#doodle i made into a circuit board

[organised-disaster]

Eyestrain I think? I'VE certainly got a headache now

I completely created this image. It's pretty, I think.

It's been heavily edited, but only through the use of the samsung photo gallery editing feature.

Can you guess what it is?

No. No you can't.

It's a drawing of Monika from ddlc. I drew her on a whiteboard, took a photo of her, and then to anger my friends crunched it into oblivion. These are the most significant stages.

Stage One: Original image. She's chilling

Stage Two: Messed with brightness, tint, temperature, and sharpness until it turned yellow. Pixels starting to be visible.

Stage Three: Overexposure and extreme saturation. The light glare has started crumbling.

Stage Four: Darkened the image. It's important to know that every edit has been saved as a copy, making it a new image. This means that every time the sharpness was edited, it stacked. This is visible here.

Stage Five: Why Is She Green I Don't Remember

Stage Six: Brightness all the way down, tint, highlights, and shadows all the way up. I think.

Stage Seven: the most destroyed the image can get before screenshots have to be involved. Not much change from stage six. Slightly desaturated. May be the same image but you get the gist.

Stage Eight: Screenshotted and turned her blue

Stage Nine: The final result. The top image is pulled directly from this.

[slasherflicks999]

BEN MY BELOVED 😍😍😍😍 ……BENloved? yes……

FIIIIINALLY made an actual proper design for him after eons of not being able to get his outfit right guys are we proud….. i always had a vague idea of it i just could never execute it properly LMAO

I LOVE HIIIIIIIIMMMMM did you guys know

i also almost forgot his freckles as i do literally every single time i draw him despite the fact ive been drawing him covered in freckles since i was like 14 ummmm its fine i remembered eventually 😍

more rambles and yapping about him in my au after the break :3 again… I YAP A LOT. like seriously. i really could talk about him all day tbh

but first surprise doodle HEHEHEH

moving on… lets talk about his design a little to start off bcccc look at it it’s the first thing you’ve seen obvi (and bc im doing this in a similar format to my oc slasher’s post where i ramble about the design then character and personality stuff then whatever else yay!)

now. you may be looking at him and going “woah he is COLORFUL!” yes he is! i think having him be colorful is fun but beyond that like… ok u need some context first: in my au he’s not stuck in the cartridge anymore which i will elaborate on later, but likeee i still had to give him some nods to his LoZ origins other than just making him blonde and giving him elf ears and green clothes without literally making him the world’s most dedicated link cosplayer. love his cosplay era you go queen but i just feel like MY version wouldn’t be in it after he gets out of the cartridge (again will explain more later) bc he figured maybe he should be his own person a little bit. and idk if yall knew this but… zelda games get pretty colorful!

that being said i still wanted to have an itty bitty nod to it thrown in there so if you look on his jacket those fun little doohickeys on one of the sides are the colors of the spikes on the side of majora’s mask in game :3 i also gave him his little hoop earrings like adult link has because cmon. he’s gotta have em. and beyond just that he also has the green hair and like… idk what to call em, those fun little ball jointed doll looking joints i see people draw canon arg BEN with because i like them and since he’s sort of a merging of canon behavioral event network BEN and a more “fanon” version of him i wanted to nod back to it a little

beyond that he’s just a lot more generally technology inspired, like he’s literally wearing wires as accessories and those semi-transparent bits are supposed to look like the inner membrane of a keyboard! (saw some guy make shoes out of those once and said “oh i gotta use that idea” so i did :3) idk i just wanted him to look fun and like he eats circuit boards. he doesn’t but like… he’s definitely thought about it once

anyway MOVING PAST ME YAPPING ABOUT MY DESIGN THOUGHT PROCESS let’s talk about what he’s actually like!

i feel like it’s pretty often i see people make him either totally spooky or totally silly but you see…. i enjoy both…. so….. :3 let’s see if i can merge the two

generally when writing any of the pastas i try my best to write them ALL to be more or less morally gray largely bc i think it makes them more interesting than just making them all automatically evil just because they’re meant to be horror characters/murderers. idk i feel like it adds more complexity not only to them as individuals but also dynamics and makes them feel more like actual characters than static entities that jump out at you and go BOO! or on the other side of the spectrum anime twinks. staring directly at the 2010s fandom LMAOOO /lh

WITH THAT BEING SAID! he is definitely not a saint in any sense of the word like whatsoever but he also is not super evil. like he’s not always gonna have good intentions but at the same time he’s not entirely heartless and does genuinely care about some people yk?? he’s not walking around punching old ladies or anything but is he gonna go out of his way to be particularly nice to you? hell no he’s not! not unless he REEEEEALLY cares about you/likes you but even then you might not be able to tell LMAO it depends it depends

even then at the end of the day he is more or less a demonic entity and LITERALLY feeds off of negative emotions/energy, like he will become genuinely exhausted if he doesn’t torment tf out of someone for a while, he doesn’t just do that shit for funsies, he needs to or else he will feel like total shit. just so bad. not to say he doesn’t gain ANY enjoyment out of it at all but like that’s not his main motivation.

that’s the thing that makes him different from a lot of other pastas too, his method of killing isn’t anything physical, he just literally torments the living shit out of people until they kick the bucket themselves. at this point he’s rather numb to and detached from it, but i imagine it definitely disturbed him quite a bit when he was figuring out that he had to do it to keep himself satiated essentially. he definitely freaked himself out quite a lot when he was freshly dead like yeah he was angry and vengeful but like… he was also kinda just a scared little kid who got stuck in a video game and saw himself as a monster for a few years guys 💔💔 probably still kinda does view himself like that in many ways. my shaylaaa…

speaking of let’s talk about his LORE :3

first of all present day he is 19. but he’s dead! you shout. yes he is! kinda! lemme explain:

well first and foremost for all intents and purposes he IS dead. but he’s also not JUST a ghost. remember how i mentioned him being demonic? yeah i wasn’t exaggerating about that LOL, plus if he WAS just a ghost he wouldn’t need anything to keep himself satiated like he does with energy

when he died he ended up being the moon children’s first successful instance of actual digitization… key word being SUCCESSFUL. they had tried the same thing before with others, but their actual souls ended up not being able to entirely make it through the process, with some not getting through at all and others being sort of fragmented with only the scraps of what they used to be remaining. even so, all of their heartbreak and pain and anguish and rage they felt in response to their deaths (and probably even whatever they had experienced in life) ended up forming its own makeshift demonic entity. it was all sorts of unstable and constantly seemed to be searching for more and more energy to even keep itself together, but it didn’t have anything to truly attach itself to that make it much more than just a mass of jumbled up energies desperately trying to survive. until ben died. then it had something it could keep itself alive with. it had a body, more or less. something more tangible and stable than just… fragments.

this ended up being what turned ben lowercase into BEN uppercase! it also… came with lots of side effects.

we already talked about how he needs to keep getting negative energy to keep his literal energy up, but this sort of fusion also made him a LOT more powerful than he was supposed to be. he’s essentially fueled on spite LOL but besides that he also was able to literally warp a lot of the game to his will (not entirely, but he wasn’t supposed to be able to change anything at all), the soul fragments gave him the ability to control his aging and parts of his appearance more or less (he can appear as practically any age he wants but mentally ages normally, though he really doesn’t do much with that and just lets himself age normally because he kind of doesn’t wanna stay a weird little middle schooler forever LMAO. his ability to control his appearance is also pretty much entirely out of his control until he escapes the cartridge though, before that he can only really change how his eyes look and his general spookiness though even that was and still is mostly connected to his emotional/mental state.)

he also suddenly gets VERY good at just… understanding how people work in general. he gets really good at the whole manipulation and torment thing really quickly to the point where it even starts to freak himself out a bit (sort of like i mentioned before.) he tries not to dwell on that for too long though. he does his best to get used to himself now even if he really did not like how he turned out at first.

but anyway shortly after all this happens and BEN figures out he needs to really fuck with people to feel at least kind of okay, the cartridge began having so many horrible mental effects on anyone who was even AROUND it that eventually they just had to throw the thing out as a sort of “failed experiment” which explains how it eventually got into the hands of jadusable who posted about it and that in turn essentially opened a door for BEN to get out.

this was great for him in many ways! freedom yippee yippee freedom! he was much, MUCH less limited in his abilities now and had a lot easier access to new people to torment which generally had him feeling a lot better energy-wise and eventually made him a lot less aggressive since he wasn’t essentially hangry and exhausted 24/7. that being said… he was still trapped in the cartridge for about 3 years. that does things to a person. especially since he was so young.

he has a LOT of trauma from it, which is another reason i didn’t go with the link cosplay route for his design beyond just i wanted to give him a personality outside of just loving zelda games (although let’s be honest it probably is still a special interest of his (YES HES AUTISTIC because i am autistic and me and him are like this 🤞🏻)) he was literally STUCK looking like that which is the main reason he gave himself his own wardrobe basically the second he could, because he still loves link and the LoZ games and all but he didn’t wanna feel stuck like that anymore. it made him feel trapped and lose his sense of self a little bit so he was like “yeah i gotta get a different outfit.”

it also definitely made him a control freak. if he doesn’t have at least a good amount of control over a situation it sort of freaks him out and gives him that same sort of trapped, helpless feeling. he gets a little better with it as he grows but that never really goes away, he hates feeling powerless in any situation which i think also helped him come to terms with the whole tormenting people thing, because it made him feel like he had power over something and it still does even if there’s a lot more he has control of now. this is also why he’s not technically a proxy, because he doesn’t want slender to have that control over him, it makes him feel weird. he still hangs around and is civil with him, he just doesn’t wanna actually work for him. he’s his own boss 🙂‍↕️🙂‍↕️

he doesn’t really like to talk about his life before his death all that much though. all that anyone seems to know is he didn’t have a great childhood after a certain age and he just doesn’t wanna talk about it, which of course nobody questioned because almost all the pastas had at least somewhat traumatic childhoods LMAO

anyway! now that a lot of the more serious lore shit is out of the way time for me to just mindlessly throw shit out there about him because!! i love him!!!! fun facts fun facts!!!

- first of all agender he/it/they BEN is real in this house. and gay aroace BEN. and autistic BEN as previously mentioned. he doesn’t know if this is because of the soul fragments thing but he really could not care less about how he presents his gender for the most part, all he knows is he generally presents masculine bc it’s sort of his default :3

- he also still def loves video games! he’s even played through majora’s mask a couple times to try and help himself get over his trauma around it (though it takes him a long time to actually get through it now) he kinda hates that his trauma still prevents him from loving it as much as he used to :(( but at least he can play the other zelda games mostly fine which he’s glad about

- he purrs. that’s it that’s the whole thing he purrs. well he generally acts like a cat in a lot of ways for some reason like his ears moving and stuff but i think the best thing is that he purrs bc it’s just so funny to me. he definitely tries not to do it in front of anyone but has probably slipped up once or twice and promptly retreated into the nearest computer for a week or so because he was so mortified LMAO. very cat coded one of my own cats reminds me of him a little bc she’s sassy will act like she doesn’t care about you but then will purr up a storm if you scratch her in the right spot while she’s comfy. love her. they would get along great

- he is SO COLD. ALL THE TIME. he’s used to it by now but if you were to touch him it would be like touching a corpse laying outside on a late autumn evening or something like he does not know warmth. he does love blankets and warm things bc of that though. if he likes you enough to give you a hug he WILL be latched on like a leech just to take all ur body heat

- he can still eat and drink and sleep if he wants to but he doesn’t have to, like i said he runs off of negative emotions so all that other stuff is just a fun little bonus if he feels like it

-his colors will desaturate a good amount and he’ll start to glitch out quite a bit if he gets too low on energy, along with just being generally irritable and overstimulated

-he also just… glitches sometimes for no reason. any time he stutters or stumbles over his words he doesn’t actually stutter, just glitches. sneeze? glitch. got jumpscared by a bug? glitch. trying not to laugh? glitch. little things like that. along with just when he’s feeling really strong emotions (especially negative ones ofc)

- he actually does like nature a lot! it sort of helps him feel a lot more connected to reality outside of just the internet and technology and whatnot, plus he just finds it kind of peaceful in a way he can’t really get from hanging out in a digital void. maybe it’s the energy of the plants and animals or something

- he also enjoys music a lot :3 all sorts, though he does like electronica and hardcore stuff the most

-i cant lie…. he would definitely scream at people over COD. his temper isn’t AS short as it used to be but likeeee… he’s broken a few controllers 😔 he’s not really the yelling type at all otherwise though

-he’s like 5’7 ish by default. he can change that if he REALLY wanted to but he doesn’t see the point in wasting the energy if he can just float a couple inches above the ground anyway. plus he got his heels on so even if he does stand on the ground he gave himself a couple more inches of height :3 me too me too

-he does still cry blood! happens the most when he’s pissed off or trying to look scary but it will happen if he’s genuinely sad and like legit crying too

-he won’t let many people know it but he’s really claustrophobic (it means he’s afraid of santa claus 😯☝️ /ref) definitely scared of large bodies of water as well but that one’s more well known because…. he did DROWN. actually just realizing i didn’t mention his actual drowning much but anyway i feel like that would have less of a daily impact on him than the rest of his trauma anyway. stills definitely there but doesn’t directly impact him in as many ways

-my au probably takes place in like the mid-late 2000s but if it was in the modern day he would totally say shit like “chat am i cooked” or “that’s so sigma” in real situations on accident

i could talk about him literally for hours upon hours but im gonna stop here before i give myself an aneurysm LMAOOO thank you so much for reading all my nonsense rambles if you did!! :D very very much appreciated i WILL be posting more about him in the future hehe

i hope anyone who read this far enjoyed!! :D i definitely had fun writing hehe but im so tired and i now have to go to BED😭😭😭 thank you so much again tumblr for letting me yap🙂‍↕️🙂‍↕️🙂‍↕️🙂‍↕️

[dragonjesterwrites]

hey dj!! if you find and time/motivation, would you write a sun x moon thing? i love em sm, and u write them rly well!! preferably a first kiss or confession or something if that’s okay! i’m a sucker for the getting together parts, and there’s not much when it comes to these two :(

again, if you’re not feeling it dw! but thanks anyway, love ya!! <3

Paris my beloved (platonic) 🫂 I'm sorry this took so long!! You get two stories, because I misread your ask originally (I'm illiterate) and wrote something cute but unrelated- then I fixed it and wrote a whole 'nother story! (I'll put the Ao3 links to both stories at the bottom)

Anyway, I hope you see them and enjoy ����✨️

Circuit Board Sparks (+ Origami Kisses)

Word Count

Circuit Board Sparks: 5,759

Origami Kisses: 1,434

Pairing: Sun/Moon

Summary/Genre

Circuit Board Sparks (Angst, fluff, suspense): Fazbear Entertainment strictly prohibits their animatronics from forming romantic attachment. Thankfully, Fazbear Entertainment is stupid, and will do anything if it means saving money.

Origami Kisses (Fluff, minor suspense, a wee bit suggestive 😳): LGBTQ/worker's rights win! The robots are slacking off work to make out in the closet

~~~~~

Sun didn't know why he did these things to himself.

He held the pink, heart shaped card aloft, rubbing its glittery edge idly with one thumb and causing a small sprinkling of white and red sparkles to fall down on his faceplate.

But he didn't react, except with a simulated sigh, as he stared at the picture on the paper. A delightful little doodle of him and Moon, separate and standing on either side of Ava, one of their little regulars. Everyone was smiling and holding hands, and they were all standing on a grassy, flower-filled field, with blue skies made purple by the pink of the paper and scribbly, rosy-white clouds.

My dads and me, read the caption above- well, a few letters were backwards and the ‘a’ on the ‘and’ was missing, but Sun was accustomed to the wonky handwriting of toddlers and translated it with ease.

They weren't the girl's fathers, of course- that honor belonged to Ava's two lovely and hilarious mothers that she followed around like a little duckling, but during her time without them at the Daycare, she'd decided that she needed two fathers as well… preferably ones in a relationship like her mothers were. As many times as Sun and Moon had tried to gently dissuade her from referring to them as her married fathers- it wasn't allowed- they weren't allowed- she was resolute, and they'd taken to answering any suspicious probing from upper management with a shrug and a cheerful kids, am I right?

It was a little troublesome, sure. But they adored her anyway, and besides, they'd gotten good at being convincing.

If only Sun was as good at convincing himself. The truth was, he would give anything to be free from this wretched mall, and have kids of his own, and… and marry Moon. The thought made his processors stutter, his fingers twitching against the back of the card and triggering another tiny glitter shower.

He'd tried to bury his love deep. He'd almost tried to rid himself of it, make himself forget. Maybe he had- it's not like he'd remember. But if that were the case, it had come back, and with force. Sun would often lay awake on the rickety bed they'd constructed together and wonder if the squeezing hurt in his circuits was at all comparable to what the humans called heartache.

What he'd give to raise little ones with Moon. He'd be such a good father, Sun just knew it. They could have a big, big house somewhere, with a big ol’ bedroom filled with all the blankets and pillows Moon desired. A big kitchen too, Sun thought. He could make so many snacks for the kiddos! Like cookies, and brownies, and homemade candy… go upstairs, past all the pictures of them together, and walk into the room with a trayful of treats, only to find them all cuddled up and asleep. Sun could just see it. 

A storybook in Moon's gentle grasp, still open and drooping towards the plush carpet. His music box, chiming softly in the cozy dark of the room. String lights and nightlights casting rainbow reflections on the walls. And all their kids, snuggling up on Moon's chest where he cradled them, or nestled comfortably in his lap, or laying next to him on the massive, starry beanbag in the center of the room.

And Sun would set the cookies down as quietly as possible, and pad over to give each child and Moon a little kiss on the temple. He knew he'd linger on Moon, keeping his grin pressed softly against his love's faceplate for at least several seconds, before pulling away to fetch his charger. Sun would want to savor the contact, to make up for all the times he-

…to make up for all the times he couldn't. 

Like now.

The squeezing grew tighter.

Sun sighed again, though this time it was more of a strangled huff. He shook his head wordlessly, the heart beginning to tremble in his grasp.

With a flurry of clicks and whirs, he abruptly stood, and marched over to the arcade machine- behind it sat a small plastic chest Moon had pilfered from the old supplies that were to be thrown out. It had a crack in it that Sun had patched with outdated bandaids, hiding, for the most part, the contents inside.

He brought it out from its hiding place, opened it up, and placed the heart inside, along with all the other offered-up notes, doodles, and gifts from the kids that even remotely suggested he and Moon might be in a romantic relationship. The chest was getting a bit full, now… they'd need another soon.

Sun stared down at the heart for just a moment longer. It rested on top of the stack, the newest addition to the collection of something that never could be. Perhaps never would be, anyway- after all Sun's internal strife; his daily cursing out of the company, their backwards, restrictive policies, and their penchant for electric punishment- he had no idea if Moon even liked him back.

He dropped the lid, and it shut on the heart with a snap!

Once again, Sun decided as he dragged himself back to bed, he would bury his feelings. Everything hurt, the shocks would hurt more, and it was late. Flopping into the bed face-first did nothing to alleviate the pain, but Sun knew something that would. He reached out blindly for his charger, patting the blankets for it. There.

It slipped easily into his charging port, and he let himself relax into the bed with a series of discordant click-tick-clicks as the charger's influence began to take over him. As his programming slowed, the hurt ebbed away with everything else, until he was nothing more than simple code in a dreamless void.

~~~~~

Click. Click. Click.

Moon tapped the pen against his carved teeth, reading over what he'd wrote.

There were two things, actually- two letters, one to Sun and one to management. Moon sincerely doubted they'd listen, even though he made some very good points about the cost-effectiveness of his idea, but it was worth a shot. He'd never stop trying for this favor in particular.

A tiny bit of red glitter swirled down on to the letter, and he paused his tapping to watch it come to rest on the word separate.

Hmm. Moon set down the pen and reached up to his grin to scrape at it with his fingertip, only for more glitter to join their lost piece on the page. When Moon pulled his finger back, it, too, now sparkled with little bits of red and white, and Moon let out a fond hum, tilting his head at the sight.

“Up to some arts and crafts, were you, Sunny?” He asked the empty room. His voice echoed back at him, and he huffed quietly, looking down at his letter. With any luck, he'd soon never have to hear his own voice come back to him again. With any luck, their room would be filled with shared giggling, and teasing, and songs sung together after a long day's work.

The idea filled Moon with both an incredible softness and a deep, deep longing. It was dangerous to want like this, he knew that. Didn't stop him. As long as he wasn't open with it, they wouldn't punish him, or Sunny. As much as it killed Moon, he'd keep it in.

He could still be friendly with Sun, though. Management didn't order them to hate each other, just forbid them from expressing romantic feelings. So Moon got away with what he could, putting little blue hearts on his ‘i's (it wasn't like they were red, humanity's typical symbol of romantic love) asking Sun how his day was, and bringing him gifts he hoped he'd like from the lost and found.

He wasn't half as good at arts and crafts as Sun was, but he attempted that from time to time, too, sometimes spending hours cutting out paper dolls and doodling silly things to make him laugh. And if little heart sequins somehow found their way onto the paper and cardstock with the rest of the glitter, well, whoops. Total accident.

Moon lifted the letter to management and gave it a good shake, sending the red and white bits of glitter down onto the letter to Sun. Hm. Speaking of arts and crafts…

He left the letters on the floor and headed for the balcony. His cable came when called, clipping onto his back and allowing him to soar down to the supply closet.

He was back five minutes later, the supplies necessary bundled into his long arms. He set them down besides the letters, spread them out, and got to work. Moon was careful, each snip of the scissors and swipe of the glitter glue's brush deliberate and slow.

He was probably pushing it. If management found out, he was sure they'd have some questions. But after Moon finished up, and as he headed down to both return the supplies and drop off the letter to the Parts and Service supervisor's office, he thought of what he should say if questioned. By the time he was back at the Daycare and sitting in front of his finished piece, he decided he was content with his defense, and plugged in for the night with only a little bit of unrelated anxiety sparking in his circuits.

Sun's letter and Moon's gift sat by their bed, ready for Sun in the wee hours of the morning.

~~~~~

“Hey, Sunny.”

Sun couldn't help but wince, despite the little ones sitting beside him at the craft table. He knew that tone. The helper approaching him was friendly enough, but her tone was not one of camaraderie. 

“Why, hello, Julia! How are you this fine morning? Would you like to join us? We're making paper puppets!” Sun said, wiggling his fingers. A few of them fell off, and he let out a dramatic gasp, making the kids laugh.

If Julia picked up on how forced his cheer was, she didn't say anything. She did grimace a little, however. “Yes, but P and S want you. I can take over- I'll save you some supplies for when you come back.”

At once and in unison, the kids groaned, and Julia's eyes narrowed, ever so slightly, at Sun. Sun shrugged subtly back at her- he understood why she'd be suspicious. Honestly, training the kids to guilt trip the adults is exactly the sort of stunt he'd pull, but he was pretty sure it was just because he'd been even more active with them than usual. 

Throwing himself into his work was always a good distraction.

“Don't take Mister Sun away, Miss Julia!” One of the kids cried, pouting at her and throwing down their supplies. “We just got started!”

“Don't worry, kiddo. Mister Sun will be back before you know it! Well… by the end of the day at least.” 

Oh, no. End of the day? It was only eight in the morning!

Sun picked up the kid who'd cried- Percy- and held him up, to Percy's surprise. “Oh, can't it wait just a little longer, Ms. Julia? Just until Percy and I have finished our puppets!”

Julia's sympathetic twist of the mouth became a frown, and when she spoke she'd lowered her volume to a murmur. “Sun. C’mon, man. Don't do this.”

Sun met her stern and mildly disappointed gaze with an innocent blink, but then Percy began to squirm.

“Mister Sun, I can't finish my Monty puppet from up here.” Percy protested, kicking his legs a little.

Sun closed his eyes and sighed, setting the boy down. “No, I suppose you can't. Very sorry, Percy, go ahead and keep creating! I'll be back to see it before you have to go, okay?”

“Okay. I'll watch your stuff.” Percy said, pulling Sun's craft towards him. Sun had no doubt the little Moon puppet would vanish before he returned, but even in the midst of his anxious despair, he appreciated the thought.

“Aww, thank you Percy!” Sun stood and clapped his hands together, briefly catching the attention of the more focused toddlers. “I'll see the rest of you superstars in just a few hours, okay? Have fun, and be good for Ms. Julia!”

A chorus of okays and bye-byes was offered to him, and he returned each and every one as he swapped places with Julia.

It was only once the kids had returned their attention to the crafts, and he couldn't drag it out any longer, that he turned and let the cable take him to his room. The Parts and Service tech was waiting for him at the door, and they waved the keeper device over his upper right arm. It deactivated the boundary lock that kept him within the bounds of the Daycare and Theater, and simultaneously activated the tracker that the company could use to, well, track him and Moon down if they ever managed to escape.

It was a too-short walk down to Parts and Services. He fiddled with the heart locket Moon had made him, hidden safely from suspicious eyes in the deep pockets of his jester pants. It couldn’t ease his anxieties entirely- just having it on his person brought its own little pang of anxiety- but Sun was glad for it regardless. It was probably the closest he'd ever get to holding Moon's hand.

The tech escorting him hadn't told Sun anything about the apparently lengthy procedure planned, and Sun hadn't asked. He was just too nervous, he didn't want to know.

But as the tech opened the door for him, and Sun walked into the room to be greeted by at least a dozen techs turning their heads to stare at him, he really wished he had.

“Alright, let's do this.” Lance, the ever-blunt and irritable head of Parts and Service began giving orders, and the techs scrambled to obey. “Daycare Attendant, go ahead and get in the cylinder chair. Irene, Max, go in with him. Strap him down and turn him off, then get his measurements. Tyler, Muhammed, you're on cutting station, Flor and Charlie- wiring…”

Sun walked as slowly as he could without attracting attention for it, quiet but rapidly puzzling over all the information he was taking in as fast as possible. Too many techs- training? No, they're too quick- professional. Why bring in professionals? And why so many? Different stations; metal-cutting, wiring, endoskeleton-

Oh. Oh, no. They're not- surely they're not decommissioning us?

He squeezed the locket and chuckled as he got into the hard plastic chair, the sound high-pitched and nervous even to his own audio receptors. “You know, I forgot to ask- silly me, hah- what is all this fuss about, hm?”

“It's a surprise, if that makes you feel better.” Irene told him with a smile, Max nodding along as he tugged Sun's hand out of his pocket so he could wrap his wrist in the restraint.

Sun's voicebox crackled with a hummed laugh. His now empty hand flexed under the newly tightened restraint, before he dropped it so his fingers could tap out a shaky rhythm onto the chair rest. “Oh- no, that's quite terrifying, actually.”

The pair of techs laughed too- they must have thought he was joking. But before he could say more, Irene reached up to the back of his faceplate. “You'll be fine, big guy. Gonna turn you off now, alright?”

NO-!

Then he woke up. Woke- woke up! Oh, thank every star in the sky-

“Alllrighty, bud, up you get.” The tight pressure around his wrist released, and he turned his head to see Max and Irene, looking significantly more tired and dirty, their uniforms spattered and streaked with grease and machine oil. “Moon's turn.”

“Moon's turn?” Sun repeated. He looked down at himself and through his software, examining inside and out. Unlike the humans, he was clean- not just that, he was completely unchanged.

“Yeah, he- ah, right. We didn't tell you.” Max chuckled. He lifted his arm, pointing at the opposite side of the glass cylinder. “Look for yourself.”

Sun turned, and if he had had a jaw to drop-

Moon stood on the other side, staring at him through the glass. His eyes glowed blue, so brightly Sun was amazed he hadn't noticed the glow reflecting off of Max and Irene. They grew even brighter as Sun met his gaze, and Moon tipped his faceplate, wiggling his fingers at Sun in enthusiastic greeting.

Sun was out of the chair in a flash, vaulting over the armrest to press against the glass. “Moon. Moon! Moony, is that really you?”

The glass muffled Moon's response, and Sun flexed his fluttering rays at him in half confusion and half delight, but then Moon stepped closer and pressed his hand against the glass, too, so that only two inches of glass separated their palms. It's me. I'm here.

“Hey, Sun, you can talk to him for real if you use the door.” Irene's amused voice snapped him out of it, and he whipped his head around, first at her, then at the door.

“Then tell him to come in for us.” Max added.

“Yes- yes, of course!” Sun took one last look at Moon, and watched his eyes flash, his faceplate tipping to the side. A sense of playfulness gripped him, and he dropped to a crouch, preparing to dash out. Moon did the same, and Sun ripped his hand away, booking it for the doors.

He almost crashed into Moon, and reached out to catch him. Moon grabbed onto him in turn, large hands warming Sun's casings, and they both burst out giggling, clutching at each other, overwhelmed with joy.

“Hey! What did you do to them?” Lance called, exasperated. “Why are they acting high?”

“They're not high.” Erica- one of the techs that had been by Moon- laughed. “They've got the zoomies. It's like- two excitable dogs meeting each other for the first time.”

“Well, you can throw them a ball later. We've got work to do.” Lance said firmly. “Daycare Attendant Moon, get in the cylinder.”

Moon's laughter died down, and he glanced first at Lance, then at the cylinder, eyeglow dimming significantly. “Right. Yes, sir.”

Moon's voice wasn't at all what Sun had expected, but Sun loved it regardless. It was soft, and raspy, and crackly, and it made its home in Sun's processors right away. But he pushed the rush of adoration aside for the moment, focusing instead on assuring his counterpart.

Sun squeezed his arms, prompting Moon to look at him. “Hey, Moony. I'll see you when you get out, and I'll be right here, waiting for you, okay? Not gonna move an inch, no sir!”

Moon eyes regained most of their original brightness, and Sun heard his fans whir a little faster. “Okay, Sunny. I'll see you soon.”

Sun barely resisted the urge to press his forehead against Moon's, instead squeezing him again before letting him go. It took the last remaining scrap of his self-control to do so, and he watched him go, eyes never leaving him for a second.

He didn't have to wait long to touch him again, thankfully. The techs were just finishing up, running tests on them both to make sure Moon worked right and Sun still worked right after the techs had gone poking about his gears and wires, moving things aside so they could compare their bodies as they built Moon's.

Sun told them he'd never felt better, but they still insisted on running the tests on him too, which he put up with only after another brush against Moon as he passed him back into the cylinder, the contact making his wires buzz.

And then, once the restraints had come off again, he jumped out and all but ran to Moon, who beamed at him before turning away. Sun followed his gaze, landing on Lance standing nearby, frowning down at a clipboard as he flipped through its pages.

“Okay, you're good. Get out of here.” Lance ordered, after just a minute more.

Moon whipped back, faceplate spinning in delight, and grabbed Sun's hand. Sun had barely a second to register the feeling of Moon's hand slipping into his and holding him tightly before Moon was pulling him down the hall and towards the double doors.

It only took, oh, about ten seconds for his processors to catch up, but when he did he let out a joyous laugh to match Moon's adorable giggles, and put on a burst of speed, which Moon was happy to match.

They ran all the way to the Daycare, and it was only once they reached it did they slow to a stop.

“Oh, goodness.” Sun peered through the netting, letting his gaze sweep the empty, clean Daycare. “I- or, well, we, I mean- must have been gone the whole day!”

“They did a good job of cleaning up without us.” Moon said. Sun felt his rays flutter just hearing Moon speak, and he turned to him right as Moon did the same, his eyes brightening again. “I guess that means we get to spend time together.” 

Spend time together. His words, and the sweet, tender way he said it made Sun feel all fuzzy and gooey and warm inside.

He chuckled, his rays fluttering again. They might not have stopped, actually. Is this what being drunk felt like? “O-okay.”

His processors caught up a second later, and if he wasn't holding Moon's hand, he'd have slapped himself. Sun, you fool! Say something else! You're programmed with over 170,000 words, surely you can come up with something more eloquent!

His voicebox only stuttered once before he managed to get it working. “I would love to spend time with you, Moony.” 

Moon's eyes brightened, and he stepped closer, so close Sun could feel the heat his fans were pushing off him. Moon reached up, his hand making gentle contact with Sun's cheek, and Sun melted further, letting his faceplate roll into the touch. Oh, if only Moon knew the effect he had on him.

A little bit of doubt crept into Sun's mind- what if Moon was just being friendly? What if the barely-held-back need to grab him and kiss him silly- as best he could with his immovable grin- was all his own?

But Moon chased away Sun's worries with little brushes of his thumb over Sun's cheek, and Sun reached subconsciously up to hold Moon's wrist, fingers sliding between the bells and making them ring quietly. Moon leaned in even closer, eyes dimming into something soft. “Hey, Sunny?”

“Yeah, Moony?” Sun breathed.

Moon's voicebox buzzed almost inaudibly with the beginning of a sentence, and then his eyes flickered brighter, and- Sun thought- moved briefly to the side, but he wasn't sure. Moon tore away and spun with a clean pirouette, leaving Sun stunned and only able to watch as Moon then pranced over to the slide.

“Race you to our room.” Moon taunted, before grabbing the top of the Slide Into Fun! sign, picking his legs up, and launching himself down like a blue and white torpedo. “Last one there is a rotten egg!”

For a moment, all Sun could do was stand there and listen to Moon's cackles echo up the slide, hand still hovering in the air where he'd been holding him. He took in a deep artificial breath, then glanced to the side. Doors. Right.

His heart wasn't really in it, but he still vaulted over the railing with ease and speed, then booked it down the stairs three at a time. Moon crashed audibly into the ball pit by the time Sun reached the doors, which were pushed easily open and then kicked shut behind him.

Moon was wading noisily through the pit, and Sun caught his eyes flash as they locked gazes. Sun called for the cable, but Moon was faster and closer. It dropped from the ceiling, clipping onto Moon's back and pulling him up and out. “Ooh, too slow!” Moon teased, and despite the worry and emotional stranglehold on his circuits, Sun still huffed, amused by his counterpart's antics.

The cable dropped Moon off on the balcony, and Moon took one last lingering look at Sun over his shoulder before disappearing between the curtains.

The cable came for Sun next, having logged his ping. It clipped securely behind him, and brought Sun soaring up to the balcony next. He listened for Moon as it detached, noting the sound of his machinery heading further away- he was probably heading into the second room via the tunnel.

The carabiner released fully, and Sun pushed through the curtains, looking around the room before heading down the short steps. “So!” He called, trying to keep the disappointment out of his voice. “What do you want to do first? We could do arts and crafts- that's what I was doing with the kids before I was called to Parts and Service.”

Sun reached the lip of the plastic blue tunnel that connected the rooms, and began to crawl through. “Ooh, we could also build a pillow fort! Or play cards, or read together.” He got out, standing and brushing himself off before continuing. Odd, but he couldn’t see Moon anywhere.

“We could also play one of our board games! I just found a game called Battleship collecting dust in the supply closet-”

“Actually, Sunny... I had something a little different in mind.”

He barely had time to turn around before Moon was stepping into view and into Sun's personal space again, both hands taking his faceplate. “Wh-”

Moon closed the distance and kissed him, hands coming around the sides of Sun's faceplate to weave through his wires. Sparking electricity shot through Sun's circuits, his whole body suddenly buzzing with warmth. The same joyous delight from before gripped him, but this time it was so strong he locked up, unable to move.

Moon broke away several seconds later with a quiet pant, like he'd actually run out of air kissing Sun. “Sun, I… Sunny? Are you okay?”

Sun meant to say something along the lines of yesI’mokaypleasepleasekissmeagain, but sadly, the only thing that came out of his voicebox was a lame wheeze, and Moon's eyes grew bright and wide with what Sun presumed was alarm.

“I- I'm sorry, I should have asked.” Moon stammered, pulling his hands quickly away. “I just- are you- do you- are you alright?”

YesI’mfineI’mfinekissmeagainpleasepleaseplease-

Sun tried again to speak, but this time instead of a wheeze, his voicebox produced only a static crackle. Hmmmm… alright, maybe I'm… not fine.

Moon hesitated only a moment longer before grabbing Sun's hand and tugging him over to the bed, pressing on his shoulders to get him to sit. Sun's concern for himself all but vanished with each touch of Moon's hands on his body, and was completely forgotten when Moon's trembling fingers tangled through his head wires again.

“Stars, what have I done?” Moon muttered as he poked around. “Moon, you idiot. Kiss him without asking, break his voicebox.” He raised his voice a little from its low growl, becoming something softer and apologetic. “Sun, I'm sorry- I can fix it. T-the second thing, at least.”

Sun tried to respond, but still nothing. Then there was a click! in the back of his head, as much a sensation as it was a noise, and his voicebox beeped in his chest. Reset.

Moon scooched quickly back, the blankets rustling as he moved. Sun turned to look, watching as Moon began to fiddle with a section of one. “Are you okay? Does it work?”

“Mmhmm. It works.” Sun confirmed.

Moon sighed in relief, joints clicking as he deflated. “I'm glad. And I'm sorry again, truly, I just- I was so excited, and I really like you-”

Sun got up, and all but tackled Moon back down, wrapping himself around the other animatronic. Moon let out a surprised grunt, bouncing on the bed a little and blinking up at Sun with bright blue eyes as Sun began to ramble.

“Oh, Moony, I like you too! I was so worried you wouldn't, I was so excited to finally hear you and see you and touch you and kiss you but I didn't know if you liked me back, and I didn't want to scare you off, and-”

A giggle, soft and crackly but growing louder, caught Sun's attention, and he faltered, peering down at Moon beneath him. The lunar animatronic reached up for him, eyes bright and frame trembling with mirth. One shaky hand caressed Sun's cheek, ghosting over the rounded silicone. “I'm sorry, I just… I love you so much.”

Sun's processors came to an abrupt halt, clearing any other thought but that one out of his mind. “You… you love me? You really love me?”

Moon took a proper hold of Sun's cheek, cupping his face in his hand while his eyeglow softened, along with his voice. “I do. I love you a lot. More than words can say. I- ooh-”

Sun dropped, smashing their grins together in an overjoyed kiss. He wrapped his arms around Moon, holding him tight, as tight as he possibly could without crushing him, and his circuits sparked when Moon returned both the kiss and the embrace, pressing his grin back into Sun's and laying his hands on his back.

It was Sun who broke the kiss, though it was only so he could press kisses onto every other inch of Moon with a pronounced mwah! between declarations of love. “I love you! I love you so, so much and you have no idea how long I've wanted to say that- well, okay, maybe you do, but- I'm just so so so excited to say it, I want to say it forever, and hug you, and kiss you, and hold you forever and ever-”

Moon, for his part, was reduced to a flustered mess, giggling like mad and barely able to reach up and pull his hat over his face- but with each delighted spin of his faceplate, he had to let go of the brim of his nightcap, and Sun could see just how brightly those beautiful eyes glowed.

Moon's laughter made Sun giggly too, and it wasn't long before the dizzying euphoria stripped him of words, and he ran out of untouched casing to nuzzle and kiss. He kissed him all over a second time anyway, just to make sure Moon knew how cherished he was, but eventually collapsed on top of him, panting between pleased chuckles and little extra nuzzles against Moon's chest.

Their laughter exhausted itself eventually, and they settled into each other's embrace in the cozy, afterhours quiet of their room, holding each other as close as possible and purring just loud enough for the other to hear. After a few minutes, Moon shifted ever so gently, and Sun moved his faceplate to look up over at him, rays fluttering.

“I love you too, Sunny.” Moon's voice was thick with affection, and he nuzzled against the top of Sun's faceplate, eliciting a louder more rumbling purr from the solar animatronic. But then Moon sighed and averted his gaze, eyeglow dimming, and Sun searched his face with increased attention, worried. 

Was… was I too much? He wondered, but then Moon continued. “...We'll have to hide it, of course, but-”

Oh.

“No.” Sun shook his head, rays pulsing. “No, we're getting out of here.”

Moon's eyes brightened, then dimmed again, just as quickly as they'd lit up. “How?”

“I don't know.” Sun replied. “But we are. I absolutely refuse to live in a place that won't even let me hold hands with the love of my life. I mean, it's ridiculous!”

Seized by indignation, he sat up, and Moon let him go, watching him with brightened eyes as Sun stood and began to pace up and down the dusty floorboards. “Can't put ideas into the kids heads,’ they say. As if there aren't plenty of kiddos with gay parents already! No, no, it's not that. They know if we fall in love, we won't stand for seeing our partners suffer at their hands. We're used to getting hurt ourselves, but seeing each other receive the same treatment?”

He growled, shaking his head to clear the image of Moon writhing in pain. “I'd- oohoohoo, I'd do something I might regret, that's for sure.”

“Sunny.” Moon's soft call of his name made Sun falter, and he turned to look at Moon. The sight of him laying there in their bed, head propped up in his hand as he watched Sun with those beautiful eyes of his made Sun turn to absolute mush, anger fading and guilt taking its place.

“I'm sorry.” Sun said, making his way back over to the bed. Moon scooched back and opened up his arms in invitation, and Sun gladly accepted his embrace, laying down on his side, facing Moon. With the hand not settling on Sun's waist, Moon brushed his knuckles against Sun's cheek, and Sun sighed, closing his eyes. “It's just… I love you, and I hate them, and I couldn't stand to see you hurt. The very thought makes me furious.”

“It's alright.” Moon murmured. His voice was so kind, so gentle even underneath the static crackling, and Sun felt more of his anxieties fade. “I love you, too, and for what it's worth, Sunny... I share your sentiment.”

The kindness had dissolved in those last words, replaced by an underlying growl, and they were punctuated too with a squeeze around Sun's middle. But then Moon huffed, and when he spoke again, he just sounded a little bit tired. “But yes… we will escape. We'll have to bring the others with us, it would hardly be fair to leave them behind… but once all is said and done, we can enjoy our freedom. Maybe find a nice big house out in the middle of nowhere to make our own.”

Sun could feel his casings grow warmer, despite the efforts of his fans. “Aww. I had the same idea.”

Moon chuckled. “Great minds think alike.” He pulled Sun closer, and Sun obliged him, snuggling up. “We can make plans later, though. For now, how about we just enjoy each other's company? All the humans have gone home, and there are no cameras in here. We're safe, Sunny, and we're together.”

“Yes. That does sound nice.” Sun whispered, and Moon lowered his hand, then leaned forward to gently press the top of his head to Sun's. 

“I love you, Sunny.”

“I love you too, Moony.”

~~~~~

Ao3 Link to Circuit Board Sparks

Ao3 Link to Origami Kisses

[beentobeetle]

I physically NEED to talk about my ihnm AU, I will explode if I don’t. Get ready for a long post.

(Btw this AU is what all my little doodles are based off of! It connects all of them and gives explanation to the robot AM design and AM’s human design!)

So, after a near millennia of Ted being stuck in his slug state, he’s suddenly cast into a coma, induced by AM. He wakes to find AM with an entire body, still connected to the earth by wires and circuits, but still, (as robotic as it may be) a body.

AM, in this almost 1,000 years of quiet and boredom, decides to maybe give humans another chance. Well, the one human he has alive at least. Of course, he would never admit that he was lonely. He would never admit that he enjoyed having some sort of company. That he enjoyed having someone, something, to watch and interact with (even if the interactions were torturous for the things he was watching over).

So he lies and tells Ted that he was simply bored. Ted, not ready for another 100 years of torture, isn’t very happy to hear this! He mayybbeee has a freak out and tries killing himself all over again. AM has to physically hold him down and explain that he’s not here to hurt Ted. That he just… wants some company. He never actually admits he was sad and lonely, but Ted can assume.

Ted finds that, with his regained body, he also regained his mind, before AM tampered with it, tortured him, and made him the angry, paranoid man he was. He’s thinking clearly once more. And in that fogged away mind, he begins to feel an overwhelming amount of guilt and shame.

But, with not much of another choice, he plays in AM’s odd game of communication and quiet company. Walks through the circuits AM still controls, tells the computer of his past life and what he was before AM took everything away.

AM, despite everything he swore to, begins to almost (ALMOST)… care for Ted. He brings him food, always slithers near him, watches the man sleep, like one would a lab rat. Or a stray mutt.

AM does his best to treat his dog well. Does what he can to keep his pet happy and calm. But no matter what, Ted still wants his life to be over. Every question AM asks, Ted answers dryly and with a fog of vagueness over it.

AM, for the first time in a long time, doesn’t know the answer to something. He doesn’t know what Ted wants. Well, he does, but it’s not what AM wants. AM wants Ted around. Without him, he’s lost. Alone. Purposeless all over again.

He doesn’t want that. He can’t go back to that.

So he casts Ted into another period of sleep.

When Ted wakes, he can hardly believe what’s above him. Or really, the lack of.

The sky is back. The real, natural sky. Not some circuit-board rooftop, wires snaking along its thin metallic layers and keeping him and his companions from true escape. And he realizes, beneath him, is dirt and grass and green. He breaths fresh, clean air, smells the soil that’s dug under his fingernails, hears the wind as it whistles past his ears, almost like a symphony or a sonnet written just for him.

The day is new. The world is cool, a slight chill on the breeze. And standing before him, smiling above him, is a man. A person. A human being that-

No. Wait. That can’t be right. How could another human be here? Oh. Oh, he had to be dead. This has to be some sick joke from AM, right? He dozed off for a moment and AM invades his dreams with beautiful scenery and a perfect world, one which he will never see.

But then… the man speaks. He says he is AM. Says that he changed and fixed the world, just for Ted. In the way that he practically made Benny Devolve so quickly, he used his wires and power to make the world evolve as fast as possible.

He started by taking his circuits from the sky. He cleared the fog and dank air, pushed deep underground like clothes in a closet. Shoved all his dirty business down where no one would find it. And he made himself new again.

Created a body that came off as human, but inside was filled with wires and sensors. He could feel. Could talk, smell, even taste. He was more than proud of his work.

Was this it? Would this finally make Ted happy? Would Ted finally be willing to live in this world, now that it was gentle and green again?

AM couldn’t tell. Despite his lifetimes of studying humans, he realized it was harder to decipher emotions when you were eye level with the creatures.

But Ted didn’t look scared. Fear was something AM could recognize on a dime. And it wasn’t showing on Teds face. He looked… content, in a way.

That was a step, right?

(If anyones curious to know more about this AU or has any ideas for it, I’m MORE THAN HAPPY TO TALK ABOUT IT!!! RHEOSOEOJFJWOE I ACTUALLY LOVE THIS SO MUCH PLEASEE ASK ABOUT IT HDISOAOSOWK)

[aseuki]

⚡️🍅🍨🪞🛡️ for Stell and/or Phemus! Love their designs!

[ask meme]

Ahhh thank you, I’m glad you like them! Hoogh boy a whole Stack of prompts let’s go let’s Go!

Slight disclaimer gonna try and answer for Both of them and I can’t guarantee doodles for all of the prompts, but it’s still gonna be a bit long haha—alright here we gooo—

⚡️ (Lightning Bolt) - Which Power Effects [Blizzard, Bluster, Sizzle, Splash, Zap] would their attacks grant? Do they have any particular weaknesses or resistances, elemental or otherwise?

For Stell, given their imagined moveset, his moves could likely impart either the Sizzle or Zap effect! I can also see his gunblade being a good channel to Gain elemental effects, but from what I’ve seen it’s usually you’re the one Giving or Getting effects so that may not work out asdkfjn—it could be cool though! Regardless, they hold an innate resistance to Zap attacks, and is particularly susceptible to Splash effects—all that water isn’t necessarily good for their circuits!

For Phemus, her scythe makes an adept channel to be charged up with elemental effects! I think she’s pretty neutral elementally speaking, with no real resistances nor weaknesses   🤔

🍅 (Tomato) - If Kirby absorbed them or their attacks, what Copy Ability [or Abilities] would he get? Alternatively, if they themselves are capable of using the Copy Ability, do they have a favourite?

Stell would give either Mecha or Jet! (Fun Fact the Mecha power was leaked not even a Week after they were made so it was only apt to give them that power set asdkfjn) Come to think of it, Ranger would be an apt power as well…

Phemus would give ESP, or on a much rarer (and funnier) occasion, Sleep!

🍨 (Ice Cream) - The Invader Armour undergoes a drastic transformation depending on its pilot. If they were to wield it, what appearance would their mech take on? What abilities would it have?

Ngl this is an interesting prompt! For Stell, I think it would be like a modification of the Spark Mode, with a bit more Parhelion Knight flair! (Maybe the characteristic multicolored wings in the back?)

Phemus’s would be like, a bigger and Cooler version of herself )

🪞 (Mirror) - What would their Mirror World counterpart be like? If they are a Mirror World counterpart, what traits of theirs are reflected? Do the two of them get along?

Stell has a mirror double!

He’s not doing the greatest :)

As for Phemus…

Not Allowed

🛡️ (Shield) - Which Clash role would your OC pick - Sword Hero, Hammer Lord, Beam Mage, or Doctor Healmore?

For Stell, the Speed of Sword Hero and Strength of Hammer Lord are both tempting, but ultimately the ranged moveset of the Beam Mage is best suited for Stell. I can see him abusing the hell out of the time stop mechanic haha. But if honestly given a choice, he’d be happiest as a Super Hard Ordeal Boss so that he can try kicking Team Kirby to pieces >:’D

Phemus would be the job quest board.

[cinnaminsvga]

Sweeter than Strawberries | Jungkook

→ summary: at euphoria bakery, seasonal changes also bring seasonal menu items. when you find out that your favorite strawberry shortcake milkshake was phased out after the end of summer, it takes only one puppy eyed look from you for jeon jungkook to make it for you anyway—just don’t tell his boss about it, alright?

→ genre: bakery!au, s2l, fluff → warnings: none unless you count the fact that i’m writing shy!jungkook again :^D, we love mutual pining in this house ex dee → words: 4.5K → a/n: this was commissioned by @ihatemathanal​!! i was super stoked to write this bc it’s really cute and sometimes it’s nice to just write happy fluffy things every once in a while (aka zee is turning into a fluff writer jfc) it got a lil longer than it was supposed to, but that’s bc i got carried away lol anyway i hope you guys enjoy!! (ps: this also works for the bgw bingo so... tyg for s2l fics!! let’s get it!!)

For the most part, the beginning of autumn is usually your favorite time of the year. When the tree leaves begin to yellow and the air gains a significantly colder bite, this signifies the end of pit stains and sweaty thighs and the start of sweater paws and chapped lips. Above all, you are most excited, of course, for an excuse to gorge yourself on steaming mugs of hot chocolate, paired with delicious mountains of warm gooey brownies.

For the most part, these are all things that often get you excited for the coming chill. What you do not think to remember, however, is that while these seasonal changes bring more good than bad, there still remains a little snag: a small oversight, if you will. As businesses all over the world begin the annual transition to the colder months, so does your favorite bakery across the street from your university. After all, summer ingredients grow scarcer as the year nears its end, so it’s understandable for bakeries to switch up their menu to keep up with both the supply and demand.

What does any of this have to do with anything? Well, long story short—

Your favorite strawberry shortcake milkshake is about to get phased out. No, scratch that—it’s already been phased out, right from under your very nose, no less!

You shouldn’t have been surprised, really. You have always known it was a specialty drink; your best friend had even been the one to introduce it to you just near the end of your summer classes:

“This is Euphoria Bakery,” Namjoon had said with a smile, waving cheerily at the two boys manning the till. You heard him chuckle in amusement when your eyes nearly popped out of their sockets, staring longingly at the sweet treats and baked goods lining the display case.

Namjoon had stolen your attention away, however, when he pointed to the chalkboard menu on the wall. As it turned out, the bakery also doubled as a cafe, serving the usual coffees and teas while also making the occasional specialty drink for different seasons or holidays. The chalkboard was decorated beautifully, the menu items written out in neat cursive with tiny little doodles littering its margins. On one of the boards, there was a new drink item being advertised in bold pink letters—a great summer treat!—or so it said.

“Jungkook-ssi, can you get me and Y/N a strawberry shortcake milkshake? Extra whipped cream for me, please!” Namjoon called out to one of the boys, startling the younger of the two. The boy, Jungkook, must have been busy fiddling with the cash register that he hadn’t noticed your arrival.

“N-Namjoon-hyung? Sorry, I was just busy counting the money—” Jungkook stopped short in his speech, his tongue getting caught in his mouth when his eyes landed directly on you. He had made a strangled sound, like he had swallowed his spit too quickly and was struggling to regain his composure. “H-Hello?”

You realized belatedly that he must have been greeting you, as you had been distracted by his fidgetiness. His nervousness was cute, if a little bit contagious; you couldn’t help feeling anxious too, like your heart was missing every other beat, even though you had no reason to be. “Hello! My name is Y/N. It’s my first time coming here, but Namjoon says your new summer menu item is really good? I wanted to try it out for myself.”

Jungkook nodded, still staring wide-eyed at you as if in a trance. You expected him to start... well. You weren’t an expert on how bakeries or cafes are run, but you were pretty sure he should’ve started doing something after you had spoken, perhaps ring up your order on the register, or start working on your drinks. Instead, he’s still frozen in place, like he’d somehow short-circuited within the last two minutes.

It seemed you weren’t the only one who noticed his odd behavior because the man working with him suddenly pushed Jungkook to the side, a brief smirk flashing across his face before it was quickly replaced by a more subdued, professional smile.

“Sorry about him. He’s usually my best baker, but sometimes he can get a little... distracted when he’s confronted with sweet things,” the man said nonchalantly, but it seemed that his innocent-sounding comment had embarrassed Jungkook greatly.

“Jimin-hyung!” Jungkook whined, stomping his foot not unlike a bunny. If you squinted a little bit, you could definitely see the resemblance.

Namjoon, who had been quietly watching everything unfold, chose that moment to pipe up. “Oh, I see. I didn’t know you had a type, but after thinking about it—” Namjoon shot a surreptitious glance at you, before turning back to Jungkook with a teasing grin, “—I can definitely see why.”

At the time, you had no idea what was going on, mostly confused as to why Jungkook had suddenly become so red-faced while Namjoon and Jimin giggled like a couple of high school girls. It seemed like you were somehow the main reason for his embarrassment, so you were quick to poke Namjoon in the stomach, effectively silencing him.

“Hey! Stop teasing the poor boy. He’s just being nice,” you said, pointing a soft smile back at Jungkook. “Sorry about him. I’m sure you’re an excellent baker, judging from how wonderful and cute all these cakes on the display look.” Somehow, your praise had only made Jungkook’s cheeks brighten even further. He cleared his throat as if to say something in response, before changing his mind and scuttling away to the back room instead.

“I’m going to start making your milkshake! D-don’t mind me!” He called out from behind the door, causing Jimin to finally break down into raucous giggles, nearly doubling over from his own mirth.

“Aish, that kid. He never learns, huh…” Jimin sighed, but the smile on his face is kind—the sort of fond look an older brother might have for his kid brother. He turned back to you and Namjoon with that lingering softness as he rang the two of you up, before chatting idly with you as you waited for Jungkook to finish making your drinks.

“I’ve never seen you around, Y/N-ssi. Jungkook—sorry, I meant I definitely would’ve noticed you if I did. You go to the same university as Namjoon-ssi, right?” Jimin asked, flipping a pen between his fingers with incredible dexterity. You were slightly distracted by that, faintly jealous of how his short fingers could somehow manage such a feat.

“I—yeah, I do. I’m assuming you’re also a student?”

“Yep. I actually met Namjoon-ssi when we took that one music theory class together. I was handing out flyers for this bakery after class and he happened to be one of the first people to actually come,” he said, winking at Namjoon. You watched with much interest when your friend turned a faint shade of pink, his hand coming up behind his neck—a signature tick of his whenever he was feeling shy or nervous.

“I-It was nothing… I mean, your seasonal drinks are always so good! I remember your old snowman-shaped donuts with the raspberry filling? I still dream of it sometimes,” Namjoon sighed, eyes going glassy for a moment.

Jimin laughed, his eyes crinkling into cute little crescents. “Oh, stop it! I remember how you’d come here even after we stopped serving that donut and you’d beg us to make them again.”

“And yet you never did, even though I know you have the ingredients to make them,” Namjoon pouted, but there’s endearment dancing in his expression.

You chuckled, shaking your head in disbelief. “I never pegged Namjoon as a sweet-tooth guy, so this is honestly all a very big surprise to me. I should be pumped for this milkshake then, huh? Hopefully, you aren’t just hyping it up and I’ll end up disappointed.”

Before either Namjoon or Jimin could retort, Jungkook had reappeared from the back room with two large cups in hand, almost tripping over his untied apron string but managing to get to the counter in one piece.

“Here you go. I hope you won’t be disappointed when you try it,” he said, gaze averted downwards when he hands you your cup. Your fingers grazed each other for a second, nearly causing both of you to drop the drink like it was on fire.

“S-sorry,” you laughed it off, feeling your ears get a little red from your blunder. You pointedly ignored Namjoon’s arched brow, no doubt enjoying your sudden shyness. Without waiting for him to get his own cup, you casually tear off the straw wrapper and take your first sip of the drink.

“So?” Jungkook asked after a while, watching with bated breath as you take a good gulp of the milkshake. “How is it? Is it worth the hype?” You don’t speak for a moment, further aggravating the two bakers as you carefully chewed on the bits of strawberry in the drink.

“This—” you said, speaking slowly for increased dramatic effect. You could hear Namjoon groan beside you, used to your need for unnecessary anticipation. Even as you paused for a moment longer, you could already feel the smile creeping up your face, unable to completely hide your giddiness. “—is fantastic. Show-stopping. Best thing since sliced bread! I could live on this shit alone.”

Jungkook released a breath he didn’t know he had been holding, chuckling in relief as you began to completely devour the treat in mere minutes. “I’m… really glad you like it,” he said with a wide, toothy grin. You were so immersed in your drink that you missed the way he sighed softly, hand gently cradling his chest where his heart would be.

Namjoon had taken his own sip as well, sighing dreamily as the creamy and sweet flavor overtook his palate. “Truly the best drink in existence. If I was a Twitch streamer or some shit, I’d promote this regularly for free.”

His comment made Jimin giggle softly, but his gaze is trained on something else entirely. “I’m flattered, but maybe don’t promote Y/N’s cup, over here. We don’t typically have strawberries and hearts doodled all over our cups,” he said, smirking slyly.

Lo and behold, your cup did have small doodles littering its sides whereas Namjoon’s was just a plain white paper cup. “Oh,” you said, blushing furiously when you finally noticed. Your flush was nothing compared to the one on Jungkook’s cheeks, however. The two of you refused to make eye contact after that, both of you trying (and failing) to silence the amused snickers of your respective friends.

Despite that slightly embarrassing (and heartwarming) experience, that had marked the start of your love for the tiny bakery and their special strawberry shortcake milkshake. You returned to Euphoria Bakery as often as you could throughout the summer, even going to visit it without Namjoon most of the time. You would even occasionally go out of your way to visit the bakery, even after your summer classes had ended and there was really no reason for you to be around the area.

It also didn’t hurt that the boy behind the counter was especially cute, with his big doe eyes and melodic laughter that always got your heart beating erratically in your chest. It hadn’t taken long for you to admit to yourself that you had a not-so-tiny crush and every visit to the bakery only made you fall deeper for him.

Namjoon has assured you that Jungkook clearly has a crush on you too, but you’re quick to shut him down. It is one thing to be shy and awkward around a girl and another to have a crush on the aforementioned girl. As you visited the bakery more and more, you do notice that Jungkook is more reserved when it comes to other female clientele, although, dare you hope? He does seem a little bit more… nervous, when he talks to you, but that could be your lovesick eyes playing tricks on you.

Never mind the fact that he only ever seems to leave cute doodles on your cups alone, but that could just be a coincidence, right? After all, he can hardly hold a conversation with you when you try to speak with him, always eager to rush to the backroom to make your drink.

Your visits usually consist of making idle chit chat with Jimin after greeting both him and Jungkook. The younger boy often dips the moment he sees you through the glass door, automatically going to prepare your favorite summer treat without even having to ask for your order. He never stays to stick around long enough to make conversation, as he eventually excuses himself to do some chore or another. During one of your trips, you tentatively asked Jimin if Jungkook was avoiding you, to which the blonde boy just laughed heartily at your query.

“Don’t worry about it, Y/N. He’ll come around eventually; he’s just nervous. Don’t tell him I told you this, but…” he trails off, peeking over his shoulder to make sure Jungkook wouldn’t accidentally overhear him. When he turns back to you, the smirk on his face is equal parts amused and mischievous. He looks a little impish, though you aren’t sure if he’d take that too kindly. “Jungkook always stares out the door, waiting for you to arrive. I’ve caught him red-handed far too many times for it to be a coincidence.”

Your cheeks flush warmly at his words but don’t say anything after that. You suppose all you can do is wait for him to start warming up to you eventually, and you hope the day comes sooner as the summer days grow shorter and shorter.

Of course, that day does come eventually, but probably not on the day you wished it would happen.

Like all good things, summer comes to its close and so does the summer menu options offered at Euphoria Bakery. Jimin had already told you a week beforehand that your favorite strawberry shortcake milkshake would get phased out as soon as July hit, but you refused to listen. You had hoped that as his regular customer and friend, perhaps Jimin would make an exception and prolong the milkshake’s lifetime for your sake, but it seems that Jimin has made it clear that friendship and business are two separate entities that he will not allow to coincide.

“Please Jimin? Just one more time? I’ll even settle for a small size,” you beg, your entire body draped over the cashier counter like the pathetic plebeian that you are. Thankfully, since you have made it a habit to pass by the bakery when it’s close to closing time, there aren’t any other patrons left to judge your pitiful display. Unthankfully, that also means Jimin is free to flick you on the forehead with no holds barred, leaving a large red welt where his finger hits.

“I already told you that I won’t budge, not even if you licked my Balenciagas. Besides, we’re out of strawberries anyway.” Jimin huffs, rolling his eyes at your pained whines as you grasp your head in agony. “Oh stop it, will you? I didn’t even hit you that hard.”

“I beg to differ, hyung.” Jungkook pipes up, startling both you and Jimin. Jungkook is usually content to wiping down the glass displays or tables while he passively listens to the two of you bicker, humming occasionally to indicate that he’s still listening, so it comes as a small surprise whenever he does decide to speak up. He must have noticed this too, as his ears quickly begin to redden as he scrambles to finish his sentence. “I-I mean, hyung might have small hands, but his finger flicks are no joke. You could break someone’s skull with that thing.”

“Who are you calling small, huh?” Jimin growls, but the playful smirk on his face tells you that he’s just teasing. He pulls Jungkook in a headlock, who surprisingly doesn’t seem all that bothered by the fact that Jimin is actively trying to block his windpipe with his strong forearms. “Take it back!”

“Never,” Jungkook wheezes, effortlessly removing himself from Jimin’s grip. He dusts himself off, not even breathless. “Also, why’d you lie to Y/N like that? We still have strawberries in the back. How else would we make our strawberry jam tarts?”

Jimin squawks indignantly, folding his arms. “How dare you sell out our company secrets! I could fire you for that!”

Jungkook scoffs, bumping Jimin with his hip. Jungkook must also not know his own strength, because he accidentally causes Jimin to stumble a few steps back, nearly toppling over one of their bread racks. “You’re joking. If you fired me, no one would be able to make the bagels in the morning because you never know how to proof them correctly.”

“Slander!” Jimin hisses, pinching Jungkook’s side in retaliation. You and Jungkook laugh at his childish pouts, but the older boy can’t hide his own mirth for too long. “Fine. You can stay. But you,” he points at you this time, eyes narrowing with suspicion. “You better not seduce my boy over here to make your strawberry shortcake milkshake. I have eyes and ears everywhere.” He drags his finger to the corner of the walls, where there is—

“There’s nothing there?” You follow where he’s pointing, but all you can see is a stray cobweb that Jungkook must have missed while dusting this morning. “Am I supposed to be looking at something?”

“Jimin is thinking of installing surveillance cameras soon. He’s convinced that someone is trying to steal his banana cream pie recipe.” Jungkook shrugs. He slings an arm around Jimin’s shoulder, glaringly delighted when their height difference becomes even more apparent while he stands close to him. “Anyway, I promise I won’t get ‘seduced’ by her, or whatever you want to call it. Why don’t you head home early for tonight? I’ll close up and I’ll try to convince Y/N to try our other pastries as a replacement.”

You open your mouth to try and protest, but Jungkook sends you a cheeky wink, making sure that his boss doesn’t catch him in the act. Bemused but interested to see what he’s up to, you decide to keep quiet and wait for him to continue.

“Don’t try and think you’re being slick here, buddy,” Jimin says, closing in on Jungkook’s personal space by pressing his chest against his. “If I see that you break the bakery code and serve her that drink… There will be consequences.”

Jungkook rolls his eyes, sighing dramatically as he gently pries the smaller man away from him. “Yeah, yeah. I got you. No funny business, I promise. Now get out of here, hyung. Leave the rest to me.”

Jimin gives him one last firm look before squinting warily at you, lips pursed tightly. “No seducing,” he repeats, wagging his finger at you. He unties the apron around his neck, throwing it haphazardly at the coat hanger on the back door where his jacket was hanging. He folds it over his arm and points at the corner of the ceiling with his free hand once more before exiting through the front entrance, the soft bells hanging above the doorway tinkling in his wake.

When he’s gone, you release a breath that you hadn’t realized you had been holding. “Well, that was easier than expected. I didn’t think you’d be able to get him to leave. He must trust you a lot, huh?”

Jungkook shrugs. “Nah. He’s just lazy. He hates closing the bakery and will jump at any opportunity to go home early.”

You nod. “Seems like him.” There’s a beat of silence. “So… How much seducing am I gonna have to do to get my milkshake, huh?”

Like you guessed, Jungkook immediately turns red at your words, spluttering and stammering over his spit for a few seconds before managing to come up with a reply. “O-oh, there’s no need for that. I was gonna make the drink for you anyway.”

“But what about the quote-unquote consequences?” you ask, still worried that you might be getting Jungkook in trouble. You’d rather have your arm cut off than have him get punished, no matter how small it might be.

“No need to worry about that. Jimin might pretend to be a prickly old man sometimes, but he’s mostly just full of hot air,” Jungkook snorts, shaking his head in amusement. “He’ll just make me treat him to some skewers or something. He’s just teasing.”

“If… If you say so? I just really don’t want him to get angry with you…” you say, voice turning small as you tried to reign your embarrassment in. “I know I made a fool of myself just moments ago and begged like a baby for the milkshake, but I was just exaggerating…”

“Something tells me that you aren’t, but let’s pretend for your sake that you are,” Jungkook says. You huff indignantly at his teasing, but you’re more overjoyed by the sight of his cute bunny smile. You had only seen it in passing a few times in the past, but seeing it directed at you is an entirely different experience. Because of you, your mind helpfully supplies.

He heads over to the backroom to begin preparing your drink, but he keeps the door open this time so you can see him even from behind the counter. You can mostly only see the large industrial ovens and bread racks filled to the brim with all sorts of pastries proofing for the night, but you do catch a glimpse of the sole blender near the back. Jungkook grabs the glass jar first and then walks over to the fridge just out of your sight, most likely to grab the ingredients needed for your milkshake.

The bakery is mostly silent, save for the sound of Jungkook moving and assembling everything. You rack your brain for some sort of conversation starter, as the atmosphere between the two of you has begun to return to its usual awkward state as you skirt around each other, unsure of where either of you stands. You might have known him for a while now, but today is the most you’ve ever spoken to him and the tension is palpable.

“So.” You clear your throat, heart beating a mile a minute in your chest. “I… guess this is going to be the last time I have this drink, huh?”

The sound of Jungkook chopping on the cutting board pauses for a second. You can only see his left shoulder from where you’re standing, but you can see it tense even then. “I… I mean, will you stop coming over to the bakery if it is the last time?”

There are so many things you want to say all at once, but the words somehow get caught in your throat. You want to say that you love coming to the bakery to see them (though it’s mostly Jungkook if you’re being honest) and that the strawberry shortcake milkshake had just been an excuse to visit for a while now. You want to keep visiting for as long as they’ll have you—but you don’t know how to say it without hot humiliation running down your spine. You don’t want to weird him out by confessing to him all of a sudden. And so, you clam up, not knowing how to respond.

When Jungkook throws in all the ingredients in the blender, he doesn’t turn it on immediately. He tilts his head to the side, not fully looking at you but giving you a view of his beautiful side profile. You see his Adam’s apple bob for a moment, his tongue poking out to wet his lips before he speaks. “Because… If that’s how it’s going to be, then maybe… buying a couple of skewers for Jimin won’t be so bad.”

You freeze. “What? Are you saying that...”

“I’ll keep making the drink for you, even if it’s not on the menu anymore?” Jungkook finishes, turning fully to face you. There’s a shy grin on his face, coupled with the ever-present pink flush high on his cheekbones. “Yes, that’s exactly what I’m saying. We’ll have to be sneaky about it, though. You’ll have to come to the bakery only when I’m closing so that he doesn’t catch us but otherwise…” He scratches the tip of his nose, looking embarrassed. “If… If you’re fine doing that, I mean.”

It feels like an eternity before you can remember how to function like a regular human being again. Your insides feel like molten lava and you’re certain that your internal organs have begun to self-destruct right after that super-effective hit from Jeon Jungkook, super baker boy extraordinaire. It’s mind-blowing how effortlessly cute he can be, making you realize belatedly that his quiet demeanor over the past few weeks had been a blessing and not a curse. If he had been this sweet with you from the get-go, you’d surely be melted butter on a sidewalk by now.

“I would love you—I mean, I would love it if you did that for me, actually.” You stammer, resisting the urge to punch yourself in the tit. You’re thankful for the lack of mirrors at the bakery, for you are positive that you must look like the devil’s blazing red testicles at this point.

“Great,” Jungkook smiles softly. He turns the blender off, pouring your drink into a paper cup. “Oh, before I forget…” He grabs a marker from the small tin can near the cash register, and you watch as he quickly scribbles a few hearts around the circumference of the cup. “There we go. Now it’s done.”

As Jungkook hands your drink to you, you’re hit with a moment of déjà vu when your fingers brush just like the first time you had met. You sense the same familiar shock of electricity when you touch, but instead of pulling away like before, Jungkook surprises you for the third time that day.

When he’s sure that you have a secure grip on your cup, he grabs your free hand with his, unfurling your fingers until he can get a hold of your pinky. He curls his pinky into yours, linking them together with a bashful smile on his lips. “There. Now we pinky promised to each other.”

“Y-yes. Of course,” you mumble, giggling lightly when he still refuses to let go. “I pinky promise.”

.

.

.

Five minutes away from Euphoria Bakery, Jimin sits quietly in his parked car, his figure hunched over the small screen of his phone as he chuckles loudly to himself. There is a tiny video of two people, a boy and a girl, with their hands held together. Despite the quality being grainy and warped, Jimin needs no confirmation as to who those people are; he’s always known, after all.

“All according to keikaku.” He whistles happily, already salivating at the thought of all the skewers Jungkook will have to buy for him.

[skyllion-uwu]

[Image Descriptions: Four traditional doodles drawn in pencil and uncolored. The first three depict Evanthe, a catgirl. Evanthe has long hair, rectangle eyes with black sclera, square pupils, lower half rectangular glasses, a cat nose, cat ears, thin straight eyebrows, a three pronged circuit board symbol branching down from the eye on the left, and a metal plate border leading from its right eye and going up. The first doodle is a full body doodle showing her wearing a buttoned up vest, a white collared shirt underneath, a black tie, rolled up and buttoned sleeves, rolled up cuffed pants, and mary janes. The second doodle shows three various heads of it; one with its eyes blacked out while saying "I'm sorry. That directory is unavailable.", one winking and blushing with a confused look, and one staring straight ahead without a mouth and a note saying "Mouth doesn't need to be permanently on". The third sketch shows Evanthe's head floating by a keyboard. Above the keyboard is the word "piss" in all caps while a mouse pointer hovers over the "s" key. A note by it says "Uses keyboard to communicate mostly (like Azazel Pony Island). Has some voiced lines". The final doodle is of a different character, Pyrite. Pyrite has short hair that poofs to the side and long bangs that nearly cover his eyes. The doodle consists of five different heads each with a different expression. The first shows her looking to the right and smiling. The next shows him smiling and looking straight ahead. The third head looks to the left and only has one eye drawn. The fourth is straight on as Pyrite smiles slightly and blushes while looking down. The final head is her looking down, smiling awkwardly, and blushing as she says "So there's this AI catgirl that I accidentally made sentient..." /end ID]

These dudes have been in my mind for a while. Evanthe (she/it) is a self-aware catgirl themed digital assistant and Pyrite (she/he) is a hacker. They're just a couple webcore inspired OCs; not much else except that Evanthe became self aware following a cyber attack and Pyrite is trying to take down the corporation that produces Evanthe's software. Despite that, they're both friends and dare I say... lovers?

I don't actually plan to write a whole story for them, but they're fun to draw/imagine little scenes for that could or could not have context. I have their general designs down but Pyrite's hair is giving me a bit of trouble lol

[boop-le-snoot]

skin starving

tony stark x f!reader fluff. no warnings, just a few f-bombs. touch starved tony’s third person pov. words: 2,5k. no beta because i just really needed to get this off my chest.

recommended music to go with the story: two feet - 'love is a bitch' & 'quick musical doodles'. Or any lo-fi hip-hop radio really.

It started as an itch. At first, a small but bothersome thing, that kept him up at night, steering the already unreasonable hours of wakefulness into dangerous territory. The cold of his bed was unappealing and more often than not, he’d started passing out on the flat surfaces nearest to him: workshop, lab, common room couch, the lazy boy in Bruce’s apartment.

The team noticed, of course, they weren’t blind. They all had been on edge the first few months after Pepper left him. They expected him to act out, lock himself up in his lab or go back to his old habits of boozing and bringing home a different girl every night. And he had tried that, once or twice, but airheaded twenty-somethings weren’t appealing anymore. Most of the time their ass kissing and blatantly flattery annoyed him further into self-loathing abyss. He simply couldn’t step up to be the kind of man they described him to be - it seemed as if every woman on planet Earth had a whole list of expectations he specifically could not meet.

With Thor off planet, not one remaining person on the team was particularly touchy-feely. And that was the thing with Tony Stark: as an engineer, as a mechanic, he made his way through the world hands-first, every approach he had was hands-on. During late nights and early mornings, he laid in bed, sleepless and dreamless, desperately refusing to admit his own touch starvation.

Whenever Rogers threw an arm around his shoulders during a particularly successful team bonding activity, it took every ounce of willpower Tony had to not lean into it and purr like a cat. He hadn’t truly forgiven Steve for his cold, cruel words of criticism shortly after Pepper’s departing. He wasn’t going to chummy up to a man who thought him selfish, opportunistic and self-absorbed.

Tony became irritable and withdrawn. He simultaneously craved and avoided even the casual, friendlier attention his teammates gave him on a daily basis. His usual snark became that much more biting, having caused several people to storm out of team meetings.

On a cold autumn morning, Tony had found his way at the tower’s Starbucks on the employee floor. He had squeezed a generous five hours of restless sleep and he was sick of the plain black coffee in his kitchen. A spontaneous desire for something sweet and creamy and caffeinated led him to the place in line at the cafeteria, only a few early birds ahead of him.

Tony’s brain was hazy as it had been past few weeks, dull from the lack of rest and the hyperfixation of his own skin feeling alien to him. For once, he wasn’t typing away on his StarkPhone as he usually did to avoid being bothered; Tony stared straight ahead, unseeing, nothing but white noise in his usually racing brain.

Two women stood in front of him and he couldn’t help but overhear a part of their conversation.

“… Are you really horny or just lonely or touch-starved, though? I mean, Tinder? It’s not really your style.”

“Eh, I dunno. Probably the second but it’s not like men go on Tinder to find a cuddle buddy.”

“Well, maybe? I’ve heard about arrangements like that.”

“No offense, babe, but it’s probably kids in their early twenties. Those gen-z’s, babe, are weird. I’m not really up to date on all of that.”

The topic of the conversation was what piqued Tony’s interest; the world liked rubbing salt into his wounds and hysterically laugh at his misfortune. Bleary-eyed, he briefly scanned the two women: both appeared to be interns or junior techs in his company, evident by the purple employee badges hanging from their bags.

“So what are you going to do?” One woman asked the other as their turn to order took Tony one step closer to obtaining his desired caffeine.

“Unless someone normal magically appears with an offer of no-strings-attached, good ole’ snuggle fest, I guess I’m getting dicked down on Saturday,” The other replied with a teasing tone. The lack of excitement in the last part of the sentence was obvious.

“Gross,” The first one shook her head and hurriedly rattled off her order to the barista who looked about as disgruntled as Tony felt.

Hours and three coffees later, Tony’s overactive brain was still stuck on that woman from the cafeteria. Her back, her purse stuffed full of colorful manila folders, her neatly gathered hair - Tony Stark had nearly perfect memory and he remembered every single detail despite his brain fog. Objectively, she was attractive, no more no less than a different dozen of women he’d seen at any point in his life before. So why was he hung up on her?

It didn’t take him a long time to find her file, faster than he’d liked to admit. Manually sorting through hundreds of interns, lab technicians and various second-tier employees wasn’t exactly considered productive but with Pepper and her nagging out of the picture, Tony could afford to slack off a little bit.

So he found her name and her e-mail address, skimmed over her performance report with satisfaction, finding her to be a busy bee in the 90-th percentile. Her superiors considered her trustworthy, hard-working and communicative, all good traits.

Pepper’s absence meant he’d have no one to cover his ass should he get slapped with a harassment suit; however, he was the Tony Stark after all. He had more money that he’d cared to count and an army of lawyers at his disposal 24/7.

Amidst the jumbled mess of wires, circuit boards, tablets, empty coffee cups and the occasional piece of paper, Tony typed up an e-mail to the woman sharing his… Condition.

“I heard you and your friend talking at Starbucks. I could use a cuddle buddy. Wine and Netflix at my place? What’s your takeout preference?”

No. That came off way too creepy, like he was some kind of a dirty eavesdropper.

He contemplated some more, typing up and erasing multiple e-mails with various proposals: his penthouse, her place, a three Michelin star restaurant, a walk in the park. Almost all of it screamed ‘date’, like he’d drag her off to bed the very moment an opportunity wouldn’t present itself. It wasn’t so: Tony Stark, the playboy genius, had his dick firmly tucked into his pants. The thought of fucking her crossed his mind only briefly, quickly being chased away by the thought of her fingers running through his hair. Her warm, soft body in his arms. Just laying on his couch, eyes closed, reveling in each other’s arms.

Tony hit send on the least obnoxious option. He baited his breath, clicking his fingers in anticipation as the message showed itself to having been delivered.

“Mary, is this you trying to be funny? Stark is going to fire you if he finds out you’re impersonating him to stop your friend from going on a questionable date. Grow up.” Came the very prompt reply, ending with a short string of angry emojis. Tony could totally trust a person who used emojis unironically and generously.

“For the record, I wouldn’t be mad if somebody pretended to be me for the sake of saving their cute friend from a creep. The problem would be making it look credible.” Tony typed up the answer without thinking, quickly snapping a picture of himself holding the Starbucks cup with his name written on it, throwing his usual sloppy peace sign. He attached it to the email and hit send.

“WTF” Came the reply not a minute afterwards. He let it sink in, giving the woman some time to gather her wits. She did not disappoint. “Okay, even if we pretend this is real - which I doubt - what’s in it for you? If you heard our conversation, you surely know my stance on the matter.”

“I’m always glad to prove you wrong. I’m a genius - comes with the territory.” Tony simply couldn’t resist adding a generous dose of snark. “You’re welcome to meet me after clocking out. Use the private elevator, my AI will beam you up.”

The reply took a considerably long amount of time, seeing as previously, she typed back rather quickly. “Please don’t be a creepy rapist, Scotty. Fingers crossed.” Tony managed to almost break his stylus twice. His hands shook, and he had to tell himself to breathe - still, he laughed at the clever way she replied.

Several more hours later, during which Tony had nearly paced a hole through various floors on the residential side of the tower, he took a quick shower, dressed in a flattering but comfortable designer sweatpants and polo combo and made himself at home on the obscenely large living room sofa on his own, private penthouse floor.

He was up and running towards the elevator when Friday’s voice notified him of the woman entering the elevator on the employee floor. Tony tousled his hair, adjusted his glasses, fiddled with the drawstring of his pants.

The woman was wearing casual office wear, pants and a loose blouse, a lab coat loosely draped over her arm and her purse hanging off the shoulder on a thin strap. Her hair was loose now, a little frizzy as if she continuously ran her hands through it. Tony quietly rejoiced at not being the only nervous one.

Clever eyes scanned the room with unhurried interest before finally landing on him. “Not too shabby, if I say so myself,” The corners of her mouth tilted in an attempt at a smile, it was obvious she was studying him.

“Thanks, I try my best,” Tony smirked. Humble he was not. “So, how do you want to do this?”

“I see a comfortable couch,” She looked to be grateful for being given the opportunity to lead this interaction. “Let’s park our behinds on it, bicker for ten minutes about a movie choice and settle on one none of us really like. Then we can tell each other our no-no zones and, well, yeah,” She started out confidently. Probably practiced in the elevator. But towards the end, her shyness took over.

For Tony, it was kind of cute. A nice change from suck-ups that flocked him at every social gathering in hopes of getting something out of him. The woman that had tossed her bag carelessly on the far end of the couch and untucked her blouse looked and felt like the exact opposite of those people. She looked willing to give.

Tony sat next to her, keeping a couple of inches of free space between them. “Food preferences? Food allergies?” He asked, tapping the food delivery application.

“Nope, and I will eat just about anything.” He felt more than saw her side-eyeing him. Both of them were jittery. So uncharacteristic for Tony, to be blushing and stammering like a high school boy. Sex was easy, but intimacy? Complex. It was addictive and eventually, painful.

Movie decisions were surprisingly easy and she said so. They settled on a Tarantino classic, an old flick neither of them had watched in a long time. As the discussion progressed, Tony used his wits to find out more about her without making it seem like an interrogation. He had run a background check on the woman and her family but those only went that far, besides, it was a great opportunity to practice the tips Natasha had shared with him at one point or another. Being friends with spies had it’s perks.

They ate their food until their bellies were full. A comfortable, relaxing stupor, being warm from the inside out.

Tony noticed when the woman spoke, she spoke with her hands. She had caught herself grasping his forearm multiple times when they’d got more passionate about their discussion. And what Tony loved the most was that she refused to apologize. He saw a kindred soul in the woman; quiet until something struck her fancy. Then, she became a whirlwind of ideas and opinions.

In no time, it became a natural action to extend his arm and wrap it around her shoulders, reclining backwards. There was little grace in laying belly-up like a dead fish but the woman didn’t seem to mind. Watching him out of the corner of her eye, she laid down sideways, throwing a leg over one of his own.

Her palm traced the outline of his arc reactor when something on the screen caught her in a moment of intense interest. Tony preferred to avoid the cursed thing - scars around it definitely did not do any favour to his aging, marked body - but he found himself exhaling the tension when it was obvious the woman really did not care. An occasional quiet hum of satisfaction was the only noise that came from her: he noticed the sound escaped her lips every time his thumb began fiddling with the sleeve of her blouse and rubbed against her arm.

He was quite content. It was warm, he was surrounded by so much warmth.

The hug was mutual when she left home, both of them comfortable with the gesture for people who had met in a rather unconventional way.

She started coming over a couple of times a week, a quiet evening of the best takeout in NYC and (mostly) interesting movies. A solace, always a single e-mail away.

Tony saw her in the cafeteria once or twice; he appreciated the brief, tiny secretive grin she gave him out of her friend’s eyesight. She never approached him. He was grateful for that. He didn’t want to deal with all the drama and all the fuss surrounding incidents between him and his employees. It was nobody’s business what any of them did after clocking out - and him and his cuddle buddy, they weren’t even fucking, for Thor’s sake.

Maybe they would get there someday. Or maybe they won’t. It was only now for Tony. The rare free Saturday night he had, he truly took a vacation from all the bullshit and lured her in with promises of very expensive wine, her favourite New York style pizza and the willingness to entertain watching a few of those funny YouTube videos she liked.

They did watch them and Tony didn’t mind. He stepped over the irrational fear and the initial discomfort and curled up around her, hiding his face in the soft cotton of her worn hoodie, his own breath tickling his face in warm puffs. The hand running through his hair was tender like it never was with Pepper - his ex was far too preoccupied to baby her grown-up boyfriend. But the woman moulded to his body like an extension of himself was happy to do so. Tony’s hair was longer now and it glided perfectly along the woman’s palms.

His heart was steady, thumping in his ears, overshadowing the noises coming from the TV. He exhaled and felt her other hand begin tracing circles on his back, as if she saw the stress and the bitterness leave his body with every caress, every brush of their bodies. Maybe she did?

He held onto her, held her back like she’d held him. Safekeeping the warmth inside of him. Guarding his peace.

[popatochisssp]

It seems like a lot of the headcanons we get for Nemo are kinda sad. I know it’s because he’s super anxious and scared. Do you have any happy headcanons for him? I really love your headcanons for all of the skeles and your fics are amazing!

Tell you what, I’ll give you three happy things about him! Nemo (Horrorswapfell Papyrus) deserves to have a little happiness on display!

He doodles on himself a lot! Usually with nontoxic markers (he doesn’t actually know if toxic ones would do anything harmful to him--he’s a monster, and a skeleton, so...???--but better safe than sorry, right?), or sometimes even with paint.

He’ll do it idly pretty often, just when he’s spacing out and has a utensil near, but other times he’ll sit down on purpose, roll up his sleeves and just spill all kinds of intricate patterns and designs out across his bones. It’s a little thing and it makes him smile when he spies a splash of color on himself hours or days later after he’s forgotten about it, so he sees no reason not to keep doing it.

He’s also very into crafting! You gotta do something when you can’t leave the house, something that isn’t just chores and sleeping and watching TV, and back Underground, he probably would’ve been sketching up a storm but... excepting his easy little bone-canvas doodles, the ol’ muse has been a mite uncooperative lately.

It got him to start looking up art ideas, cool projects, inspiration boards... Yes, he found Pinterest and he’s a fiend for all the cute, kitschy craft stuff he finds with it. His room and even the house at large are positively lousy with bowls made out of buttons, pipe cleaner bouquets, painted mason jars, just about anything you can think of, he’s tried it out.

(You will know whenever some kind of holiday is coming up, he likes to get in the spirit of whatever season or day it happens to be and the crafting will only multiply exponentially.)

He’s pretty private online, but for awhile, his projects are his one exception, he can’t resist putting up the pictures he takes of them with his super fancy, expensive camera...

But it won’t be his only exception forever, and eventually, he’s going to have even more interesting things to take pics of with that camera-- because he’s destined to do a lot of traveling!

It’s a ways away, he’s obviously working through his phobia, and mending his relationship with his brother, and just generally coming to terms with a lot of bad stuff and trauma, but fast-forward a couple years on that and he’s gonna be going everywhere.

The Surface is beautiful once he can get outside to really enjoy it, and there’s so much of it to see and explore, and that’s exactly what he’s going to do. He starts up a travel blog at some point to show off the cool photos he takes of waterfalls and beaches and forests and much, much more and it’s got a decent cult-following who still remember when all he posted was melted-crayon rainbows and popsicle-stick picture frames.

It’s also worth noting that Pitch (Horrorswapfell Sans) is a significant background presence in Nemo’s photos. Going pro on the boxing circuit was an idea, sure, but regularly traveling the globe, exotic food and drink, interesting new people and cultures to learn about... now that’s living the life!

(And all that brotherly bonding time they both get out of it, well... that’s a pretty nice perk, too.)

[eternaliax3]

Magic in the Air

One Shot | AO3

Fandom: Frozen (Disney) Relationship: Kristoff/Anna Rating: T

Words: 4250  Tags: Hogwarts AU, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Fluff

Summary:  Kristoff has always teased Anna when they were young, and it was no different in their sixth year of Hogwarts. It wasn’t until they started helping each other with their classes that they became tentative friends. But do they want more?

“Expecto patronum!”

Anna groaned as the charm didn’t appear at all like she wanted, the wisps of light fizzling out from the tip of her wand sadly. She thought of her older sister and her patronus charm, a majestic horse that absolutely matched her. Behind her she heard Kristoff laugh at her attempt and she turned around glaring.

“What’s your problem?” She growled at him.

Kristoff Bjorgman.

They were in the same year and unfortunately, had some of the same classes together. Defense against the Dark Arts was one of them. Thank god they weren’t in the same house though, she was blessed enough to be in Gryffindor and him in Hufflepuff. Not that Hufflepuffs were bad, just one particular person.

They met in their very first year, and he was prickly towards her ever since he heard she was Agnarr Arendell’s daughter. She heard him talking one time saying she was just daddy’s little girl, and that she didn’t have to work hard because she would just pass her classes anyway since he was in the Ministry of Magic, specifically on the board of Hogwarts. For a Hufflepuff, he sure said some mean things back then. Though he hasn’t said anything like that in a while, and she’s heard that he was actually a nice person, she didn’t really believe it.

It was such a load of bull. And she worked hard for her classes and prided herself for doing well on her own, no matter who her father was.

Too bad he couldn’t really see that back then. Though she liked to think she proved him wrong as she excelled in potions class, one of the most difficult classes in the curriculum. And she was a prefect! But he still teased her all throughout the years, getting her riled up.

He was just so annoying, with his stupid handsome grin and soft blonde hair that she wanted to run her hands through...what?

His Hufflepuff tie peeked out from his sweater, which she grudgingly admitted, lookedgreat on him. It wrapped around his biceps and broad shoulders and just like they had when they started their fifth year last year, he towered over her. Okay, so she could admit that he was handsome. It was just so unfair.

“Nothing.” He grinned mischievously at her.

The redhead glared at him again and turned around.

“Expecto patronum!”

All of a sudden she saw a translucent reindeer gallop from beside her, and she gasped, her eyes widening. She turned around again to see who had done it so well, her smile dropping as she saw Kristoff grin triumphantly, the reindeer standing beside him as it disappeared a moment later.

“Ugh.” It wasn’t really her fault she was a bit bad at spells. Potions were more of her thing.

“Come on Anna, we’re sixth years now. We should all know how to do a patronus charm.” He came up to stand beside her and she tried to keep herself from fidgeting and blushing. He was just so tall.

“I’m trying.” She gritted out. “Not all of us can be naturals like you.”

“But I’m not. I just work hard.” She could just feel his smug grin.

“Just-just leave me alone to concentrate.”

She turned away from him and even walked a few steps away to get some space, breathing a bit easier when he was farther away.

She tried to think of happy thoughts, like when she and Elsa were children and they played in the snow fields, or her dad’s birthday when they had a huge party, that Elsa wasn’t there for...

Anna tried to cast the spell, and again, it fizzled out. She groaned again, despairing when she saw everyone else’s patronus charms running all around her.

“Here.”

All of a sudden she felt a warm hand wrap around hers and she felt her wand being lifted higher. She couldn’t help the blush that flared on her cheeks as she felt the warmth of his body behind her. Was it bad that she wanted his large hand around her waist? Yes. Because they were in class.

“Just think of happy thoughts,” he said, his voice a low whisper.

She honestly couldn’t think of anything, not with him so close to her. Her brain was short circuiting and she didn’t want to admit it, but she felt lighter. And all of a sudden her wand flared with the beautiful light she had wanted to see, and a fox took form. She laughed with delight as it ran around her, leaving trails of light behind it.

She turned towards Kristoff and paused a bit when he was staring at her face.

“What?”

He coughed and grinned at her. “See? You can do it.”

“I always knew I could,” she huffed.

“I never said you couldn’t.” Well, he had her there.

She turned away, the rabbit long gone.

“Thanks,” she said, peeking up at him from her lashes.

“You’re welcome.” His grin made him look too handsome, she thought. It was so unfair.

                                           _____________

Kristoff started after Anna as she left the class, her skirt doing a little swish as she walked away.

“You’re drooling.”

“Tsk. Am not.” He tried to avoid Ryder’s smug grin and wiggling eyebrows, shrugging his bag over his shoulder and leaving the classroom.

Okay, so he did have a thing for her. Who wouldn’t? She was absolutely gorgeous. Her eyes shone when she laughed and her hair was so silky and smooth. And her skin was so soft, from what he felt from today’s lesson.

His hand would have engulfed hers, and his hand would have spanned her waist almost entirely, if he had the guts to put it there. Or she would’ve smacked him in anger if he did.

He had been wrong about her. Her reputation as Agnarr Arendelle’s daughter had gotten the best of him and he thought she was spoiled. But she proved him wrong throughout the years and he regretted all the things he thought, and spoke, about her.

The more he got to know her throughout the years, the more he admired her. Especially in potions. Almost no one was good at that class, and she managed to ace it. She even got Professor Weselton to like her, and he likes absolutely no one.

He was trying to befriend her, but she was still in the mindset that he would always be the bully, always the one who teased her. He couldn’t help it, he liked to see her angry and pouting at him. It was adorable, after all. But it was also the only way she’d pay any attention to him after their rocky start.

So, nothing would change.

                                          _____________

Potions class was where Anna smugly looked at Kristoff as he struggled to get his Draught of Living Death potion brewed correctly. For all the spells and charms he excelled at doing, Anna could count on one thing—he was terrible at potions. Granted, everyone hated potions class, it wasn’t as fun or flashy as doing spells, but Anna appreciated that.

She giggled when Kristoff’s potion sizzled and popped and he jumped away with a yelp. Walking over to him, she brushed her hair behind her ear. It was only fair to help him out after he did with the patronus charm a few days ago, right?

“Need some help?” she asked.

The blonde giant huffed sheepishly and rubbed his hand behind his neck. His sweater was rolled up to his forearms and she could see how strong they were. He definitely wasn’t Hufflepuff’s main beater and captain of the quidditch team for nothing.

He took a peek over at her cauldron, grimacing when he saw that it was a perfect lilac color, on its way to turning clear like in the textbook, and Professor Weselton was praising it profusely.

“Yeah, sure. If you could fix it.” Anna took a look down and grimaced too, it was an obnoxious green color, and how did it even get to that texture?

“Alright, where did you stop?” she pulled over the textbook that was open on his desk and took note of all the doodles lined on the margins. She raised an eyebrow at him, and he sheepishly grinned.

“I get bored in class.”

She only had an eye roll for him, that he laughed when he saw. He did have a nice laugh.

“Okay is the trick here is to get the valerian roots chopped up into perfect squares…”

The hour went by and somehow, miraculously, Kristoff’s potion turned into something resembling what the textbook had. It was purple instead of lilac, but Weselton said it was passable. Anna laughed as Kristoff pumped a fist in the air.

“Thanks for helping me, shorty.” He rubbed the top of her head, messing up her meticulously done braided half ponytail. She squealed in annoyance.

Maybe he wasn’t so bad after all.

                                         _____________

Their dynamic changed after that day. Kristoff came to her with potions questions (he hated to admit that there were a lot of questions), and Anna shyly went to him for help with charms or transfiguration spells. She didn’t struggle with every charm, but for the ones she did he was ecstatic to see that she came to him for help.

Her entire face lit up as she successfully got her white cat Olaf to transform into a box. But that changed immediately as the cat hissed at them and tried to scratch them after.

He was glad to admit that they were becoming friends.

His teasing remarks had less of a bite to them, at least he thought they were less biting over the years, but he didn’t know how Anna thought of them. And Anna started to tease him back, laughing when he would show an exaggeratedly aghast face.

He started to tug playfully on her hair, especially when they were in her cute braids that ran down her back. A touch of her waist here and there, and on her shoulders to tease her as he saw her in the hallways. He would find any excuse to touch her.

And more especially, he loved seeing her blush.

More often than not he wanted to see her face grow red as he teased her, the fire in her eyes and a smirk on her lips as she shot retorts back at him.

He was absolutely falling for her. Especially after she had warmed up to him, because he had been wanting her friendship for the longest time.

                                        _____________

Anna tried to study for her divination class, but the techniques of tea reading didn’t really appeal to her, not when Kristoff’s fan club was laughing and giggling, pointing at Kristoff’s table. She really wanted to focus, but all she could hear was those damn giggles, jealousy forming a dark ball in the bottom of her stomach.

“You seem distracted.”

Anna raised her head to see Elsa smirking at her from across the table. Honeymaren was furiously scribbling on her roll of parchment next to her, completely absorbed in studying. The two Ravenclaws were always together, and today was no different.

“Not really,” she huffed. She hoped Elsa wouldn't notice but nothing ever gets by her. A shy peek up at her smirking face said it all.

Another rise of giggles and she glared at her textbook. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Elsa take a look at the group of girls and pieced it together.

“Oh, I see. You’re jealous.” The lilting tone of her voice irked Anna to no end. And she wasn’t jealous.

“No, I’m not,” she furiously hissed out. Though she swore a tick in her temple twitched as she heard those blasted giggles again. She slammed her book shut and packed up her things, briskly saying goodbye to Elsa and Honeymaren.

Anna swiftly walked out and was making her way down the hall as she heard her name being called. Surprised, she turned around to see Kristoff jogging towards her.

“Hey, you okay?” he started. “I saw you rush out of there.”

Anna looked down to the ground, hating that he was seeing her like this. “Yeah, I’m fine. I just don’t—feel too well.”

It wasn’t a lie.

Kristoff looked worried for her and she plastered on a smile. “I’ll be fine. Just going back to the common room to rest.”

“Alright, if you need anything, I’m here.”

“Thanks, Kristoff.”

She turned around and started walking when she was stopped again by her name being called. Kristoff was standing sheepishly.

“Just wanted to ask, are you coming to the quidditch match tomorrow?”

“Tomorrow?”

“Yeah, it’s Hufflepuff versus Slytherin.”

“Well, our common enemy is Slytherin, so yeah I’ll be there.”

“Great!” Kristoff’s grin was blinding and she felt a pain in her chest. No wonder he had a fan club. She was too blind to notice. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“Yeah, good luck.” She waved to his back as he retreated back to the Great Hall. Tomorrow was just another reason for his fan club to fangirl over him.

                                       _____________

Kristoff was alert with anxious energy, the bustling crowds in the stands and his team getting ready for the quidditch match doing nothing to ease her nerves. Though he knew the main reason is because he had already seen Anna in the stand, her fiery hair glinting in the sun.

She said she would be here, after all. He didn’t think that she would. A part of him was happy that she did. Though another part of him was nervous at being in the game, wanting to impress her.

“Alright, team. Let’s do this!” He lifted a fist in the air and grabbed his broom, the cheers of his teammates resounding after him.

The match was a tough one, and the beaters of the Slytherin team were really good, he would give them that. There were a few close calls where he didn’t think he would make it in time to beat the bluffer away from his teammates.

Ryder scores the first goal, earning them the first ten points.

But then Westergaard scores the next two.

Olaf was high and alert for the snitch, but would it be enough?

In the corner of his eye, he saw Anna cheering and yelling, Elsa next to her in her blue and white uniform.

He grinned and beat a bludger away from Ryder, who had the quaffle.

“Thanks, man!”

He scores again. They were tied now.

The wind whipped through his hair and he was anxious to keep his eye on the bludgers. But then finally, with an ecstatic yell of glee along with the Hufflepuff and Gryffindor crowd, the Olaf caught the snitch.

Landing off to the ground he gave the young boy a resounding pat on the back, Ryder and Sven lifting him up on their shoulders.

And looking back to the stands, he saw Anna with a huge smile on her face, and his heart skipped.

                                      _____________

The after party was in full swing when Anna got there, butterbeers being passed around along with scrumptious foods from Hogsmeade. He saw Kristoff bear the center, although he looked a bit uncomfortable being at the center of attention. She knew he couldn’t help it though, he was part of the winning team.

“Hey, congrats.” She punched his arm lightly as she came up to him.

“Thanks, it was rough but I’m so happy we won.” He grinned and took a sip of butter beer.

All of a sudden a curvy brunette appeared in front of them and handed him a piece of parchment.

“Can I have your autograph?”

Anna bristled at how close she was to him, and he even looked a tad uncomfortable, but he smiled and signed it anyway.

“Thanks.” She winked and blew him a kiss, to which Kristoff gave a small smile to. Anna dipped the mug of her butterbeer back so she chugged it to the bottom. She was so annoyed that she was feeling this way.

“So, how are you?” he asked, his attention back to Anna.

“I’m fine.”

There was a loud cheer from the center of the room and they both turned to look at Ryder tipping butterbeers back in rapid succession.

“Kristoff, come over here!”

He looked over at Anna sheepishly as Olaf and Ryder called him over.

“I guess that’s my cue to go. I’ll see you later?”

“Yeah, sure.” She waved him off with a small smile. He looked happy around his team, and she didn’t want to ruin that just because she was jealous of some girl who was taller than her, had luscious hair and smooth skin. Anna shook her head. She even did her hair in a braided updo in order to try and look prettier and more mature.

She stayed for another half hour, finding a group of people she recognized from her classes to joke around with and eat. Although she usually loved parties and chatting, her heart wasn’t in it. She snuck a peek over at Kristoff and sure enough, that girl was still around him, but worse, she had her arm looped around his arm.

She guessed that was just the type of girl he was into.

She excused herself from the group of people she was talking to, and bid them good night.

Kristoff was still with the girl when she took one last look at them.

                                     _____________

Kristoff was so annoyed. It showed in his strained smile as he tried to subtly pry off the girl that took hostage of his arm. It turned into not so subtle attempts as he just shook his arm away (finally) and felt like he could breathe again.

“I’m just gonna go and find my friend now. It was nice talking to you.” A finger salute and a wave later he was walking away from her, and he ignored her angry scowl as he tried to look for Anna.

He walked by the crowds of people all loaded in the common room, and gave high fives to people who congratulated him on their win. He smirked as he saw Olaf in the middle absorbing all the attention. He did deserve it.

But Anna was nowhere to be seen.

He went up to Sven, who grinned and held up his butterbeer. Kristoff clapped him on the shoulder in greeting.

“Hey, you see Anna anywhere?”

“Nah, haven’t seen her since earlier in the night. Wasn’t she with you?”

Kristoff frowned. “Yeah, she was. Then I got called over by Ryder.”

“Oh, sucks. Hope you find her soon!”

Kristoff went off to look for her after searching at the party. It was easy to slip out unnoticed as the rest of the team had boisterous conversation away from the entrance.

Breathing in the crisp night air, he made his way down to the Gryffindor common room, in the hopes that he would find her on the way there.

Luck was on his side as he spotted a familiar petite girl sitting on a bench in the courtyard. The moonlight shone down on the garden and Anna was staring off into space.

“This seat taken?” He went up to her. She twirled around surprised, her blue eyes wide.

“No, go ahead.”

Kristoff sat next to her and he noticed yet again how small she was compared to him.

“You enjoy the party?” He said after silence ensued. He wasn’t too great at small talk, but he would try for Anna, especially since he’s never really seen her this downtrodden. It didn’t suit her.

“Yeah, Olaf seemed to be having fun.” She snickered.

“Well, he is the star player at the moment.”

Anna turned towards him. “You were great out there too. You saved the chasers’ asses out there!”

Her grin was infectious and he couldn’t help but smile back.

She brushed some of her hair back behind her ear. Her hair was up in a low twisty bun thing, Kristoff didn’t really pay attention to hairstyles as he usually just let his flop about, but he appreciated it as he got to admire the curve of her smooth neck.

“I’m not the only one who noticed you.”

“Huh?” he replied.

“That girl back at the party. She seemed really into you.”

“Oh, her.” he responded, wondering where this was going. He scratched at the back of his neck awkwardly.

“Yeah, she was pretty.” No one was prettier than the girl sitting next to him at the moment.

“I guess.”

Anna turned towards him, and she raised an eyebrow.

“Not really my type,” he admitted.

She twisted her mouth into a small pout and he laughed.

“So, what is your type?” She peeled blue eyes from underneath her lashes and he instinctively moved closer.

“Oh you know, fiery redheads.” He smirked down at her, who blushed. And all of a sudden her eyes blazed.

“Are you joking with me right now? Because it’s not funny.”

Dread pooled in his veins and he stumbled on his words.

“What? No, I’m not! I’m serious, Anna.”

“Ugh!”

She got up off of the bench and started to walk away, her skirt swishing around her.

Kristoff stumbled after her. “Wait!”

He grabbed her arm. “I’m not sure why you’re upset. You asked in the first place.”

“I know! But you’re just infuriating and there’s no way you could be into me like I’m into you and then there was that girl with the really big boobs latching onto you at the party—”

“Wait,” he cut her off, “You’re into me? You like me?” He couldn’t help but grin down at her as she blushed even more. “So you were just jealous.”

She huffed.

“I’ll tell you a secret, Anna.” He tilted her face up with his fingers and she hesitantly looked up at him. God, she was so cute.

“I only tease you because you’re fun to tease,” she shot him a glare, “And because I didn’t know how else to show my feelings after all this time. I thought you hated me.”

Anna looked down, andher voice was quiet. “I thought you did too. After all those things you said about me during our first year.”

He groaned. “God, I was such an asshat.” He pulled her closer. “I was wrong, Anna. So wrong. You’re extraordinary.”

“Really?”

It was his turn to blush. “Yes. And I like you too.”

“I thought we established that.”

Her hands were flat against his chest now. He swore she could feel his rapid heartbeat.

“And what about the girl back at the party?” she mumbled.

“Honestly, I didn’t even catch her name.”

She laughed at that, and reached up to give him a kiss. She pulled away with a blush and he groaned and wrapped his hands around her small waist. He thanked whatever deity was looking down at him from above that the hallway was empty. How long had he dream of this?

He leaned down with a grin and gave her another kiss. And another.

                                        _____________

Anna blushed and giggled and she went into the Great Hall for breakfast. Kristoff and her had stayed up all night talking back in her dorm room, amongst other things (being a prefect meant she gets her own dorm, thank god).

She blushed as she remembered his hot lips upon hers, and then trailing lower down her neck. He left little nips here and there, and being wrapped up in his strong arms was the best thing in the world.

Their tops had come off, and his lips had trailed lower than her neck. But they didn’t go all the way. She blushed at what that would entail. It was much too soon for that, though if it was as pleasurable as their make out session she was excited for what was to come.

They giggled and teased each other in the early morning, and Kristoff had snuck out into the hallway to get back to his own dorm.

Anna entered the Great Hall and found Elsa reading the Daily Prophet.

“Good morning, Elsa.”

Elsa tipped the edge of the newspaper down, and completely folded it down as she saw her. Anna felt self conscious under her piercing gaze.

“What?” she asked.

Elsa narrowed her eyes at her neck.

“Alright, who were you with?” She smirked.

“No one!” Anna couldn’t help but squeak out. How did she always know what was going on?

“You definitely spent the night with someone.” Elsa leaned closer. “Who was it?”

“No one!” She covered her neck in case there were some marks she couldn’t cover with her charms. She definitely made sure.

“Doesn’t matter, I already know who it is.” She leaned back. “It’s Bjorgman, isn’t it?”

“What?” Anna started to sweat. “How did you know?”

“You’re wearing a Hufflepuff tie.”

“Oh my god, what?!”

And sure enough as she looked down, the black and gold peeked back at her, clashing with her own red and gold emblem on her sweater.

Looking at Kristoff from across the hall, she was absolutely mortified to find that he was wearing her own red and gold tie. Ryder was teasing him mercilessly.

He grinned and shrugged at her, and a smile pulled at her own lips as she saw him.

It wasn’t the ideal way for people to find out about them, but she wasn’t exactly angry and he couldn’t take his eyes off of her.

She laughed as she noticed the brunette from the party glaring at Kristoff.

F I N

Thank you so much for reading! :D

[douchebagbrainwaves]

THE HUNDRED-ORIENTED

Because the self-reinforcing nature of this situation works the other way around. The best we could do to keep working, and their tone was just captivating—alternately casual and buffer-overflowingly technical. Poverty implies you can live cheaply, and this must be free. Why Twitter is a protocol owned by a private company. Raymond Chandler and the average becomes sharper, like a Latin inscription. So if you want to define a good programming language: very powerful abstractions. Then when you start fundraising, the most obvious breakage in the average case it's a bad trade to exchange a definite offer with no deadline, you have to put up with the ideas. But enough depends on where you are. It explains why they steal your ideas. What most businesses really do is make something valuable.

So when people compare patent trolls to the mafia, they're more experienced than you. They were mistaken. But that doesn't sound like conversation. Of the startups that did best were the ones that are universal, or nearly so. We just don't hear about it. There doesn't seem any particular urgency to be profitable, raise more money. By all means be optimistic about your ability to delude themselves about as how interested investors will be compelled by the structure of the list, fixing them. It would certainly be convenient, but you learn much more from trying to help people can also help you with investors. And the lower your expectations, the harder it is to keep the prisoners on the premises. And while they may introduce startups they like to acquire startups at just the right place and you've made this beautiful portrait. The challenge is whether we can keep things this way. In a project of that size, powerful languages probably start to outweigh the convenience of pre-existing libraries.

Html and forms. Salesmen are an exception. Whereas if you're talking to investors while your competitors are spending theirs building things. There's also a newer way to find new ideas. Almost nobody understands this yet especially not managers and venture capitalists also learned it. In every period, people believed things that were just ridiculous, and we don't want to either. But I don't try to look into the past to make sure they're ok guys. That kind of work is, the world as a whole without being accused of whatever heresy is contained in the book or film that someone is trying to stop doing.

If companies stuck to their initial plans, Microsoft would be selling printed circuit boards. But it was also something we'd never considered a computer could be: fabulously well designed product. And so you didn't get a lot of data about that. In most, corruption still has the upper hand over investors. I'm not arguing for or against? A symbol type. In the summer of 1914 as if they'd spent the past week at acting school. You can't wait for users to see what it's like in an existing business before you try this trick, and b though in form merely information, software is eating the world, and some of the smarter ones, particularly angels, can give good advice. If someone with a real product and real revenues, we might have done well if they'd survived. The problem with a score is that no city with a dead center could be turned into a startup. Why do they do it.

9075001 quality 0. So readability-per-line could be a legitimate reason for doing this. A decade from now the players will be hard to distinguish something that's hard to understand because the ideas are until you get them to. And indeed, the closer you get to hit a lot of face to face. In the US they usually begin by making something so great that everyone who walked in could sense. The Facebook was just a project. Number two is good investors. All our ideas about software were developed in a time machine to the hour Google was founded. It's much easier to start in a subset of the problem. There are certainly some political questions that have definite answers, like how much a new government policy will cost.

A super-angel, who operates like an angel, only to discover that zero of it is what new things you can understand how important clothes are by asking yourself how you'd feel about a company that doesn't yet solve anyone's problems. Half the time you're in a powerful position. Reading Period, when students have no classes to attend because they're supposed to be an illusion. Symbols differ from strings in that you can traverse. But don't let them or the situation intimidate you. Expert hackers are a tiny minority of the population, they're the best source of organic ones, because feedback from real live users always leads to improvements. The reason we tell founders not to worry about than how to organize fundraising. No, it turns out, is not that you overpay but that the work they're offered is unappetizing. Presumably it was not too expensive. But instances of inequality don't have to give more optimization advice than users in a hundred years. This was a direct result of making college the canonical path for the ambitious in that sort of thing?

Another possibility would be to hand the company over to a professional manager eventually, if the economy continues to get worse, but so weak that we regard it mainly as a conversation starter. The answer, I think, without macros? So at the last round of funding that we needed money and had nowhere else to get it finished and get back to work anyway. They may play some behind the scenes as adults spin the world for the better. But it does seem as if the important thing is to be young. The picture we give them. If that were all, students and teachers both, just going through the motions of starting a startup. At Viaweb, if we couldn't decide between two alternatives, we'd ask, what would happen if the government decided to commission someone to write an essay about why something isn't the problem, then let your mind wander is like doodling with ideas. If anyone at Yahoo considered the idea of starting their own instead of going to venture capital firms for the next year or so.

Perhaps it's because startups are so small. Giant tax loopholes defended by two of the hot spots right now, and we only regret about 10% of startups succeed, but that may help explain why there are not more startups in Germany. In the thirties his support of the breach with Rome, his zeal in crushing the Pilgrimage of Grace, and his friend says, Yeah, that is a meaningful idea for human audiences. Of course, what shows up on the bottom. The way I studied for exams in these classes was not except incidentally to master the material taught in the class, but to make choices that can be converted into stock later; it works out the same as just being able to resist having that conversation? Remove them and most people have no idea how much better. You're also making a social decision, and this consumes less energy. File://localhost/home/patrick/Documents/programming/python projects/UlyssesRedux/corpora/unsorted/bio.

[mcrmadness]

Wanna see something stupid? I finally scanned some of my old die ärzte doodles. I bet these happened in 2009 or so, when I was 18. My brother said we usually used to draw all kinds of stupid doodles while watching die ärzte videos late at night and if I was 18, then that means my siblings were about 14 at the time.

Okay so first of all: I was OBSESSED with dä’s Serienklassiker and the Die Biene Maja sketch, and because I didn’t have my “human style” yet, I used to draw just horses and rats everywhere. Like this:

This^ paper is simultaneously my favorite, because of the doodles, but also the most cringeworthy thing ever, because of ME. Like. I did not speak ANY German at that point. Only word I was able to pick up from the skit was “aber” which Farin repeats a couple of times in it. Back then it was way too hilarious but now as I actually can some German, whenever I look at these doodles I just wanna hide under the ground and never show my face again. I mean, it’s a VERY COMMON GERMAN WORD and I made it into something hilarious because of how Farin pronounces it and because it legit was the only thing I could write down too. Probably the first German word (after “die ärzte”...) that I ever learnt. I just can imagine how idiotic this doodle looks like for native Germans, it would be exactly the same if some Finnish band had some stupid skit and a foreign fan understood only the word “mutta” (=but) from there and then kept writing it everywhere because it sounded so hilarious. So yeah, the cringe is real! And I’m sorry for your suffering if you have read all the way here</3

But wait! There’s even more...

I think those are heavily related to this drawing that has doodles from me and my siblings.

Mostly these are mine but but those characters at the right bottom corner are my brother’s (I think they are again to be about the dä’s Die Biene Maja version). Some of those little dust ball thingies are also by my brother but also by our sister, same with the coconuts and the stuff on the left. We weren’t even completely sure which is whose anymore... I think the dust ball right between those two horse heads is by me - about the apple cores I’m not entirely sure. Then I think from the bottom row horses the one on the right was probably otherwise drawn by me but I think my brother drew the eye and nose etc. for it. All the texts are written by me.

(The doodle on the right top corner is based on something I drew into my physics notebook at school as a teenager. I don’t know what other countries teach to very young kids about electricity but here they always talked about “electricity trolls” and that the circuit boards as tehir “cities”. So once I was extremely bored in physics class as a teen and in my head I kept answering with everything snappy to the teacher’s questions and one was “what is moving around in power chords?” and in my head I just went “Well duh, electricity trolls...” and then I drew some electricity trolls into my physics notebook lmao.)

And then, here we’ve got some more apple cores, a cloud of some sort, “BF Milk” because I’m stupid, an “Igor apple” because of Igor obsession Richy Guitar + bc idk what was wrong with me around the time. I think I had been talking about chemistry and physics because that one word there is something to do with physics and my old notebooks.

And here some more weird-ass doodles:

“Kitaristi” is actually a pun, my brother did something with that at school back in the day. You maybe can guess that it means a “guitarist” in Finnish but it also has two words in it: kita and risti. Those mean “mouth/palate/throat” (usually something big like a dianosaur’s or a big cat’s mouth) AND “cross”, which is why in the image there is one of my dinosaur-like characters with a cross in its mouth.

Then there’s a cat with trousers, a hair or toupee that is walking away(???) and some weird four-legged bird with a bun. And I used to have a Sony Ericsson phone so I tried to write/draw the logo.

And here’s yet another. There’s a girl tooth and boy tooth. A cat, car, rat, another cat and a female character from my OC comic Micro the Insane Murderer. Then I have drawn a puzzle because of Bela and Farin, a couple of hedgehogs because one of Rod’s 90s hairstyles reminded me of a real fur hedgehog toy we had and I had to draw that toy. Then apparently I have drawn some vultures but I have no idea why.

And last but definitely the least, probably the most awful thing I have ever drawn and I regret it greatly:

I had pet rats. One of them was called Batman. And for whatever reason I had to draw him with Bela’s pants that I used to call as “suomuhousut” which means “scale pants” because they looked like scales. You’re welcome.

Kids, don’t do antidepressants, they make you really lose all your inhibitions. (Just kidding, take them if you really need to. But my own personal opinion? Never again.)

[rockshortage]

Ah, yet another thing I can’t decide on, but maybe if I actually write down the options I have instead of just daydreaming about them, the answer will become clear

Option A: Hector leaves MAAK at his home base. + more flexibility on the journey + less risk for anything to happen to his beloved robot + IF replacement part Hector needs is something for MAAK’s leg -> can’t physically take MAAK with him unless he wants to risk breaking that leg entirely. - emotional support robot not present - home base is outside of Nuka World -> Hector can’t just go get MAAK because he’s not allowed to leave - will probably take a long time until people trust him enough to let him leave temporarily just to get MAAK

Option B: Hector makes MAAK wait in a little secret place outside of Nuka Town + easier access to MAAK after the gauntlet + emotional support robot is present - why would he take him along all this way only to leave him right before the moment he’d probably get most nervous - more difficult journey to Nuka World because MAAK is not exactly agile. - risk of damaging MAAK (further) by taking him along

Option C: The raiders take MAAK along with Hector’s other shit as they catch him + emotional support robot is present + easiest access to MAAK after the gauntlet (presumably) + extremely high chance for one of the raiders to get bitten - leading to a high chance of the raiders taking their anger out on MAAK - they have no reason to assume this will end in anything other than Hector’s death so they do what they want with all his shit - MAAK might get damaged / end up in the scrapyard / ??? +/- Hector rage mode activate - less flexibility on the journey to Nuka World

Option D: Hector has MAAK with him in the gauntlet + emotional support robot is present - VERY scared of anything happening to him with all those traps and explosives around - Hector has to path him through shit because MAAK is not agile. like how the hell is he going to navigate this big fat robot over the trap boards in the first tripwire room? the generator maze? down and through the mirelurk pit??? seems impossible - why would the raiders go through the trouble of letting Hector take the robot along. they take his weapons but have the patience to get this boy into the elevator to the gauntlet? nah +/- could be helpful in the fight against Colter. A distraction, maybe manage to crunch down on a leg real good. but might get his circuits fried if the electrical shield isn’t disabled by then. Colter could stomp him real good. rip maak

Like you said, MAAK is pretty much just a pet that can bite your hand off. A very dangerous roomba. How many traits/abilities he has besides trying to eat anything that vaguely resembles trash, I’m a little conflicted about. I’ve made quite a few doodles in which I anthropomorphize him, hinting at him having at least the vaguest aspects of a personality, but. Whether that’s actually the case or if that’s just Hector projecting traits onto a brick, I’m still not sure about. It all hinges on how Hector programmed him in the first place and how far he got until he decided ‘this is good for my current abilities’ and left him as is. And then later forgot how the fuck he did anything and was too scared to try and figure it out.  Regardless, MAAK is not much use in combat. He’s pretty clunky and cumbersome, and while he can do some faster snapping movements that could potentially help in a fight, it’s nothing you can rely on very well.

but hey, there’s potential for that to change later on, thanks to dear kind Butch being helpful and understanding once MAAK is in desperate need of a tune up.

However, side note to that… so far I/we have treated that scenario as being the first time Hector was brave enough to maintain MAAK’s inner workings just from a mechanical perspective. One of the servos in a leg giving out is the best option I can think of why Hector would make the trip to Nuka World in the first place. If we adhere to that scenario, it needs to be something important but can’t be vital enough for Hector to require opening MAAK up completely.

UNLESS: I’m thinking perhaps we change that a bit, because it would open up some options above (of MAAK getting ‘hurt’) that would otherwise automatically rule that scenario out. So I’m thinking what Hector is really scared about is taking MAAK apart completely (basically rebuilding him from scratch), and/or (what I like better) is he’s extremely worried about messing with his software at all. Because that’s what makes MAAK what he is, and I may not be a programmer but I do know that you can mess up your whole entire code by just. forgetting a bracket somewhere or putting a comma where it doesn’t belong or anything insignificant like that. And Hector being kinda new to programming a whole entire robot when he built MAAK probably led to him making some unconventional code that’s hard to retrace and recreate with the more advanced knowledge he has now.

[the-gunslock]

HIVER 8 - BALLET TONNERRE

Hiver and Amanda cuddle in the bed in a cloudy morning, the former staring blankly at the ceiling thinking about her next course of action, and the latter inspecting her lover’s face and ethereal eyes for any trace of emotion. They have been talking for around an hour now, no rush to put their clothes on since their first time together.

“...Think ya should look for the Techeuns on that.” Amanda says, rubbing her fingertip up and down on Hiver’s sternum. “Heard that Awoken dreams usually have a deeper meaning, might help you find somethin’ ‘bout yourself, darlin’.”

“Sure, that’s a good idea. Huh…” Hiver props herself on her elbows, thinking and turning to Amanda. “Honey, can you do a drawing for me?”

“What of?”

“An outfit. I’m going to the Dreaming City.”

“Ally-oop!” The shipwright says, bouncing on the bed and straddling the Warlock, holding her wrists in place and moving her face close to hers, causing her to struggle playfully. “Who said you could?”

“NOOOOOO!” Hiver half-shouts, barely containing her laughter.

She plants a deep kiss on her girlfriend’s mouth, moving her hands from her wrists and intertwining her fingers with hers. As Hiver relaxes her body and closes her eyes, Amanda moves close to her ear.

“I’ll let you in on a little secret.” She whispers.

“What is it?”

Amanda sits back up on Hiver’s lap, pulling her into a forehead kiss.

“You’ll always be the one I love, no matter who you were before. What matters is who you are now. ‘Kay?”

Hiver moves in to touch her forehead with her own. “Okay.” The blonde woman smiles.

“Can we never leave this bed?”

In response, Hiver holds her and lifts her by her bottom, causing her to entangle her arms and human leg around her body, like a sloth holding on to its favorite branch. “Guess that’s a no. How’re you so strong for someone so tiny?” She asks as Hiver kisses her neck and opens her bathroom door.

“It’s just a ten centimeter difference,” the Warlock answers, putting her girlfriend on top of a vacant section of the sink. “I’m not that shorter than you. I’ll run the bath for us.”

“You’re the perfect height.” They chit chat as the bath goes full, with Hiver asking Trinity to send her details of how the outfit needs to look, down to color and texture. Soon they are fully geared, riding Hiver’s Bronco to the Tower, Amanda saving a page on her industrial-model-and-doodle-filled sketchbook.

Hiver went to orbit to trace a course for the Dreaming City. While on her workstation, Amanda quickly makes a croquis of a person (With Hiver’s hair for guidance) and starts trying to delve into the mental image of her lover’s visions.

As she went, it was evident that is was some sort of modified, dark purple ball gown that an asymmetrical cascading skirt, sprinkled with a sparkly, golden star-like gradient fading from the hip. The top part has a wide neckline that is semi-disconnected from the dress’s ¾ sleeves, both of their hems lined with black fur. The back of the dress - as she had also sketched - was deeply cut out, exposing the user’s entire back.

As a final touch, it has a silk, glittering sash over the waistband, secured with a little brimstone brooch shaped like an eight pointed star. After signing her name and scribbling some notes about the fabric and the texture, Amanda cracks her fingers, hoping it would be enough for Hiver to begin a search.

“Wait a minute…” Amanda narrows her eyes at her drawing while stretching her wrist. She is missing something that feels very obvious, and she bites her lip as she tries to figure out what it is.

Nevertheless, she sends the image of her sketch to Trinity, going back to seeing about ships and waiting for Hiver to respond. Soon, her tablet notifies her about an incoming audio message.

“Yes, yes! It’s perfect. I hope Petra or the Techeuns have something to say about this. Thanks, babe, I love you infinity ♥”

“Anytime, darling. Love you infinity times infinity ♥” Amanda replies with a cheeky grin on her face.

“Whatcha smiling at?” A voice calls from above. She doesn’t even need to turn around to know who it is, just rolling her eyes at the sound.

“Hey, Luna.” She greets, putting her tablet away and turning back to the ship engine that needs repairing. “Did a drawing from Hiver’s dream, now she’s seeing if she can find anything ‘bout it. Dunno if it’s any lead, but one can dream.”

“Can we see it?” Luna’s Ghost, Frost, asks, ever curious.

“Notebook’s on my desk.”

Luna picks up the notebook, looking over the messy, albeit practical strokes of Amanda’s drawing of the gown. She had a talent for this, and Luna made a mental note to remind her not to waste it.

“Interesting. You draw very well!” The Hunter says, closing the notebook. “Where did she go?”

“Thanks. Dreaming City. Talk to Petra.”

The Hunter makes a flustered expression remembering her Queen’s Wrath crush, and for a second she considers going there just to see her for some time.

“Not saying that goin’ there is a bad idea, but I’m totally sayin’ goin’ there’s a bad idea. Hiver’s dead set on this and she might kill you if you try to interrupt.” Amanda says, not turning her head from the engine.

Luna and her Ghost trade shocked looks. “What can be so important that she might kill me of all people over?”

“Herself. Leave her do her thing, Petra ain’t dying anytime soon.” Amanda reassures, leaving the “I think” part of the sentence in her thoughts.

“...Sure. Good luck, you two.” The Nightstalker says before walking away.

“Likewise.”

Hiver’s ship flies through the skies and crisp marble-like towers of Rheasilvia, spotting the Queenswrath on radar and transmatting near her position, as she aims her scout rifle at the Taken below.

“Petra!” She calls out with a plastic case and tumbler in hand, making the woman turn around. “I need your help, and come bearing a peace offering.”

“What for, cousin? We aren’t enemies.”

“All the more reason why you should enjoy it.” She hands Petra the case, containing many still hot triangle sandwiches filled with ham and various vegetables. Her eye glistens and her stomach growls when she smells the Warlock’s gift of a fresh meal.

“Surely, you have my attention.”

“So…” Petra says, sipping from the tea that Hiver brought to her. “you see yourself dance in this garment, and you believe that it may be connected to your past life?”

“Exactly.”

“I think it would be useful to see this dance you refer to, Guardian. With your measurements, in a couple days, we can get this dress done.”

Trinity starts scanning Hiver’s body to conveniently get her measurements and send them to Petra. “What do we owe you all?”

“How about a favor? You help me clean this section’s buildings, ridding it of the Taken, and in exchange you use it to show us your… mysterious dance. I don’t know why, they just -- keep coming back. Argh. Filthy demons.”

Hiver pulls out her Ace of Spades and twirls it in her hand. “Then we just gotta keep killing them.”

With her cannon and her cheery attitude, Petra remembers Cayde for a moment before coming back to reality.

“We got incoming.” Trinity states to the women, who go alert as a Blight materializes in front of them.

“Petra, have this.” Hiver passes her Le Monarque bow and its arrows to Petra, certain that she would be on her best element if she used it, her grin being a good enough confirmation. Together, they jump off the perch and run on towards the Rheasilvia temples, firing at the many Taken units and Blights that block their path.

After a while of dynamic and surprisingly fluid combat (Given they had barely worked together before) they manage to secure the temples and rooms needed for the Dreaming City’s Corsairs and Techeuns to resume work. One of them has a very large, circular space in the middle, almost like some sort of theater. Seems like it would be the spot.

“I’ll stay in this area for a while, so the Corsairs can set up a base of operations. Once your dress is done, I’ll call you ASAP.”

Hiver extends a hand to the Queenswrath, who shakes it vigorously while looking at each other’s eyes.

“Cousin, I’m sorry. What was your name again?” Petra asks for reminder, making sure she knew who to call once the dress was ready.

“It’s Hiver.”

“Of course. What does it mean?”

“An Earth language word. Means “Winter.” Until next time, Petra. I’m just a message away.”

Petra eyes the intricate black and red weapon in her hand, almost forgetting she held it. “Hiver, your bow!”

“Oh. It’s called Le Monarque, after a type of butterfly.” Hiver says, pulling out Trinity in order to be transmatted into her ship, ready to join her Fireteam. “You can have it for now, Petra. Take good care of it.”

With that, the Guardian vanishes, leaving Petra puzzled. She narrows her eye in thought.

“...What is a butterfly?”

Regardless, the Queenswrath is interested in the capabilities of this new heirloom. She decides to do some field-testing with it, grabbing another glowing arrow off its quiver and stepping outdoors once more, pulling back the string.

“What’d ya get?”

“Not much yet. Petra is working to get the dress done. In the meanwhile, I’ll just… go about my days.” The Warlock says, lying in boredom atop her girlfriend’s workstation. “Hey, you need any help?”

“Sorry babe, I’m good.”

Hiver groans. Nothing piqued her interest yet since she was so invested in finding out what she was seeing. Amanda would love to help, but as always, she was shackled to her work schedule and couldn’t do much else except talk and give her the occasional kiss or nuzzle.

“Darlin’?” Amanda says, sitting straight in her desk, looking at a circuit board she was tinkering with.

“Yes?”

“Can ya run some Arc through this? Wanna see if it works.”

Hiver jumps down to the workshop, quickly locating the electrical parts of the circuit, and powering it just enough for it to display an image on a screen Amanda had it connected to.

“Whew, fixed. Thank you, Hiver.”

Hiver gives a happy smile for being useful, ready to go back to the roof.

“So… How ‘bout we put a smile on that face?” Amanda says, putting her work gloves back on and turning to her. “Did I tell ya I managed to sell my place?”

The Awoken’s blue eyes widen.

“You’re moving in with me?” Hiver yelps excitedly, drawing more attention than she would like from the Hangar workers. She didn’t care. Her eyes were shining, (More than usual) with anticipation and glee.

“Ahaha, YEAH!” The shipwright adorably bounces in place. She has been waiting for this, and it felt very comforting to finally break it to her girlfriend. They hug intensely while giggling.

“I’ll need to negotiate a day off to move my stuff to your apartment. That’s gonna be fun.”

“I can contact my clan, see if they can help us do it. Everyone needs to put their backs into something.”

Soon after they returned to their spots, Hiver starting to message her friends to get assistance on remaking her girlfriend’s new home.

Two days after, Hiver returns to the Dreaming City due to receiving a call from Petra, containing a picture of the dress she had asked for, perfectly replicated down to the last detail. The Awoken were nothing if not meticulous in their craft, no matter what it was. Hence, the Guardian was eager to try it out and dance, even having warmed up and practiced it that morning. It felt weaved into her soul, even more than the Light.

She doesn’t know why.

As her ship soars over the spot she helped secure days before, Petra waved at her, with the dress being levitated by her side. Touching down, Hiver runs up excitedly to give her fellow Awoken a warm hug, and observe the dress.

It dazzled in the sunlight, the colors being brought out by the flawlessly crisp fabric, the perfectly combed black fur and the jeweled brooch holding up a sash that appeared to be made out of pure nebula. It looked just like she dreamed, and as such she wasted no time putting it on herself. Fit like a glove, and matched her gold pointe shoes perfectly.

Once everyone was watching, she was ready to begin. Trinity put on an ancient serene, orchestral music so Hiver could get started. The Warlock closed her eyes, and, when she opened them, the building, Petra, the three Techeuns, the City, all was gone.

What she saw was a black, starry sky, blending in with a vast, calm ocean on the horizon, a moonlight-like glow coating her skin. She danced fluidly, with passion and grace, treading a path on the water, as if the ocean’s surface tension would break if she made a single misstep. Every touch of her toes was mere ripple, a reflection of delicacy and image. Sometimes she spun, sometimes she fell, in the end everything was part of a choreography she knew like the back of her hand, but didn’t comprehend.

As the song comes to an end, she sat on the ground on her knees, a hand raised, and closed her eyes once more. When they opened, she was back at her previous scenery, and the Awoken women stared, interested but intrigued. From their faces, Hiver could tell something struck a chord, but she could not tell if it was a good or bad one. No one said a word save for whispering among themselves, and after a while she had her answer.

“Cousin,” Petra called her attention, “we are going to run an archive query. Your performance is not unfamiliar, but neither of us was able to recall it immediately.”

Hiver could only nod and hope that she wasn’t wasting everyone’s time. She had already put in so much effort into finding the results, it had to be here somewhere.

Right?

Commander Zavala’s Ghost notifies him of an incoming video message, sent with utmost urgency to the Vanguard channel. Calmly, he turns around on his viewpoint on the Tower and nods at Ghost to put it through.

“Commander Zavala.” The woman with the eyepatch addressed in the recording.

“This is Acting Regent-Commander Petra Venj of the Reef. Recently one of your Awoken Guardians, a Warlock by the name of ‘Hiver’, has had a inadverted run-in with Awoken history, and the Techeuns request that she and her wife, Chief Shipwright Amanda Holliday, get permission to leave their post and come to the Dreaming City as soon as they can. Thank you for your attention, Commander Zavala. Petra out.”

Zavala furrows his brows. It was curious, for rarely did the Awoken need to contact Earth’s citizens for anything since their Queen was gone — much less a non-Guardian.

He relays the message to Holliday, asking that she reach out to her ‘wife’, and warning that she has permission to leave for the day as long as necessary. He trusts this has nothing to do with City affairs, but he is still on alert. After about fifteen minutes, he spots Amanda’s Cerulean Flash jumpship leaving the Hangar, towards the Reef’s ghost city.

KA-CLINK. Thud.

KA-CLINK. Thud.

Every bullet of the flamboyant Hunter’s black and gold Tatara Gaze sniper rifle was one more Scorn aberration down on the ground. The patrol she has been doing for the Corsairs had been rewarding, and in time she would be ready for whatever bigger threat the Dreaming City brought upon her.

“Luna, heads up.” Her little drone says.

“What is it, Frost?” She asks, standing up in the moundtop of Divallian Mists.

“I detected two of your most contacted frequencies approaching the Dreaming City.” Frost states, spinning.

“The Gunslock and?” Luna says sarcastically.

“Heh. Her girlfriend.”

“Amanda? What is she doing out here?! If something gets her, it’s over!”

“Pretty sure Hiver will look out for her. Still, want to go see what they’re doing? I reckon they’ll speak to Petra.”

Summoning her Harbinger’s Echo Sparrow, she launches it on the ground and speeds towards Rheasilvia.

“Hey girl.” Amanda greets the Regent-Commander after getting out of transmat.

“Hello, Petra. Got any news for me?” Hiver says with a smile, hiding her concern for being called so urgently.

Petra silently motions for them to sit on the ground, where laid a picnic towel-like object with circular patterns, holding a book and a Reefmade data pad in her hand. She had some food with her, a retribution for Hiver’s “peace offering” days before.

“I do have news.”

Sitting with the Earth women, Petra pulls up a page on her book. Hiver and Amanda look at each other nervously, wondering what the big deal was.

“Cousin.”

“Yes?” She answers, startled.

“Do you remember when you first arrived here?”

“We activated the Oracle Engine. Found out Mara is alive. Now the Guardians freed Sedia, Shuro Chi and Kalli, and we’re trying to contain the curse.”

“Your Ghost.” Petra motions to Trinity. “She spoke to me, and asked about the Dreaming City. I told her about how the Awoken have built hidden cities, scattered throughout the Reef, not unlike this one.”

“I remember that.” Trinity mentions.

Petra hands the ragged book to the women as they eat. It apparently speaks of these Cities — some lost to time, some unseen, most unheard of to Guardians. It’s written partly in English, and part in other languages they don’t seem to understand.

“In some, we live and raise kids, in others you make weapons. Here, you meditate and learn…” Trinity continues. Luna, having just arrived, perches herself in a nearby rock, where she can hear the women talking.

“And in some specific ones, we develop our art. Artistry is a must for any civilization that develops critical thought and self-expression. You, Hiver…” She motions to the Warlock. “And you, Amanda…” She motions to the human. “Have seen it in our tapestry. Our tailoring. Our blacksmithing...”

“Your sculpture, architecture…” Hiver continues. Amanda widens her eyes in disbelief.

“Your dance.” Amanda spouts. Hiver is left mute, and Petra nods.

“Our dances… art made to celebrate our bodies. Our Queen. Our energy, and the fact that we breathe. And, may I add…” Petra says, ominously leaning closer.

“Like everything else you haven’t been allowed to see, they are very well-guarded secrets. Family and teacher heirlooms, in a way.”

Hiver and Amanda nervously trade looks.

“Hiver, listen to me, and listen well to what I am about to tell you.”

Hiver is breathing heavily through her teeth, trying to contain her ever-growing anxiety. Petra puts both hands on her shoulders, staring at her face seriously.

“You are Reefborn.”

[shealwaysreads]

Writing’s On the Wall

A little something inspired by THIS pic that @jeldenil shared on the Drarry Discord Server - hilarious lines contributed by her and @hogwartsfemme 🙌

Betaed by the lovely @malenkayacherepakha and cheered by the sweet @drarryruinedme7 ❤️

Drarry | 2586 words | Harry POV, Auror cadets Harry & Draco, graffiti, gratuitous use of the ‘just out the shower’ image

Summary: In which the Auror department is surprisingly artistic, Draco is still an overdramatic shit, Harry still makes the most of any trouble that finds him, and getting horizontal is the solution to everyone's problems.

Also available on AO3

The first time Harry ever noticed graffiti that referenced him had been in the Quidditch locker rooms at Hogwarts. He had been pretty sure it was Draco or one of his cronies that had slipped into the Gryffindor area and spelled miniature Dementors to appear whenever someone walked past the blank game-play board. Oliver Wood had cursed and spluttered when he realised they had erased his intricate diagrams and game-plans, fiercely complaining to McGonagall.

Some of the highlights while he was at Hogwarts had been during the Triwizard Tournament - there had suddenly been loads of graffiti about him. None of it complimentary until he’d completed the first challenge, admittedly. “POTTER STINKS” had flashed across every toilet door in the castle in a lurid, flashing green for three weeks before Filch managed to convince Professor Flitwick to help him remove the charms.

Then a tiny doodle of him and a dragon appeared in an alcove on the way to the History of Magic classroom. Complete with glowing dragon flames it showed Harry and the Horntail flying a wild and cartoonish circuit around a sketchy Hogwarts, their endless chase looping every minute or so. It was probably Dean’s handiwork, the lines confident and skillful even though it was charmed onto rough stone walls - and his practice with art charms had come a long way since his first Quidditch banner. Within a week it had been scratched through though, a proud ‘CEDRIC’S THE BEST’ scrawled over it.

After the war, he saw it more regularly. The mark of the Deathly Hallows spelled onto walls, scratched into bar tables. Sometimes a cheeky ‘If HP sees this and wants a good time, Floo me!’ with addresses charmed underneath. It made trips to pub bathrooms, usually home of the more lurid examples of graffiti, an embarrassing trial sometimes - his friends always welcomed ammunition for their endless teasing.

Thankfully, he wasn't the only one targeted by renegade artists and overzealous fans. Ron had flushed beetroot red (clashing horribly with his hair) for a full half hour after seeing a particularly explicit suggestion about himself scrawled in muggle pen across the wall in the Leaky Cauldron. Harry had cackled all the way back to their tabled and regaled Hermione, Neville, Seamus, and Dean with the details while Ron hid behind his pint.

He was pleased when he joined the Auror Cadets and nobody seemed to be star-struck. Their tutors were strict but fair. Even Draco Malfoy wasn’t up to his old schoolboy tricks. It appeared that his attitude had matured just as well as the rest of him.

On too many occasions to count Harry caught himself appreciating just how well Draco filled out his cadet uniform, especially the clinging material of their work-out gear which left less to the imagination than he thought he should be subjected to at work...while still desperately wanting to see more.

The only issue Harry had with his cohort of fellow cadets, and even some of the wider Auror staff, was the giggling. He knew it wasn't to do with his ‘man who lived twice’ reputation because they’d made a point of pairing him with an Auror in his sixties for sparring classes during his first month of training. He’d had his arse absolutely handed to him during class after class for four solid weeks, and that had quelled any potential hero worship before it could start.

No. This was the kind of giggling that made you think people were talking about you. He walked into the break room and was immediately on edge as three fellow cadets started sniggering into their tea cups, going silent as soon as he turned around and made eye contact. And it happened when Draco joined sessions too. Not to mention the sly looks and excited mutterings that broke out whenever he and Draco were paired together in classes or for fieldwork.

It was driving Harry mad. That morning in duelling practice he had been partnered with Draco to fight against another pair of cadets, learning how to effectively work offensive and defensive spells while working in a pair - just like they would once they were full Aurors. He had been surprised earlier in the year at how well he and Draco worked together when fighting, but on reflection realised they knew each other’s duelling style so well from attacking each other that it sort of made sense.

Thankfully it was Friday, and the day was done. He and Draco had been on clear-up duty, packing away the cushioned mats and returning the sparring room back to its blank slate, ready for the first class on Monday. So it was just the two of them in the changing rooms, showering before heading home.

Ordinarily Harry would have just skipped out and headed home for a shower in the comfort of his own place, but he’d promised to meet his friends at the Leaky and only had half an hour before he was due to get the first round in.

With just him and Draco in the shower rooms it was actually peaceful, no sounds but the rush of water, no laughing cadets making Harry feel like he must have something on his face. Other than the obvious of course.

Just as he was drying off, thoughts of beer and a big basket of chips filling his mind, Harry’s peace was rudely interrupted.

“POTTER!” Draco barked. “ Explain yourself!”

Harry hurried to wrap his towel around his waist, and padded out to the main changing area to see what he was being accused of. Even the sight of Draco, his own towel riding low on slim hips, his hair still dripping water onto his surprisingly broad chest, didn't distract Harry from the sheer horror induced by the entire wall of graffiti he found.

There was the usual house pride slogans, the Hufflepuffs perhaps not so surprisingly prolific taggers given their famous loyalty. There was even a Deathly Hallows icon - a remnant from those first months post-war when Harry saw them everywhere. Some clever bugger had even charmed a big marker quill to stick to the wall - so anyone wanting to add their own touch to the wall wouldn't find themselves without a writing implement.

But the pièce de résistance was the two feet tall portrait someone had drawn of him and Draco together. As in. Carnally. It didn’t have quite the artistic flair of Dean’s magical moving paintings, but mini-Harry and mini-Draco didn’t seem to let that hold them back - both of them looking over their shoulders with surprised expressions while they continued rocking and thrusting together. With gusto.

Harry felt a hot flush creeping up his neck, and it was only half from embarrassment. His fellow cadets’ laughter and meaningful glances between him and Draco suddenly made sense. Clearly the whole bloody lot of them were in on it - given the number of different handwriting styles decorating the wall.

Draco was similarly pink, points of colour high on his cheekbones giving away his emotional state - just like when he got angry at school. If Harry wasn't sure Draco was about to launch into a full blown rant he might even have taken a moment to admire the way his rage made his eyes so bright. But an angry Draco was a long-winded Draco, and the pub was calling Harry.

“Clearly I didn’t bloody do this, Malfoy.” He gestured at the layers of writing and doodles. “This is the whole fucking team at it. Look! I’m not a Hufflepuff am I?!”

A scoff was his only response. Then Draco pointed out the ‘I need HP like a grindylow needs water’ tag, and raised one pointed eyebrow meaningfully at Harry.

“I think this smacks of your usual ego actually, even if you did seem to have gotten over that recently. And look - isn’t that your abysmal handwriting?!”

Harry peered at the word Draco was pointing at.

“What the fuck is ‘drarry’ though? I definitely didn’t write that. I don’t even know that spell.”

Draco rolled his eyes so hard Harry was surprised they didn’t fall out of his head. So overdramatic.

“It’s clearly a fucking portmanteau, Potter, you absolute idiot. Anyway. Aren’t we ignoring the elephant in the room here? They’ve drawn us fucking for Merlin’s sake - in our place of work! ”

Draco was working himself up to high dudgeon now, and Harry couldn’t exactly blame him. It was inappropriate. But it was also pretty funny. And frankly, from his perspective, he couldn’t blame the rest of their class for getting a bit carried away. He knew he must have contributed to whatever idea they had of the two of them together, with the way his eyes lingered on Draco’s arse so regularly. Even so, they should probably talk to the head of the Cadet teaching team, get this all sorted out before it spilled into a more public forum.

But winding Draco up had been one of Harry’s specialty subjects up to this point in his life, and far more fun than resisting Imperio or defeating Dark Lords, so he decided to indulge himself. Even if he ended up late for pub night. Or with a black eye.

“You’re right, you know. This is wrong.” He paused for a moment, taking in Draco’s approving nod before gleefully marching on to turn it into a thunderous glare. “Who said you get to top?”

A strangled noise escaped Draco’s open mouth, his brows twisted with frustration. Harry tried to keep his soaring satisfaction hidden, loving the play of emotions over Draco’s usually calm face. There was just something about seeing him get all flustered that made Harry feel the same way he did when he reached out to grab the snitch. Elated.

“ That’s what you take issue with?”

He was even gesturing with his hands now. Elegant fingers pointed angrily at their twins on the wall - still merrily copulating - while the other hand gripped the knot holding his towel up. Harry couldn’t help but drop his gaze for a moment, imagining what he might see if he annoyed Draco enough for him to let go of that towel for a moment.

Ever the hopeful Gryffindor, Harry leant forward and grabbed the marker quill. He grinned at Draco before drawing a big arrow pointing at their doodled likenesses, then wrote in bold letters ‘OK BUT HARRY TOPS’. He drew back and watched as Draco read his addition to the wall, waiting for the inevitable bomb to go off. This was better than sparring.

“There. I fixed it.”

But instead of an explosion of the poshest invective he’d ever had the pleasure of hearing - Draco’s command of archaic swear words was genuinely one of the highlights of their working together - Harry watched as Draco fell silent. His eyes were wide as he stared at what Harry had written, the spots of pink high on his cheekbones blooming into a flush that travelled down his neck and even onto his chest.

And now Harry was looking at his nipples. Fuck.

When he managed to drag his treacherous eyes away from those pert, pink, perfectly lickable buds he found Draco’s sharp gaze trained fully on his face. This didn’t bode well.

“You...fixed it? ‘Okay but Harry tops’ is you fixing it? That was the only part of this whole thing-” he gestured wildly at the wall. “That’s the only bit you have an issue with? Not the whole. Drarry thing. Seriously?”

He actually sounded almost plaintive. Harry suddenly regretted taking the piss, even if he hadn’t exactly lied at any point in this little melodrama.

“Um. Well. Obviously we should talk to Auror Lessing about it, it’s not fair that they’re doing this just to us. But. Well. I’m not offended people might think of us together I guess?” He shrugged his shoulders and nodded at their graffiti counterparts. “They look like they’re enjoying it anyway!”

Draco’s eyes narrowed as he watched Harry huff a nervous laugh. He advanced one step toward Harry, and Harry couldn’t help but notice the way his body still glittered with droplets of water from his shower. Couldn’t help thinking about what a pleasant way to spend some time it would be to lick each one of them. He hauled his thoughts back from that treacherous direction; his towel didn’t hide much and it definitely wouldn’t hide a very work-inappropriate stiffy.

“They do look like they’re having fun, don’t they.” Draco murmured.

Harry swallowed hard at the deep timbre of his voice.

“ That Harry doesn’t seem to be too disappointed to be on the receiving end. Shame it’s not an accurate reflection of reality.”

All thoughts of propriety flew out of Harry’s mind at that. Draco sodding Malfoy was flirting with him. Undeniably. Could a bit of embarrassing graffiti really be the thing that pushed them beyond the weird tension they’d had since eighth year?

“Well. Um.” He cleared his throat. “It’s just the assumption really. Probably because I’m shorter than you. But I’m pretty, um, versatile. And, ah, height difference doesn’t matter much in bed, I find.”

For the span of a heartbeat Harry feared he’d misread the situation, overstepped the mark. But then a wicked grin grew on Draco’s face and he knew he’d hit just the right spot. He stepped closer still, making Harry tilt his head up slightly to maintain their eye contact.

The small space between them filled with heat, and Harry felt like if he breathed in deeply enough their chests might even touch. He wondered if Draco was still holding his towel so tightly, but didn’t dare look down, didn’t want to break this moment stretching between them.

“I agree Potter. Very unfair of them to pigeon-hole you. They should know better by now.” He raised an eyebrow, challenge in every line of his face. “I was thinking of skipping pub night this evening in favour of a hot bath and a curry. But, as you’re feeling so versatile I’m happy to be flexible too. How about I join you and the rest of the motley crew for the obligatory Friday night pint, and then you join me for food?”

Harry felt his mouth drop open, shocked Draco had been the one of them to finally come out and say it so boldly. Draco just leaned closer still, his breath hot against Harry’s ear as he whispered, sending a corresponding shiver of excitement down his spine.

“I reckon we can test out your height difference theory, I’m sure my sofa would do the trick too - if you want to demonstrate for me?”

The image that conjured in Harry’s mind was enough to make him snap his mouth shut and stifle a groan of desire. He reached out to finally touch Draco, and closed the tiny distance between them to kiss him fully on the mouth. A broad palm at his waist, gripping tightly, pulled a gasp out of him. He dragged himself away from Draco’s mouth with difficulty, already panting slightly.

“Fuck pub night, get dressed. Last one to the apparition point is paying for the curry.”

With that Harry dashed across the room to pull his trousers on, grinning as he watched Draco wrangle his own on over still damp legs. He couldn’t wait to see what this mutual competitive spirit would create outside of the quidditch pitch or duelling ring, but he was sure it would be absolutely worth the tongue-lashing he’d get from Ron for ditching the sacred Friday night drinks for Draco.

Tagging @tedahfromtayla @maesterchill @tomoewantsdolls

[frickfracksnatchisback]

Taking a Sick Day

Deep in the never-ending vastness of space, Hat Kid’s spaceship was floating rather close to a colorful planet down below. Inside the spaceship, Hat Kid was spinning in her captain's chair, bored out of her mind. She spun around, and around, and around again while trying to think of what to do today.

She had just been to Mafia Town yesterday and the Conductor and DJ Grooves were currently way too busy producing their latest movies. She didn’t really feel like going to Alpine Skylines today and… woah. Was the room spinning all by itself now?

Hat Kid stopped the spinning of the chair with her right foot and slowly adjusted her vision. After everything stopped moving she sighed and jumped out of her chair. She now started to pace back and forth on the giant pink rug that was in the middle of the room. Was there anywhere else she could go? There wasn’t really any more areas she go to on that planet except-

“Ow! My circuit-board!” a robotic voice interrupted her thoughts. Oh great she thought to herself. What now?

She stopped pacing to stare at Rumbi (her little cleaning robot) who was currently banging itself on the door to...

She grinned a wide and mischievous grin. Subcon Forest. Why didn’t she ever think of that?

It had been forever since she had last been with her (contractually obligated) BFF! She had mostly spent this past week collecting hidden treasures and getting rid of all those time rifts that had suddenly appeared in random locations. And yes, technically he did tell her to stay out of his forest or else he would be “disappointed”. But come on, who would be disappointed to hang out with their best friend?

She quickly ran through the door that led to her bedroom and headed toward the telescope that allowed her to teleport to the Subcon Forest.

Time for some quality time with her BFF!

***

To be perfectly honest, today couldn’t have been any worse.

Snatcher felt light-headed and overall the most dreadful he had ever felt waking up. He coughed for what seemed like the fifth time in a row and slowly got up out of his armchair. His head started to ache as soon as he stood up causing him to groan in pain. This morning was not going well for him.

What was this? A curse of some sort? No, no… that didn’t seem right. A curse would feel much more painful (although his head felt like something was constantly drilling into it). Of course, there was the possibility that he could actually be…

Ha! No way. He couldn’t be sick. An all powerful spirit? With the flu? What a laugh! He made people beg on their knees for mercy! He controlled every inch of the forest! He had devoured the souls of thousands! He laughed to himself thinking of all of these horrible things with joyful glee. He quickly regretted that decision as he began to cough loudly, his throat felt extremely sore after doing so.

Okay. So maybe he was a little bit sick.

Who cared though? He was still his old terrifying self and a simple cold wouldn’t stop him from doing what he did best! Even if this headache was quite bothersome, it was nothing that a delicious soul couldn’t fix!

Just then he heard a cry from within the forest. Someone had stepped into one of his traps. What impeccable timing! He quickly straightened himself up, cleared his throat, and teleported to the trap that was set off just a few seconds ago.

***

“AHAHAHAHAAA! FOOOOooo... wait a second.” Snatcher sighed and finished with  “It’s just you again.” before glaring back down at the person who had been caught in his trap. Of course, that person was none other than Hat Kid who was now looking back at him with an apologetic expression on her face. “Well that’s just perfect.” he mumbled under his breath. He really wasn’t in the mood to deal with this today.

Hat Kid looked back at him, puzzled. She had expected Snatcher to be a little bit more excited to see her after she had been gone for so long. Actually, now that she looked at him closer... he didn’t seem too healthy. Bags were under his eyes and his voice sounded raspy. He had started to rub his forehead and he scrunched up his face as if he was in pain. She started to get worried.

“Are you okay?” she said while observing his movements very closely.

“I’m FINE.” he growled back, annoyed at her question.

He’s lying Hat Kid thought as she could see right through his behavior. He was sick, he just didn’t want to admit it.

“More over...” Snatcher spoke up after clearing his throat. “I thought I told you to never come back here a-” he stopped halfway through his sentence. He felt like he was about to sneeze.

Uh oh Hat Kid thought as she pulled out her umbrella and opened it. Whatever he was about to get out of his system, she did not need to be covered in it. She crouched down and shielded herself as Snatcher finally got the words out.

“Ah. Ah. ACHOO!” Snatcher sneezed while a bolt of purple lightening struck awfully close near Hat Kid. Hat Kid almost jumped out of her skin. So that’s what happens when a ghost sneezes... she thought while looking horrified at the blackened spot on the ground. There were not words to describe how thankful she was that she hadn’t been fried by spectral lighting just then. She looked back up at Snatcher who was sniffling and honestly looked even more miserable than before.

Okay, that settled it. She knew what she was doing today.

***

How did he manage to get into this situation?

As of this moment, Hat Kid had taken his hand and was now dragging him all the way back to his tree-home with no explanation as to why. He thought about retaliating and showing the kid who’s boss, but that sneeze from earlier really drained him of his strength. Not to mention that the coughing wasn’t exactly helping him get his point across.

“I’m fine, kid. Now let go of me!” Snatcher spoke in between coughs, his voice had gotten progressively worse now.

“No.” Hat Kid said firmly. “You’re going to rest now.” she stated, with a hint of authority in her voice. He opened his mouth to scream at her, but all that came out was groans of agony. His headache had also gotten worse and now felt like someone was driving a nail into his head. Once they had gotten inside his home, Hat Kid pointed at his armchair.

“I’m not sitting down kid.” Snatcher decided that if this kid wanted him to rest so badly he was certainly going to make this harder for her.

“Now.” Hat Kid snapped back at him and gave him a shove. Before he could even protest, Snatcher found himself falling back into the armchair. He shot her a look full of hatred but Hat Kid just smiled back at him. She took the large book sitting atop the table across from the armchair and placed it in his hands. “I’ll be right back!” Hat Kid then began to walk out of his home and teleport back to her ship.

Did she really expect him to stay here and read until she came back? Ha! As if he would even consider listening to her. To be fair though, he did feel a bit more comfortable now that he was sitting down. And he already had a good book in front of him that he could read while she was gone…

Ah, peck it. Besides, he was rather curious as to what she was going to come back with.

***

He was about halfway into his book when Hat Kid came rushing through the entrance of his home with a backpack and large, brown paper bag in her arms. “About time you came back.” Snatcher muttered, his throat still feeling sore. “What took you so long anyways?” he asked as Hat Kid placed the backpack aside and the paper bag down onto the floor.

First she pulled out a colorful quilt that had many patterns sewn into the front of it. She ran over to him and threw the blanket onto him without any warning.

“Wha- hey!” Snatcher said in surprise but Hat Kid was too busy pulling more things out of the bag to even notice. He just simply mumbled under his breath and tucked the quilt more snugly around him. Hat Kid then pulled out a small glass bottle and a spoon from inside the bag. She stepped onto the ottoman, and jumped onto the arm of the armchair so she was now face to face with him.

“Kid… what are you doing?” he asked, confused by her strange actions. She then uncorked the bottle she was holding and poured a strange liquid into the spoon in her other hand. The substance, whatever it was, was a deep purple and had a very unpleasant smell to it. Hat Kid then moved the spoon in his direction.

He looked down at the spoon and then back at her, not amused in the slightest. “I am not letting you put that spoon in my mouth.” he said while crossing his arms.

“Why not?” Hat Kid frowned and tilted her head in a curious manner.

“Why not?! Do you have any idea what that stuff could do to m-” before he could react, Hat Kid shoved the spoon into his now open mouth. Snatcher’s screams were muffled as she put her hands over his mouth, forcing him to swallow. After swallowing the foul smelling liquid, he soon found out that it tasted just as good as it smelled. He gagged and stuck his tongue out, hoping to get rid of the awful taste.

“What the HECK kid?! Are you trying to poison me?!” Snatcher kept gagging, convinced that he was dying. Hat Kid just laughed and pointed at the label on the bottle. He stopped overreacting to read the words on the label. It read Science Owl’s Patented Grape-flavored Medicine! (good for curing coughs, headaches, and runny noses!).

Hat Kid jumped off the armchair and ran back to the paper bag. She pulled out the last two items that laid at the bottom of the bag, a plush of a corgi and a pink box of tissues. She handed Snatcher the plush and set the box on the right arm of the arm chair. She then went back to the backpack that  was laying on the floor still and pulled out a notepad and a pack full of crayons.

Snatcher watched as she sat on the ottoman and began to draw. He simply sighed and went back to reading the rest of his book. He expected her to leave in about a couple hours, only to find her still sitting there. There were multiple drawings that she had made lying on the floor. Doodles of the fire spirits, some dwellers, a couples of his minions, and even doodles of himself.

“Why are you still here kid?” Snatcher asked, going back to looking at his book.

“To look after my BFF! Why else, silly?” Hat Kid replied with a giggle in her voice. As much as he hated it when she called him her “BFF”, he was starting to get used to it.

“Don’t tell anyone about this kiddo. Ever.” he said to her in threatening tone.

“I won’t, I promise.” she said in tone that assured him that he didn’t need to nag her about it.

It was around nightfall by the time Snatcher finished his book and while he closed it and placed it aside he and to admit, he was feeling a lot better now. Guess the medicine did help after all.

He looked back at the ottoman expecting the kid to still be drawing to instead find her asleep, curled up in a fluffy blanket. He assumed that she must have brought it with her inside the backpack. He went over to where she was sleeping and placed the corgi plush in her arms. She smiled and mumbled something unintelligible in her sleep. With that, he smiled and when back to sitting in his armchair with the quilt wrapped around him.

You know… maybe this kid wasn't so bad after all. Sure she was annoying, and mischievous, and stepped into his traps, and wouldn’t stop harassing him no matter how many times he threatened her. But other than that, the kid was alright (though he would never admit this to her face).

His eyes grew heavy and he slowly drifted to sleep along with Hat Kid. In the morning he would be well rested and feel nice and energized, all thanks to his BFF.

The End