#feel a bit bad getting 3 gifts when i have successfully completed 1 gift

[bi4bihankking]

Have you ever thought about writing Lightrion before? I noticed you've reblogged some Orion and Lightray stuff in the past, so I was just curious.

this is an issue where I think it is cute but I need to read more content for it and also scope out the fandom because I am very aware that comics fandoms tend toward toxic...

[dialovers-translations]

Diabolik Lovers GRAND EDITION for Switch ;; More, Blood ー Kou [After Story]

ー The scene starts outside by the lake

Kou: Oooi, Yui! This way!

Yui: Ah, yeah! I’ll be right there!

Kou: This lake is so pretty! The water is crystal clear!

*Splash*

Kou: Also, look! The sky is reflected on the water’s surface, dyeing it a beautiful blue color!

I can take a picture while we’re here, right?

*Snap*

Yui: ...Fufu.

Kou: Whaaat? Why are you laughing? Did I do something?

Yui: No, that’s not it. I didn’t mean it like that...

Seeing you have such a good time is making me happy as well.

Kou: Oh, that’s it? Of course I’m happy!

After all, there’s such a beautiful blue sky spread out right in front of me!

Yui: ( He’s right...I’m underneath such a pretty clear sky together with Kou-kun... )

( I feel blessed too. ) 

Kou: Say, Yui. Let’s look at the photos in the shade of the trees over there.

Our collection has grown quite a bit already.

Yui: Yeah!

ー They walk towards the shade

Kou: Let’s see...

Yui: Wah! So pretty...

Kou: These...If I recall correctly, we took them in the country we stayed at up till recently, right?

There’s not a single cloud in sight, it really just screams ‘the blue sky’!

Yui: Ah, this is a picture of the sunset.

We took it right as the sun was setting, so the blue and orange hues are mixing together, it really is beautiful.

Kou: You’re right.

I still like the blue sky the very best, but I’m quite fond of this sunset as well.

Yui: Really?

Kou: Yeah. It feels like the boundary between day and night, giving off a mystical vibe.

Yui: Mystical...

Kou: Ah. You just made fun of me a little, didn’t you?

Yui: I-I didn’t!

Kou: I wonder~? What you’re thinking always shows right away on your face, you know.

Yui: I swear I didn’t...! I was just wondering what exactly a ‘mystical’ vibe is like...

Kou: Whatever~ 

Yui: Geez...Hm?

Kou: Ah.

Yui: I-Is this...a photo of me!?

( I’m asleep...Which means... )

...You took this in secret?

Kou: Ahーah, I’m busted, huh?

Yui: Come on! Kou-kun! Taking pictures of me in secret is so mean!

Kou: Sorry, sorry~ But your sleeping face was just too cute, you know...

...Say? Forgive me? ...Nn.

*Smooch*

Yui: Nn...

...Guess I have no other choice.

Kou: Ehehe. Thank you!

Since you’ve forgiven me...Ey!

ー He lays his head on her lap

Kou: A lap pillow...You don’t mind, right?

Yui: ...It’s embarrassing.

Kou: Who cares? We’re the only two people here anyway. Right?

Yui: Y-Yeah...

Kou: Ah, but you make the cutest expressions when embarrassed, so can I take a picture?

Yui: N-No way!

Kou: Eeh~ That’s a shame.

Yui: ( Geez...Kou-kun... )

( But...Right now, he seems very precious like this... )

Kou: Ah, look at this picture.

Yui: Which one?

Kou: This one. I wanted to take a picture of the starry sky, but it wouldn’t show up very well...

I guess this old camera we got just doesn’t cut it?

Yui: You got this one from a cameraman you knew through your job, right?

Kou: Exactly. When he gave it to me, I never thought I would actually use it one day.

But right now, it has really proven its worth.

After all...There’s tons of skies inside this roll of film.

Yui: Yeah...You’re right.

ー Yui looks up at the sky

Yui: ( Ever since we left Kaminashi City... )

( We’ve been traveling around the world. )

( Visiting various places, experiencing different emotions (1)... )

( And every time we look up at the sky, Kou-kun will happily press the shutter of this camera. )

Kou: ...Why have you suddenly gone quiet?

Yui: No, it’s nothing.

Kou: Really? Okay then.

Being able to spend time together with you under the blue skies...

And resting my head in your lap like this really puts me in the best mood.

Yui: K-Kou-kun...

( Hearing him point it out again made me embarrassed. )

Kou: ...That just leavesーー There we go. 

*Rustle*

Say, Yui. I’m a little thirsty...

Yui: Eh!? ...Ah, yeah...

W-Will this work...?

Kou: Yeah...Perfect.

I honestly never thought a day would come on which you willingly offer yourself like that.

Yui: That’s...I mean, right now I really have no reason to push you away...

Kou: ...!

...Geez...Don’t come complaining to me later after stirring me on like that.

Yui: Eh? Did I say something?

Kou: Not reallyー...!

*Rustle*

*Thud*

Yui: Kyah...!?

*Rustle*

Kou: ...Thanks for the meal~

ー Kou bites her

Kou: ...Nn...Nn...

...Nn...Haah...Your blood really is so delicious...

Yui: ...

( How strange... )

( I could have never imagined this when Kou-kun sucked my blood for the first time... )

( But right now...I think I want Kou-kun just as badly... )

( I feel at ease...Just by having him by my side ) 

Kou: ...Nn...Hah...You’re kind of out of it today.

Yui: Eh!?

Kou: Make sure to fix your attention on me (2)...Nn. 

Yui: ...!? Ow...Kou-kun! You bit me on purpose just now, didn’t you!?

Kou: You’re at fault for spacing out. That proves you had something on your mind, right?

Yui: Well...

Kou: See, I got it right! ...I’ll make it so you can’t think of anything or anyone but me.

...Nn...Haah...Nn...

Yui: Ah...

Kou: ...Nn...You’re so cute...Yui...

*TIMESKIP*

ー The scene shifts to the town

Kou: Today was so much fun.

Yui: Y-Yeah...

( Personally I found it rather embarrassing though... )

Kou: Huh? Your face is red, you know? Could it be...You’re recalling what happened earlier?

Yui: ...!

Kou: Bull’s eye, huh? You really are so cute.

Yui: O-Oh come on! Stop teasing me...!

Kou: Fufu...

Yui: ( Uu...How embarrassing... )

Kou: Hey, Yui.

Yui: Y-Yes?

Kou: There’s actually one more request I’d like to make while you’re embarrassed anyway.

Yui: A request...?

Kou: Let’s hold hands.

Come on, you don’t mind, do you?

Yui: Ah...

Kou: There’s nobody who would recognize me here.

Yui: Yeah...You’re right.

Kou: Hooray!

Yui: ( Kou-kun seems happy...When he’s happy, so am I. )

Kou: ...Hm?

Hey, Yui! Look at the display over there!

Yui: Eh...?

Something on the public TV screen (3) caught your eyーー Ah!

( Kou-kun’s on TV...!? )

Kou: I wonder what they’re saying about me?

Yui: U...Uhm...

( I did learn this country’s language a little but...Hm... )

...The Japanese idol...Mukami Kou...has gone missing? ...I think.

Kou: Heeh...They’d actually report it all the way over here as well.

Yui: ( Right... )

( To Kou-kun’s fans, it must seem as if he has suddenly vanished off the surface of the earth... )

Kou: ...

Yui: ...

( I’m sure the people who liked him must be extremely sad... )

( ...I wonder if we did the right thing...? )

Uhm...Kou-kun?

Kou: ーー I don’t have any regrets.

Yui: Eh...?

Kou: I bet you were thinking if we did the right thing while looking at the screen, weren’t you?

Yui: Uu...

Kou: You’re such a fool.

Yui: A-A fool...?

Kou: You said that you’d prioritize me over anything and follow me.

I feel the same way.

I left everything behind too. ...Except for you, Yui.

Yui: Kou-kun...

Kou: Well, there’s of course times where I wonder how Ruki-kun and the others are faring...

However, I will no longer hesitate. As long as you are with me, I won’t have any regrets either.

So...Don’t worry.

...Okay?

Yui: Kou-kun...

You’re right. I don’t regret my decision either.

Kou: Mmh! Let’s head home then?

Yui: ...Yeah!

( Together with Kou-kun, we can overcome any hurdle )

( I strongly felt so the second we leaped into the air together. )

*TIMESKIP*

Kou: Are we done shopping now?

Yui: I think we got everything we needed, so it should be fi...Ah!

Kou: What’s wrong? You forgot something?

Yui: I forgot to buy pasta...

Kou: Ehー! But we actually got our hands on some clams! But we can’t make vongole bianco without pasta!

Yui: Sorry! I’ll quickly go back!

You wait here, okay?

Kou: You’ll be fine by yourself?

Yui: Yeah. It’s right there.

Kou: Okayー Come back soon, okay?

Yui: Mmh. I’ll get going then.

ー Yui runs off

*TIMESKIP*

Yui: Phew. I successfully bought the pasta.

( Thank god I remembered before we got home... )

( Kou-kun’s waiting for me, right? I better hurry ba...Hm? )

Did this store always look like this...?

( Re-opening...It got a complete overhaul and became a jewelry store. )

( They’ve got a bunch of cute accesories out on display... )

( Ah... )

( This ring is so pretty...! )

( The blue is almost likeーー )

???: Hmm~ So this is the kind of stuff you like?

Yui: Eh!?

Kou-kun!

Kou: Geez~ I came looking for you because I was worried you were taking such a long time.

Yui: Ah, my bad!

Kou: It’s fine, really. Something caught your eye, right?

However, I didn’t expect to find you glued to the display window of a jewelry store~

I guess you’re finally reaching that age (4) as well, huh~? 

Yui: T-That’s not it...It just happened to catch my attention...

Kou: This ring? 

Yui: Yeah...Look at this blue gemstone inserted in it...

I thought it looked a lot like the color of the sky we saw together yesterday.

Kou: Yeah, you do have a point. It’s a clear, beautiful cerulean hue.

Yui: Right? It’s super pretty, so I was captivated by it...

Kou: Hm...

Ah! Your birthday is coming up soon, isn’t it?

Shall I buy it for you?

Yui: Eh?

I-It’s fine!

Kou: Eh~? Why?

Yui: We...should be careful with our spendings for now.

( We decided to choose where we’d settle after visiting various places. )

( So right now, we are living off the money Kou-kun had saved up through his job. )

Kou: Are you sure? I’ve got plenty of savings, you know?

Yui: That might be the case but...

I mean, that ring is really expensive, right?

Kou: Hmm, it is but I’d say this is a normal price for a ring?

Yui: Still, right now we shouldn’t.

Kou: So you basically don’t want a present from me?

Yui: T-That’s not true...! I’d be happy with anything you’d give me. But...

I’m still in no position to receive such a wonderful ring...

How to put it, I want to have grown to the point of feeling worthy before you gift it to me...

Kou: Hmm...?

Well, I figured you’d say something like that though.

Yui: I’m sorry for stopping by here.

Well, let’s head home then.

Kou: Yeah...

...

But, I still...

*Snap*

Yui: Kou-kun, what are you doing? You might get yelled at for taking pictures!

Kou: Ehー? Really? But it’s so pretty, you want to preserve a memory of it, no?

This makes for a proper blue sky as well after all!

*TIMESKIP*

ー The scene shifts to their home

Yui: Dinner’s ready!

Kou: Uwaah, it smells incredible! The pasta you make really is the very best, Yui!

Yui: Fufu, you still haven’t tried it, right? You might be even more impressed once you have a taste!

Kou: Oh!? Someone’s brimming with confidence, huh?

Yui: Today’s dish turned out extremely well.

So I’m sure you’ll like it as well.

Kou: Really? Let’s hurry up and eat then! Thanks for the meal!

Yui: Thanks for the meal.

Kou: Nn...Nom, nom...Yeah, it’s good!

Yui: Really!?

Kou: Yeah!  No wonder you were so confident in it!

Yui: The clams were being highly recommended at the market today after all.

This has to be the dish I’m the most proud of so far...!

Kou: The taste might be the best amongst all the plates you’ve made as well!

Yui: Fufu, I’m glad.

Kou: Well, I’ll happily dig into any dish you make though.

Mm~ All done!

Yui: Eh? You’re already done?

Kou: Yeah, so...Seconds, please!

Yui: Fufu. I made sure to prepare lots for you, so one second please.

Kou: Hooray! I can probably go for two more plates!

Yui: Hang on tight, okay?

Kou: Roger!

*TIMESKIP*

Kou: Thanks for the meal~

Yui: Thanks for the meal.

Kou: Ah, I’ll handle the clean-up.

Yui: You sure?

Kou: You made me such delicious vongole bianco after all.

Let me do this much, okay?

Yui: Thanks, Kou-kun. I’ll be counting on you then, okay?

Kou: Yeah, leave it to me! ...Ah, you know, Yui.

Yui: Hm?

Kou: You really did like the ring we spotted today, no?

Yui: Hmm, I did think it was lovely. It was such a beautiful blue color after all.

However, I...

Kou: Okay, okay, stop! I know. You don’t want it (5), right?

Yui: Yeah...I don’t want anything.

I mean, I’m already so happy just to be living together with you like this.

Kou: I feel the same way.

I really am glad you’re here with me.

Say, let’s continue living happily together from here on out, okay...?

Yui: Yeah...!

ー The scene shifts to the bedroom

Kou: M-neko-chan said there’s nothing she wants but...

I still want to do something for her...

...Besides, a ring holds a special meaning...

Okay, I’ve made up my mind...!

*TIMESKIP*

ー The scene shifts to the living room

Yui: ( ...Hm, I just need to check the seasoning of the soup and then it’ll be ready, I suppose? )

Kou-kun! Dinner will be served soon!

...Huh? No response...

( Lately he’s been cooped up in our room quite often. )

( He never quite did that in the past, so I wonder what has gotten into him? )

ー The scene shifts to the bedroom

*Cling cling*

Kou: Geez, I never thought things would end up like this...

Ahー I can’t do it...!

*Cling*

Kou: It has improved a bit compared to my first attempts, but it’s still no good.

They said even a beginner should be able to pull it off, but this isn’t my cup of tea...

Ever since I was young, Ruki-kun has been telling me that I’m too careless of a worker...

*Cling*

Kou: But...I have to...bring this to a good end so...

Oh? It’s actually looking decent? Maybe I got the hang of it?

Okay then! Gotta keep going like this!

I told myself I wouldn’t give up, so better give it my all!

Besides, I’ll definitely finish it in time...!

*Cling*

*TIMESKIP*

Yui: ( ...Kou-kun’s late... )

( Lately he’s been leaving the house on a whim more often. )

( I wonder if he’s out again? )

( Whenever I ask, he just says he’s going on a walk or something like that... )

( I wonder if something happened...? )

ー Kou enters the room

Kou: I’m backー

Yui: Ah! Kou-kun...! Geez, I was worried because you just wouldn’t come home!

Kou: Ahー My bad? My stroll got a little prolonged, you could say?

Yui: Ah...Right.

( If something were up...he’d for sure talk to me about it...Right? )

I’ll make dinner now, so hang on, okay?

*TIMESKIP*

*Chop chop chop*

Kou: Heey, Yuiii~

Yui: What’s wrong?

Kou: I’m totally starved!

Food, quick!

Yui: Fufu, it’s almost ready so wait just a little longer?

Kou: ...Don’t wanna.

ー He sneaks up on her

*Rustle*

Yui: Wah...Wait, Kou-kun...!?

( He wrapped his arms around me from behind...!? )

It’s dangerous to do this while I’m cooking, you know?

Kou: But I’m home now...

Yet you won’t pay attention to me at all.

It’s boring.

Yui: Well...I’m making dinner right now, so it can’t be helped...

Kou: Then you don’t need to make food.

Yui: ( Says the person who was crying about being hungry just now... )

Kou: But, well...

Yui: ...Hm?

Kou: This kind of makes us seem like newlyweds, don’t you think?

Yui: Eh!?

ー Yui drops something

Kou: Ahaha! You’re way too shocked!

Yui: But...!

Kou: But it’s the truth, right?

Yui: Uu...

Kou: Then, let’s do something that fits the image of newlyweds!

Yui: Eeh? What will you do then...?

Kou: Hmー ...Taste-test the food?

Yui: ( Pretty sure he just wants to have a bite... )

Then...Can I ask you to taste the soup?

Kou: Leave it to me!

Yui: Uhm, I’m pretty sure the spoons are over there...

Kou: Wrong, right?

Yui: Eh? What am I getting wrong?

Kou: You’ll feed me, won’t you?

Yui: Eeh!? Really!?

Kou: We have to act like newlyweds, so that should be a given!

Come on, you hold the spoon.

Yui: ...We’re actually doing this?

Kou: Of course! Come on, aaaahn~

Yui: ( ...This is embarrassing...But... )

S-Say ‘aaahn’...

Kou: ...Nn...Mmh~ It’s good!

Yui: Really!? I’m glad!

Kou: Then it’s my turn next, right? Okay, open wide!

Yui: Eh? ...I’m fine...

Kou: Why are you being so modest? Come on, say ‘aaahn’!

Yui: A-Aahn...

Kou: Fufu~ Well done.

...How does it taste?

Yui: I-It’s good...I guess...?

( To be honest, the flavor was the last thing on my mind... )

Kou: Then are you done cooking now?

Yui: Yeah. Seasoning the soup was the last task on the list.

Kou: Okay! Let’s hurry up and eat!

Yui: Good idea. I’m hungry too.

ー They move to the table

Kou: I’m digging in!

Yui: Thanks for the meal.

Kou: Nom...Nn...You knowーー

...Whoops, I shouldn’t talk with food in my mouth, huh?

...Nn...You know, Yui!

Yui: What’s wrong? Was it not very good, perhaps...?

Kou: Ah, that’s not it...But aren’t you forgetting something?

Yui: Forgetting something?

( What could that be...? Did something happen? )

Kou: Hahー By the looks of it, you’ve completely forgotten.

Geez! Get a grip on yourself! Tomorrow’s your birthday, remember!?

Yui: Ah...Right.

Kou: We’ll go out to buy whatever you want to eat tomorrow, so don’t forget!

Yui: No way...It’s fine, really.

Kou: Don’t say that! We have to properly celebrate your birthday.

I’ll buy your favorite food and even prepare a cake!

Understood?

Yui: Y-Yeah...

Kou: ...You don’t seem very happy though? ...You don’t like me celebrating your birthday or something...?

Yui: Oh no! That’s not true! It’s just...I didn’t think you’d say that so, I...

Kou: Stop! I’ll listen to the rest tomorrow, so don’t say it just yet!

Yui: R-Right...

( My birthday...I never thought Kou-kun would celebrate for me. )

( I’m looking forward to tomorrow...! )

Kou: That being said, we gotta head out early in the morning tomorrow to do the shopping. 

So you better hit the hay soon?

Yui: Eh?

Kou: I’ll clean up too, okay?

Come on, you should hurry and get ready for bed!

Off you go!

*Rustle*

Yui: Wah! Hold on, Kou-kun!?

( I wonder what has gotten into him...!? )

Kou: Goodnight!

Yui: Y-Yeah...Goodnight?

ー He pushes her out of the room

Kou: Phew...I guess the coast is clear now...?

*Flip*

Kou: ...

...Tomorrow...huh?

*TIMESKIP*

ー The scene shifts to town

Yui: ( Kou-kun acted a little off yesterday... )

( But today he seems to be his usual self...I guess? )

Kou: Yui, give me your bags.

Yui: Eh?

Kou: It’s heavy because you bought a lot, right? I’ll carry them.

Yui: Ah...Thank you.

( Kou-kun’s so nice... )

Kou: Are you sure you bought everything you want to eat?

Yui: Yeah, this is plenty! I was able to buy it all so...thank you.

Kou: Really? There’s really no need to hold back though.

Yui: ( Kou-kun says that but...I bought quite a lot already, I think...? )

( I wonder if we’ll be able to finish everything... )

( I have to make sure we can preserve whatever leftovers we may have. )

( I suppose I could turn the fruits into a jam...? )

Hey, Kou-kun...

Wait...Huh...? Kou-kun...?

( He’s gone...Don’t tell me ,did we get separated because I spaced out...? )

( Oh no... )

For now, I’ll look around these parts...!

ー Yui starts running around

Yui: Haah...

( What now...? He’s not here either... )

Kou: Ah! M-neko-chan!

Yui: ...Kou-kun!!

Kou: Thank god! I was wondering where you had run off to!

Yui: I’m sorry. Seems like I blanked out for a bit.

Kou: I’m sorry too!

Yui: No way, you don’t have to apologize.

It’s because I got lost in thought...I’m to blame, I truly am sorry!

Kou: ...Fufu~ We’re so weird! We’re both apologizing, huh?

Yui: But, I...I was shocked when you were suddenly gone...

Kou: I started panicking when I realized you were gone too, you know?

Either way, I’m glad I found you. Let’s head home holding hands so we don’t get separated again.

Come on, give me your hand.

Yui: Yeah...!

*TIMESKIP*

ー The scene shifts to the living room

*Cling*

Kou: Ta-dah! It’s time for the long-awaited cake!

Here you go. This is your slice.

Yui: Wah, thank you!

Kou: You really are a maiden at heart to choose strawberry shortcake~

Yui: ...What do you mean?

Kou: ...That it’s cute.

Yui: ...!

Kou: Geez~ You always start blushing right away...

You really are like a strawberry, you know? I’d love to eat you...is what I would say, but!

Right now, the real strawberries get priority.

I’ll give you mine!

Yui: Eh? ...But...Then you won’t have any.

Kou: I’m fine. You’re the star of today after all!

Yui: ...Fufu, thank you!

Kou: Fufu~ Ahー I guess I might as well sit next to you instead of across then.

*Rustle*

Kou: Pardon the intrusion~!

*Thud*

Yui: Well then...It’d be a shame to let the cake go to waste so let’s give it a taste?

*Cling*

Kou: Ah! Wait!

Yui: W-What’s wrong? You’re suddenly shouting...

Kou: You know, we have to do that! That!

It’s a birthday cake, so we should put a candle on top and have you blow it out!

Yui: Ah...I guess so?

Kou: Of course! That’s a given!

I’ll give it to you after I’ve put on the candle so hold on tight, okay?

*Rustle*

Kou: Hmー Here, all ready!

Yui: Thanks!

( I’m pretty sure I haven’t blown out a candle since I was a child... )

Kou: Well then...Will you blow it out soon?

Yui: Yeah! Okay...Here I go?

Pheew...

ー The lights go out

Yui: ( Wah! It’s pitch black! )

*Rustle*

Yui: ( Eh...? He grabbed my arm... )

Kou: Happy birthday, Yui.

Yui: Kyah...!?

Kou: Fufu! Mission complete!

ー The lights go back on

Yui: Geez...Everything went black all of a sudden, it spooked me.

Kou: I’m sorry, I wanted to surprise you.

Yui: ( Speaking of which, he said ‘mission complete’, but what does that mean...? )

Eh...?

( A ring...!? )

Kou-kun...This is...

Kou: Yeah. It’s my present to you.

Yui: ( It looks like the one we saw at the jewelry store the other day... )

( But the shape seems a little different... )

Kou: Hmm...I thought I did a pretty good job though.

Well, the fact that it’s a little oddly shaped is its charm, a selling point!

Yui: This, did you perhaps...?

Kou: ...Yeah, I made it myself. I’m no good at handiwork, so I couldn’t do a very good job though.

Yui: You made this ring for me...!?

Kou: Yeah, I sure did!

I actually wanted to give you something and went to go buy the one they were selling at the store. 

However, it got sold right before me.

Then when I told the people at the store that I wanted the ring no matter what, they suggested I would make it myself.

That’s how I got them to teach me how to make a ring this whole time up till today.

Yui: Up until today...The whole time...

( Then all those times he was gone lately. )

( Or when he suddenly disappeared earlier as well... )

Kou: Also, look at this!

*Rustle*

Kou: This was my first attempt, but it barely even looks like a ring, huh?

...Look, it’s just an iron scrap, don’t you think?

I really gave it my everything.

Yui: Yeah...I can tell, don’t worry.

Kou: Also, I realized.

Yui: What did you realize?

Kou: That you probably wouldn’t have been happy, even if I got to gift you the ring which was up for sale.

Up until now, I always thought that it was natural to return the favor when a person gives you something.

...However, now I no longer feel that way.

Yui: ...

Kou: I don’t want anything in return.

Because I already know that something much better exists beyond that.

Yui: Kou-kun...

Kou: So, even if the appearance is a little shabby, this is the proof of my love for you!

Yui: Yeah...Kou-kun...I...

( Oh no...The tears are... )

Kou: ...Fufu, you’re so happy it’s making you cry?

Yui: Yeah...I’m overjoyed...! After all...You made this for me...!

Kou: Ah...

...Mmh. Thank you.

Yui: ( Kou-kun said the shape is a little strange but. )

( It’s such a lovely ring... )

( And above all, I’m happy knowing that Kou-kun made it himself. )

( I can tell just how much effort he put in... )

I’m happy...Kou-kun, thank you. Thank you so, so much...!

Kou: Ahー Come on, dry your tears?

Yui: But...Uu...

( I can’t...stop these tears... )

Kou: Well, I’m happy knowing you like it this much too though...

Oh, geez! Lift your face?

...Nn...

*Smooch*

Yui: ...!

Kou: ...Done crying?

Yui: ...Yes.

Kou: Your crying face is cute too though. ...Nn...

*Smooch*

Kou: ...Hey, scoot closer...

...Nn...Nn...

...Even your tears are sweet, huh? ...Nn...

Yui: ...Kou-kun...

Kou: ...Nn...Haah...

Yui...I love you...

...Thank you for being born into this world...Nn...

Yui: ( I love you too, Kou-kun... )

( Thank you, Kou-kun... )

*TIMESKIP*

ー The scene shifts to the outside

*Snap*

Kou: ...Yeah, we’re having lovely weather today as well.

Oi, Yui! This way!

Yui: Wait, Kou-kun!

You walk way too fast...

Kou: Sorry, sorry~ The sky just looked so pretty.

I couldn’t sit still.

Yui: I do understand how you feel...The sky is so clear after all.

But even so, leaving me behind is just mean!

Kou: Like I said, I’m sorry! ...So forgive me?

*Rustle rustle*

Yui: ( Wah...Kou-kun embraced me... ) 

Kou: Hm...In the light, you can really see the flaws.

Yui: ...Hm?

Kou: I’m talking about your ring. It didn’t quite catch my eye yesterday though.

But the shape is a little crooked, don’t you think?

Yui: It’s not.

Besides, I will never take this ring off again.

After all...This ring is the proof of your feelings.

I could search far and wide, I wouldn’t find a single ring in this whole world quite as lovely.

Kou: ...Really?

Yui: Yeah! For sure!

Kou: I see...

*Rustle*

Kou: Hm...

Yui: Kou-kun?

Kou: ...Right. Won’t you let me slip that ring on your finger one more time?

Yui: The ring?

Kou: Yeah.

Yui: Yesterday, I gave it to you in the dark after all.

*Rustle*

Kou: And there just so happens to be such a beautiful sky.

I want to put this ring on you.

...Underneath the blue skies I admired for years.

Yui: Kou-kun...

Kou: ...Can I?

Yui: Yeah.

Kou: ...Ever since I was born, I have seen a lot of things.

I went through a lot of pain, and experienced many hardships.

Yui: Yeah...

Kou: But, I met Ruki-kun and the others, as well as that man...

I learnt about a blue sky which isn’t confined by a circle or a square.

And...I found you.

Yui: Mmh...

Kou: I thought I had nothing left, but right now, I have you.

That is all I need. I don’t want anything else.

I swear on this misformed ring, underneath the sky...

I love you...Yui.

From here on out, for eternity...

...How about you?

Yui: ...Me too...I love you...!

Kou: Yeah...Thank you.

Let’s be together forever.

I love you, Yui...

*Smooch*

ーー THE END ーー

Translation notes

(1) Literally she says ‘to be emotionally moved by various things’ but that sounded rather stiff in English, so I translated it a little differently. 

(2) Literally he asks her to ‘point her consciousness/awareness towards him’. 

(3) I actually have no idea what these are called in English but they’re the large TV screens which may be attached to buildings or put out in public to display important events, etc. In Japan, these are super common in big cities but here in Belgium - for example - you rarely ever see them. ^^;;

(4) Kou uses the term 色づく or ‘iro-duku’ which is often used to refer to the ripening of fruits or the reddening of leaves during fall time. I assume in this case, he wants to imply that she is becoming more mature. 

(5) The verb 要る or ‘iru’ literally means ‘to need’, but it is often used to reject something as well, in which case ‘want’ seems more fitting in English. 

[alreadyblondenow]

Sugar | 3

Jaehyun x reader // SMUT, Fluff, Angst, CEO!Jaehyun, student!reader Summary: Just as you thought your relationship with Jaehyun is getting better, things happened unexpectedly and you aren’t sure anymore who ruined your relationship, you or Jaehyun. Will everything go back to how it used to be? Or will the both of you live different lives from now on? Word Count: 3k Warnings: Mentions of alcohol, older Jaehyun, younger reader, age difference. If you’re uncomfortable, please click away. Explicit mature scenes, sex, Cheating?, mentions of other idols Note: This is the last chapter for Sugar series. :(( Soft vanilla sex with Jaehyun on this chapter hihi Sorry if there are misplaced words or wrong spelling. Complete Chapters:  Part 1, Part 2, Part 3

Jaehyun prepared dinner in his penthouse as his way of apologising. He made his signature pasta which you love and even baked some cupcakes that you’re afraid to taste because they are burnt. He’s been asking a lot of you ever since he picked you up from your dorm also explaining that after his birthday, he needed to fly to Japan to take care of the business there and he was sorry for not telling you in the first place.

“I know it’s late, but” he pulled a small box from the pockets of his hoodie, “Happy Valentines day”

You opened the box and its a beautiful simple necklace that has a diamond pendant that perfectly matches the earrings that he gave you for your birthday. “I can only give you expensive gifts on special occasions like this, I hope you like it… And I’m sorry”

That’s all you want to hear from him, that he’s sorry and that he mean it. You kissed him on the lips and told him to put the necklace on you. “you’re beautiful” he whispers behind you, kissing your neck. Everything escalated quickly, the moment he kissed you deeper than he usually does.

He whispers sweet things behind you while he walks you to his bedroom and having  nonstop giggles here and there for the both you. In between kisses you tell him random stuff like how you will never get used to his employees calling you “ma’am” and that the cupcakes tastes awful but you love him for trying to make them for you.

The kiss somehow slowed down when he was getting you naked before he lays you in bed, he took off his hoodie and his sweat pants, all thats left is his Calvin Klein boxer briefs that you’re familiar with. And when he’s done stripping you himself, he can’t stop smiling like a jerk.

“What?” you asked him before laying down.

“Nothing. Its just… You somehow became even more beautiful than the last time I saw you naked” he explained, showing his dimples. And without warning he pushed you on his soft bed, hovering you and quickly placing kisses anywhere he likes.

“I’m assuming this is still for the Valentine boy?” you hum in approval. “And for valentines day? It’s gonna be a long night baby”

With that, you somehow got nervous because you knew how Jaehyun is in bed, the last time (and the first time) you had sex, he rammed his cock inside your pussy without any warning. But that felt good you admit.

Jaehyun snaps his fingers in front of you bringing your attention back to him. You see he already removed his briefs and you see his cock already hard. He slowly kisses you from your toes to your legs, he took sometime with your thighs kissing and pecking some spots, then finally kissing your pussy. Opening your folds gently, careful not to startle you. He suddenly pulls away, making you whimper and needy.

“By the way, baby, please no scratching tonight…” he requests with a smile. You suddenly remember the wounds from his back last time. You only let out a small laugh, making him laugh too.

He continues kissing your pussy and licking your clit slowly. You already knew what he’s doing. He’s taking his time and that he’s focused on making you feel good tonight. That thought alone made you wet and whimper while Jaehyun reaches for your hands and intertwines your fingers on his. You moan softly, breathing in and out deeply and gasping as you let go and you cum while Jaehyun is still devouring your throbbing pussy.

Leaving pecks on your thighs and on your pussy, he kneels in front of you and hovers you again. Kissing your lips sweetly and leaving marks on your neck he told you, “you look beautiful with wearing just that necklace I gave you” you blushed at his comment, meeting his kisses on your lips and encircling your arms around him making him locked inside your arms.

You feel his right hand creeping in between your bodies, touching your soft skin and teasing your wet folds. “can you spread your legs wider for me baby?” he sweetly request dimples showing on his handsome face. You spread your legs as wide as you can, making you whimper again because of Jaehyun’s finger doing a figure of eight in your pussy. Slowly.

It made your legs shiver and your head roll back, the position you’re in right now just made you ten times hotter Jaehyun thought. He loves how you open your mouth and let out soft moans, how you furrow your brows whenever he hits a spot perfectly, how your boobs felt against his chest whenever you breath fast. You looked perfectly fucked up he thought.

Jaehyun was so deep into admiring how you look right now, he didn’t noticed you’re already cuming in his fingers for a while now. Overstimulated, that’s how you feel.

“Jae-“ you call him out but he just smiles at you. “Can you cum again? You look beautiful when you cum, Please?” you can only moan and nod. He didn’t know that you’re already on edge, ready to cum for the third time tonight.  As he inserts three fingers in your pussy, you totally lost it and bit his shoulders.

He saw tears on your eyes and dries it with his clean hand. With heavy breaths and involuntary moans, you shiver underneath him closing your legs, trying to calm yourself from that sweet release Jaehyun gave you. You feel Jaehyun kissing your temple as he whispers something to you and he pulls away getting off his bed. You see his perfect figure walk away from you, you try to close your eyes after seeing his cute flat butt that you love to touch.

When Jaehyun came back his cock had a condom rolled on it, ready to fuck you already. His hands roaming around your body again, making you shiver, still sensitive from your recent high. “Are you sure you don’t want me to at least give you a blowjob?” you asked, reaching for his hands and putting it over your boobs making him knead them. He chuckled at your bold move. “I think, you’ve given me enough blowjobs for a lifetime”

Oh right, you thought. You’ve been giving him blowjobs every time you sense that he’s stressed from work, and that he’s too nice to ask for sex so you gave an alternative.

Kissing you deeply again, he spreads your legs wide for the third time this evening. Lining his big cock on your pussy and putting his head slowly, then he pulls out again. You voluntarily kept your hands above your head so you can’t scratch his back making Jaehyun laugh softly while he pushes his cock in side you smoothly.

“That was smooth” you said gasping once he’s balls deep inside you. “I made sure you get so wet during the foreplay” he moves his hips slowly, “didn’t want to hurt you. Its been too long” you blushed again. He moves his hips sharp making your boobs bounce, you grabbed them to stop yourself from touching Jaehyun but he noticed it.

He came closer to you, closer so you could kiss him and whisper sweet things beside your ear. Jaehyun told you that he was just kidding earlier, it doesn’t matter if you claw him the whole night he will still love you more in the morning. Hearing those words made you encircle your arms around him, kissing him deeply while he fucks you, crying tears of joy because it crossed your mind that he’s making love with you tonight. “I love you and I’m sorry.” he thrust in you faster than before, putting you on edge.

“From now and its you and me. Always.” he adds and you felt your fourth release for tonight. He gasps as he rides his high still not pulling out. He kissed your lips, smiling again on top of you. “You’re so handsome. I love you so much” you manage to tell him while you come down from your high.

The sex made you both hungry again so you head out in the kitchen and ate the leftovers you had from dinner earlier. You were both making fun of the burnt cupcakes, eating them even though it tastes bad. Drinking every wine Jaehyun gave you, making you taste different wines from different countries, all so expensive you thought.

You noticed he haven’t touched his phone or received any calls from his secretary. A very rare moment of Jung Jaehyun completely focused on you and you only. You hugged him tighter while you both watch the sun rise from his room and eventually sleep beside each other.

Reality slaps you hard again when deadlines and readings welcomed you back from your weekend with Jaehyun. Him on the other hand is back being the almighty Jung Jaehyun and manage their big company. He will be back to Japan again and will be back next week, and that made you miss him everyday more.

You were trying to finish this paper on a coffee shop near your school, when suddenly someone sat in front of you. That someone is not a stranger.

“Long time” Yuta says sipping on his coffee.

You tried to be nice, you figured theres no reason to be rude. “Oh hi, you come here often?” you asked, not looking at him because you’re typing.

“I’m the manager of this coffee shop” that fact made you look at him finally, you noticed his eyebrow piercing.

“Of course you do. Sorry, I totally forgot.” you sighed, going back to finishing your paper.

Yuta was telling you stories on how this store was his pride, and you admire his work ethics and how he managed the store successfully. You were long done with your paper and this time he was making you laugh about his stories of Jaehyun.

“Which reminds me…” Yuta said grabbing his phone from the table, scanning something from his phone assuming he’s going to show you something funny. Maybe a funny picture of Jaehyun?

He hands you the phone and you looked at the picture, long and hard. It is a picture of Jaehyun, but it isn’t funny. Not at all. The picture stabbed you on the chest.

It was a picture of Jaehyun and his family happily eating on a yacht, with Rosé.

You were asking yourself a lot of whys while staring at Yuta’s phone. Maybe Jaehyun got tired of bringing you along with him so he decided to bring Rosé instead. The fact that Rosé fits well with Jaehyun’s family hurts you even more.

Thanking Yuta for the company and  for showing you the picture, and you left with tears on your eyes. You went straight to your dorm, took a nice hot shower, and cried until your eyes hurt. Everyone was present and gathered around your bed the whole time you were telling the story. Wendy and the others didn’t leave your side the whole night.

By the time Jaehyun was back, you told him about what Yuta showed you. And you were even more surprised that he got mad at Yuta for showing you the truth and accusing you of flirting with him. Jaehyun mentioned that he saw you two during his party flirting at the bar and that he didn’t mentioned it earlier because he knew you wouldn’t do that to him.

“You’re right Jaehyun! I can’t do that to you! I didn’t flirt back but he wasn’t wrong all the time! Now, don’t turn this on me! The picture Jae, why?” you were both screaming at each other in front your dorm, almost sure that everyone inside can hear both of your screams.

Jaehyun didn’t deny it. He said it was an important family gathering, something for the public to see how their family is as perfect as how they imagined and that he couldn’t bring you with him because you had school. So his family invited Rosé since she’s in Japan for vacation. He was explaining calmly but the anger is still there.

“So you called her?” you asked bravely with a crack voice. A part of you didn’t want him to say yes. But he did.

The night was full of screaming and it ended basically, you asking for space. Jaehyun wanted to talk more but you couldn’t handle anymore any of his screams and anger so you turned your back and made your way inside your dorm. You were happy he didn’t bang on the door. Your friends showered you with hugs the moment you stepped inside. It hurts even more when you think about how much you love Jaehyun but life just keeps getting in the way, you just want to be alone for some time.

It’s been raining problems in your life lately, and you’ve been sad all week long. You have problems with Jaehyun, school problems, family problems and money problems. Your plate is currently full and you think maybe its time to let go of the things that makes your heart heavy.

When you’re finally ready to face Jaehyun again, you told him all about your problems and he listened attentively. Even promised to help you whenever you want him to. Apologising from the recent fight you had, he told you he freed his weekend schedule so the both of you could spend some time alone again.

“Jaehyun you didn’t have to-“ he cuts you off with a kiss. Letting you know he’s sorry and that it’s all his fault, it made you cry, your chest feels even more heavier now, you thought.

“Jaehyun, Im breaking up with you” finally you said it.

Jaehyun cant believe it of course, he will never let this go. “You didn’t mean that”

You sob, trying to collect the right words, trying to construct the sentence. “I’m not the right person for you Jae. And you’re clearly not the right person for me. I can’t do this anymore Jae.”

Crying your heart out in front of him, Jaehyun is caging you in an embrace as you slightly get off his grasp. “STOP PUSHING ME AWAY YOU’RE HURTING ME!” Jaehyun shouts he’s completely out of control.

You see Wendy and Mark ready to step in to get you. “Baby lets fix this like we always do” he asked of you gently, you see tears in his eyes now then you looked away. When Wendy gets a hold of you, Jaehyun knew it’s time to let you go again. He didn’t want to scare you, he wanted to be with you.

“Wendy, I was trying to fix it. Thats all. I didn’t mean to shout at her” Jaehyun begs in front of Wendy. She’s stopping him from getting closer to you. Mark is holding you now, guiding you to the car where the rest of your friends are waiting.

“I just shouted out of frustration Wendy Im sorry, please let me talk to her” Wendy wanted to punch him, “Act your age Jaehyun!” and she walks out, leaving Jaehyun alone.

2 months after the breakup, you were never the same, you cut your hair shorter than before leaving all the bad memories and problems behind. Wendy promised to lend you money for your college tuition, but the accounting people told you it’s already paid.

And there’s only one person who would do this, your ex Jaehyun. You forced yourself to meet up with him on a cafe near your dorm. He doesn’t looked like your Jaehyun anymore, he looked like the Jaehyun he is meant to be. Looking really handsome in his office attire, you cut to the chase and thanked him, “I’m accepting your help, because I really need it. I’ll pay you back someday”

He tried holding your hand but you’re quick to dodge, “I want to see you as a good friend who’s lending me money for my tuition and not because you’re doing it out of love or whatever” He got hurt, he can almost feel his heart is being torn into half.

When you were about to leave, he grabbed your right hand.  “Please dont leave me.” He begs, but you still left.

Six months have passed and he still pays for your tuition. You still see him wait from afar but all you can do is pretend that you don’t see him. Jaehyun didn’t know that seeing him wait for you still, hurts your heart. Pretending that you don’t know him so he can stop bothering you in public, breaks your heart into a million pieces. You cry every night thinking of him, thinking how much pain you’ve caused him and that he’s heart broken because of you.

When you were walking with Mark towards the exit of the school campus, Jaehyun thought you and Mark are finally dating. He didn’t stopped himself from confronting Mark, you on the other was scared Jaehyun might punch him again and create a scene that will make a bad image of the Vice President of the Jung Group of Companies.

You told Mark he can leave and head back to the dorm without you and that Jaehyun won’t hurt you. Mark was hesitating to leave you alone with Jaehyun but he respects your request.

“Boyfriend?” Jaehyun asked. “No, Jaehyun. He was just walking with me” he believed you.

Jaehyun got thin, he looks like shit if you’re being honest, he has dark under eyes and red eyes from crying you assume. He looked pale, his lips are almost purple it made you worry. Seeing Jaehyun so weak like this made you drive him home and take care of him. You touched his forehead and you were right, he’s sick. He’s fucking burning up and he even went outside just to check up on you.  

He’s laying now on bed, perfectly covered by thick duvets “You’re burning up. Jae, what are you doing? You should take care of yourself, you’re a fucking CEO for crying out loud, do you want me to get mad?” You asked him almost shouting while damping a wet cloth on his face.

“No” he answers weakly, he’s crying now. Eyes not leaving yours. Tears falling down on his pillow. It pains you to see him like this. As you look for meds in his room and around his penthouse, he seemed so lonely in this big house its making you cry. He must’ve been so lonely when you left him.

Arms encircling on your waist from behind, Jaehyun forced himself to get up and go to you. You felt his warm body due to his high fever. “It pains me to see you like this Jae” you said drying your tears.

“You’re crying too.” He turns you around slowly and dries your eyes.

“I cant help it” you defend with a quiet sob.

“Then be with me” he offers weakly. You dont answer him, you continue looking for meds again. He cries even more when you didn’t respond. “No more crying Jaehyun please, you’re burning up. You need to rest” you ask of him sweetly.

“I’ll love you forever y/n. Even if you push me away. I’ll wait. Coming back to you over and over again.” As to your request, he goes back to bed slowly feeling so weak.

As you damp the warm cloth on his skin, he was looking at your every move and looking deep in you eyes. What did I do to deserve such genuine man. You came closer to his face, being careful you might make him breath hard, “I’ll stay.”

“I’ll stay this time” his can’t believe what you just said, he’s too weak to jump around the room like a kid just to let you know how happy he is. But you do know he’s happy because his ears are turning red again. You tried to reach in for a kiss but he avoided. “Im sick I don’t want you getting sick too...” you laughed at him, caressing his soft black locks.

“Im sorry baby. Im sorry. Im sorry” you hear him apologise and it hurt you because it should be you saying your sorry. You made him stop apologising and joined him in bed, not getting under the duvet but still letting him cuddle you again.

You stayed with Jaehyun the whole night until his fever goes down. You nursed him and changed his clothes to comfortable ones. The next day, he’s feeling a lot better already. He woke you up with a tight hug and a sweet smile. You can tell that he’s still sick but he got better. “Feeling better now Jung Jaehyun?” you asked, hugging him back making you feel his heart beat. “Better thanks to you.”

Everything slowly went back to normal with Jaehyun, nothing too fancy but you started welcoming him again in your life. Although your friends were not okay with your decision, still they respect what you want and they still keep an eye on him.

Because of Jaehyun’s bad experience from your break up with him, every time you two  fight over something he comes crashing into you begging you not to leave him again. You think he was traumatised and you feel bad about it. “Jaehyun I wont leave. Were just fighting baby, its normal” from there on you were careful on picking fights with him.

The both of you were happier than ever. He finally learned how to defend you from his family and finally went on public dates with you not giving a single fuck what people thinks. And you on the other hand, finally learned to accept that you’re in love with a rich man who’s way more older than you, who pays for your college tuition, your dorm fee, and basically everything. You’re in love with your sugar daddy.

After graduating, Jaehyun finally met your parents and telling them everything about him. Except for the part where you first met of course. He proposed a week after your graduation in front of your parents and asked you to move in with him, you couldn’t be me more happier.

Being the over achiever that you are, you got your dream job only to find out that Jaehyun owns the company too. You didn’t have any choice, so you ended up working for him not wanting to throw away your dream job. “Don’t worry y/n, you got this job fair and square.” he said with a wink before leaving your job interview.

“Oh by the way” you were nervous on what he’s about to say. “See you at dinner, baby” and he left with a teasing smile.

The other executives asked about your relationship with Jaehyun. You didn’t expect them to be so clueless for you thought the whole world knows about your relationship.

“He’s my fiancé” you clear your throat so they could hear you properly, “Jung Jaehyun is my fiancé” you smiled awkwardly at them and you heard countless ooohs and aaahs.

THE END.

---------------------------------------------------------

First of all I would like to thank you for reading this baby of mine. It’s not much but I put heart into it hihi. I hope youre not disappointed or anything with the ending, I didn’t want to overdo things and go crazy writing about. But if you have questions about their wedding, y/n’s job, etc. I’ll gladly talk to you about it. Again, thank you so much if you’ve made it to this point!

[talesofsonicasura]

Origami Dreams

Another experimental fic involving Jujustu Kaisen but with Yuji this time.

Origami, the craft of folding paper to create extraordinary creations. An art very treasured in the far East especially one specific legend. It was said if one were to fold a 1,000 paper cranes, then the gods will grant that person a single wish for their dexterous hard work. Something a lot of people gave up on from how difficult or monotonous the task was.

To one little boy named Yuji Itadori, it was a pastime he spent alongside his grandfather. For it all started when a classmate had given him a book on origami. He couldn't remember her name but he never forgot the image of fire and lightning upon the memory.

Not even the next day, his classmate had perished in a vicious car accident. To keep her last gift from becoming forgotten, little Yuji began to learn the craft of origami. First it started small like flowers or a snake, then in three months he crafted fantastic dragons, phoenixes and even an origami castle from scratch with masterful talent.

His favorite pieces of origami were simpler than all of his creations. It was a pair of sibling rulers, a king and his younger sister. They sat happily together on two thrones belonging to his origami castle, although he needed his grandfather's help to put them there properly.

Something that always brought him joy was looking at his masterpiece alongside his grandfather. You can only imagine the look of 7 year old Yuji on a day that could be described as a nightmare. A small boy with chocolate brown eyes, salmon hair sitting over almost black thin locks, and barely 3 ft tall watch his grandfather get carted into an ambulance.

The man had suffered a severe stroke which had put his only guardian into a deep coma. A tragedy that left a child returning to an empty house all alone. For a few days, Yuji barely ate anything and avoided his room where his castle lied. One day, he had found or to be precise tripped over the origami book given to him by his fallen classmate.

The book opened onto the legend of the 1,000 paper cranes. Something that gave the boy's soul fire once more. He returned to his room and began his quest to fold the finest paper cranes he could make. Searched every room for spare paper, if he ran out then he took any he could such as pages and color sheets.

Over the span of months, the little boy crafted paper crane after paper crane. Even if he missed up multiple times or lost a few cranes, Yuji never gave up. Finally on the night before his birthday, the child was crafting the last two paper cranes. Cranes crafted from various paper circles around the near 8 year old at his desk.

Slightly pudgy hands tiredly work to fold the wings of a red paper crane with the light of his desk lamp. Above his highest shelf sat a large green checkered origami castle and between its walls were two thrones which sat two origami people. They were sibling rulers for the folded crowns that sat on their sun blond hair heads.

"I'm... almost finished." Said the little boy, drowsiness slowly taking over his senses. He shakily picked up the last piece of blue construction paper and began to fold. Yuji's eyes felt heavy as fog filled his thoughts. First was the body, then came the head, and the wings were to follow.

"Only...a few…*yawn* more folds…" His head turned slightly to the castle of origami's sitting rulers. Their smiling eyes looking back at him as he was on the last two folds. Yuji needed to make a wish before folding the last crane.

It was getting harder to stay awake but he wouldn't sleep until he finished this. The salmon haired child looked at the incomplete paper bird in his hands. Vision growing fuzzy from tiredness, Yuji made the last fold and with his last bit of consciousness made a wish.

"I wish I wasn't alone…" And the boy's mind went black followed by a soft thud. Unbeknownst to the child, his wish would come true as the clock struck twelve. It wouldn't be how he expected though.

Something dull and pointy began to poke the boy's pudgy cheek. Crumbled words reaching the child's ears as his brain slowly came to life. "Hey brother! Our not paper creator is waking up! His rosy cheeks feel like pillows!" A childish young girl's bursting with excitement spoke as Yuji tiredly realized he wasn't alone.

Sleepy brown eyes slowly open to two very familiar pieces of origami overlooking him. Two people with one female and the other male. The female had blond hair with two large curls folded at the back, a folded dress robe made from yellow construction paper, peach paper forming the head with two small black strips to make little eyes, two point folded paper crown that adorn her head, white point fold arms and dark brown point fold legs.

Her male companion had pale blonde hair folded into a large curl that cover the left side of his face, a royal robe made from dark violet construction paper, a gold three pointed paper crown sat on his head with narrow black pieces paper to form eyes that were in a deadpan expression at the moment, purple point fold arms and white point fold legs.

Yuji knew who these surprisingly 1 ft and half tall origami were, they were the two siblings of his Origami Castle: Olly and his little sister Olivia. His two prized creations were floating before, completely alive almost if by magic. The 1,000 Paper Cranes magic. In seconds, the sleepiness faded away as the salmon hair boy sat up in relative shock.

"No doubt the young child is having an existential moment. He may have crafted the 1,000 paper cranes but he wasn't aware of the power that origami can possess. Particularly to those dedicated to the art." Spoke Olly who floated around the room to observe the child's work.

Olivia merely sat herself on the boy's desk to look at the various cranes that sat there. "Creator, take a few deep breaths. It should help calm you down a bit." Without even questioning her instructions, the little boy took a few deep breaths. His nerves and shell shock dissipating in little time.

"You're saying that all my hardwork brought you both to life? Does it mean that something happened to Grandpa too?" Olly flew over to Yuji upon the spoken question. "If you are talking about 'Wasuke Itadori', the hospital had made a call a few hours ago. His pulse has returned to normal and should be waking up soon. He is in extensive care, sadly. It means he can't leave without further risk to his health."

Even though his grandfather was stuck in the hospital, knowing his only family is going to be okay made the little boy happy. The 1,000 Paper Cranes had fulfilled his wish although with two extra attachments. Olly and Olivia had been brought to life. Speaking of which…

"You guys don't have to call me Creator all the time. Just call me Yuji." Yuji smiled brightly at the origami siblings. Olivia giggled before playfully patting the child's cheek. "Sure! Olly, Olivia and Yuji! That sounds like the beginning of a fairytale." The paper princess wasn't wrong on that assumption.

After that day, the little boy now lived in the once empty house with the two living origami. Something that had a lot of obstacles to face but nothing too harsh. First was money for necessary essentials, such as food and water but learning material too.

Selling origami was actually a good source of income with the presence of the two paper siblings. Olly and Olivia had magic which they used for various things but at the moment was to keep any origami Yuji sold to be immune to both damage and age. Some of his creations went from 200 yen to even 5,000 yen per piece depending on how advanced it was.

The two siblings would have to keep out of sight since any normal person would hunt them down for bad purposes. Luckily, Olly and Olivia could fold themselves to pocket size pieces that Yuji could carry with no trouble but they couldn't come to school.

Cooking wasn't much of an issue to learn although there were quite a few accidents with cookbooks and a blender that should never be told. However it appeared that there was much more to his life than magical Origami. For two years later, Yuji learned Olly and Olivia weren't the only ones who changed. He did too.

A 10 year old Yuji Itadori had found himself in a very bad situation. Sometimes selling origami creations would be difficult at some point during each year. This often led the young boy scavenging through abandoned places to look for anything valuable to sell.

He had found an old empty shack that wasn't too far from his house. It had enough scrap metal and loose change that could make up around 9,000 yen in cash alone. Problem was that there was... something living in the shack. And it wasn't friendly.

Yuji was running for his life with Olivia and Olly in his pockets. Behind the child was a blobfish-like abomination with multiple bulging yellow eyes across a gross green body, 15 deformed hands bent in unnatural ways that serve as legs and a large mouth filled with monstrous teeth along a long slimy tongue.

"What is that thing?! It looks so gross!" Olivia screamed within his shirt pocket. The monster had taken them by surprise when they were searching for more scraps. Too fast to prepare anything except to run. "I think it might be a Curse. Something about this world felt off so I did a personal investigation." Chimed Olly from Yuji's jacket pocket.

Both kept their little tirade about breaking the house rule quiet to hear what vital information that could save their life. "Curses are creatures invisible and invulnerable to those without Cursed Energy. I did come across an interesting fact, our Origami Magic can be used to successfully fight them!" Eyes widened upon Olly's explanation.

Too bad Yuji's foot got caught on a tree root which sent the child to the ground hard. "Yuji!" Olivia shot out of his pocket quickly unfolding herself to full size so she could help the boy up. None of them could prepare when the hideous Curse leapt at the two. Life flashing before his eyes, a single thought went through the salmon haired boy's head.

I want to live!

In seconds, the sound of rippling paper and a distorted gasp tore the silence to pieces. Opening eyes he didn't realize that he even closed, Yuji was greeted by an incredible sight. The vicious curse had been snared in large peach ropes of folded Origami that led to a dark blue fold. The very paper itself was the child's own arms, flesh and cloth turned into powerful origami of 1,000 folds.

Without hesitation, Yuji held the monster tighter in his grips as he raised his long origami arms into the air. "Leave us alone!!!" And the child slammed the monster brutally into the ground. It splatted but not into blood or gore. No, the creature exploded into paper confetti of its original green color.

Olly slipped out of Yuji's pocket to stare at the scene in utter shock before turning to his sister. A glowing orange symbol of a hand was on the right side of her chest which vanished upon Yuji's hands turning back to normal. "That was the 1,000-Fold Arms Technique you just did! And the...Curse turned into confetti." Olivia gawked in absolute shock.

It made no sense. Only paper or origami could use the technique and only origami would become confetti upon defeat. Not the hands of a child or a defeated monster. There was only one explanation. "Our magical presence has affected Yuji. He can use origami magic." That very sentence from male origami ruler was enough to picture how things had drastically changed.

After that day, the boy and his two paper companions learned to understand the powers little Yuji now had. It was a hard task for experimentations were needed thus led to occasional battles against Curses. Over the span of 5 years, the child had grown into a young man skilled in the art of origami magic.

There were still some spells he couldn't do without assistance from either Olly or Olivia but Yuji could defend himself against moderate strength Curses now. Although, nothing could compare for the third thing to come into his life. The Cursed Finger of Ryomen Sukuna.

It had occurred two weeks before afternoon clubs would begin at his local high school. The once small child now was a teenager standing around 5'8 in height and most of his baby fat was replaced with lean powerful bulk. Even though Olly and Olivia couldn't really grow like he could, the two happily took advantage of his new height to hang onto his shoulders instead.

Wearing a long coat or cloak on his back along with this 'koala cuddle' meant they didn't have to hide in his pockets if the weather was nice. Anyway, he had a huge cram session to deal with since there would be a big test in a few days. This meant that sometimes he couldn't cook and had instant ramen substitute for dinner.

What he didn't know was in the extra large cup of beef and pork ramen, something had accidentally got inside the package. Olly was sitting across the table looking through the stack of books Yuji had brought home. The origami prince had taken up reading and writing as a personal hobby so the teen often picked up books or writing material.

Olivia was sitting on the couch watching a cartoon on the TV. She usually spent her time drawing comics or acting out scenes from her favorite shows. In fact, Yuji made an account on the computer where the origami princess could post her comics whenever she wanted. Something that exploded across the internet as they end up getting emails to publish them on real paperback.

"Hey Olly, that stapler you wanted to buy should be in stores a few days from now. You want me to grab it for you?" Yuji questioned while slurping some noodles. "Table manners Yuji. And yes, I would like that. It's been so long since I've seen my beloved pet." The origami prince replied while flipping to the next page of his book.

The salmon haired young man pulled up something wrapped up in his ramen noodles. It was too tightly wound to take a better look but the teen could see it was dark meat of some type. Shrugging his shoulders, Yuji put the clump of noodles and meat in his mouth.

Olivia who was about to ask her brother something instantly paled at what was about to go down her creator's throat. It looked like a decrepit old rotten finger with a large claw, so old that it was dark purple and clearly toxic. "That's a crusty finger not beef!" And the finger went down the boy's throat before anyone could move.

Olly quickly flew over to the couch as the kitchen table exploded into splinters. The cause being their salmon hair roommate whose arm was held up in a swipe manner, an arm covered in intricate black tattoos and had large violet claws. Both watched as two slits that emerged under Yuji's eyes alongside black tattoos opened to reveal smaller red eyes.

Or the fact their friend laughed in a deeper more manic voice reminiscent of a psychopath. "Ahahahaha! It feels good to be alive again! Wonder what massacres I can unleash upon this age! The women and children crawling around like lambs to the slaughter!" The possessed Yuji then rips off his shirt apart to reveal even more intricate tattoos going down his slightly more powerful looking body.

"Our big brother got possessed by a psycho devil stripper!!" Olly could only freeze upon his sister's cry as four blood red orbs had now spotted them. Not Yuji stared at the two origami people behind the large plush furniture. Surprise and confusion crossing his four eyed face before he let out a manic chuckle.

"Hahaha! It seems this body belongs to a Jujutsu Sorcerer who knew how to craft living origami. Quite an interesting Cursed Technique… I wonder what I can learn from tearing you apart!" Both siblings were ready to fly away when Not Yuji suddenly froze. A familiar hand symbol emerged on Olivia's chest as Not Yuji's hands morphed into long appendages made of folded origami.

The Thousand Fold Arms wrapping itself around the possessed teen like a straitjacket much to their anger. "What?!" He shouted only for a mouth to pop up on his right cheek and the right eye's iris turning brown in color.

"Good to know origami magic can counter possession to an extent. Alright asshole, who are you? You already pissed me off since you tried to hurt my family and now ruined my study session!" Yuji threatened from the sudden transmutation. Not Yuji growled at the threat in irritation realizing he couldn't move or even retreat into the teen's soul.

This boy had somehow purposely locked him out from both the inside and outside. "No matter what age, you Jujutsu Sorcerers are still a pain in the ass! I am Ryomen Sukuna, the King of Curses! Show some respect you damn brat!" Howled the possessor as he struggled to break the teen's powerful hold over this body.

"Jujutsu Sorcerers??? What the heck is even that? And Curses have a king??? Then again, your crusty finger ended up in Yuji's ramen so maybe you're a gag?" Sukuna decided that he was going to tear the yellow origami girl apart first for the blatant disrespect. If he got out of this boy's grip. Her questions however raised one of his own.

"You telling me that not only do you fools don't know about me but also Jujutsu Sorcerers? Are you a bunch of dumbasses or completely ignorant?!" The King of Curses would've said more if a large blade didn't pop appear by his neck.

This blade or to be precise, blades, belonged to an inhumanly large pair of cutting scissors that were the size of a van. His three crimson eyes burned holes at Olly's own whose paper left arm was enveloped in a wild green circle depicting the tool ready to chop off his head. The prince's face burned red with rage.

"You're lucky I care about Yuji or I would cut your head off for disrespecting my family. We don't know about you or these Jujutsu Sorcerers and frankly don't care. Get out of our older brother's body now so he can study for his exam." Olly threatened, his tone similar to a lion ready to cut down intruders targeting its pride.

"Well too bad! I can't leave your little master's body even if I wanted too! He only ate one of my 20 fingers and even if he did eat them all, the boy's body will become mine! Unless you can fully pull my soul out then I'm stuck with you brats." Sukuna's words dripping with foul venom.

The information painted a very bad picture for the makeshift family of three. A psychotic demon was trapped in the eldest body and soul split into 20 pieces. Even if they could find all the fingers, it didn't mean the King of Curses would leave Yuji's body willingly.

"Then let's find those fingers." Yuji's second mouth grabbed everyone's attention. "You might be stuck in my body but that doesn't mean I can get you out somehow or someway. At best, I can make a origami body that you can possess temporarily so you won't be cooped up in my soul. And once we find all the fingers, I can get you out of my body with the 1,000 Paper Cranes."

A look of realization passing over Olivia's face. "That's right! The 1,000 Paper Cranes ritual can grant a free wish if you can make all the cranes faster than you did the first time! We can use that wish to get Sukuna out of your body! Nice thinking Yuji!" The King of Curses' couldn't help the shellshock.

These three were willing to collect every piece of his soul and use some wish making technique to make him whole again? None of them had any idea what they were getting themselves into by him or those who still seek to destroy the demon. If he played his cards right, then he will finally live once more.

"Alright you cocky little shits. I can help you locate my fingers since they're a part of my soul. Don't think we'll be buddy buddy because once I get out of that brat's body, I will rip you to shreds! Hear me?!" The pair of scissors by the two faced being's neck shrunk back to normal size before hitting the floor.

"We'll fight back when that time comes. For now, you better behave yourself. Come Olivia, let's see what paper we can use for Sukuna's origami vessel." With that said, Olly dragged his sister out of the room. Yuji's arms returned to normal once the magic connection was cut then ripped Sukuna's control over his body.

The tattoos vanished and one of the slits closed except for the right he forced open which took its original red hue. "Why haven't you fully blocked me out yet? You clearly have enough control to fully suppress me. Are you pitying me, dumb brat?!" Yuji merely ignored Sukuna's threat to grab a piece of paper and a pencil.

"What do you want your origami body to look like? It'll have a form similar to Olly and Olivia but you can choose the customization. Even give it four arms if you have the normal amount of fingers per hand like a human does." Yuji questioned, the mouth on his cheek going silent for a moment.

A few seconds later Sukuna spoke up once Yuji finished the body's outline. "Give it four arms and four crimson eyes. The clothing should be a kimono but I want different color sleeves." The salmon haired teen smiled as he got to work on the concept with the demon's instructions.

Maybe things wouldn't be so bad despite having to search for 20 fingers of a literal demon that had entered his life.

And that's it. Today's story was mixed with the newest Paper Mario game: The Origami King. Without spoiling the game to those who wish to play, it's a very fun game but the ending is very bittersweet.

I also wanted to experiment a bit with Yuji as a kid. How different this Yuji could turn out than his canon incarnation since there is new factors to his life.

Olly and Olivia will be serving sibling roles to Itadori but also taught him how to use Origami based magic or Cursed Technique. I'm taking the Smash Brothers' approach to bypass the requirement of Cursed Energy since in Smash Bros, rules are changed to allow each fighter to be on equal terms.

The game mechanics such as 1,000-Fold Arms, enemies, bosses and different locations will be incorporated into Yuji's moveset. This Yuji is also smarter due to Olly and Olivia's presence, perfect motivation to learn.

Spoilers?: Sukuna is going to get attached to the three.

I hope you guys enjoy the story! Until next time folks! Oh and have this Origami Ryomen Sukuna design! Chou!

Edit: Fixed a few spelling mistakes and grammar. Apparently me misspelling Jujutsu is pretty common in early works with this franchise. 😅

[msbarrows]

Never Again, Newegg

So today I splurged and bought a new gaming laptop, my first computer purchase since I got my old Dell Vostro 400 desktop back in 2007 (which amazingly still works as of the last time I booted it up, it’s just a complete dinosaur and I don’t even have it plugged in or connected to anything since I last rearranged my desk back in November). Shiny New Laptop (which was new in 2013) was a gift. So this was a very exciting day for me.

Purchased an HP Omen 17″ direct from HP Canada, and am very happy about the purchase (also got a new monitor on sale, with full HD resolution - current monitor tops out at 1600x900), and even popped for a 3 year extended warranty, because HP is having a thing where if you don’t actually use it, you have 90 days after it eventually expires to request a refund. First time I’ve actually said yes to an extended warranty; kudos on whomever decided that was a good policy to have, I entirely agree.

Anyway, with those on the way, there were also some odds and ends of additional items I wanted to purchase. Like they only had the 17″ available with a 256GB PCIe SSD boot drive paired with a 1TB secondary HDD - and I’d rather have that second drive also be an SSD. HP lets you do things like change/add drives or RAM without it invalidating your warranty (they even tout how easy the case is to open as a feature), yet another thing I’m really liking about this purchase, so I decided to pop for a 2TB SSD to replace that with. I plan to stick the HDD in an external 3.0 drive enclosure; removing it should increase the battery life of the laptop, and I have a nice powered 3.0 USB hub I can plug it into for use (yay past me for planning ahead and getting a 3.0 hub rather than 2.0). Figure it can hold things like big media files where playback speed is not a real issue, ie, movies and music and photos.

So anyway, I’d never used Newegg before, but I didn’t want to throw money at Amazon, and Best Buy didn’t have everything I wanted, so I decided to try them out. Website is fairly nicely designed, their filtering is awesome (best I’ve found yet) so it was very disappointing when I went to submit the order and things immediately started going seriously wrong.

First off, it apparently timed out partway through submitting the payment. It landed me on a screen saying that the order hadn’t been processed, I hadn’t been charged, and to please try again. I stupidly believed that, and didn’t double-check (my bad, but still their site’s fault). So I redid the submission. It went through. Checked my email - yup, there was the order emails. Yes, multiple, they process every item ordered as a separate order and order # rather than as one set of multiple items, so I had 5 emails in total - received your order, charged payment for items 1-4. Ugh, stupid design, but whatever.

Go to make supper. A bit later my brother (who was kindly letting me use his CC for all this) came to check with me, very concerned - he’s received 10 emails. The order had gone through twice. So I leave off making supper, go upstairs to cancel the duplicate order... only the Newegg site says the items are invalid to cancel. What. The. FUCK.

Double check my emails - I have the second set of emails too, arriving a good 20 minutes after the first. I immediately get on with their online customer support, explain the situation, list all 8 order numbers divided into their two sets.

Customer rep can only cancel 2 of the 4 on first order, because apparently once they start packaging an order, you can’t cancel it any more, and despite it having been only around a half hour since I placed the order, some of it’s already being packed. Okay, so can we cancel the duplicates on the second order? She goes to look that up, I tell her exactly which two order numbers that would be, as I have the order screen open in front of me. Nope, she can’t do that one, lists one of the numbers she’d already cancelled. We go back and forth doublechecking, I again tell her what two specific order numbers still need to be cancelled. Nope, still can’t do it. Another run of double checking, list the two specific numbers a third time - and ffs, it turns out the problem is she hasn’t noticed the difference between a duplicate order ending in 79703 and the one ending in 80703 that she’d previously cancelled, which is why her attempts to cancel it have repeatedly failed. GAH!

By now we’ve been in chat for almost 40 minutes, and I have progressed from being merely annoyed to flat out frustrated RAGE. She finally tries to cancel the right numbers, and NOPE, those are now also in packaging. Supposedly my only option is to wait until they arrive, and either refuse the delivery (assuming I can identify which package(s) are those two specific duplicate items) or process a return. And while she says that a return wouldn’t involve a restocking fee, I can’t help but notice she’s not saying anything about shipping costs. Just WTF kind of poorly designed ordering system is this!? And who the hell doesn’t have a built-in buying remorse period of at least an hour before they start on actually shipping stuff?

Argh. Ugh ugh UGH. End chat, go to finish making supper, talk it back and forth with brother about what we should do (while feeling horrible that I ended up putting doubled charges on his card). So distracted I ended up burning the rolls for what was going to be meatball subs, and had to do noodles instead. Supper was very late, good thing this is not a day where he’s working nights.

Thankfully, someone somewhere successfully fixes it; after supper I found three emails saying they were “out of stock” on the duplicate items, and when I checked their site again, I’m now showing as having 3 of the 4 items remaining (and all with the button for me to manually cancel them enabled), and everything else cancelled (thankfully the one item they cancelled both of is just a 16gb USB key I wanted for recovery media, and I can get one of those just about anywhere). So, at least they made it right in the end, but that doesn’t at all help with the earlier frustration, and being so full of rage I was both nauseous and on the verge of tears, which is not a feeling I at all enjoy. Crying because of a heartbreaking scene in a book = good, crying because of a crappy customer experience = bad.

Never buying from them again, no matter how nice their filtering is. Never recommending them to anyone. Just, never ever again.

[blacknight1230]

Second Star to the Right - Chapter 3

Part 1, Part 2

Peter’s POV: 

It was the night after the fiasco with my shadow. At least it was a new night here in London, as time was different in Neverland. Once I was at the Darling house, I scoped out the area for the black dog that ripped my shadow away from me from the previous night. Luckily, he or she was locked outside, sleeping soundly in the dog house in the backyard, a chain linked to its collar. Now, all I had to worry about was if anyone in the room was awake. 

“Tink, could you go in first to check if the girl is asleep?” I asked my fairy friend. She saluted me and sped away, a stream of fairy dust trailing behind her as she became nothing but a tiny ball of light. I watched as she knocked things over, rummaged through clothes in the wardrobe, and basically made a mess of the room, before she came back a minute or so. “The coast is clear,” she told me, a proud smile on her face. I thanked her and I flew into the room with her at my side, planting my feet on the window sill and peered at the room. 

Somehow, despite all the noise and the light, the girl was still asleep in her bed. I carefully roamed around the room, looking for my shadow, eyes getting caught on the young girl sleeping soundly. I noticed she was still clothed in clothes from the day, wearing denim jeans with holes in the knees and a simple (f/c) t-shirt. 

As I was studying the sleeping girl, Tink was looking around and through the keyholes through the drawers. She flew up to me after looking through one and told me, “I think I found your shadow.” She led me to the drawer and I flew towards it. The drawer was jiggling around, something obviously stuck in there that wanted to be let out. I looked at Tink, who smiled and nodded, silently telling me to go ahead. I quietly counted to three, a smile on my face, then ripped the drawer door. My shadow immediately flew up and out of the drawer, trying to get away when it recognized me. I subconsciously slapped the drawer of the dresser quickly, speeding towards my fleeing shadow. 

I chased it around the room, oblivious to the fact that I was creating a commotion. I eventually caught it, proud of myself as I tried to stick the black mass back onto me. But my shadow wouldn’t stick, regardless of what I did. After a failed attempt to attach my shadow by tying it around my ankles, my shadow started to tease me. Frustrated, I started to cry, hiding my head in my arms, as bad thoughts filled my head, making believe that I would never get my shadow to stick to me again. 

My crying was interrupted by a soft voice. “Boy, why are you crying?” it said. I looked up from my crossed arms with tears in my eyes. The young girl that was previously sleeping soundly in her bed was now looking at me with sleepy eyes over the edge of her bed. I quickly got up and dried my tears, not wanting her to see me in such a pathetic state “I wasn’t crying,” I told, refusing to admit my moment of weakness. “Are you sure? It looked like you were crying,” the girl pestered, looking at me with a curious tilt of her head. “I said I wasn’t crying. Boys don’t cry!” I protested, crossing my tan arms across my chest. The girl just rolled her eyes, but didn’t fight with me on the matter. 

She looked down at the shadow on the floor, which was trying to sneak away from me. I stepped on one of its legs, successfully able to stop it from escaping. “What are you doing?” she asked, when she saw the small interaction between me and my shadow. “I’m trying to make my shadow stick. But no matter what I do, I can’t get it to,” I explained, while rubbing a bar of something sticky on one of my feet. “Well it’s never going on like that. I think I have a way to help you,” she told me. 

Without another word, she got up and went to a drawer in a nearby dresser. She rummaged around it it for a bit, then pulled something out. “I’m not good at sewing, so I’m going to have to use super glue,” she said, holding a small plastic stick full of a clear liquid. I gave a small breath of relief; I did not enjoy  having my shadow sewn back onto me the last time I lost it. 

I gave the feet of my shadow to the girl, who after a small thank you, opened the cap of the tiny plastic tube and squeezed a significant amount onto it. I stuck out my feet for her and she quickly stuck my shadow onto the soles of my feet, making sure it was completely flattened to skin. I shifted around uncomfortably at the feeling of the super sticky glue on my bare feet, but tried not to show my discomfort. “Ok, I think it's fine now. Try walking around a bit,” the girl suggested, after holding my shadow on for minute or so. I did as she told me. getting up and walking around the room a bit. To my delight, my shadow followed my every move, acting as if it never fell off in the first place. 

“Thank you!” I exclaimed happily, turning to the girl and giving her the biggest smile I could muster. “You’re welcome,” she replied, a kind smile on her face. She got up from her position on the floor and put the stick of glue back in its proper place. While she did so, I got a good looked her, silently studying her appearance. Her wavy brown hair was a little messy and her brown eyes were a bit red, as if she was crying at some point. “What’s your name?” I asked her, curious about the nice girl who happily helped me. “What’s your name?” she asked back. “I’m Peter. Peter Pan,” I introduced, giving a polite bow to her.  “I’m Brianna,” she replied. Instead of curtsying like I thought she would, she stuck out her right hand. Confused as to what she wanted me to do, I left her hand hanging in the air. “What are you doing?” I asked with brows furrowed. “Oh, sorry, did you want me to curtsy? I never done one before as I’m used to greeting someone with a handshake,” Brianna explained, a faint blush on her face. “It’s ok. Bowing and curtseying is for stuck-up adults anyway,” I told her, ignoring the fact that I was the one to bow first. 

“By the way, why are your eyes red? Did you get something in your eye? ” I asked, slightly worried about the young girl. “Oh, no, nothing like that. I was actually crying before I fell asleep,” she told me shyly. “Why? Are you okay?” Who made this kind girl so sad? I thought. Maybe I can do something. 

“Not really. You see my mother is really mad at me for something that happened at school,” Brianna started to explain, taking a seat on her bed. “Why is that?” I moved to sit on the foot of her bed, sitting Indian style on top of the purple comforter. “My new teacher doesn’t like me and caught me doodling in my notebook. She gave me detention and lied to my mother about why I was in trouble.”  “That’s not fair! Your teacher has no right to do that to you!” I shouted, already hating her mean old teacher. “It doesn’t matter. Adults don’t believe or listen to children. I only finally realized that now that my mother and father have separated,” Brianna said sadly. I could see tears gather in the corner of her eyes as she looked down at the floor in despair.  “Separated? what do you mean? Where’s your father?” I asked, confused yet again. “He’s in America. My parents got a divorce because they weren’t happy being with each other anymore. I’ve had very little contact since we left my old home.” I didn’t know what a divorce was, but I could tell it was bad. Especially seeing how Brianna looked as she told me this terrible news. 

After learning about the reasons that have made her so miserable, I felt sorry for her. The final nail in the coffin was what she said next. “My mother wants me to grow up. I’m already fifteen, too old to believe in fairytales or sleep with a teddy bears and so on. I’m starting to think she’s right,” she said, hugging her legs to her chest. “No way! I won’t stand for it!” I exclaimed, jumping to my feet. Brianna turned to look at me, shocked, as I continued. “Brianna, come with me to Neverland! You’ll never grown up there!” “Neverland?” Brianna got up from the bed, moving to stand in front of me. “Where is it? I’ve never heard of before.” 

I quickly grabbed her hand and pulled her to the bedroom window. “You see those two stars out there,” I said pointing to the two shiniest stars in the night. “Second star to the right and straight on until morning. That’s Neverland. A land of endless adventure and magic, where time stands still and no child ever grows up!” I excitedly told her. “It sounds amazing Peter, almost too good to be true! But if I go there with you then I’ll be leaving my life here behind,” Brianna pointed out, a frown growing on her face. “Please come with, Brianna. You’ll never have to deal with mean old teachers and parents forcing you to grow up. Think of all the adventures you’ll have with my Lost Boys, the mermaids, Indians, and even the being able to face pirates,” I tried to persuade her, softly whispering into her ear as I stood behind her as her brown eyes gazed at the starry night sky. Brianna turned around to face, looking me dead in the eye. “You promise I’ll never deal with grown things again?” she asked. “I promise, I would never lie to you,” I told her, acting serious for once. 

Brianna thought for a moment, stuck deep into her thoughts. I almost thought she wouldn’t except my offer, until aher pink lips uplifted into a big bright smile. “I’ll go with you, Peter, just let me gather some stuff,” she told me. I couldn’t help but jump up and spin in the air as I let out a happy crow. From the top of sky painted ceiling, I saw Briana gather a small bag and started to fill it with stuff she wanted to bring with her. “Peter, I have a question. How will we get to Neverland? It almost seems impossible,”she asked apprehensively. “Why we’ll fly there of course. I’ll teach you to soar through the night sky, just like me,” I boasted, floating in the air above her. “I’ve always wanted to fly. You’re almost like a gift giving genie with the way you keep making my dreams come true,” she complimented me. I laughed at her silly comparison, getting a kick out of bringing her so much joy and happiness in such a short time. 

Brianna finished lacing up her sneakers, jumping to her feet. “Alright, what do I have to do?” “Fly is easy. A you need is faith, trust, and a little bit of pixie dust,” I explained. It was then when I finally notice I was missing my little fairy friend that was always at my side. “Wait a minute, where’s Tink?” I asked, turning my head around to look for her. “Tink? Who’s that?” “Tinkerbell is my fairy. She should be somewhere. She was just here,” I continued, now rumbling through wardrobes and dressers to find her. “A real live fairy? This is wonderful!” Brianna exclaimed, hands clasped together in happiness. I went over to the drawer where I found my shadow in, as that was the last time I saw her. The drawer door was glowing from the inside and jiggling around as high pitch bell sounds came from inside. I hurriedly opened it up and Tink immediately flew out and into my face. “Tink, there you are. Almost lost you for a moment there,” I sighed in relief. Tink was already yelling at me, several foul words mixed leaving her mouth as she wagged her finger in front of me. Brianna laughed at the scowling I was getting. “I may not know what she’s saying but I would be mad too if you shut me in a drawer and forgot,” she grinned. I just stuck my tongue at her in response as Tink angrily flew away. “Come on, Tink. I need you to help Brianna come to Neverland with me,” I pleaded. Think stubbornly refused, turning her back to face me as she sat on a little knick-knack on top of a dresser. 

“I think she doesn’t like me that much,” Brianna pointed out. “Really? But why? Sometimes I just don’t understand her sometimes,” I wondered. "I think she’s jealous,” Brianna teased. Tink didn’t like that, flying towards Brianna and grabbed a chunk of her hair then started to pull it harshly. She ended up dragging Brianna over to her bed and knocking the side of her head tried to hit  a bedpost. Brianna started to yell out in in pain and discomfort, trying desperately to get her to stop. “Tink! Stop that!” I shouted, lunging towards the green clad fairy. I grasped Tink in my hand, pulling her off of Brianna and threw her against a pillow on the bed. Fairy dust went everywhere as she made impacted with fluffy cushion. 

“Are you alright?” I worried, watching as Brianna gathered her long locks in her hand. “I think so. Just a bit sore. I’ll be fine,” she reassured me as she rubbed at the spot where Tink pulled her hair. “Quite strong for such a tiny thing, isn’t she?” Tink was back on her feet now, standing on top of the purple bed comforter, making rather rude comments about the brunette in front of me. “She’s not very polite,” I admitted, giving the fairy side glances as she made not nice gestures towards Brianna. “She says if you say something like that about her again ...” I trailed off. Tink grabbed the top of her head and pulled to the side, making a cracking noise and sticking tongue out, as if someone broke her neck. “She’ll kill you.” “Oh lovely,” Brianna said sarcastically. “I see she’s really charming.” 

Tink continued to grumble from her position on the bed, allowing me to successfully grabbed her while she was distracted. I gently shook her above Brianna’s head, tiny golden grains of pixie dust falling around the girl. “Now all you have to do think happy thoughts.” Almost immediately, Brianna started to rise into the air. She gasped as she hit the ceiling, laughing as began as light as a feather. “That was fast. You’re a natural,” I acknowledge. “I just hope I can concentrate enough to make it all way to Neverland. I might get distracted,” Brianna distressed. She faltered in her flying, dropping a bit before rising back upon as she focussed back on happy thoughts. “I can guide you by the hand if you would like me to?” I offered, gently reaching for one of her outstretched hands. “Thank you, Peter. LEt’s get going before anyone finds out what’s happening.” 

I nodded my affirmatively, grasping Brianna’s hand tightly into mine and leading her out of the window. “Off to Neverland!” I shouted as we started to soar above the homes of Bloomsbury. 

Third Person POV:

As Peter and Brianna soared off into the night sky, someone walked into the room they left behind. Wendy Darling couldn’t help the smile on her face as she watched her first childhood love guide the young girl at his side to a new adventure, just like he did for her. “Thank care of her, Peter,” she uttered in the wind, hoping it would take her words to his ears. “I hope she will be what you wanted me to be.” And she watched on for longingly until she could no longer see their figures on the horizon. 

[jace-beleren]

I’ve fallen deep down the rabbit hole of D&D, and I’ve mentioned previously that I super ship my character Casrius with my best friend’s character Mellina (we never intended this but shit happens). And now I’m feeling a dangerous combination of bored at work and self-indulgent so here I present: a comprehensive (and mostly chronological) list of Significant Moments™ that power this ship.

1. A few sessions in, Mellina (who has been very quiet and reserved to this point) agrees to go out on the town with the rest of the party, looping her arm through Casrius’.

2. Mellina tries alcohol for the first time. Casrius helps her back to her bunk, and she mumbles “I’m sorry I didn’t write you a letter today, Reyna” referring to her deceased sister. “She’ll forgive you, just this once. Go to sleep.”

2a. The next morning: “So that was a bit embarrassing last night, and very private. Just forget you heard anything.” “I’ve already forgotten what we’re talking about.”

3. The party visits a curio shop, Casrius finds a pipe and tries it out, only to find that it blows bubbles. Mellina bursts out laughing, and he responds with “Now that’s a beautiful sound.”

4. Havatha is the goddess of life, death, or both, depending on who you ask. Casrius poses as a cleric of the Death church, while Mellina is a staunch believer in “the balance” of both sides. They run into each other at the temple, and noticing that Casrius has only put money in one offering bowl: “I think you missed one.” “Did I?” *a few minutes of small talk* *as Casrius turns to leave* “Casrius, I have a riddle for you. If I drop a gold piece, and it lands with one side up, does that mean the other side doesn’t exist?” “Not at all, it just means that was the side I was meant to see. *bows and takes his leave*”

5. Casrius comes downstairs in the morning to join the party. To the artificer currently in disguise self: “This looks good.” Then to Mellina, noticing that she has her hair down for the first time in the campaign: “This also looks very nice.”

6. The party is discussing having Casrius fake-marry a local who’s been helping the party in order to get her papers to leave town. The druid, only partially listening and thinking the conversation is about Casrius and Mellina: “Oh really? Well congratulations you two, I always thought you’d be good together. I wish you all the happiness in the world.”

7. After watching Casrius over-pay for a bunch of goods and make a significant donation to the local orphanage: “You’re very generous with your money to complete strangers.” “This is where I grew up. That orphanage raised me, and these people don’t have it easy here. It’s the least I can do.”

8. Mellina is in some kind of debt situation that requires her to fulfill assassination contracts on demand from her employer. After receiving one with minimal time to prepare, she asks Casrius to help her while keeping it a secret from the rest of the team. Despite being adamant that she go alone, she finds Casrius waiting for her a block away from the target, sitting on a bench in the snowfall. She tries to walk past, but “Does your telepathic connection reach this far?” “Yes.” “Then set it up and let me know if you need help.” “*telepathically* Fuck off.”

8a. After the contract is successfully completed, Mellina states very clearly that she doesn’t want to talk about it. But the next night, slips a paper under Casrius’ door that just reads “Thanks”

9. Mellina gets to be better friends with the party’s druid and starts reading to him every night. Casrius shares a room with the druid at this point and refers to the experience as “a bit strange, yet oddly endearing.” At of today, “oddly endearing” has made a few more appearances.

10. In response to Casrius asking how the party can help when Mellina is issued a second contract: “Goddammit Casrius, I can handle this myself. I’m a professional and I’m perfectly capable of doing this on my own.” “I know you’re a professional and I know you’re capable, but we’re your friends and we care about what happens to you when you go off on a dangerous assassin mission by yourself.”

11. Casrius has spent an evening trying to teach the druid how to play dragoncheckers, with no success. Mellina wanders past and starts explaining rules that make no sense, eventually explaining that her brother made up wacky rules when they were kids. Casrius and the party’s artificer spend the rest of the night studying those rules.

12. Mellina invites Casrius out for a midnight stroll, linking arms in a callback to #1. What follows is a very deep conversation about the morality of her assassination contracts, since all the targets so far have been very bad people. Mellina also expresses that she’s in this situation against her will, but cannot talk about it any further than that. On the way back, they chat animatedly about Mellina’s version of dragonchecker rules.

12a. Casrius spends several hours over the next 2 weeks practicing those rules with the artificer.

13. Casrius comes into contact with a tracking beacon that starts to burn and sink into his hand. When healing doesn’t stop it, he barely succeeds a STR check to just rip it out of his palm, leaving a gaping wound. While he’s gasping for breath and grimacing through the pain, Mellina gently reaches out to take his hand and bandages it.

13a. The next time the party is in town, Mellina asks Casrius out to lunch. She had gone out and commissioned a custom made set of fingerless gloves for him. “I know you feel uncomfortable about your hands, and now with that scar you might use these. You can still use your fingers for the blood hunter stuff but uh, yeah. You’re a practical person, I’m surprised you didn’t already have a pair.” Casrius, a bit embarrassed about the difference in scale, also has a gift: a bookmark, because apparently Mellina didn’t have one despite all the reading she does.

14. Mellina’s brother, who lives in the capital and works for her secret employer, finds out that Casrius has been asking about how to contact him without Mellina knowing. So they meet for lunch, and Casrius explains that he wants to know who Mellina is working for and the nature of her debt, so that he can pay it off or do the work for her. Mellina’s reaction upon learning of this exchange: “You absolutely foolish, honorable, adorable, tiefling man.”

15. The party is found by members of the Order of the Vein, who are tracking Casrius down. This has been an ongoing concern, and they find our camp while Mellina is on watch. She agrees to wake up the rest of the party:  “Casrius you need to wake up.” “Mmmm you said I didn’t need to take a watch tonight go away.” “*covers Casrius’ mouth with a hand* I need you to wake up. Calmly. The Order of the Vein is here.” eyes snap open, immediately reaching for sword “Nonono. *pins his wrist with other hand* they’re just here to talk. This is why I came to get you quietly.”

15a.  Casrius has to agree to have a tracker implanted, just like all the Order members do. So one of them sticks this thing in his shoulder close to his neck and used some flame magic to cauterize it, and it was specifically stated that as Casrius gritted his teeth through the pain Mellina visibly restrained herself from jumping in.

[xxfanfiction-emo-trinityxx]

Troubled Thoughts - Patrick Stump x Reader

Requested by me: It’s the reader’s birthday on tour, but she’s having a shitty day, and Patrick who she shares a room with, tries to make up for everyone else forgetting about her. Reader: female Warnings: alcohol, insecurity concerning body image, about 3 ideas mixed into one story, aka chaos Word count: 4 437 A/N: 1. I’m still sick, so there’ll have slipped more errors through the proof reading than usual. 2. Happy Birthday to me, I guess. 3. I want to dedicate this to everyone out there whose birthday falls on a holiday of their culture/religion that is fixed in the calendar (e.g. like Christmas in Christianity). I know how much it sucks when everyone is busy with the festive activities etc. and completely forgets about you. This story is for us.

Surely it had to be every musician’s dream to spend at least one of their birthdays on tour, surrounded by their friends, travelling the world, making music. And it had been your dream too, your birthday being Boxing Day. As a child you had never had friends over for your birthday, because it was a holiday, and instead you had celebrated with your family.

When you had been little, you had been disappointed, but growing older you had always enjoyed the time with your family. That was about the same time as you realised that you had never gotten a birthday cake before. It was always a big drama, making the birthday cakes for your siblings, but for you? When you had asked your mother about it, she had said there were still so many baked goods in the house, mostly Christmas cookies and chocolates that it would be crazy to make even more.

Another thing, and that was by far the most painful one, was that, other than your parents and grandparents, every single person, most years including even your siblings, forgot that it was your birthday. All your friends were so busy with Christmas, complaining about their families and their presents that they completely forgot about your birthday. God forbid you would have forgotten their birthday though.

And over the last years you could not help like feel as if the people who already liked to use you to drop their problems, took you for granted, not even wondering when you had come into this world for them to use you. After you had joined the band Fall Out Boy, it had gotten better, mostly because you had been able to drop these people, but you still usually celebrated your birthday with your family.

This year was different. Somehow the label had had the brilliant idea you should play shows on the days from the 27th to the 30th of December, so you would be back home just in time for New Year’s Eve. Not that you were looking forward to that evening either, knowing all of your friends had plans that did not include you, but that’s how life was sometimes.

Generally you would not have minded spending the day cramped into the narrow seats of a plane, or running across gigantic airports, trying to catch the next flight. You were not the kind of person who wanted to be in the centre of everyone’s attention, you did not want everyone to focus on your birthday, but if you were honest, you would have expected a bit more than a pat on the shoulder and a “Happy birthday, (y/n).” “Oh right, it’s your birthday”.

Now you were sitting on the blanket of a sterile hotel bed, contemplating your life, and feeling miserable. Pete, Joe and Andy had gone out with the crew but forgotten you were still on the bus, leaving you and Patrick, who had not wanted to join them, behind. Deciding it would be the best to claim one of the rooms into which your manager had already checked you in, you had taken your night bag, and made your way to the shared room. Patrick and you had agreed that it would make the most sense to share a room, since this way you would not get woken up when the others returned.

Through the door to the en-suite bathroom, you heard the water of the shower running. You had already taken a quick shower, which had not at all helped to make you feel any less self-pitying, but you decided for once you had a right so mop around. Patrick would go to sleep soon anyway, so he would hardly be bothered by your bad mood.

Unhappily you looked down your body, and wiggled your toes. Recently you just felt uncomfortable in your body. It was like your skin was an additional layer of clothes, old, dirty clothes, and all you wanted to do was rip it off. Sadly that was kind of impossible, so all you could do was being a miserable little lump on your side of the far too huge bed. Seriously, as long as you were sharing with Patrick, you would not have minded if the bed had been smaller.

You had always liked Patrick, but recently your adoration for the chubby lead singer with the shoulder long, strawberry blond hair, had grown a lot, and while you knew the chances of him even just considering being with you were infinitesimally small, you could not help your fluttering heart, or the little glances when he was not looking.

A few minutes later the water got turned off, and you heard Patrick rustling around in the bathroom. You remembered vividly how much the idea of Patrick taking a shower with just a thin hotel room door separating you, had thrown you off just couple of months ago. But now, after having shared a room with him countless times, you had gotten used to getting your mind back under control.

When he finally left the bathroom, dressed in shorts and a shirt that was several numbers too big for him, his hair dishevelled and still wet, you were still sitting on your blanket. From just sitting around, you had started to notice that it was actually pretty cold in here, but you ignored it the raised hair on your arms.

Patrick rummaged through his belongings, putting away his shampoo and day clothes, not really paying any attention to you. That gave you another opportunity to just look at him. He was concentrated, hunched over his bag, his back a soft round shape that made you wonder what it would feel like to wrap your arms around him now. It had been ages since you had been in a relationship, or even anywhere near one, but you felt like hugging your significant other unexpectedly would be something you would do. But Patrick was not your significant other. The thought hurt you, and the pain reminded you just how awful you had felt all day; like an object that was around, but not really noticed.

Just when your self-deprecating thoughts had reached a new high, Patrick turned around, picking up on your mood immediately.

“(Y/n)? What’s wrong?”

He placed something next to him on the bed, but you did not care to look, because he crawled up on the bed next to you, worriedly reaching his hand out for you.

“Nothing, just- nothing,” you replied, fighting to hold back the tears of anger and disappointment. Why were you so emotional about this all of a sudden?

“Because you’re not home with your family on your birthday?”

Patrick was not so easily satisfied with your answer, he always wanted to help, and that was just one more reason why you loved him.

“Because nobody even remembered it’s my birthday,” you asked back, looking up at him.

His eyes were wide, and full of concern, a strand of his hair adorably dangling at the side of his face.

“I actually wanted to do that now,” he explained, “maybe I should have said something earlier, but I wanted to surprise you.”

Quickly he grabbed the things he had placed on the bed next to where he was sitting now, and showed them to you. He was holding a small bottle of sparkling wine, just enough for two people, a box of chocolates, and a tiny bouquet of flowers. How he had hidden all of these was an unsolvable miracle to you.

Had you successfully kept your tears in check earlier, you now failed. Overwhelmed by Patrick’s sweet gesture, you started crying, confusing the poor man.

“What’s wrong, (y/n)? Hey (y/n)?” Concerned he reached out for you once more, and gently placed his hand on your knee. “Did I do something wrong?”

Unable to answer immediately, you just leant forward, and hugged Patrick, who quickly wrapped you in his arms. He was warm and soft, he smelled of the shampoo he had used to wash his hair, and his regular breaths managed to quickly calm you down. Slowly he drew small circles into your back until you had recovered from crying.

“Thank you so much, Patrick, for thinking of me,” you whispered and eventually pulled back.

Patrick’s cheeks were dusted over with a hint of pink, and you gave him a smile through your tear wet lashes.

“Of course, I mean, it’s your birthday!” He remembered the small gifts he had gotten you. “So uh, I mean, happy birthday?”

You laughed a little at his insecurity, and nodded.

“Thank you, this is perfect.”

Patrick opened his mouth as if to say something, but closed it again quickly as if he had remembered that it was not appropriate to say what had been on his mind. Instead he nodded towards the flowers.

“I’ll get a glass with water so they don’t dry out,” he explained, and quickly scrambled off the bed, giving you the impression that he was almost embarrassed about something.

“Can you bring two glasses for the sparkling wine, too?”

“You wanna open it now?”

You knew Patrick had not intended for the edible presents to be shared, but right now seemed like the perfect moment. Otherwise you would just carry the things around with you the whole time.

Patrick popped his head out of the bathroom and gave you a long look.

“You don’t have to, you know? I didn’t mean to-“

“I want to open it now,” you interrupted, “it’s my birthday, can’t I do what I want?”

Patrick chuckled at your childish argument, and returned a couple of seconds later, carrying a glass with water in one hand and two paper cups in the other.

“This is going to be so fancy,” he joked, when he showed you the cups.

He placed the glass on your bedside table, and you quickly put the flowers in. The bouquet was made from white roses and baby’s breath, framed by green pine tree twigs and holly, a big, red amaryllis being the centre of the arrangement.

Patrick crawled back up on the bed next to you, this time a little closer.

“Wanna open this,” you suggested, and held out the bottle with the sparkling wine to Patrick.

“Don’t you want to do this yourself,” he asked confused, “it’s your present, you should have thee honour.”

“I’m scared the cork will fly out,” you explained, still holding the bottle for him to take.

“So if everything goes wrong it’s my fault?”

Laughing Patrick took the bottle.

“Of course, I need someone to blame.”

Giggling you watched how he carefully pulled out the cork, until the bottle made a small plop. Much to your relief there was no sparkling wine flying everywhere. Quickly you held out the paper cups, and Patrick split up the contents of the bottle between the two.

“To you,” Patrick raised his cup, “Happy Birthday.”

“And to you,” you too picked up your cup, “for being such an amazing friend.”

Patrick smiled, and you clicked your paper cups together before taking a sip of the sparkling drink.

“So… how are you, we haven’t really talked that much lately,” Patrick asked, leaning against the headboard, pushing his pillow behind his back.

“I don’t know, fine, I guess?” You tried to distract yourself from Patrick’s question by tearing the plastic film off the box with chocolates. “How are you?”

“Upset, because I know you’re lying.” You could feel Patrick’s eyes in your back. “Come on, (y/n), it’s clear you haven’t been yourself lately. Even if you don’t wanna talk about it, at least don’t sell me for silly, and admit that something’s off.”

Trying to delay your answer, you turned to Patrick, and offered him the opened box, to take a chocolate, but he just grabbed the box out of your hands, and put it aside. It was clear he wanted you to be honest with him. Swallowing hard, you shrugged.

“I don’t even know myself,” you admitted, “it’s just… everything feels wrong at the moment, and I can’t tell you why.”

That your feelings for Patrick played an important part in it, you did not mention. For one it just felt wrong to have feelings for your friend in the first place, but having these feelings, and them being unrequited felt even more wrong. Sure, the fact alone that you were in love with someone who probably saw you as their younger sibling did not make anything better either.

Patrick nodded at your answer.

“But you know that if there’s anything you wanna talk about, you can always come to me, right?”

“I know, thanks,” you mumbled, but at the same time you knew you would not take him up on his offer.

For a while you sat in silence, and even though the small amount of alcohol had temporarily made you feel warmer, you started getting cold again, and shivered.

“Are you cold too,” you eventually wondered, and turned to Patrick.

He had finished his drink a while ago, and placed the cup on his nightstand.

“So it’s not just me,” he chuckled.

Pushing the untouched box with chocolates back over to you, he got up and walked over to the heater, carefully placing his hand on the metal.

“It’s icy cold,” he noticed, while you packed away the chocolates, and scooted underneath your blanket, hoping it would keep you warmer. Patrick bent down to check the little knob where you could decide how warm the room should be. “It’s already on the highest setting.”

He sighed, and walked back over to the bed, getting under his blanket as well.

“Should we tell the reception,” you wondered, trying to avoid your teeth chattering.

“If you like, but honestly don’t think they’ll be able to help much,” Patrick shrugged.

You could feel him move under his blanket until he had found a comfortable position. Trying to distract yourself from the cold and Patrick, you wondered what your family was doing right now, but thinking off them only made you sad again. The lamps on both Patrick’s and your bedside tables were still on, and you were about to suggest to turn them off, when Patrick spoke up.

“Are you still so cold?”

“Definitely,” you nodded, having pulled up the blanket up to your nose.

“Maybe they have additional blankets in the wardrobe,” Patrick suggested and quickly climbed out of the bed again.

Sure enough there was a woolly blanket on the highest shelf of the wardrobe, and Patrick had to get to his tip toes to reach it with his fingertips. Once he had managed to pull it out, he sighed again.

“It’s just one,” he stated, holding up the grey fabric, “we’ll have to cuddle up.”

You were about to protest, not sure your heart would survive being so close to Patrick, but he added with a smirk: “plus we can share body heat.”

Knowing that he was right, you decided not to speak up, but you could feel your heartrate picking up speed as he walked back over to the bed, and climbed back in.

“C’m here,” he encouraged, stretching his arm out for you to cuddle into his side.

Hesitantly you scooted over until you were next to him, trying to keep a few inches between the two of you. Patrick grabbed his normal blanket and threw it partially over yours, so they were overlapping, in order to keep the little warmth underneath the blankets. Then he unfolded the woolly blanket, and spread it over the two of you, making sure you had enough fabric covering you.

When he lay back down, you decided to blow all caution in the wind, and scooted a little closer. You felt worn out by worrying, and being sad and angry all day, so all you wanted was some warmth and feeling Patrick close. But almost as soon as you had closed the last inches, Patrick stiffened. Concerned you turned your head, and found that he was looking at you, a blush starting to rise on his cheeks.

“What are you doing,” he asked, but he did not sound annoyed or angry; he sounded insecure.

“Cuddling up, like you said,” you explained, worrying you had overstepped your boundaries.

“You don’t have to, if you don’t want to.”

Confused you looked at Patrick.

“But I do want to, what about you,” you wondered quietly.

“I- I would love to, but it’s fine if you feel uncomfortable,” he replied, looking away, and started studying the pattern on the blanket.

“Why would I feel uncomfortable?”

“Because- I- god, I don’t- “

“Because what? Patrick, what’s wrong?”

This time it was you who insisted on an answer. You knew Patrick could be terribly insecure and anxious sometimes, and you hated that he started to feel that way around you. If anything you wanted to trigger the exact opposite of these emotions in him, make him feel loved, safe, adored.

“Because I’m… you know? Not very attractive?” He still did not look at you, his gaze flickering through the room, and his voice was barely above a whisper as if he was scared you would laugh at him. “Like… I’m chubby and I know people don’t like my hair, and I totally understand if you don’t want to be close to me, if you feel repulsed by me. I know everyone is anyway, so please don’t torture yourself just because I was cocky earlier, and didn’t think stuff through.”

Shocked you sat up a little.

“Patrick, look at me, hey,” gently you placed your hand at his cheek, carefully tilting his head so he would look at you, “you are beautiful, you hear me? I totally love your hair, and I love that you are so soft and warm and perfect to cuddle. And I know what it feels like not to like your body, but please don’t assume that just because you don’t like it, I don’t either. Because I do, and I’m glad you asked to cuddle up, okay? But, of course, if you want some distance-“

“No!” Patrick interrupted you forcefully, but quickly lowered his voice again. “I… just don’t want you to feel uncomfortable because of me.”

“I’d feel the most comfortable right by your side.”

“Are you sure,” concerned he glanced up at you.

“One hundred percent,” you assured him, giving him a little smile, hoping he would believe you, and it seemed he did.

“It’s just… sometimes I have these troubled thoughts,” he tried to explain, “and then I feel like I’m just a bother, and doing everything wrong, and ruining everyone’s day.”

“You made my day today,” you let him know, slowly pulling your hand away from his face. Why did this feel so terribly intimate all of a sudden?

“Oh, okay,” Patrick quickly turned his eyes away from your face, and cuddled deeper into the blanket, as if he wanted to hide from you, now that you knew what was going on inside his mind.

“Sometimes you have troubled thoughts and a self-esteem to match,” you quietly noted, slipping back under the blankets again. It was still not very warm, but better than without anything, and slowly you felt Patrick’s body warm up the blankets at his side. The warmth was tempting, just like him.

“Yeah, I guess. Hey, that sounds like a line that would go into one of our songs,” he exclaimed.

“Pete read his notes to me the other day, I just quoted him,” you giggled, amused how he was able to change the topic so quickly.

“He’s weird,” Patrick laughed.

“That’s why he writes the texts.”

For a while you lay in silence again, close but not touching. More than once you wondered if you should scoot over, cuddle into Patrick’s side again, but you were scared he’d react as insecure as the first time.

Eventually he spoke up again.

“I never told anyone how I feel about my body and all,” he confessed, making you turn your head and look at him. The lamps on the nightstands were still burning, making his skin glow orange. “Thanks for not laughing.”

“Why would I laugh,” you asked, again shocked that Patrick seemed so insecure.

“Because it’s stupid,” he shrugged, and turned to his side so he was facing away from you, as if he hoped to end the conversation that way.

“It’s not stupid, Patrick,” you tried to tell him, and reached out for his shoulder, gently placing your hand on it, “it’s obvious that it’s something that you worry about a lot, so it is important, simply because you think about it. Just because it’s something that isn’t important to other people, doesn’t mean it can’t be important to you. And if it’s important to you, then it’s important to me too.”

Patrick did not react, and for a moment you wondered if he had fallen asleep, but then he reached up to his shoulder, and wrapped his fingers around your hand. Slowly he turned back to you.

“Thank you,” he smiled sadly, “you always know what I want to hear.”

“I’m not saying what I think you want to hear but what I think is true,” you corrected him, making him nod carefully.

“I know… that’s good to know.”

For a while you were lying in bed, facing each other, his fingers intertwined with yours. Neither of you dared moving, and instead you just studied his face carefully; his cute nose, his pink lips, and his beautiful blue eyes.

You were not even aware of what you were asking until the words had been spoken.

“Can I kiss you?”

Patrick’s eyes widened slightly, and you felt yourself getting sick at the thought that he surely would reject you, and ask you to leave now.

“Wh-what,” he stammered out, blushing again.

“I just though-“ quickly you sat up in bed, ready to leave as quickly as possible, while the blankets pooled around your waist, allowing the freezing air of the hotel room to brush over your skin. “I really wanted to kiss you, but I thought I should ask- I’m gonna leave.”

But before you had gotten the chance to move any further away from Patrick, he pulled you back to him by the hand he was still holding. Before you even understood what was happening, he had grabbed your face with his free hand and pulled you in for a kiss, his lips hot and soft against your cold ones.

For a moment you forgot how to breathe, and your head started spinning almost painfully. Quickly you used the hand Patrick was not holding to prop you up over him in order not to lean all your weight on his chest. The kiss was hot and desperate, almost needy, as if he was trying to get as much from the kiss as possible before you would pull away, which in his mind was only a matter of seconds away.

But when he realised that you returned the kiss just as feverishly, that you did not pull away immediately, that you kissed him back and the fingers of your hand, which he was holding, closed only tighter around his, he finally allowed himself to relax a little. Carefully, testing, he slowed the kiss, and you followed his lead perfectly, a little sigh, or whine, he was not sure, escaping your lips as you pressed closer to him.

He ran his fingers along your jaw and into your hair, holding you close before flipping you over, causing you to squeal in surprise, but the sound from your mouth was muffled by his lips. Now it was him hovering over you, and you took the opportunity to use your now free hand to wrap your arm around his back, pulling him ever closer against you. It did not take long until the kiss slowed down more and more until in the end you were just lying there, lips motionless pressed against each other’s, noses gently touching, forehead against forehead and uneven breaths filling the little space between you.

Eventually Patrick rolled to his side, and then to his back, giving you space to breath, which you did not want. Not having him so close by made you feel empty and lost. A little whine came over your lips, one that made Patrick look at you, and you quickly moved next to him, wrapped your arms around his chest and nuzzled your face against his shirt.

Patrick giggled quietly, and placed his arm around your shoulder, this way being able to pull you closer to him, and with the other hand he rearranged the blankets that had been pushed to the side during your little make-out-session.

“You know that there’s no way I’m ever letting you go now, right?”

Patrick’s voice was husky and deep, and his words both made your heart grow and ripped it apart at the same time. Just a few hours ago you would have thought it to be impossible to ever end up where you were now, cuddled into Patrick’s side, him holding you close and declaring he would never let you go. Yet here you were.

“Good,” you answered quietly, “I wouldn’t want it any other way.”

You could practically hear Patrick’s smile, making you smile too, and he gently kissed your hair.

“Should we turn out the lamps?”

You nodded and for a few painful, and cold, seconds you sat up to turn your lamp off, Patrick doing the same. Quickly you cuddled back into him when he had lain down again, and his arm immediately wrapping around you again.

“I love you,” you whispered, part of you almost hoping he had not heard you.

But he had. You could feel him freeze for a moment before his grip on you tightened and he gently pulled you even closer to him, leaving absolutely no space between you anymore.

“I love you, too, have since I first met you” he whispered back, making your hear flutter, and you tightly grabbed onto his shirt, making sure not to hurt him.

For a while you were lying in the dark, your eyelids growing heavier and heavier. You had painted small patterns against Patrick’s soft chest, but now you hand was calmly resting on his stomach, following the even breaths he took, the air he exhaled slightly blowing against your hair. His arm around you had relaxed, and you were certain he had fallen asleep already. Knowing he was feeling safe, and hopefully happy, you finally closed your eyes too, and fell asleep, cuddled against Patrick.

Taglist (if you want to be added or taken off, please let me know):

General: @justawriterinprogress​ @robinruns​ @jayloverthe3rd​ @lookalivefrosty​ @butterfly-writes​ @angelevansfalls​ @rene-royale​ @500240​

[satsuki2406]

Dear Aomi Bakugou Katsuki x Reader

"I've seen you in a dream before, you are the warm and bright presence that embraced me on Cape Kamui a long time ago on a June afternoon."

Shinohara (Y/N) is a normal girl who had everything she could ask for, a loving family, a beautiful home, friends, and a fluffy cat. For a long time, she gave her life and happiness for granted, never imagining that she'll face one of the worst and crueler facades of society so closely, destroying what once was a happy, harmonious and normal family. One day, in hopes to recover what they lost, the Shinohara family took one of the more difficult decisions of their lives; leave behind their home back in Hokkaido and travel hundreds of miles south until Musutafu, the place that could grant them a solution and help close the yet fresh wound and scare away the ghosts of the past. Hardheaded, passionate, and ambitious (Y/N) is forced to confront the incarnated face of the superhuman society that she hated the most; Bakugou Katsuki.

PAIRING: (Bakugou Katsuki x Reader)

GENRE/WARNINGS: Romance, Fluff, Angst, Dark Themes, My poor attempt of humor, Strong language (Courtesy of Lord Explosion Murder 💥), Manga Spoilers, LONG ass chapter.

STATUS: On going

Chapter 1: School is a Great Place to Make Enemies

Chapter 2: My Stupid Classmate, the Angry Dandelion

3-In Conclusion, This Day Was...

The light night air caressed (Y/N)’s face and swayed her hair as she calmly strolled on the street. The ride from the konbini was short, after a couple of minutes, (Y/N) reached her home’s front gate. She pushed the creaky short gate pushing her bike along her with the shopping bags and closed it behind her. She put the bike on its little corner next to the driveway and locked it. She took the two shopping bags, along with her bag and walked to the front door. Before (Y/N) could even align the key with the keyhole, the door was harshly swung open revealing a much preoccupied and almost hyperventilating woman, (E/C) eyes met an equal pair of concerned (E/C) ones.

“Oh, (Y/N)! you’re finally home!” Immediately (Y/N) was engulfed in the hugest mama bear hug imaginable. Her mother, Akari consumed by aggravation and worry squeezed the lights out of her ‘little baby’ alleviated to have her between her arms, safe and sound.

“Mom...! I can’t- I can’t breathe…!” (Y/N) choked out.

“Oh, I’m so sorry baby! You know how I get when I’m worried, and excited, and when I see a good deal at the supermarket but enough of me! Tell me, are you alright? Are you hurt?” Lovingly, Akari cupped (Y/N) soft cheeks and proceeded to quickly exanimate her closer, looking for any scratch or cut. “Your temperature is normal, does any part of your body hurt?”

“Well, other than my legs, my butt, and the growing migraine I’ve been feeling since I left the konbini, I’m awesome, thank you.”

“I knew it! I knew that something was wrong! You must have been trapped in that horrible incident in the commercial district! What if the migraine is because you hit your head and will develop some brain damage if we don’t treat you immediately or your legs are injured?! What if they have to amputate them!? Should I call 911?! Or take you myself to the hospital?! No! We have no time to lose! Quick! Get in the car! I’ll go and get the keys and my purse-I have to call your dad!! Oh but he’s way too far right now! What if!-”

“Alright Mom! enough!” (Y/N) snapped. “Look at me, now, inhale and exhale, sloooowly, take your time and calm down. Once you are relaxed, I’ll explain myself, so stop jumping to conclusions please. Look at me in the eyes-that’s right, deep breaths, deep breaths…” You said softly while you also breathed deeply to show your mom how she had to do it while she dramatically imitated you, putting a hand over her chest to help herself.

“Al-Alright, I-I’m feeling better now”

“Perfect, so the reason I’m late is, indeed related to the villain attack, BUT! No how you are thinking! You know that in the center of the city there’s a bikeway, right?”

“Y-Yes I do”

“So, you also must remember that the Commercial District is part of that same bikeway’s route, right?”

“I-I recall so, yes”

“Perfect! Now that we have that important but kinda trivial piece of information clear, I’ll proceed to tell you what happened. Sooo… During my way back I decided to ‘take my time’ and you know, explore the city. But, but, but! When I was about to go back home, I heard a really big explosion coming from there, there was a lot of smoke as well. Right there I ran into an elderly lady and her daughter and they explain me the situation, they also advise me to get home as soon as I could. But the fastest and safest route home with the bike implies going right into the crime scene which was a super no-no, so I saw myself forced to take the long route around the Dagobah Park, a.k.a the city’s biggest illegal trash dump all the way down the coast line which took me around an hour which is also the reason my legs and butt hurt, oh! And also, the stop on the konbini that ended in an unfortunate incident related with a defective Ramune bottle and a rabid macaque-”

“W-Wait a minute! R-Rabid macaque?!” Your mother exclaimed panicked.

“That’s irrelevant right now mother, my point is I’m ok, and I���m not feeling like getting into the ER right now, also I have perishable products in this bags that need refrigeration and I reek like death and destruction, so can we enter to the house pretty please?”

“O-Oh, right, that was a bit confusing but I think I got it.”

“Great! By the way I bought the missing ingredients to make dinner.”

“Fantas!- Oh no! I was so preoccupied about you that I forgot to make dinner! I haven’t even made rice! Why don’t you take a bath while I put up something together to eat? You can also tell me about your first day of school over dinner!”

“Ok!”

 🐈🛀💢

Contently, (Y/N) hopped up the stairs and made a beeline to her bedroom. Although she has only been living in there for 2 weeks and a half, she found herself loving the place, the new house in general was really homey and cozy, it was roomy and stylish, somewhat similar to the house she lived before with her family back in Sapporo. One detail that she found extremely beautiful was that this new house possessed an ample number of skylights, in almost every room of the house, including hers, it gave her an amazing view of the sky while she was lying on her bed during night, or the rain clipping and clapping over the crystal. The house also possessed a pretty old and pretty picturesque cherry blossom tree in the backyard that had gifted them that very same spring with lots of delicate pink petals that she usually saw dancing in the wind.

But her room was something special. (Y/N) was not sure if it was the way the light illuminated it, or the color the room was painted at that moment but it was something similar like love at first sight. Since that very first moment she and her parents visited the place along with the realtor that winter day last year, she knew that this would be her special corner.

Moving itself is a long and tedious process, but in their case the distance made it trickier. Musutafu and Sapporo were 880 miles away from each other, which mean they had to go there by plane, otherwise, (Y/N) would’ve to be stuck in her parents’ car for over 18 hours.

The moving truck was sent in advance so their stuff would be there the day they arrived. The flight only took 1 hour and 35 minutes, it was really short but once (Y/N) got out of the plane it was like she entered into another dimension. Musutafu was way bigger than Sapporo, also busier and hectic, there were more heroes around the city which made sense because of its size, the crime rate must be higher here as well.

After all the unpacking and mess that moving in implied, the Shinohara family was successfully settled down, it felt like it was so long ago. Time really flies by when you are occupied, huh?

(Y/N) closed her room after she entered, going directly to her bed, plopping herself in the fluffy comforter. Suddenly with the corner of her eye she caught a sudden movement next to her, focusing more she recognized a familiar ball of white fluff that napped away comfortably over the mound of pillows and cushions situated on the upper part of the bed.

“Mashumaro!~”

“Mrrrow~”

Mashumaro, a 5-year-old white British Shorthair, stretched deliciously and stud up from his pillowy paradise to receive one of his (several) daily coddle sessions. (Y/N) opened her arms to the affectionate feline, enveloping him in a warming hug.

“Oh Mashu! You can’t imagine the day I had! Everything could have gone perfectly fine if it wasn’t for that stupid angry blowfish! And when I thought I got rid of him for the day, he ‘blessed’ me showing up in the konbini! That idiot! How dare he to live nearby!? I hope he doesn’t live close at all, see his ugly puckered face at school every day is bad enough! I’m utterly exhausted, and this was just the first day.”

“Mrrrow”

“Yes! Can you imagine?! How the rest of the year would be?!”

“Mrrrow”

“I know, I know, thankfully this is the last year of middle school, after next spring, boom! No more Bakushit!”

“Mrrrow”

“Oh Mashu! ~ You are the only one who understands me, thank you for listen to me, I feel better now~”

“Mrrrow...?”

“Talking about feel better, I have a date with that ofuro at the end of the corridor, so if you excuse me…”

In a fluid move (Y/N) wiggled out of her bed, leaving her furry companion to keep enjoying his catnap and get the most comfortable pjs she could find in her wardrobe. With the selected garments in her bed, she left her room and headed to the bathroom. Once inside the wet room, she proceeded to fill the tub, setting the water temperature to her liking. Meanwhile, (Y/N) slipped off her uniform and folded it aside into the hamper to wash later. Once ready, she stepped under the shower and turned on the head, soaking herself completely in the relaxing liquid. (Y/N) eagerly washed away all the stress and sweat that formed during this crazy day.

‘I wonder if Midoriya made it home safely’ (Y/N) absentmindedly took her shampoo bottle and squeezed some of its contents over her hand and applied it over her head.

She hummed blissfully while her fingers massaged her scalp. The bipping of the controlling pad interrupted her relaxation moment to inform her that the tub was filled and ready. She rinsed her hair and body drenched in shampoo and body wash foam and applied her conditioner to the final touch. Once she was ready, she turned off the shower head and wrapped her wet hair in a towel, she tested the water with her toe, which she approved with a soft sigh and submerged completely and hummed contently.

“Ahhh~ This is life!” (Y/N) closed her eyes and let herself being wrapped in relaxation and tranquility.

‘I’ll ask Midoriya tomorrow how it went, I hope he didn’t have to go near the villain attack. For what they say it was a big deal, I hope the hostage is ok’

(Y/N) came to a halt with the soft knock on the door. “(Y/N) sweetie, dinner will be ready in 10 minutes, don’t take too long so you can eat it while it still hot.”

“Ok mom! I will, thanks!”

‘I don’t wanna go to school tomorrow! I wonder if I can change classes or something, but that means Midoriya would be left alone at the mercy of that brute again.’

‘Alone…’

“No! Midoriya has had to deal with this by his own, if I can do something about it, I will”

‘He deserves to feel that someone appreciates him, supports him and believes in him, just like anybody else’

(Y/N) stud up from the tub and covered herself with a towel and exited the bathroom. Once in her room, she closed the door and sited on her bed to check her phone.

“Oh, I got a message…”

From: Haru ✨

 3:42 pm

Hey gurl! How was everything? 😁 Sorry I didn’t text you during lunch, I forgot my phone in the classroom, 😓 silly me I guess, 😅 like always, haha! 🤣🤣 Anyway! Tell me! How are schools down there? Did you meet some cute guys?~ 👀🤩 I’ll call you tonight!~ 😘💋

“What do you mean ‘how are schools down there’ you moron, like in the rest of Japan.” You snickered.

To: Haru ✨

6:41pm

It is complicated to tell how my day was, ‘incredible’ maybe? 🙄 Just to give you a preview it got me so tired that I want to sleep for the next 25 years and this was just the first day. 😫😫 Anyway, I’ll go get dinner, call you later. 

(Y/N) dried her body, put on the clothes she chose and went down stairs were she saw her mom setting the table filling it with several steaming yummy looking plates and bowls.

“Wow! this looks really good!~”

“I’m glad you think so, come on, sit now before it gets cold”

“Ok!~”

There on the table laid a full arrange of delicious comfort food; hearty veggie miso soup, grilled salmon, green salad and potato salad, pickled veggies and last but certainly not least katsu white curry, one of (Y/N) favorites.

“Its been a long time since we ate white curry!”

“And don’t forget the cheese stuffed tonkatsu~”

“Yay! ~”

“Itadakimasu!”

(Y/N) took a spoonful of rice and curry and hummed happily at the savory and spicy flavors dancing in her tongue, the golden-brown tonkatsu was crispy and juicy, crowned by the gooey cheese on the inside.

‘Mom’s food is the best~’

“By the way, your father called when you were in the shower, he said he’ll be back in Musutafu on Thursday afternoon”

“Really?! That’s awesome!”

“Things went way smoothly than he thought, we will bring the remaining suitcases we left, the ones with summer clothes”

“Oh, those will come handier here since is warmer”

“You are right, now tell me how was your first day of school? Did you make some new friends?”

(Y/N) almost chocked on her soup as all her misadventures of the day came to her mind at the same time, trying to think about a good response she cleared her throat and compose a bit.

“Mmm, I’m not actually sure if I can call him a friend but there was this really timid guy in my class-”

“Oh! A boy?! Good thing your father is not here otherwise he would be seething, and crying at the same time because his baby is growing up so fast!” Your mom said with an amused expression on her face at the mental image of your father in such state, the tips of her fingers were covering her lips in a vain attempt to conceal her giggles.

“M-Mom! I-It’s no like that! A-And I just met him today! Good God! Don’t go saying things like that so blatantly!” (Y/N) said suddenly rising from her seat, her face completely aflame with shame for her mother’s words.

“Oh honey, I’m kidding! No need to get so riled up!”

“Hmp!” (Y/N) grunted with puff up checks and an expression that more than angry, looked cute. And of course, her mom made sure to emphasize it.

“That face makes me want to squish it to death just like when you were still my little cutie baby boo! ~”

“M-Mom! Stop it!!!”

“Haha! Honey calm down! Don’t take it too seriously!”

“Hmm…”

 📱📱📱

“Woah, woah, woah! So, you are telling me that this guy actually called you a bitch and threaten you and another classmate in front of the whole class and the teacher didn’t do or say anything?! No even detention or something?!” (Y/N) best friend, Haruka exclaimed as she suddenly paused applying her moisturizing cream, a part of her ‘night beauty routine’.

“You got it, I guess that he’s scared of him, everyone actually, so he must be used get away with everything and you know that people usually looks away when a quirkless person is discriminated, like it wasn’t serious or it was something to laugh about.”

“Yeah crude but true, unfortunately that’s not new, the ‘bully with a decent quirk’ kind of story is really common, but to that extent? Is kind of terrifying. You also said he wanted to be a hero? What the heck?! I’ll definitely will not support a hero like that! If you actually could be able to call him a ‘hero’ after all, I hope that U.A reject him on the spot! A meanie who bullies my bestie does not deserve such title!”

“I’m pretty sure that the U.A staff would have your concerns into consideration”

“I’m serious (Y/N)!”

“Me too”

You were now laying lazily in the comforting warmness of your bed. As you promised you called Haruka after dinner, filling her into all the details of your crazy first day, and a certain insufferable spiky blond.

“How about you? How was everything there?”

“Cold as hell! It started snowing when I was walking back home. You know, typical Hokkaido.”

“You know that the hell is hot, rig-?”

“Don’t smartmouth me bitch, you get my point.”

“Yeah, yeah, today the weather was really nice here, is getting warmer everyday and the sakura are on full bloom. I think is the first time I haven’t freeze to death on my first day of school. It was a nice experience for a change.”

“Oh, I’ll wish to be there! I can’t believe we are in firkin’ April but it feels like January!”

“Like you said, Typical Hokkaido. Hey Haru, my eyelids are closing; I’ll go to sleep now ok? I’ll message you tomorrow and please for God’s sake don’t leave your phone in the classroom, you moron.

“Ok! Ok Mom! Geez! Suzue told me there was this new hottie in class 3-C and I had to check if he was Jefree Star Approved!”

“Doesn’t Jefree Star review make-?? Oh! Shut up and go to sleep!”

After hanging up to a pouty Haruka, (Y/N) put her phone to charge and submerged herself under the softness of her comforter, turning off the bedside lamp she sighed prying to whatever God out there listening that tomorrow could be a better day.

“Just a good day, that’s all I’m asking for…”

With little flashbacks of all those days spent with Haruka and all her friends, her family, her old home, of Hokkaido.

 Embraced in sweet memories, she was lulled to sleep.

Raise your hand if your mom also freaks out about everything ✋

*Mashumaro: Marshmallow in Japanese ヾ(•ω•`)o

[lovemesomesurveys]

Christmas survey.

1. If you were one of Santa’s elves, which type(s) of toy(s) do you think you would you most enjoy making, and why? Hmm. Probably the Barbies. I was obsessed as a kid. I’d love to see what dolls are out and all the new accessories. I’m sure a lot has changed since I was a kid. 

2. List at least one thing you’ve done this year that could get you onto the “nice list” and at least one thing that you’ve done that could get you onto the “naughty list”. It’s bad I can’t think of anything I’ve done to be on the nice list. I’d be on the bad list. I’m moody and irritable and snippy and I feel like such a grump. I’ve also been closed off and distant from people who have tried to reach out to me and be nice still even though I absolutely don’t deserve it.

3. Are you able to successfully name all of Santa’s reindeer? Which one of them is your favorite and why? I can. Gotta love Rudolph, I mean c’mon. 

4. Do/Did you leave out milk and cookies for Santa as a kid, or something different? Do/Did you leave out anything for his reindeer as well? What was it? Aww, yeah I did. I always got so excited the next morning seeing that “Santa” ate some of the cookies and drank the milk. 

5. What are some things that are on your holiday wish list this year? Do you find yourself wanting some of the same things as when you were younger, or are you getting excited about some of the more practical gifts now? Haha I do get excited about the more practical gifts now. I have some of that kind of stuff on my list. As for the fun stuff, I asked for a lot of Baby Yoda (Grogu) stuff cause Hot Topic and Boxlunch have the cutest stuff. My big item on the list are the Power Beats, which are like Airpods but better in my opinion. I like that they have the thing that wraps around your ear. I have the wireless ones in that they connect via bluetooth, but they do still have the wire connecting them. I want completely wireless.

6. How is Christmas this year going to differ for you as opposed to the past few years? Honestly, the holidays haven’t changed for my family and I. It’s just been us (my parents, brother, and I) for the past several years now, we haven’t had a big family holiday get together in a long time.

7. Did you used to write a letter to Santa Claus when you were younger? Did you mail it to the North Pole, or just leave it on the table next to his snacks? Did he ever happen to write back to you? I think I’ve done both, but mostly mailed it. I did get a letter back sometimes or  phone call even (one of my uncles used to call and pretend to be Santa).

8. At what age did you stop believing in Santa? Did you have to be told? If not, how did you eventually come to figure it out? I think I was like 8. I just remember seeing presents from “Santa” out already beforehand. haha.

9. Do you or your family hang up mistletoe in the house as one of your decorations? When guests stand under it, are they encouraged to kiss? No, we’ve never done that.

10. Do you have a Christmas tree? Is it a real tree or a fake tree? Is it the typical evergreen shade or another color? How big or small is it? Where is it usually placed? Do you have more than one tree? We get the real deal, which I love. We like to get big, tall ones. It always goes next to the end of the couch on one side. We only have room for one tree. I mean, I have a mini fake one in my room if that counts. If we had the space, like if we had a family room and a living room, I’d definitely get more than one tree.

11. How do you or your family decorate the Christmas tree? What sorts of decorations go on it? (ie: tinsel, garland, lights, ornaments, candy canes, popcorn strings, etc) Are there any decorations that go under the Christmas tree as well? (ie: a tree skirt, fake snow, a Christmas train set, etc) We do lights, ornaments, and candy canes. We used to do tinsel, but not the past few years. In fact, I think it wasn’t being sold anymore for a bit and then it kind of quietly came back. While it looks pretty, it makes too much of a mess. We have a tree skirt and we’ve had a train in the past.  

12. What do you or your family use as your tree topper? We’ve had an angel and a star.

13. Does anywhere else in your house get decorated for Christmas? Which areas and with what? My room does.

14. Do you put up any sorts of decorations outside for Christmas? If so, what are they? Sometimes. We haven’t really the past few years apart from a wreath and some lights on the house. I wish we had the space to go all out.

15. Do you mail out Christmas cards to certain people every year? If so, do you send one of those special holiday-themed family photo cards, or not? Is there a place in your home where Christmas cards you receive are placed/displayed for the season? We don’t every year, but sometimes. We just send cute ones we get from the store. The ones we receive are put up on the built in shelf space we have in the living room.

16. How soon would you consider to be “too soon” to start decorating for Christmas? Or are you/is your family the type to leave up some decorations all year round? (ie: Christmas lights left on the house, but turn them off after a certain point) I’d love to start decorating like Thanksgiving night haha. The decorations in my room have been up since last year lol. The rest, including the tree, just stay up until after New Year’s.

17. What would you do if you woke up to find Santa Claus stuck in your chimney? How might you be able to get him out of there? Uhhh. I mean, I’d be freaked out to see someone hanging out of my chimney let’s be real haha. But fine, to play along I’d have to get someone else to help cause I wouldn’t be able to do anything.

18. Does your house even have a chimney? How do you think Santa gets into the homes where one is not provided for him? Haven’t you seen The Santa Clause? They explain that.

19. What do you think would be a good gift for Santa to get Mrs. Claus?   Hmm. She deserves a nice getaway cause the rest of the year is super stressful on her as well.

20. Do you feel as though you would successfully be able to operate Santa’s sleigh? Why or why not? No. I don’t even drive. Trying to steer all the reindeer and going the speed that it goes... that would be terrifying.

[raeynbowboi]

Top 10 Disney Villains

10. King Candy Wreck-It Ralph (2012)

Although he’s newer to the villain roster, King Candy was a well-written villain who served as a perfect blend of humorous and genuinely threatening. He also tied very nicely into the themes of the film, which makes him stand out in my memory as a good villain, because I take more than just personality and actions into account when judging characters, but also role in the narrative, and how they support the themes and ideas of the story. King Candy is the perfect villain for a story like this, which is why I consider him good enough to be on this list, even if as a villain himself, he might not be the most memorable among the Disney canon.

9. Gaston Beauty and the Beast (1991)

Perhaps the Disney villain we’re most likely to meet in real life, Gaston is the perfect example of toxic masculinity on full display. He’s a great anthithesis to the Beast, though I never saw him all that handsome, which sort of detracts just a little bit from the story. But in a story about how looks don’t matter, but actions do, he’s a great foil to the love interest. He’s a selfish hateful man who is handed everything he wants, and when he doesn’t get his way, he strongarms people until they meet his demands. Yet, despite his personality, he retains a legion of followers who are more-so admirers than actual friends. He never once considers anyone to be his equal or of sufficient worth unless it was helpful in his own endeavors. And anyone who has ever had a friend who basically used them and then ditched them at the soonest convenience can probably recognize that kind of so-called “friend” in Gaston. He’s a great villain to dissect as an analysis of our current culture, but I don’t want to write a five page essay on Gaston for a top 10 list. 

8. Yzma Emperor’s New Groove (2000)

Inarguably Disney’s best comedic villain (not counting her henchman Kronk), Yzma is a brilliantly funny character whose exaggurated appearance and over-the-top personality blend well with the fast-paced slapstick comedy that fills the movie. Yet, despite being a funny villainess, she avoids a major pitfall of many comedic villains by also being legitimately threatening and dangerous to our heroes. That, combined with the excellent writing in the movie makes Yzma so memorable and likable.

7. Mother Gothel Tangled (2010)

Although her actual villainous actions in the movie are surprsingly few and far between, I genuinely love Mother Gothel as a villainess. Her motivations are well-established, and she’s the sole reason the story has any plot at all. Comparisons have been made to the living conditions of both Quasimodo and Rapunzel, and I would genuinely agree that Mother Gothel is akin to a diet version of Frollo without all the genocide and religious superiority. She has to be more discreet and pretend to be kind in order to keep her little flower content to remain obedient locked away from the outside world. It makes total sense the way she treats Rapunzel, and her entire character, personality, and role all fit together to enhance the narrative of the story.

6. Long John Silver Treasure Planet (2002)

Arguably one of the most human villains from Disney, Silver is a beautiful complexity as he juggles the duality of being a father-figure to the impressionable young Jim, while also betraying Jim’s trust. Since Jim’s father left when he was a child, Jim closes himself off from people and seems adrift in the world. Silver, who has no need to trick the boy for his mutiny to succeed, still takes the time to take Jim under his wing, nurture the boy’s abilities, and form a bond. Heck, with how relatively apathetic Jim was, he could have manipulated Jim into hating being on the ship, and thus have him be happy when the mutiny sets him free. But instead, he chose to teach the boy and boost his confidence. In the end, Silver is a compelling Anti-Villain where it’s hard to really define him as a good or wicked person. That is honestly more interesting than just being a straight deceitful villain.

5. Bill Sykes Oliver & Company (1988)

Perhaps the most surprising choice on my list, Sykes was a villain from Oliver & Company, a retelling of Oliver Twist with stray dogs and a kitten. However, despite Disney’s family friendly brand, Sykes is a surprisingly menacing character. A loan shark and a cut-throat business man, he spends most of the movie threatening to kill Fagin which is far darker than Disney tends to get. While many Disney villains want to kill people, those desires were driven by personal grievances with that person or people. With Sykes, it’s cold, ruthless business. He doesn’t care about Fagin’s life. All he cares about is getting his money, and Fagin’s life just happens to be the collateral. It’s the purest form of cold-blooded murder, and that’s not a common thing among Disney villains.

4. Ursula The Little Mermaid (1989)

There’s a good reason Ursula is one of the flagship villains of this franchise. She has a strong personality, is a great antagonist, and directly plays off the protagonist’s weaknesses to win. Second only to Scar, and possibly Jafar, Ursula is the classic hand-drawn animated Disney villain to get closest to winning. The fact that she’s based on a drag queen is kind of perfect, since the fairytale was written by Hans Christian Andersen to express his love for Edvard Collin discreetly. He intended to give it to Edvard as a wedding gift, but Edvard and his wife purposefully “forgot” to tell him when the wedding was out of fear that he’d make a scene or announce his love for Edvard in front of everyone. Thus, the mermaid’s taboo love of someone she shouldn’t who comes from an entirely different way of living is a direct parallel to Hans’ feelings for the young Gentleman, and the mermaid being unable to speak and suffering greatly to be near her love is a clear metaphor for Hans’ own feelings of torture. So the inclusion of a drag queen in a movie adaptation of a covert metaphorical gay romantic tragedy is just deliciously fitting. 

3. The Horned King The Black Cauldron (1984)

Sykes got a place on this list for being genuinely intimidating, but this villain is living nightmare fuel. One of the best things a genuinely threatening villain can do is successfully scare you, and this villain scared the living daylights out of me as a child. In fact, he was the only Disney villain to truly and completely scare me as a child. The rest of the villains were pretty much just bad characters, but the Horned King was far more terrifying than anything else I’d seen as a kid. Though his movie bombed and the story itself was a bit lacking, the Horned King was a genuinely horrifying presence, and to this day, I can’t think Disney Villains without this guy clawing his way into my mind. Maybe as a villain himself, he’s a bit flat, but he’s a horrific undead murderous monster trying to snuff out all life. He doesn’t need to be that complex for what he is, and that works with the type of villain that he was created to be.

2. Claude Frollo The Hunchback of Notre-Dame (1996)

If Sykes made it to number 5 for the cold-blooded attempt at murder on one person, Frollo strolls into 2nd place for his cold-blooded successful mass racial/ethnic genocide of multiple people over a long reign of tyranny. Although we don’t see his treats on-screen, he very verbally implies that he has been executing people one by one for at least twenty years as he crushes ants. We even see him barricade a family with children inside of their house and then proceed to burn it down. This man is not messing around, and I love it. When it coems to dark, twisted, and messed up villains, Frollo takes the cake. He is hands down one of the greatest and most horrible villains out there. And the fact that he does this all in the name of God is a hauntingly dark reminder of the true cruelty of the medieval Christian church. Frollo was written in the original book to be a deliberate critique of the Catholic church, and I for one am grateful that Disney decided to be faithful to Frollo’s horrible nature when adapting to film. 

1. Maleficent Sleeping Beauty (1959)

Finally, we reach the leader of the Disney Villains. How could I not put her at the top of this list? She literally fights with all the powers of Hell. But what I like most about her is what you can piece together from the narrative. Out of all the fairies, only Fauna thinks that Maleficent could be reasoned with, and she feels sad at the idea that Maleficent may not even grasp the concept of happiness, or what it feels like to be loved. This opens Maleficent up to being a product of abuse, abandonment, and bitterness. Her hatred for the world and her actions of spite and envy come into a new light with the idea that it’s kindled from neglect and exclusion from others. It offers the question of what would happen if someone did try to just talk to her, and offers a possibly sympathetic reading of her character. But, the true crux of what Maleficent stands for is that she’s evil, and she takes great pleasure in her evil ways. She cursed a baby because she wasn’t invited to a party. When it comes to pure, unfiltered evil, Maleficent has that in spades. So, Maleficent is a perfect character no matter which type you prefer as a villain: the tormented outcast lashing out, or the heartless monster lighting the world on fire for fun. No matter what kind of villain you prefer, there’s a way of reading her narrative to satisfy you.

[rainbows-fanfics]

My New Reason (Chapter 7)

Chapter 1 |   Chapter 2 | Chapter 3 |  Chapter 4 | Chapter 5 | Chapter 6 | Chapter 8

Summary: Louis is falling for someone he really shouldn’t be, and the same is happening to Clementine.  Lousentine/Clouis

Clementine's P.O.V. "Shit." The words left his lips seconds before the arrow passed the wall and landed somewhere outside of the school. I noticed the way he grimaced before he ever shot it. It was starting to get painful watching Louis attempt to hit the target on the tree. It was even worse listening to him swear himself out after every attempt, grabbing the arrows with more exertion than usual. After watching the 18th arrow land nowhere near the target, I decided to join him. He saw me as he was removing one of them from the tree, shredding some of the bark off as he obtained one that landed just below the board. I offered him a smile of hope, noticing he looked defeated more than usual. "I think that's the closest one you've managed." I pointed out. "Here to make fun of me already?" His tone was playful as usual, but I could still sense he was exhausted just from his posture. I quipped along anyway, hoping to do the same thing he did for me and make light of the situation at hand. "Well, Prince Charming, I think we had 24 arrows before your session today." I glanced over to the wall. "I wonder where the other 6 went?" "They were stabbed into my heart relentlessly and have refused to budge since," He placed his hand over his chest dramatically. "Your words - they're but salt in my wounds." I rolled my eyes. He was just hiding his embarrassment. I had to admit one thing: he was still pretty damn cute. He took my silence as a cue to finish picking up the rest of the arrows. I helped by gathering the few that landed to the side and brought them to him promptly. "If you want," I started, watching carefully as he grabbed them from my hand. "I can help you." "And give you a chance to make fun of my amazing archery skills?" I put my hand on my hip and grinned. "If I wanted to make fun of you, I would've done it the first time I saw you miss the target, you know." "Good point." He offered me the bow by bending down and extending his other arm out, as if he was giving me a gift from the Gods. "Oh, teach me, wise one." Physically fighting the blush that threatened to spread to my face, I took it from his hands right away. Holding the bow, even though I had done so many times now, gave me a certain guilt I could never overcome. I tried to remember how Marlon looked wielding this thing - perfect precision, stance, and everything. He was a damn good shot, after all. I nudged Louis so he was aligned with the target. "Because I care about you and don't want to hurt your feelings, I'll be brief."

"When are you not?" "Your stance keeps shifting every time you shoot an arrow. You need to know where to place your feet, otherwise you won't be balanced." I stood the way I usually did whenever I practiced archery. "Try standing like this." He copied me. Almost perfectly. His foot was misaligned only slightly, and with a gentle nudge from my boot, I got it into position. "Good. Stay here." I grabbed a pair of long sticks I found nearby and placed them below Louis in a t-position. He watched me with a dumbfounded expression, and I half expected him to make some stupid comment, but to my surprise, he remained completely silent. Which was good because I didn't have the time to deal with his nonsense right now. "These are so you know you're consistent. This stick is pointed at the target...your foot should follow that direction, and the other needs to stay on the end right there." "Sounds easy enough." He chimed. I gave him a look and handed him the bow. He took it and I supplied him with an arrow. I watched as he placed it and looked at me for confirmation. I studied his form and noticed something right away. "Your elbow." I tapped it with my hand. "You need to rotate it up and down while you're shooting the arrow. So your body will be properly aligned." He hesitated. "Uh..." "Here." I went forward and properly rotated it. He didn't squirm or make any motion of protest, which was good. The last thing I wanted was for him to end up with a bruised elbow. As soon as he was properly aligned, I gave him my satisfaction through a smile. "There. And your hook is perfect, by the way. You know where to put your fingers." "That's the one thing Marlon taught me," He stated proudly. "But your anchor point is shit." "Damn! I don't even know what that means, but it still hurts." "Don't worry, a lot of people get this wrong." I went on my tiptoes so I could reach his face. "Because you're taller than me, you should probably anchor it below your chin. Keep it that way every time you shoot the arrow, so they'll go in the same direction." I moved the bowstring so it rested just underneath his chin. My fingers barely scraped his cheek as I did this, and for some reason, I had the urge to caress it again. I don't know what suddenly enthralled me about his freckled face or how smooth his skin felt, but I had problems withdrawing myself from him as I took a step back. "G-Go for it." He gave me a look, but shrugged it off as he aimed at the target. He did just as I told him to - kept his stance, used his anchor point, and aimed carefully. He released the string and shot the arrow, which landed, shockingly, on the target. It wasn't perfect, but it was an improvement. His whole face lit up, a lot like A.J.'s did when he first heard him play piano. "Holy shit!" I crossed my arms teasingly. "Yeah...you'd have earned a bronze." He looked back at me, jaw opening and closing in awe at what I just said. I could feel my cheeks warm at that look, and finished my thought with difficulty. "Well, you know, that could've been a lucky shot." "Au contraire--" He shot another arrow, keeping everything consistent, and managed to hit the bull's-eye effortlessly. Even my jaw dropped in utter astonishment. This suddenly coming from same guy who couldn't even hit a tree a few minutes ago? "--I just learned from the best." I regained myself and crossed my arms again, tauntingly taking a step forward. "-And what would you have said if you missed?" "Don't care. I just wanted to see your smile." Oh, my god... He winked at me and turned back, practicing his shots. They were much better than last time. Now I could hear them actually hitting the wood. I watched Louis train with admiration. It's the same pride I felt when I first taught A.J. how to shoot a gun, the same warm feeling my chest the moment I saw him hit the target... I didn't want to distract him, so I remained quiet. It was only when he started to screw up that I had to speak up. He missed 4 arrows in a row, compared to the now-10 that were situated on the board. I gave him a look as I went to his side, putting my hand on my hip in disappointment. "What happened? You were doing pretty good." He slumped his shoulders in defeat and looked at me with troubled eyes. "I don't know...I just feel so distracted all of a sudden." "With what?" I asked. "You." I cocked an eyebrow. "What? Do you need me to step back?" "No, it's just--" He bit his lip and looked back at the target. "I keep getting the urge to look at you. I just wanted to make sure you were still watching, but now I realize..." He shot another arrow and successfully got some of the bark off of the tree, but landed in the bushes somewhere instead. He looked back at me frowning, somehow looking completely heartbroken. It tugged at my heart. I hadn't seen him so disappointed before...As I opened my mouth to comfort him, assure him that he'd get it right next time, his next words swept me off my feet. "You're just so gorgeous, I can't take my eyes off of you." Then, he grinned. Cheekily. Any ounce of pity I felt for him vanished as I hit the side of his arm. I did it gently, but I still wanted him to know that pissed me off. Why the hell was he playing with my feelings now, of all times? "Louis! You ass! I thought there was something wrong!" "There is!" He held his arms up and I stopped. "You need to stop distracting me with your good looks, Clem! I can't afford anymore distractions!" I rolled my eyes and gave up, clenching my jaw. The only way to get back at him was to play along, I guess. "I've just decided: your bronze medal is revoked. Now you got 4th place." "Technically, I wasn't competing for anything. I already got you." He flashed his smile again. "And, c'mon, let's be honest, a gold medal would look like a piece of dirt next to you." "Louis..." "Okay, okay, I'll stop..." He took a deep breath. "Seriously, though. Thanks for that. I needed it a lot, I'm guessing." He glanced back at the target. He looked proud with what he had accomplished. I was proud, too. "Who taught you archery, anyway?" He suddenly asked. "'Cause, like, I have NEVER seen you miss. Or if were you just born a natural badass, I'd totally believe it." "Little bit of both." I grinned. "It's important for survival. You learn what works and what doesn't. But I've had help from people. Learned what they did wrong so I could do it right." "I guess you had a refresher after watching me, huh?" I let myself to laugh. "Yeah...that's exactly why I helped you. Because it would suck if my boyfriend doesn't know how to shoot a bow and arrow." "Hey, I know how to shoot. I just wasn't doing it very well." I closed my eyes and tittered. It was difficult to keep a straight face around him, sometimes. I was relieved he learned something from our lesson. Hopefully he'll put it to use someday, just like I did saving him from those raiders...And as a plus, the target practices weren't so bad. I was still up-to-date with my aim, but Louis was great company. Well, maybe that was an understatement... I noticed he was packing up the equipment and briskly headed over to his side. I still had some things on my mind; questions that came from teaching him all of this. It was important for me to know, at least. "Can you shoot a gun?" My question must've been too forward. He flinched at the word, probably because of the memory associated with it...I held my breath as he shriveled his eyebrows. I could tell what the answer was. Everyone had the same hesitation. But he responded anyway. "Me? No. Not exactly a...'gun' guy." "Why?" "I'm up for killing walkers, but a hit to the head is all it takes, most of the time." I suddenly pictured him clubbing walkers with chairles. "Plus, there weren't any guns around for us to use. If there had been, the adults must've took them when they left." "So you're saying you've never shot a gun?" "No." I looked at the ground in thought. I've been so used to seeing everyone here using different weapons; knives, bows & arrows, chair legs...It occurred to me that there must've been no adults around to teach them. It made sense. All they really had to worry about were the walkers - beyond Marlon's secret deals - so using anything else was all they needed. I let out a slight hum as I tapped my fingers on the sleeve of my jacket. "Would you like to learn?" I offered. I noticed he tensed and uncrossed my arms. "Not now, but in the future..." He clenched his teeth and sucked the air. "I...don't know. The only gun we have here is, well, yours. Or, um, A.J.'s." I opened my mouth to inquire why that was an issue, but shut it instantly. That was A.J.'s gun now, and he used it to kill Louis' best friend. I could understand why he wouldn't want to learn with that gun. But it was the only one we'd have for a long time. And I'd seriously prefer it if Louis learned...for the sake of my life, A.J.'s, and his. "I know it's hard, to use something like that after...what happened." I took a shaky breath. I hoped this wouldn't upset him. "But when it comes down to your own life, or someone's you care about, you don't really have a choice." He didn't say anything. I mentally panicked. "Don't you, though?" He said slowly. "It's one thing to aim it at rotting walker guts, but when you're pointing it at someone who's pleading for their life, then it's another. Isn't it?" "Louis, I promised not to lie to you. So trust me on this...there are people who don't deserve that choice. There are horrible people out there that will make the same decision without any consequence. People like Lily. And if you don't save yourself from them, then they will take your life. No hesitation." I drew my gaze back at him slowly. "-How will you keep the ones you love around if you aren't willing to protect them?" ... "...Fuck, Clementine." Without a word, his arm came around me and he moved me closer to him. I rested my head on him and closed my eyes, listening to his heartbeat. It was faster than it usually was. That was probably my fault - inflicting something so serious like this onto him. I didn't mean to bring up Marlon in any way. "You know, I was expecting a simple archery lesson, not something that'll give me an existential crisis." "I'm serious. If you ever want to shoot a gun, I can-" "You will, you will." He assured me and sighed. "I just...need some more time before I can hold, you know, that." "I understand. In the meantime, we can practice with these bows and arrows. It'll probably help with your aim, anyway." I pulled back just in time to see him giving me a thankful smile. I could see him switch into his normal 'Louis' mode, the smile growing on his face faster than I could react. "C'mon, my aim is totally not the problem. You just have an incurable disease of being so beautiful, that it's so strong it's distracts me. That's the only logical explanation as to why I am missing these targets." "Okay, come on, archery-know-it-all. Let's head back inside." "I think you mispronounced 'love of your life'." "No, I didn't."

[advrik]

BluReviews | Issue #2: Harvest Moon: Light of Hope Special Edition

Before I begin my review, I want to preface it with a few things:

1. Yes I am aware that this isn’t the actual Bokujou Monogatari series. You don’t have to yell it in my ear, I’m sick of hearing it. 

2. I will not be addressing the issues with Soleil beyond this preface. Yes it was poorly done and really should have had some QA being done regarding it. 

3. I have been playing games within this genre since the very beginning. Like, I made it a personal mission to rent Harvest Moon on SNES in 1998, then later asked Santa for Harvest Moon GB that same Christmas because I loved it so much. I own literally every game the series, spin-off or otherwise, that has released in the US.

All right, on with the review.

Harvest Moon: Light of Hope launched late last year on the PC, and on May 29th 2018 it made its console debut on the Nintendo Switch and Sony Playstation 4. I admittedly did not pay it much heed at first due to the fact that it was on the PC first and I just don’t play PC games. Heck, I don’t even play games on my TV anymore really thanks to the Switch and its hybrid nature. 

But enough about that.

As I was saying. Light of Hope made its debut on consoles as ‘Harvest Moon Light of Hope Special Edition, complete with an iffy new marriage candidate and a season pass. Now I know season passes as a whole are on their way out and not generally viewed in good light, but Harvest Moon? A game that is built around the changing of the seasons? Perfect.

Anywho, let’s get critical.

Presentation

...

All right, I know what you’re thinking. 

“That looks like a mobile game!” 

It most certainly does and it probably started out that way actually before being bumped up to a full-blown release.

(Screen was zoomed out)

The overworld graphics are by far and large, the biggest hit against the game. First-impression wise, they are TERRIBLE. Everything is either way off scale with each other or the perspective is off. Like really off. Like, these are very hastily made, amateurish tilesets.

And that is a real shame.

I could go on a rant about how bad the overworld actually looks, but I don’t want to rant. I want to talk about the pluses in this game because I feel that, despite the negative press (covfefe...), there is a lot of good here.

When conversing with a villager, the characters are presented with some rather expressive models instead of the stoic pieces of art found in Story of Seasons. And this is a nice addition because the models are a joy to look at; They all feature a multitude of emotions and expressions, with quite a few I really liked, like this on here with Tabitha.

Gameplay

Oh man, where Light of Hope stumbles (and falls down the stairs) in the graphics department, it makes up for big time on the gameplay side of things.

I’ll try to break it down into chunks that way I’m not presenting a huge wall of text here.

Context-Sensitive Tool Usage As has been from the get-go in the new Natsume era of Faux-Harvest Moon titles, having to cycle through your rucksack for certain tools is a thing of the past because now, depending what you are doing, you automatically use the necessary tool for the job. Admittedly I was iffy on the whole concept in the beginning when The Lost Valley launched, but it has since grown on me after certain refinements were made. This is but one of the aspects of the Natsume games that sets itself apart from the other farming sims in a good way.

Crop Mutations Oh man, if this isn’t the best thing to happen to the farm life genre since cooking was introduced in Back to Nature, I don’t know what is. 

This was a feature I loved the idea of from the get-go. It not only put an absolute huge emphasis on farming crops once again, where Story of Seasons had progressed into a social sim of sorts. Crop mutations adds so much to the Natsume games that it’s actually something I want other developers, indie or otherwise, to look at and go “We should try something similar!”.

For example: There’s a type of Tomato in the game called San Marzano. It’s a mutation of, of course, the tomato. But you won’t get this simply by growing a ton of tomatoes on your farm. Oh no. You have to venture to the northern most part of the map to the dry field and plant some tomatoes there in either autumn or summer. While there is a chance that they’ll grow by themselves, you can sprinkle some fertilizer - either regular or special tomato-based type that boosts hybrid chances - the first few days of growth to further boost the chances.

Once you successfully grow ten of them and sell them to Sam, the seeds will unlock and you can then start growing the fruit itself rather than hoping for a mutation. This then opens the door for further mutations, such as the Red Zeppelin, which requires a tomato-based fertilizer from the start in order to even have a chance of mutating.

This is by far and large my favorite feature of the game. It just adds so much to the game that I actually miss it when I play something like, say, Stardew Valley.

Natsume have taken a few extra appreciated steps in managing mutations by including pop-up bubbles over certain crops that tell you beforehand if a certain unit is going to mutate or if it’s something you have never grown before. It’s appreciated stuff like this that shows that the folks at Natsume DO listen... sometimes.

Character Interactions One of the biggest complaints I had seen towards the Natsume games has been the lack of interactions with the villagers via conventional means, such as gift giving. Well, that’s back in full force here in LoH. You can take items from your rucksack and give it to your favorite guy or gal or god or goddess or sprite or... Ahem. But that’s not the only way you’ll be earning the affection of the locals. 

The requests feature from past Natsume games makes a return here, and all of them not only boost your friendship with that character, but it also nets you a nice gift in the form of an item, cash or even valuable cooking and fertilizer recipes. And there are a ton of requests too, it feels like there’s never a shortage of people needing help.

Raising the friendship meter of villagers always, doesn’t seem to matter who it is, unlocks the coveted “heart events”. But since Natsume has taken the conservative stance when it comes to including same-sex relationships in their games, there won’t be any scenes involving any sort of romance with characters of the same gender, but there’s still quite a bit to see and experience. Way more in fact than I ever expected going into this game.

Sound

First I am going to complain about the sound effect. Yes. The one sound effect that early on had me turning off sounds all together, and it is the same sound effect that has plagued the Natsume games from the beginning and seems to be unstoppable.

The watering can sound effect.

It is obnoxiously loud and horrible sounding. After several games, you’d think that someone would have heard that sound two-hundred times a day in-game during testing and thought to themselves, “Wow, this is horrible.” 

Annoying sound effects aside, the music is great. It’s not Animal Parade or Back to Nature quality stuff, but it’s catch in its own right and I have found myself humming the autumn theme a few times. 

Closing

As I said in the gameplay section of this “review”, Natsume has listened to some of the complaints against their games and have implemented more QoL features for crop mutations. They have also thrown in character interactions that long-time fans of the genre are familiar with by allowing us to gift villagers once more. They’ve included a tool upgrade system via the blacksmith. A legit mine with 100 floors is here. Friendship/heart events are plentiful. The music is good and varied. 

There’s a ton to do in this game, whether you prefer the social aspects or you’re like me and choose to focus on your farm. If you can look past the gaudy cheap mobile-esque graphics, you’ll find a legit good game here. 

Verdict: Recommended, but wait for a sale. The graphics would be an easier pill to swallow if you’re not paying full price.