that’s special, you should be really grateful

Dash: I am, believe me

Dash: you’re gonna scope out how special it is here now I’m in charge of showing you everything

Lux: I’d love to see your 🌍 how you see it

Lux: Kinda sounds like everything I need, honestly

Dash: you can, easily when we’re sharing a branch

Lux: 🧚‍♀️ you’re dainty, I trust you won’t let me fall

Dash: I’ll let you fall into something good though, new heights

Lux: Will it hurt?

Dash: no way

Lux: You aren’t pranking me, are you?

Dash: there’s no plastic on me, I’m being real with you

Lux: If you’re gonna try and jump me out in the orchard I’ll have to show you crazy and I really can’t afford to lose this place okay

Lux: so if I believe you right now and you were lying, it’ll be worse than it would’ve been, you feel me?

Dash: Hurting you isn’t my action, I’m about a gentler touch than that

Lux: and I’m not a bully, that’s not my vibe so that’s the warning out of the way

Dash: avenging 👼 I get it

Lux: My costume has you fooled, I think

Dash: Wait, so you’re pranking me?

Lux: No, I swear! 😅

Lux: I don’t feel like I’ve been anywhere near as nice to you as you have to me though

Dash: but you did dance with me & that was choice

Lux: I wanted to

Dash: me too, I wasn’t asking just to be nice

Lux: even though you’re very nice

Lux: I believe that

Dash: I think we’re getting somewhere

Lux: You understand why I’d find a boy like you being interested in me dubious at first, right

Dash: Nah, but I’m listening

Lux: Well it’s embarrassing to say

Dash: alright, listen, I think you’re the most

Dash: I’m embarrassed I’ve not met you before tonight

Lux: There are so many people to meet

Lux: and you’re like the 🤴 of this place, huh

Lux: you have to dance with all the ugly stepsisters too

Dash: if Amber said write that to bait me I’m shutting up

Lux: I think Amber left 🤔

Lux: And who’s calling her ugly, even if you guys have beef, like no way

Dash: & Nora’s gotta be back in your room cos that’s her bag, yeah?

Dash: so where are you?

Lux: I’m in the middle of [one hippie activity] and [another]

Dash: [go find her and dance with her again obvs, we can be bolder about if some of the haters are gone and it’s later so he’s clearly a bit more drunk/high by now too]

Lux: [the way you’re probably sober like how lmao, not saying you always are or will be ‘cos no but gotta have our wits about us ‘cos witchery is afoot; but yeah we all know it can shamelessly way more of a Thing™]

Dash: [at least Amber was too until her row with the bae even if she wasn’t the most present in other ways, so it wasn’t just you gal, but yeah, dispel any remaining fears she may have that you’re not into this please boy with this moment]

Lux: [we know you got your own going on, it’s good, this drama has to happen whether you like it or not babe sorryyyy, when you’re then even more into it because it’s like HELLO IS THIS ALLOWED, so new and fresh to get to remotely be this brazen]

Dash: [shouldn’t LOVE that for you but I do, we should probably let y’all go on your tour then because we’re both in a mood and there’s nobody to separate you]

Lux: [probably, but I will insist on making you wait ‘til midnight regardless]

Dash: [it is a fat mood and I did pick that time deliberately so yeah, dance the night away first hens]

Lux: [sure it’s probably near that time anyways]

Dash: [yeah absolutely]

Lux: [we can skip to the after in this if you like?]

Dash: [are we thinking am like did y’all fall asleep together or?]

Lux: [Hmm, do we go with the Cinderella and have her bounce or do we go against it and not, because then she would think he wasn’t a dick later]

Dash: [even though he’s a dick I still want all the cute I can grab with my smol hands]

Lux: [it’s not like you can’t be like I just fell asleep it’s nbd with it so yeah okay

Dash: [I also like the camber parallel of it all so]

Lux: [true true, we can do it, then you can just have breakfast as a group because duh, was it sunday or monday today?]

Dash: [I think it’s sunday aka Cosmo is having his 2nd date with Ruby tonight and then Camber breakfast dates start monday]

Lux: [okay then you will have to think of a creative way to ditch her then boy hohaha]

Dash: [at least he can just go home because Amber only stayed to angrily eat some fruit and Cosmo had a busy day ahead because I doubt the shower situation at this commune is thriving, water probably runs out always]

Lux: [what a poser lmaooo]

Dash: [and very rude not to invite her when she probably wants to shower or bathe too]

Lux: [we literally got gems stuck to our face but pop off]

Dash: [we know you’re not because your mother is there and sick of your behaviour but yes, it wouldn’t kill you to let her boy]

Lux: [no offence but run him over, anyway, some time later]

Lux: are you ⬇️🍄?

Dash: 🛹⚡️

Lux: aha, cool

Lux: good thing you didn’t invite me I’d end up 🤕 for sure

Dash: I didn’t stop you falling out of a tree last night to have you fall off a board later in the AM

Lux: Hey, you make it sound like I was 🤏 close! 😆

Dash: nah, your balance is sound

Lux: I don’t recall you stepping on my toes, either

Dash: don’t wanna have to start the day off doubting your 🍒 recall, that’d be a bad scene

Lux: I was totally sober thank you 😅

Dash: easy to claim the magic’s all you when I ain’t met you before but I’m a believer

Lux: Wait, was that a compliment or a diss?

Lux: Maybe I’m contact-wasted

Dash: contact with Nora would get you more sober, there’s a diss

Lux: Awh, don’t be mean!

Lux: She’s been really nice

Dash: chill out, I’m only playing

Lux: Hmm 😏

Lux: anyway, what are you doing later?

Dash: I said I’d hang with Yara

Lux: Oh cool, who’s that?

Dash: I’ll introduce you after

Lux: after what?

Dash: we’re done messing around

Lux: wow, alrighty then

Dash: you’ll like her, she’s a trip

Lux: I’m not totally sure she’d want you to 💬 that

Lux: or I’ll know what to 💬 now

Dash: it’s no biggie

Lux: idk, this is not the way I was raised

Lux: you say it’s not but idk, you know

Dash: you don’t have to meet her

Lux: Yeah

Dash: I think she’s rad but you gotta make up your own mind

Lux: It’s not about her

Dash: nah, you, I understand where you’re coming from, it’s a new world

Lux: Right, it seems really icky to me that you’d tell me any of this

Lux: it’s not about how rad she could be

Dash: Come on, Lux, I’m keeping this honest

Lux: I guess

Lux: Why do you need to tell me though, I don’t get it, for real?

Dash: I like you, I don’t want it to get twisted

Dash: 📖

Lux: Okay, I appreciate the sentiment then

Dash: I’ll come find you later, on my own

Lux: That’s okay

Lux: I’ve got lots of chores to catch up on

Dash: they’ll be done faster if I help you

Lux: I can’t stop you

Lux: the place is a mess after last night and the more people who pitch in the better

Dash: I don’t get why you’d wanna stop me

Lux: I don’t really wanna hang out now, not today anyway

Dash: I can’t believe you’re being like this

Lux: Being like what?

Dash: Amber

Lux: I’m not

Lux: you can’t hang out now, I can’t hang out later, how is it any different?

Dash: the way I’m travelling through today is a straight line, yours is all over the place

Lux: Good for you?

Lux: It doesn’t matter either way though

Dash: doing a u turn on me does matter

Lux: It does?

Lux: because last night you thought I was rad, so obviously this morning I wanted to hang out with you again, so I think it’s my turn to do the 180, if you think about it

Dash: I still think you are, last night was unreal & we can be again, I’m just asking you to take 5 cos I can’t split on Yara after making plans time ago

Lux: That’s fine, it’s not fine to be mad at me ‘cos I ask you to take 5 too

Lux: that makes it make no sense

Dash: I’m not mad at you, I’m trying to make sense of why you’re mad at me

Lux: I’m not mad at you, I’m upset

Lux: You only need to ask

Dash: idk I didn’t think this would go down how it is

Lux: Me either, I guess

Dash: you for real want space?

Lux: I don’t know

Lux: Can I get back to you on that?

Dash: yeah

Lux: I wanted to see you again

Lux: I thought you’d want to see me too

Dash: I do, you read me right last night, why are you gonna start disbelieving yourself today?

Lux: You want to see Yara more

Dash: I wanna see her too

Lux: Okay, have fun then

Dash: we cool?

Lux: I don’t know

Dash: idk what's turned you different, you were laying it on me like you got it, how I'm

like royalty & everyone wants a piece of my time

Lux: Oh my Gosh

Lux: I wasn’t being serious and I didn’t think you were

Lux: do you honestly think that, like what?

Dash: It's a touch plastic saying I'm like 👑 but still close to how it is

Lux: Um, you don’t even live here

Lux: you have a whole house and family

Dash: I'm here with my chosen family as much as I can be

Lux: Yeah, but what do you

actually do for this place, or anyone here?

Lux: The audacity to act like it’s your kingdom, that’s laughable and gross all at once

Dash: back off babe, I do whatever they need me to do

Lux: Babe-ing me right now isn’t a good look

Lux: manual labour at best makes you help, not visiting royalty

Lux: are you crazy, like, who do you think you are, seriously I’m so curious

Dash: Who are you? Thinking you can lay this trip on me about what I can & can't do

Lux: I’m not telling you you can or can’t do anything

Lux: I asked you not to call me babe, which is basic politeness

Dash: nah, you're telling me I don't belong to this place

Dash: questioning how I do like

it's up to you

Lux: I said you don’t live here, and you don’t

Lux: and I’ve never seen you contribute, maybe you were super busy before I got here, then I’ll apologize for that

Dash: you're doing a census, yeah? Hold up [everyone currently who doesn't live her like the petty prince he is]

Dash: I've got family here, they all keep me busy

Lux: Cool? Thanks for telling me who else is a tourist ???

Lux: You’re just being defensive, there’s no need if you’re secure in that and your place here

Dash: quit trying to rattle me

Lux: I’m truly not

Lux: but no, we’re not cool now

Dash: I made it known from the top where I live

Lux: Where you live isn’t the issue

Dash: what's your issue? I'm loved & welcomed here, that's all I said

Lux: That’s nice

Lux: I don’t really want to discuss my issue with you, with you, right now, if that’s okay

Dash: later then

Lux: See you around, Dash

Dash: I can't believe you think I'm a flake, this has me totally unglued, you know

Lux: I don’t feel great about it either

Dash: how can I make you feel less bummed out?

Dash: your tour was the most far out I've ever given

Lux: I don’t think you can, it’s done now

Lux: I just need some time to change what I thought this was, or was gonna be, in my head

Lux: but thanks, for offering

Dash: take your time to 👀 what we can be & how you wanna evolve

Lux: Maybe we can be friends later on

Dash: I’d dig it

Lux: I liked talking to you last night

Dash: I felt more connected to you than I usually do

Lux: I don’t think you’re an awful person, FYI

Lux: I just think you could’ve been clearer, and accept that you hurt me without getting way defensive, you know?

Lux: I can accept you didn’t mean to

Dash: I thought I was being clear

Lux: Yeah, I know

Lux: I’m from a very different background and place, it just didn’t translate well, clearly

Dash: yeah

Lux: but I thought I’d put that across well enough that you got that too

Dash: I do get you, but I can’t 180 myself to fit

Lux: No, I’m not asking you to fit my understanding, it’s fine you don’t

Dash: What are you asking?

Lux: Nothing, honestly, I’m trying to explain why I’m upset

Lux: Just like you can’t 180, I can’t change how I see and feel about it immediately, even if some of the ways I were raised are outdated or potentially bad, you know

Lux: You don’t need to do anything

Lux: From my perspective, it felt like a 180 and hurtful to tell me about hooking up with someone else the morning after

Lux: I know how you think and operate is totally different, but that’s it

Dash: but I wanna do something, to help you

Lux: You are nice…

Lux: I don’t know though, what would help?

Dash: I meant what I said last night about showing you this place, making it feel more like a home, how it is for me

Lux: Maybe you could come back and help with the chores

Lux: I shouldn’t have said you NEVER help out, I’ve not been here long enough to make that observation

Dash: maybe it looks like I don’t, cos with family you take liberties sometimes, that kid who’s naughty at home & don’t say shit at school, comfortable to play up

Lux: I have 8 brothers, I understand 😅

Dash: you can have that too, should

Lux: I did, as much as any of us did

Lux: I was a boy, remember

Dash: with 0 limits though, people trying to control & change what you do is for outside of here, I don’t have to think in my dad’s 🟥🟧🟨🟩🟦🟪⬛️⬜️🟫 way or do what my ma reckons is righteous

Lux: Sounds idyllic, Dash

Dash: it is

Lux: You have to understand my experience of people doing exactly what they want means someone is being exploited or abused for that person’s privilege

Lux: my parents had their utopia at the price of the things we wanted, needed

Dash: that’s why you need this new experience

Lux: Okay

Lux: I do want new experiences

Dash: the farm has the magic to grant you whatever you’re here for, no wish is the wrong size

Lux: You really seem to believe it so I will try too 😊

Dash: I’m about to 🛹⚡️ back if you wanna clean the opposite end or hide from me in the 🍏🌳🍎

Lux: That’s cool

Lux: but thanks for the warning 💗

Dash: don’t let how out of this world you look distract me then

Lux: I so don’t so that won’t be an issue 😌

Dash: It's an accident, huh? I feel you, it must be my fault I can’t look away

Lux: You’re way too smooth for your own good

Lux: but I wouldn’t say that’s a fault, necessarily 🤭

Dash: Hey, I didn’t manifest you into being, even if last night did feel like it had to be cosmically devined somehow

Lux: I felt it too

Lux: no one has ever

Lux: not like that anyway

Dash: you’re like a song I can’t get out of my head, I don’t want it to turn sad

Dash: I’m sorry I got you unglued too

Lux: It’s a lot more complicated than just you

Lux: it’s a whole thing

Dash: You’re gonna find people to share how heavy it is

Lux: 🤞

Dash: they’ll carry you through & even if it’s Amber I won’t let it bug me

Lux: I’m sure that’s a misunderstanding

Lux: I could talk to her? Subtly, of course

Dash: yeah, her misunderstanding me, you’ve got your reasons, she’s not new to any of this

Dash: her problem is she thinks she’s the most & everyone else should think she’s choice no matter what

Lux: Do you think she likes your brother?

Dash: no way, unless she’s got a football obsession now too

Lux: 🧲 maybe

Dash: idk

Lux: Me either

Lux: it just seems a bit crazy otherwise

Dash: he’s as uptight as my da, she’s never gonna get nowhere trying to mess around with him, whatever she’s doing it for

Lux: She won’t have any problem finding someone new

Lux: you said he’s older, right?

Dash: not loads, but he’s gonna be done with school in a sec

Lux: I see

Lux: so you’re the 👶

Dash: til my dad’s new lady puts her demands in

Dash: how many sisters you got to go with your 8 bros?

Lux: you don’t like her at all, huh

Lux: and 5, so they had a tough job being outnumbered

Dash: you heard of a WAG? That’s her whole deal

Dash: whoa, so you had a full time secret sewing job

Lux: yes, we lived in England for a while, that’s how I ended up here

Lux: like a Kardashian, I can see you not having a lot to bond over

Lux: exactly 😂

Dash: you gotta teach me, my nan would be jazzed

Lux: I’d love to!

Lux: there’s a surplus of old clothes to practice on

Dash: still a chore, we get to skip cleaning, yeah?

Lux: Mending isn’t as fun as creating but you’ve got to start somewhere so, I think so 😊

Dash: 😁

Dash: we’ll have a blast cos I gotta start somewhere on earning your forgiveness too

Lux: You’re sweet, Dash

Dash: I’m being for real

Lux: I know you are

Lux: I don’t know what to say though because I’m awkward 😳

Dash: it’s a hands on kinda task & you already know what you’re doing with it, it’ll be me feeling 😳

Lux: No flirting, only crafting

Dash: 🧷📏🧵✂️🧶📍✨

Lux: That’s a very impressive emoji selection

Dash: missing 😍💞🥰💓😘💘 but it’s chill

Lux: Idiot 😏

Dash: 💟 is the compromise

Lux: Okay, that’s adorable

Lux: allowed 🤭

Dash: [show up and take her hand to lead her off to sew, we know you weren’t far away bitch]

Lux: [the way you just melt when he shows, oh gal]

Dash: [I’m upset about it]

Lux: [we know you really like him, for better and worse rn]

Dash: [thank god he does actually like you and it’s not a straight up Drew and Ro situation happening]

Lux: [we can only do that ‘cos they both lowkey suck so we aren’t sad lmao]

Dash: [I like this gal too much to be that evil]

Lux: [it’s drama enough without it being entirely one-sided like no lol]

Dash: [I hope some sewing does take place amidst the blatant flirting because learn a useful skill for once in your life dickhead]

Lux: [we aren’t gonna just roll over immediately ‘cos actually did upset us so you will have to]

Dash: [yay]

Lux: [so that’s probably the vibe for today ‘cos yeah we absolutely won’t even though it’s clear we still like you like that too, so you’ll just have to hang out platonically]

Dash: [it’s gotta be the vibe for a while, sucks to suck boy, but obviously hang out until that girl comes to find you because you clearly do also wanna hang out with her platonically it’s not just like that vine where he breaks the skateboard]

Lux: [a quality vine]

Dash: [do we wanna leave this here?]

Lux: [I think we can]

[missingartist]

The Witcher’s Mate Chapter 13

‘Fuck’ Geralt growled fiercely as he lunged at the tree, the poor tree had little defence again the Witcher’s blade, the wood splintered and groaned as the raging white-haired man thrust a heavy blow. At the young age of 158, the thick tree toppled in half with a dull thud, gashes and gouges oozed sap. Geralt kick the offensive tree in anguish, usually training against a tree was something that Geralt would leave to playing children. Still, for the lack of a better opponent, the tree was the unwilling sacrifice.

A vicious snarled vibrated across his chest; sweat dripping from his body since sunup causing his to cast off the shirt as he had been thrashing out his fury and urges on several helpless trees in the yard. For the past fortnight, he had spent every night chasing his release; eyes screwed shut as he pumped his cock relentlessly, pursuing the craving that could not be satisfied in an attempt to escape the fever that gripped her for a few hours sleep. As soon he had fisted himself to one orgasm, the desire for another seized upon him. The Witcher had not felt like this since he had the first transition from human to mutant, every sensation intense and overwhelming, for the first year, he walked around with a constant hard-on, hornier than a cat in heat. This felt worse; it was like his insides burning out. The smell of her permeated every surface and seeped into every fabric, which was smothering, but he could not manage without it.

Panting hard, he tossed his sword on the floor as chest rumbled as he roared, punching a sturdy leather bag that creaked in protest. The other side of the mages garden Adva was duelling against Triss. For an inexperience spell caster, she was holding her own, with difficulty but still nevertheless it impressive. A surge of pride filled his chest as Adva caught Triss off guard with a water shot, it shocked her challenger, and lightning bolt crashed down onto the puddle of water created that sent Triss into convulsions. A simple spell but clever strategy, his little mate, was cunning, it made him feel the warmth of delight, of course, he could still protect her but knowing she could have his back gave him pleasure. Triss countered with a violent force push that sent Adva hurtling backwards against a tree, the blouse she wore gapped open at the mid-drift, and the brown trouser ripped at the seam revealing a fleshy section of the thigh. A water swirl twisted round her while the winded women got back to her feet; this did not deter Triss. Wave after wave of assault battered down against the curly brunette, unbalancing her stance, Adva blocked a fair few blows, but the attack was relentless. Adva’s feet began to stumble and struggle to grip the earth beneath her, her arms flayed franticly to conjuring the spell, blood laced the air, and hard pants escaped her body.

‘Guard up, Adva.’

In a moment, the onslaught stops, Triss’s body froze, tense and twisted in place by some unseen force, her brown eyes swam with terror unable to move. Adva’s eyes narrowed in concentration; finger flexed tightly as the whole of Triss’s body went into a paralysis, arms tightly pressed into her body. A strained scream pushed itself through clenched teeth, Geralt’s eyes glided from one woman to the other, Adva stance immediately relaxed as she sent a panicked look over at the Witcher. The Mage fell with a thud. With a gurgled cough and a splutter. Adva knelt beside her teacher, eyes brimming with concerns.

‘Oh gods, Triss are you okay? Can you stand it? I am so sorry …I’ the young women half sobbed as she helped her mentor to her feet.

‘I am fine…I think…I think that is enough for today. I must be cramping up. I have some research I need to finish, Avda take the rest of the day off’ Triss shot a look over Adva’s shoulder before limping inside.

Geralt looked on pensively, hanging back as he observed the couple, his eyes followed Triss’s figure as she retreated into the house. It was certain that in the last couple of weeks, Adva had grown stronger and much more confident in her ability, but the book was still undeciphered, Triss had spent much time struggle across the passages. With every growing day, the concern increased to discover who or what she Adva was, as with every day the need Geralt felt increased, Triss’s potions only did so much to mellow the effect of their bond. Adva shifted nervously from foot to foot, her fingers twisting and winding in her hands. In their short time together, her hair had grown to swish around her shoulders, which she had pulled into a high pin undo affair, revealing her tendered neck, which meant her scent was even more pungent in the air. The sweat that collects was even more raw and fresh; his cock once again began to harden. To see his mate need comforting pulled out all the primal instincts to comfort, if he put his hands on her there was no telling what he would do and he couldn’t.

‘Will she be okay?’ Adva sniffed.

‘She will be fine’ Geralt grunted out before turning to stride back to his training.

Adva glanced between the house and the withdrawing Witcher, her eyes a swirl of apprehension before chasing after Geralt

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Wood exploded off the poor tree as Geralt thrashed and jabbed his hands into the wood. Surrounding her was a graveyard of trees, fragmented and ripped apart, the Witcher’s sword had broke 20 minutes ago, but this did not deter him. Instead, he now pummelled the battered wood with his bare fists as animalistic noise erupted from his chest. The man in front of her was totally wreaked, pure sin, bare-chested, and ever movement showed of his flexing chest, his hair a mess of silver strand, giving him a wild a dangerous look. Adva bites her lips as she gazed at him; the familiar ache between her thighs was back. In the dead, on the night, the throbbing would keep awake till the agony was too much. Her inexperienced hand clumsily made her down to her wet core, trying to bring herself to the edge; she would teeter for what felt like hours before sobbing in defeat and exhaustion into her pillow unsatisfied.

The longer she stood watching, the more aggressive he became. Despite the power of his thrusts, he seemed tired, the dark circle underneath his eyes were almost violet in colour against his golden skin. It did not escape her notice that he was breathing through his mouth rather than his nose as he moved which for a prised fighter seemed strange, but over the last week, a lot of things he did were strange. The aggressive whispered conversation between Triss and himself, the way he seemed to stalk everyone. He had become more aloof and moody, he would escort her to the town every morning, but often he would remain stony and unmoving if she dared bring up the unnecessary need for a chaperon he would all but bite her head off.

‘Geralt maybe you should stop… you don’t look well. Maybe you should try and get some sleep.’ Adva pleaded as she reached a hand out to grip his forearm.

‘Don’t you think I have fucking tried’ Geralt snarled recoiling back, with a pained scowl distorting his features as he marched deep into the ornament garden.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Geralt growled as he shifts from side to side. He tried adding and taking away pillows, arranging blankets then kicking them off. Flopping on his back Geralt huffed a piece of hair out of his eyes. His skin was covered in a thin layer of sweat from the almost permanent fever that had gripped him for days. The potion on his nightstand remained unopen and undrunk; they had a little effect on halting the effect of their bond. In honesty, he was sure Triss had not up the dosages as he demanded to drive the pair together. Groaning the heat spiked again as he smelt the intoxicating scent of apples and the ocean but there was something more, a musky, earthy scent. Geralt has smelt her desire, and in his weaker moments though of nothing more than throwing her down in the long grass and doing things that would make a harlot blush. The Witcher’s fingers dug into the bedding; he knew that smell, the one that would bombard the house at night. In the dead of night, he could smell her touching herself, a desperate and frantic smell that took all his self-control not to march into her room rip her nightclothes off and ravage her untouched body.

A soft knocked tapped pieced the deadly quiet of the room ‘Geralt can I come in?’ the tender voice of his mate called from behind the door.

‘Fuck off’ roared Geralt and threw a pitcher of water against the door.

Adva waited a moment, taking several deep breaths before she swung the door open. A soft gasp escaped her lips as her eyes drank in the scene in front of her. Geralt was sprawled across the bed, a white bed sheet the only thing cover his lower half and chest still bare and shinning in the flickering candlelight.

‘I said fuck off’ the white-haired man raged with glowing amber eyes.

Adva sidestepped the shattered vase on the floor, keeping her eye on the floor to stop herself ogle the man in front of her.

‘Geralt…please let me help. Jaskier told me you have trouble sleeping. I have balm.’ Adva held out a bowl of ingredient, looking through a forest of hair hopefully at the man.

Geralt eyes soften as he settled down in the middle of the bed and tapped the empty at his side before folding them behind his head, looking at her out of the corner of his eye. ‘What is it?’

‘4 sprigs of Lavender, two blobs of Flobberworm Mucus, Valerian Sprigs, Sunflower oil and beeswax and my secret ingredient.’ Adva listed off as she added a splash of alcohol to the wax-like substance and turned it into a fragrance balm, Geralt could help but smile as she placed the bowl between them and began to mix the whip the mixture into a pale purple paste.

When she was creating some potion, she looked at her happiest, content and smiling. Geralt notice that about her first then how she refuse to follow ingredient and instruction much to Triss’s frustration instead measuring things out by hand and substituting ingredient she thought would be a better fit. His little mate was a maverick.

‘How did you come across this concoction?’ Geralt sniffed as the air filled with lavender and valerian.

‘Being a maid in a brothel comes with learning a few things, the sorts of melodies I would make salves and balm for would make even you fearless Witcher’s flinch.’ Adva smiled as she continued to mix, occasionally stopping to add a few drops of alcohol to the solution.

Geralt wrinkled his nose at the thought ‘I can imagine.’

‘Here. Rub it into your chest before you sleep in will help ease you in a dreamless slumber. The more you put on, the deeper your sleep.’ Adva smiled tenderly at the tired Witcher. In the soft light of escaping through the curtain make Geralt almost look sweet, unguarded and vulnerable.

‘I can’t’ Geralt fake coughed ‘I am too ill.’ Another cough.

‘Fake coughing isn’t going to work. I have seen all the tricks’ Adva smiled at his feeble attempt.

‘You’re too caring to leave me here just in case I am telling you the truth. I am too weak’ Geralt raised his eyes brow at her as he gestured to his eyes to his chest.

‘Geralt I have just seen you destroy all the trees in the garden, I very much doubt your too weak to rub a little balm onto your chest.’ Adva countered, pushing the balm towards him.

‘That why I am too weak’ Geralt opposed, pushing the bowl back, letting his large digits brush against hers, enjoying the delicate blush that had started to form.

Half-heartedly huffing, Adva scoped up the soft paste in her fingers and warmed it between her palms. She slowly began to massage the purple paste into his chest, earning a deep moan from him. Beneath her finger, she could feel his coarse chest hair, it rubbed enticingly against her skin, another scope of balm was added, and she smoothly rubbed large soft circles in his chest. Avda worked at relaxing the tense muscles in his chest; it took considerable effort by Geralt didn’t protest. Instead, he lay contented under her hands, purring gently as she worked in the paste. Glancing up a coy smile tugged on the corners of her mouth; the golden orbs held hers for a few moments before the heavy lids different shut. Slowly, her hands slackened as the Witcher’s begin to drift.

‘Stay with me’ he whispered, grabbing her hands and holding them to her chest as he succumbed to exhaustion.

‘Good night Geralt’ Adva whispered, pressing her lip lightly to his forehead as she caressed his cheek as she lazed next to him. 

I couldn't stop my self from posting. Some very exciting chapters coming up.

If you would like to be tagged please message me. 

@broco8​ @introvertedmouse​ @threepupsinapuddle​ @shesthelastjedi​ @luxyash​ @celestial-vomit​

[blake-belladonna-defence-force]

I love the bee family and how you write them. I have a Headcanon that that the bees have to go to a Parent teacher interview because Akira is swearing too much

I’m glad that you enjoy them, mate 😊

Anyway, I love this headcanon so much that I wrote it.

Be warned, there is some mention of Blake insecurities getting the better of her here. Not because of Yang (dear God, not) but because she had a nightmare the night before and those tend to make her insecurities flare up.

But Yang handles it like a champ and immediately recognised what her wife is experiencing and helps her through it.

I know that the swearing stories have been more comedic but for whatever reason, this one led to Blake’s scars flaring up a little. Hopefully, you folks can still enjoy.

Wounds heal and scars fade. But they sometimes ache. But they can be a little easier to deal with when you’re not alone.

Additional note: you folks get a taste of protective mama bear Blake!

/////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

“The kids? Oh, their aunts are taking care of them. We didn’t want distractions as we had this conference, you know?”

“Oh, of course, Mrs. Xiao Long-Belladonna. Completely understandable.” Aegean Slate said sweetly. “Especially considering the nature of our conversation.”

“The nature?” Blake spoke up, uncrossing her legs and leaning forward, folding her hands on the table. “And what is the nature of our conversation, Miss Slate?”

“Well… young Akira has been making some parents uncomfortable-“

“I’m stopping you right there.” Blake barked, eyes narrowing in what Weiss fondly referred to as the “let me talk or let my weapon talk for me” face. Very few people could look Blake in the eyes and continue talking. She was in charge of Weiss’s faunus relations for a reason. Blake, over the years, had learned to carefully take charge of a room and control the conversation. “You realise that any sort of faunus discrimination is now a punishable offence? So I sincerely hope that this “discomfort” has nothing to do with fact that my daughter is a faunus.” She felt Yang shift forward and slip her hand onto her knee, fully prepared to back Blake up if needed. She allowed a small smirk to grow. “And as a direct associate with President Schnee at the SDC, I assure you that any discrimination towards my child will be met with legal action.”

“Nonononono!” Slate quickly assured her, expression slightly panicked. “I assure you, Mrs. Xiao Long-Belladonna, I do not tolerate racism among my student or their parents.”

Blake kept her narrowed gaze on the younger woman’s eyes and, upon seeing no sign of deception, allowed her expression to soften and smiled at her.

“Thank you.” Blake said calmly, leaning back in her chair. “So why are the other parents uncomfortable?” Her voice was much softer and more approachable now.

“Well… young Akira is a very bright young lady. She’s eager to ask questions and will quite often question everything that I teach unless I provide her with sources.”

All three women shared a chuckle. Akira was continuously showing the markings of both her parents.

“And I truly enjoy having her in my class. She has a very bright future ahead of her, regardless of what career she chooses.” Slate shifted uncontrollably.

“Oh grapes.” Yang sighed wearily, covering her eyes. “There’s a but. There’s always a but. What’s the but?”

“Grapes?” Slate said in mild amusement. “I suppose that you’re not responsible for Akira’s rather… colourful language.”

Blake bit back a groan.

“Colourful. Language, you say.” Yang said dryly, casting Blake with a side long look. “Like?”

“Well… As an educator… I don’t think that I should repeat them. They’re not insults directed at the other students, thankfully. They’re more in line with phrases like “what the heck.” Slate said as she adjusted her glasses. “If you catch my drift.”

“Oh. I catch it alright.” Yang said calmly.

“Do you have any idea where she could have learned such language?” Slate asked kindly. “Perhaps you could talk to them. You’re both such intelligent women with impressive ways of speaking. I’m sure you could talk some sense into them.”

“I certainly hope so.” Yang said, pointedly. Her hand had left Blake’s knee long ago. She was definitely unhappy.

“But on a happier note, I absolutely must show you this remarkable report on the First Great War.” Slate said, happily changing the subject. “She writes so well for a girl of her age.”

And with that, the conference went on and soon enough, both women found themselves in Blake’s car.

Blake drummed her fingers against the steering wheel anxiously. She could slice through Grimm like butter. She could make a room of racists back down with a well placed glare and few well chosen words. She had looked death in the face and stood strong.

But the idea of Yang being mad at her was still, even years later, something that made her anxious. Not that she ever had reason to be anxious when it came to Yang. But some days, every once in a while, those old insecurities popped up.

“We need to talk with Akira.” Yang said quietly. “She cannot keep using foul language like this.”

“I know.” Blake murmured, ears pinning anxiously.

“And you need to lead that conversation, Blake.” Yang said gently, glancing over at her. “Please. I do not want to get called in again just because my kid keeps swearing.”

“I will. I promise.” Blake said quietly, fingers still tapping at the wheel anxiously.

A vast majority of her scars had healed and faded over the years. But sometimes, every so often, she could feel those old scars start to ache.

“… Blake.” Yang sighed gently. “Before you go any further down that spiral that I know you well enough to know that your mind is taking you, I need you to pull over.”

Blake bit her lip, pulling off to the side safely and sat there, hands still holding the wheel and tapping anxiously.

“Thank you. Now, can you please look at me, baby?”

Blake closed her eyes for a moment and sighed. With all of her negative thoughts currently circulating her head, she really didn’t feel like it. But when Yang used that voice? Soft and quiet, loving and patient… she couldn’t say no.

“There she is.” Yang said sweetly, giving Blake a reassuring half smile. “First of all, you are not a bad mother.”

Blake flinched. Yang had always been good at reading her. And she’s only gotten better at it over the years.

“You’re compassionate. You’re kind. You’re loving. You’re protective. And you’re always there when the girls need you.” Yang reminded gently, placing her hand on the back of Blake’s seat. “Accidentally cursing in front of Akira doesn’t change that. Her picking up on it does not make you a bad parent. Nor does it make you a bad wife. Not when you support me, have my back, love me and work with me. You’re a good and loving wife and mother, Blake. You know that, right?”

“I-“ Blake swallowed thickly. “I know that. I do. But…” Blake’s hands ran over her eyes in frustration.

“But sometimes our insecurities can get the better of us.” Yang sighed, gently running a hand through Blake’s hair. “And I know that yours get worse after those nightmares of yours.”

“… yeah.” Blake mumbled, pressing her head into Yang’s hand. Yang could read her like a book and ease her fears and insecurities with a few words. “You know me too well, you know that?”

“And I love every inch of you that I know.” Yang whispered, kissing Blake’s temple. “Even the parts that curse in front of our kid.” She added teasingly, earning a small giggle from Blake as she nuzzled her temple.

“Dork.” Blake sighed softly. “I’m sorry. I know I shouldn’t let those dreams get to me. That my insecurities lie to me. And usually I don’t listen to them. But they can get very loud and very persuasive after… after those nightmares.”

“I know.” Yang said softly. “But I’ll always be here to hold you when they come. I’ll never be impatient because you need reassurance, okay? If you ever need a reminder, I’m here. I love you, Blake. So much.”

And like always, the nightmare’s shadows became much smaller when confronted with the beam of life she had chosen to spend her life with.

“I love you too, Yang.” Blake said softly. “And we are definitely going to talk to Akira about this. I’ll talk to her. But can we do it tomorrow when I’m in a better headspace?”

“Of course.” Yang said softly, kissing Blake gently, who hummed against her lip. “We’re partners, Blake. In every sense of the word. We work together.”

“Mhm.” Blake hummed, quietly smiling at the look of pure love and support that Yang gave her. She had stopped running from it a long time ago and gave herself permission to enjoy it. “We do. Thank you, Sunflower.”

“You don’t have to thank me for being a good wife.” Yang huffed, nuzzling against Blake’s jaw. “I would say amazing but that title goes to you.”

“Lies.” Blake smiled. “You’re the amazing one.”

“Nuh Uh. We are not starting this.” Yang murmured against her skin. “God knows we’ll be start in a cycle of “no, you are!” for hours.”

“Okay, okay.” Blake giggled, tilting her head slightly when Yang nuzzled against her neck again. “How about… we’re amazing together, hmm?”

“And you have the nerve to call me a dork, babe.”

“Hmm.” Blake hummed softly, kissing top of Yang’s head. “Well. I’m in good company.”

“You are.” Yang kissed Blake’s neck, earning a soft, appreciative hum. “Feeling better?”

“Yes, thank you, baby.” Blake smiled as Yang leaned up and kissed her. “We should go before somebody sets the house on fire.”

“Like you did?”

“Ilia was trying to kill my family!”

“I was talking about our first apartment.”

“I- you – when will you let me live that down, woman?” Blake laughed, feeling much lighter this time round when she started the car and drove home.

“Blake. You lit the kitchen on fire with our toaster.” She could feel Yang’s grin as she entwined their fingers and kissed Blake’s hand. “None of us are letting you live that down.”

“Well, it’s not like Weiss can talk.” Blake huffed, smirking. “That woman can’t even cook a cake without supervision. At least I can.”

“You don’t cook cakes, babe. You bake them.” Yang said dryly as Blake huffed again. “And you can only bake them over an open fire.”

Blake gave a small, noncommittal grunt, smiling when Yang’s thumb stroked patterns into her skin.

“Yang?”

“Hmm?”

“I love you. So, so much.”

“Blake.” Yang said softly, lovingly. “I love you, too. More than you’ll ever know.”

The two drove in silence for a while, simply drinking each other in.

“Does this mean that I don’t have to sleep on the couch tonight?”

“Hah!” Yang snorted. “You’ve never slept on the couch a day in your life! Not unless you’re taking a nap or something. And even then, I usually end up holding you because you don’t like being alone or cold!”

Blake snickered, bringing Yang’s hand up and kissing it.

“You love it.”

“God, your smartassery should not be this cute.” Yang laughed, leaning over to kiss Blake’s cheek. “Love you, baby.”

“Love you, too, Sunflower.”

And so, the two drove home. Neither could stay mad at the other and neither one ever let insecurities fester within the other’s heart. They reminded each other of the light when the shadows threatened to consume them and worked their way through them.

They loved each other dearly. And they loved their family. And any problems that arose would be dealt with using communication, understanding, compromise and compassion.