#for some reason i was in a sunburn mood today

[fried-manto]

I just realised I want to make a Halloween art but I've already started on a sunburn piece lmao😭 you guys ok with just some doodles or a sketch?

[mostlybarnes]

I Love You

Summary: The five times you wanted to tell Bucky you loved him and the one time you did.

Pairing: Bucky Barnes x Reader

Warnings: Mutual pining, idiots in love, friends to lovers, fluff, brief mentions of injuries. Not a single curse word, are you proud of me Steve? 😏

Words: 1,347

Author’s Notes: I’ve had this thing *waves hand at the summary* on my mind the whole heckin’ day and my mind screamed at me to write it. I made this little divider thing, it’s so cute I love it and I’m proud of myself.

My permanent taglist is open, please let me know if I’ve missed you or if you want to join!

Telling someone you loved them was no easy task, especially if the person you wanted to tell was just a friend. How do you tell someone who is your friend that you want to spend the rest of your life with them and that you love them more than life itself?

Well, the first time you wanted to tell Bucky you loved him was when he got back to the compound after a brutal mission that ended up going south and some of his ribs were broken from the fight. You were scared that you would lose him, and you didn’t want to waste time by not telling him of your true feelings.

You gnawed on your lip nervously as you watched him stagger through the hallway with his bionic arm around Steve and his right arm pressing on a bloody wound that seeped through his fingers. Blood dripped down the side of his face and even from the distance you could see he had blood in his hair and dirt under his nails. He looked a mess and the cold look in his eyes made you think twice about dropping a ‘I love you’ bombshell on him right now. Now wasn’t the time, now wasn’t the place.

You let it go for now, allowing Steve to take him to the medical bay to get patched up while you trudged slowly back to your room, hoping and praying Bucky was going to be alright. He was a strong super soldier, of course he was going to be.

The second time you wanted to tell Bucky you loved him was a couple of days after that mission. He was sitting at the dining table alone spooning a mouthful of Cap’n Crunch and reading the newspaper.

“Good mornin’ Buck! How are you?” You greeted him with a warm smile. He looked up from his paper and offered a tight lipped smile in return. His lip was cut from being punched by a hydra agent and he had some deep cuts and bruises over his face and body.

“Hey Y/N! Doing alright doll, injuries are finally healing. How are you?”

How were you, really? Is this the part where you tell him you haven’t slept so much because you’ve been so worried? Does that sound weird? Or is this the part where you tell him what’s on your heart?

“I’m… just a bit tired but doing okay.” You said instead after a few minutes of thinking about what to say. The truth is, you were absolutely terrified of rejection. With other guys, it wouldn’t have mattered so much but Bucky meant the world to you. If you ended up telling him you loved him and he didn’t feel the same way, then everything would be ruined and you know he isn’t the kind of guy that accepts apologies so easily and quickly. The last thing you wanted to do was make things awkward between the two of you.

“You sure? You seem like you have something on your mind there?” He stares back at you with his features softened. Bucky cared and he cared a lot.

You smiled and nodded your head. Only thing on my mind is you, Barnes. “I promise I’m okay, just tired.”

He nodded his head a few times before smiling back at you. “Take a seat.” He motioned to the chair opposite him, “let me get you some breakfast and coffee.”

Like I said, he cared a lot.

The third time you wanted to tell Bucky you loved him was during a trip to the beach with the avengers to take advantage of a free day for everyone and with the sun shining, the temperatures rising, it was just perfect. Tony suggested a relaxing day and this was definitely it. A few hours on the beach seemed to melt any worries and stress you had, and you found yourself smiling and laughing a lot more today.

Bucky was also in a very good mood, he had a constant smile on his face and he was even cracking jokes with Tony and Sam. He was shirtless, not caring if anyone saw his arm and he enjoyed swimming because the water was much cooler against the summer heat.

Bucky was laying next to you with his arms under his head and his ankles crossed over the other as you made sure every inch of his skin was covered in sunscreen. He looked so peaceful, so calm and the words almost spilled out. Almost. Until Tony decided to ruin the moment.

“Hey kid, if you’re done with the sunscreen, can you throw it back to me?” You threw it and Tony caught it easily. When you looked back at Bucky, he was grinning with his sunglasses up on his forehead.

“Thank you for taking such good care of me doll.”

“Of course! Sunburn is no joke, it’s painful because it feels like your body is on fire.”

“Well, good thing we got this huge umbrella over us.” You nodded in agreement and took in the breeze of the warm air as the heat made you feel sleepy.

The fourth time you wanted to tell Bucky you loved him was after his Tinder date stood him up at the restaurant he worked hard to make a reservation for. He came back to the compound looking down and upset. You made him some herbal tea and listened to him without any interruptions.

“I just wish I could find somebody who would love me, ya know? Someone who would love me for who I am.” He sighed, keeping his eyes on the swirling tea.

I love you Buck, you wanted to say so badly. You wanted to let those three words out and break free from the chains.

“I absolutely do understand. You deserve someone who would give you the world.” Bucky looked deep in your eyes, and you felt scared he would see your real meaning behind it. Eyes gave a lot of answers away if you weren’t careful and he was trained to read people like a book. He always knew you were sick before you even became sick. And he knew if you were sad, happy or even anxious and he seemed to know the reasons why behind every emotion. He gulped and nodded, finishing the rest of his drink before bidding you a goodnight. For the first time in a long time, you felt worried and anxious. You felt as if he knew something.

Bucky did know something, he heard the crack in your voice and the way your eyes focused on him as you spoke, as though you were in a daydream. Your eyes gave him the biggest clue and he was thankful for that because he didn’t want to look like an idiot when he asked you out.

Little did you know, Bucky had feelings for you too. You were more than a friend to him and he daydreamed about the future and you were his future. A picket fence house, children, pets. A happy marriage and a happy family. Bucky had plans to ask you out, he just hoped he hadn’t looked at the whole situation wrong.

The sixth time you wanted to tell Bucky you loved him and succeeded was after your first date. He asked you out a few days after everything happened with his failed date. He took you to a quiet restaurant where you wouldn’t be disturbed by the public, you drank wine, listened to the violins in the background and ate dinner.

The flames from the candles illuminated your skin and Bucky became mesmerized by your soft glowing features. You were his dream come true and the moment those words came from your mouth, it had felt like the whole world was lifted off your shoulders.

“I love you too, doll. You’re it for me, I don’t want anyone else.” He smiled down at you, bumping your noses together adorably.

“I’m glad to see that, Barnes. I’m afraid to tell you you’re stuck with me.”

“Wouldn’t want it any other way, doll. Till the end of the line.”

Permanent taglist [4/50]: @w-wolfhxrd @team-marvel13 @ripredwing @certainaesthetic

[imaslutformaybank]

boat day with the pogues☼

A/N: this is just a little thing because i’m depressed and miss summer and i would like to be best friends with them.  thank you, good day.  also, i’m in dire need of requests and i just added a teen wolf master list to my page so, go for whatever you want!

one shot, blurb, or head canon?: head canon

pairings: jj x reader, platonic! john b x reader, platonic! kie x reader, platonic! pope x reader, platonic! sarah x reader

❥ you wake up to a text from your friend, telling you that she was cancelling your plans

❥ you don’t really care because it just meant you would be able to spend the day with your favorite people

❥ they pick you up in the hms pogue

❥ “there’s my favorite girl” - jj

❥ driving out to where no one would see you guys because underage drinking😳

❥ kie brought beer for everyone, per usual

❥ pope is in the mood for dad jokes for some reason today

❥ “why can’t you give elsa a balloon?” 

❥ “please, no”

❥ “because she’ll let it go”

❥ when you feel like going for a swim, you convince john b to join you

❥ “damn” - jj when he sees your fine ass in that bathing suit he loves

❥ you laugh at jj when he gets sunburn

❥ you told him to put sunscreen on

❥ he didn’t listen

❥ you end up being out the whole day

❥ when the sun sets, you go back to the chateau

❥ again, you laugh at jj for getting sunburned

❥ then you give him a love tap on the back

❥ he yells at you

❥ then kisses you

❥ then you two have sex because he’s been watching you in that bikini all day😩🙏

[drprettyboyspence]

Beach Day

Dr. Spencer Reid/reader 

Summary: Spencer Reid doesn’t understand the appeal of going to the beach so when Garcia plans a BAU outing, he honestly debates whether or not he should go. Turns out, when Y/n is at the beach, Spencer totally understands the appeal after all. 

words: 2.8k 

warnings: seriously none to my knowledge! a lot of fluff :) 

a/n: Since its getting so warm out where I live and I’ve recently been watching season 8 (where Spencer says he doesn’t like the beach), I imagined what it would be like if Spencer went to the beach with his coworker who he has a crush on, I hope you enjoy! :) 

“Come on pretty boy! We’re gonna be late and you know what we’re in for if we keep my babygirl waiting.” Derek Morgan playfully yells at Spencer Reid. It’s ten past 12 p.m. on a hot and sunny August day in Virginia, and the two boys are late for a carpool with the one and only Penelope Garcia. 

“Morgan, why can’t you just go without me, no one will miss me anyway and I hate the beach.” Spencer replies in a frustrated manner. Garcia had been planning this for weeks, after the team had come back from an especially long case she thought what everyone needed was some good old day-at-the-beach fun. Through Spencer’s eyes however, you can’t exactly call an overcrowded area filled with unhygienic birds, sweaty, sunburned people, and sand that covers every inch of your belongings fun. 

“Reid, what’s wrong with the beach? Just bring a book if you really want to, but we really have to get going man.” Derek asks, automatically regretting it when Spencer replies, 

“Sandy food, pink skin, limited and unengaging topography, but mostly the drug-resistant bacteria spread by sea gull feces.” Spencer replies with a straight face, completely unaware that most people aren’t worried about the spread of sea gull poop or anything like that. 

“Alright, kid, I’ll give ya that I guess. Fine, I’ll go without you, but I know one FBI agent in particular who’s gonna be awfully disappointed when you don’t show.” Derek says slyly, sure his evil plan will work. Spencer looks up from his bookshelf where he’s organizing his collection of 15th century literature from his mom, a slight blush forming on his cheeks. 

“Y/n?, Morgan she won’t care if I don’t come to the beach today. Number one, why would she care about me? Number two, who wants to see me at the beach, my body isn’t exactly my most desirable trait.” Derek’s teasing face softens significantly, realizing the more real root of Spencer’s aversion to the beach. 

“Alright kid, you have no reason to be insecure, I’ve heard chirps from a little birdie named Penelope Garcia that our very own Y/n has quite a big crush on you. It doesn’t matter if you have a six pack or not Reid, you have the sweetest heart of anyone I know and the biggest brain as well obviously, I don’t call you pretty boy as a joke, why wouldn’t Y/n like you? Come on, it’ll be fun, I promise.” Spencer feels awkward, not knowing how to react to Derek “lady’s man” Morgan’s motivational speech, he doesn't want to get his hopes up. To be honest, Spencer has liked Y/n since she joined the bureau almost a year ago now, she’s smart, honest, brave, and the most beautiful girl in the world in Spencer’s opinion.

“But Morgan, I don’t own shorts, I don’t have anything I can wear to the beach.” 

“Well lucky for you kid I sorta assumed that, so I brought you a bathing suit, now can we PLEASE get out of here, I’m really not trying to be Penelope’s personal slave for the next 6 months.” Spencer reluctantly takes the bathing suit into the next room and puts it on, hating the way his skinny limbs look in shorts and an FBI tee-shirt, feeling as if he looks like a pre-pubescent boy. Even so, his desire to  spend the day with Y/n persuades him to anxiously pack his bag with a few books he’ll surely need before following Derek out the door. They make it down the stairs and out the door of Reid’s apartment building before they’re greeted by the dulcet tones of Garcia yelling at them through the open window of her car.

“Derek Morgan! You are very lucky you are so handsome and delicious, I’ve been waiting here almost twenty minutes! I almost had to hack the parking ticket database to make sure I wouldn’t be charged, now get in! This is going to be the best day ever!”

“Sorry babygirl” Derek says, getting into the car and pulling Garcia into a greeting hug, “the kid here was feeling anxious, but I told him his little girlfriend would be devastated if he chose not to show up, so lover boy pulled through.” Spencer scoffs and Garcia squeals in joy, loving the idea of the two babies of the team falling in love.

The three of them get out of the car at the beach and Spencer automatically puts his sunglasses on, the sun beating down on him harshly, high in the sky and nearly at its peak of strength for the day.

“Well well well, it’s about time you three! We were expecting you to be no-shows!” Rossi teases from the spot on the beach the team has chosen. Spencer awkwardly tries to walk across the lumps of sand, the grains sinking through the holes in the sides of his signature converse sneakers, already regretting his decision to come here, like he says, he really hates the beach. 

“Spence, you made it! I have to say I’m surprised, how are those sneakers working out for you?” JJ says in a teasing manner as well, knowing that when it comes to the beach, Spencer is one of the least prepared people she knows. 

“Hi Spence, I’m glad you’re here.” Spencer hears from behind him, the shy voice of Y/n automatically brightening his mood. 

“Y/n, I’m glad to be here.” He replies, the rest of the team looking at each other in bewilderment, not believing the sentence having just come out of Spencer’s mouth. Emily and Rossi had brought extra chairs so Spencer sits down and pulls out a book on understanding the theorems of quantum physics, having not read it since he was a teenager. He looks up from reading when he hears the familiar laughing and sounds of his two favorite kids, Jack running up from the ocean with Henry following closely behind, always looking up to his older friend. 

“Hi Jack! Hi Henry! How’s it going guys!” Y/n says, causing Spencer to blush as he briefly imagines Y/n with kids of her own, their own, woah Spencer calm down, don’t go there, quantum physics, focus. 

“Y/n! Will you come swim with us, please! please! please!” Jack says, the boys love Y/n because during the times the team hangs out, she can’t say no to them. 

“Spencer, swim? please?” Henry says, walking over to Spencer and grabbing his hand, cold from being in the ocean. Spencer’s heart warms at the sight of his godson and he finds himself saying yes, not realizing the implications, he now has to take his shirt off and swim with Y/n, what has he done?  

“Really, Spence? You’ll come swim with us! Yay!” Y/n responds, seeming so genuinely excited that Spencer finds himself getting less nervous. He hesitantly peels his shirt off, feeling surprisingly relieved to be rid of the sweaty fabric. He glances at Derek who is smiling at him, raising his eyebrows as if to say You got this player. Jack and Henry are getting impatient so Y/n takes her dress off leaving her in a bikini. Spencer automatically feels very awkward, averting his eyes to avoid blatantly staring at her, overwhelmed with how gorgeous she is, she’s truly the most beautiful girl in the world. 

“Uh, s-should we g-go?” He asks, the rest of the team giggling at his obvious nerves. He remembers once Emily told him his IQ turns to 60 when he sees a pretty girl, maybe she was right because he feels, in this moment, he wouldn’t be able to read a single word of text. Y/n nods and they walk off with the two boys towards the ocean, Spencer hearing the remnants of the rest of the team surely gossiping about the clear tension between them. They reach the ocean and Henry and Jack run into the waves, splashing and tackling each other, getting water on both adults. Spencer shivers despite the hot sun still beating down on his now bare shoulders and back, trying not to think about his chances of developing skin cancer which are surely growing exponentially each moment he stays out in this sun. 

“You cold Spence?” Y/n giggles, grabbing his hand and pulling him further into the water, his legs following even though the idea of being submerged in the cold water is not appealing whatsoever. Or maybe cold water would be better if Y/n doesn’t let go of your hand soon, the devilish side of Spencer’s subconscious whispers. 

“Yes a little, water temperatures around the Washington D.C. area in August average in the low 80s, but I suppose the contrast between the 95 degree day to the cold water causes me to feel cold, funny how that works isn’t it?” Spencer replies, always trying to be more conversational, especially around Y/n, therefore less statistics. 

“Yes Spence, now come on, it’ll be less cold if you just jump in.” Y/n says warmly, always finding Spencer’s statistics charming and adorable. 

“No Y/n I don’t think that’s a- ah!” Spencer yelps as Y/n whispers something to Henry and Jack, causing them to splash him simultaneously, very quickly drenching him completely. Spencer can’t find it in himself to be mad, hearing Y/n hysterically laughing and high-fiving the boys in joy. 

“Alright Y/n, you asked for it.” Spencer says, starting to laugh too despite himself. He somehow finds the courage to pick Y/n up bridal style and walk deeper into the ocean, dropping her in. She’s under the water for just a moment before Spencer begins to worry, statistics of drowning automatically filling his brain. He feels a tug on his leg and falls into the water himself. Y/n and Spencer now both in the water up to their necks, they look at each other and laugh awkwardly. All of a sudden realizing how close they’ve become, they both look away and focus their attention on the two boys still playing in the water, making sure they don’t get too far away. 

“Can we play chicken? Please!” Jack says and Spencer looks at him with a confused look on his face. 

“Chicken?” 

“Come on Spence, this will be so fun!” Y/n says excitedly and once again grabs Spencer’s hand, pulling him toward the boys. Y/n kneels down in the water and motions for Spencer to do so as well, he follows, still confused as to what is about to happen. Henry climbs on Y/n’s back and Jack on Spencer. 

“Okay, now what?” Spencer says, laughing at what the team must be seeing up on the beach. 

“Now, we fight!” Jack says from Spencer’s shoulders. 

Y/n and Spencer walk further into the ocean to more safely allow Henry and Jack to play. They hit each other and Spencer and Y/n find themselves suddenly chest to chest, Spencer trying everything to distract himself from his attraction to the woman in front of him. Finally Henry and Jack seem to get tired, asking if they can go back to their parents. 

“U-uh, so that was f-fun!” Spencer says, trying to break the awkward tension that had followed him and Y/n since they had gotten so close in the water. Chicken, who knew? 

“Yes it was Spence, thank you for coming in the water, I know you don’t like the beach that much.” Y/n says softly, smiling up at the taller man.

They make their way back up to the team, ignoring the knowing looks on their faces. Spencer sits down in his chair once again, suddenly noticing his stomach rumbling. 

“Spencer, do you want to share this peanut butter and jelly sandwich?” Y/n offers. Spencer laughs, how did she know he was hungry at the exact moment he realized it too? He nods and she scoots closer to him to hand him the half. They joke with the rest of the team as well as the boys, trying to separate themselves from the horror they usually find themselves facing together. Spencer knows there is no science to the old phrase time flies when you’re having fun, but he thinks today might be an exception, soon it's getting late, JJ and Hotch opting to take their tired boys home, exhausted from the day in the sun. 

“Spencer, before we leave, can you come with me to get an ice cream?” Y/n asks shyly, Spencer quickly agreeing before the anxiety of being alone with her can hit him once again. They sit together facing the setting sun while eating ice cream, Spencer knows he doesn't react the best to dairy but he can’t help it, he loves dairy, and honestly, he thinks he might love Y/n as well which is a terrifying thought. They sit and watch the sunset in relative silence, but it isn’t an awkward silence, it’s comfortable, Spencer wishes this moment would last forever. Too soon the sun dips below the horizon and their ice cream is long gone. 

“Okay love birds time to go, it’s getting really dark and we should be getting home.” They hear from behind them, both of them flushing in the night air at the nickname and teasing done by Derek. 

“Thanks for today Y/n, it was fun, see you at work on Monday.” Spencer says before following Derek and Penelope to the car, Y/n waving back before following Rossi, having car pooled with him and Emily. The drive home is silent on Spencer’s part, mostly spent looking out the window and ignoring the constant prying from his two nosy friends in the front, eager to know what happened between him and Y/n during the day at the beach. Garcia then drops Derek off at Spencer’s apartment as Derek lives closer to Spencer. 

“Goodnight kid, I hope you had fun today.” Derek says before turning in the direction of his own home. 

“Hey Morgan?” Spencer says quietly, so quietly Derek almost misses it, but turns around nonetheless. 

“Ya kid?” He replies. 

“Thank you for convincing me to go, it was really fun.” 

“No problem pretty boy, anytime” Derek replies smirking before watching Spencer walk into his apartment building. 

That night Spencer is lying in bed in severe pain, his fair skin blistering from the day in the hot sun. He knows he shouldn’t have been so stupid and reckless, allowing himself to become this burned. He was honestly having too much fun to stop and think about it. His phone buzzes and he grimaces, already expecting the worst, a new case, but instead, he sees a text from Y/n. 

“Hey, Spence, are you still awake?” Spencer begins to text back but before he can he sees an incoming call. 

“Uh, hi Y/n! Is everything okay? It’s pretty late do you need-”

“Spencer, I’m fine! Don’t worry, I’m sorry I’m calling you so late. How are you?” Spencer relaxes into the pillows on his bed when he hears Y/n say she’s okay. 

“Aside from the sure to cause skin-cancer, painful sunburn covering my back in blisters, I’m doing great! How about you? Is there something you need or do you just want to talk?” 

“Ouch that must hurt, you should have put sunblock on silly! I actually wanted to ask you something and I figured now is as good a time as ever. So um, Spence, I had a really good time today, and uh- I totally understand if you don’t want to, but would you want to go to dinner with me sometime soon?” Y/n’s heart is racing out of her chest as she anxiously waits for Spencer to answer. 

“Like a date?” 

“Yes- I mean not necessarily it doesn't have to be, we don’t actually have to go out at all if you don't-”

“Y/n, I would love to go out on a date with you.” 

“Really? T-that’s great! Okay I should probably let you get to sleep now, I’m sorry again for calling so late. Goodnight Spencer.” 

“Goodnight Y/n, see you Monday, can’t wait.” Spencer says before Y/n hangs up the phone, he finds himself missing her voice already. He looks at the clock, seeing its already nearly one am, now understanding Y/n’s multiple apologies for the late call. Spencer turns off the light next to his bed, noticing his sunburn doesn’t feel so bad now, ah, the psychology of love. Maybe, Spencer thinks before he closes his eyes, with Y/n by his side, a day at the beach doesn’t sound so bad. 

[2manyfandoms2count]

Golden hour

I felt very indulgent today and decided to write some pure fluff. Caution: contains Shanghai special spoilers! Mostly Ladynoir, but also a bit of Marichat because yes.

Hope you enjoy!

Read on AO3

---

Chat Noir had to ask. He knew that there was a risk he would get caught out on his little lie, but hey. Even if they said curiosity killed the cat, the key part was that satisfaction brought it back.

“Hey, Bugaboo?” He lazily opened an eye and turned slightly towards her.

She hummed in reply, revelling in the warm evening sun.

She’s so pretty, Chat thought as he looked at her. Seeing her lying there so peacefully in the golden sunset, it was really hard to resist the itch to update his profile picture of Ladybug (and maybe, who knows, his phone background).

They’d both finished their ice cream a while ago, but neither of them had felt like leaving just yet. Basking in the last lights of a warm Summer day after a quiet patrol at the top of the Eiffel Tower, with the Champs de Mars on one side and the Seine on the other was exactly the kind of holiday each wanted. Especially if it was with the person they’d never get tired of sitting in complete silence with, even if they wouldn’t necessarily admit it out loud.

Ladybug shifted a little and Chat Noir cleared his throat, afraid that she’d catch him staring. His quiet admiration had almost made him forget his question.

“How long did it end up taking you to fly back from Shanghai?”

Her eyes flew open and for a second she looked like a deer caught in headlights, but it could have just been an adjustment to the light. Her cheeks were red when she propped herself on her elbow to face him, although it was hard to tell if it was a blush or the beginning of a sunburn.

“I’m not entirely sure, it must have been something like…” Ladybug’s brain whirred as it tried to grasp at an elusive physics class that might have held a ballpark answer. She knew that with the magic of the suits, even making a detour via the poles (mince, had she said she’d take the Arctic or the Antartic route? Did it matter? Why hadn’t she looked it up like she’d meant to-) was probably shorter than the average flight length. “Four hours? More or less?” She cringed a little as she waited for his reaction.

The latter turned out to be a squint, as Chat Noir tried to gauge if his own calculations had been entirely wrong, or if she was bluffing. Given that it took a plane a little more than twelve hours to fly back, he could see a detour via the Arctic possibly taking just as long. The powerup was pretty fast though, probably more in the rocket-speed range, so the travel time would have been significantly less. If the physics exercises he’d solved in class, which listed said speed to be around five thousand kilometers per hour, could be trusted, it cut it to about two hours, assuming there were no pit stops along the way. The Antarctic route would obviously be longer, given that Shanghai was, all in all, quite high above the Equator; he would have said it was probably a six hour flight at least.

Her time was therefore either too long or too short, and one question remained; which route had she said she’d take again?...

He saw her fidgeting increase with the length of his silence.

“It could have been six hours, though. Or twelve? Really, I don’t recall exactly, I forgot to look at a clock because it’s not like we have watches with our suits, you know?” She chuckled nervously as she tried backtracking and suddenly it dawned on him.

“You didn’t fly back, did you?” he asked softly, and her lack of response spoke volumes. “You had to go back and check on Marinette, and then you figured you’d stay a bit.”

It would explain the lack of patrol calls he’d gotten during the remainder of his short stay in Shanghai, when there’d been so many since he’d come back. She’d probably returned around the same time he had. He wondered if they’d crossed paths as civilians while walking around the city. Had he known she was there, he would’ve kept an eye out for anyone who looked vaguely familiar. Someone he could’ve seen in Paris as well. Maybe Marinette could have helped him.

She gave him a curious look, but then nodded along sheepishly. “How did you know?”

“It’s just the kind of thing you do,” he smiled. “Also, it would’ve been a little irresponsible for you to make the round trip within a day, especially after having fought two major Akumas. Not to mention a real shame, because Shanghai is quite lovely.”

“Are you saying you didn’t fly back either?” She nudged him with her elbow. “It’s not like you weren’t a part of those fights, too, and you talk about the city like you know it quite well.” She didn’t mention the fact that he would’ve had an extra reason to stay over, given that he’d actually been hit by the Akuma. She didn’t want to dampen the mood.

It was Chat’s turn to fidget a little. “Oh no, I definitely flew back, it’s just that, erm, well… oh! I arrived before you, remember? So it wasn’t so bad to fly back so soon afterwards, I’d had a bit of a break while I was looking for Marinette. And that’s when I did a little sightseeing, too. Our suits are really perfect for tourism, having access to the roofs helps prevent getting lost!”

“That’s true.” She smiled at his enthusiasm, thankful that he wasn’t pushing the topic any further. “Actually, speaking of Marinette… I wanted to thank you. I’m not sure how you found out that she was missing, but the fact that you flew out to help her…” She couldn’t express how much it meant to her, not without saying too much. She hoped that he would read in between the lines though, even if he thought it was just that she appreciated his dedication to helping out Parisians. Ever since she’d gotten her Guardian duties, she felt like things were changing in her life; it was subtle, but the ground was starting to feel shaky under her feet, and she wasn’t sure it was completely linked to the start of the summer and the end of collège. It was nice to know that Chat Noir was still here for her with or without the mask, even if he didn’t know it.

“It’s only natural. I would’ve done it for any civilian…” he started, and her shoulders slumped a little, even though it was to be expected. She perked back up when he leaned forward and continued in a confidential tone: “... but if I’m being honest, if there’s one civilian I’d drop everything for, it would be Marinette.”

She felt her cheeks warm and couldn’t repress the smile that spread on her lips. “Oh?”

“Well, she’s just such a valuable part of our team, even if you don’t use her potential much,” he gave her a pointed look. “And, well, it’s not like I know a lot about her,” he scratched the back of his head, “but one thing I do know is that she’s a very good friend, and just a very… solar person in general. She just radiates kindness and warmth, you know? And I… heard someone called her an everyday Ladybug once, and it’s a really good description. If everyone had a Marinette in their life, I think Akumatisation rates would probably plummet.”

Ladybug gulped at the compliment, which just seemed to come so easily to him. “Well, thank you.”

Chat Noir glanced at her and noticed her fluster. He leaned a little closer to her, eyes glinting mischievously and nudged her lightly. “My Lady, are you jealous of Marinette? Because you know I’d also say all these things about you if I knew who was behind the mask. You’d absolutely become the first civilian I’d drop everything for.”

“As if.” She nudged him back with a fond smile. “Silly kitty.”

She lied back down, and as he mirrored her, she scooted closer to him so she could rest her head on his shoulder. It was the best thing she could think of to thank him at that moment, even though she knew she’d be working overtime to find a proper gift to give him from Marinette.

Yes, her little holiday in Shanghai with Adrien had been nice, of course it had; but to paraphrase Dorothy, there was just no place like home. And this was exactly what this place felt like.

[theodora3022]

Bloody Rose(Sebastian Michaelis x Vampire F!reader)

Request: Sabastian with a female vampire s/o? Can be yandere or not! You choose.

Notes: I made this in headcanons form and I’m typing on mobile during witching hours, so bear with me dear anon-

I decided to go with fluff since I am in a soft mood today~~

Warnings: Fluff, mentions of blood

To others, you were a tailor owning a small haute couture shop, a spinster who make her living by making outfits. But they won’t know you been doing this since the Georgian times.

You move from county to county, around England every decade or so, to avoid suspension. Luckily no vampire hunters has ever been on your tail: you consider yourself as a good subject to the crown despite being a blood drinker. You only consume animal blood, which made you a harmless vegetarian. Being a forever maiden is not unpleasant by any means, apart from being banished from sunlight. You miss being able to run around in the sun freely. When you do go out during a sunny day you cover yourself in fabric as much as possible, resulting you with overly pale skin.

Contrary to common belief, you slept until the afternoon, opening up the store even during the day. You had forced yourself to change your biological routine to fit in the human society. Although your bed resembles a traditional coffin in shape, it is never an actual one. The mirrors in your shop were not backed by silver, so you can still see your reflections.

You happened to be at late Victorian London when a mysterious murderer decides to drain the blood of thier victims like a vampire would, how unfortunate.

You were one of the suspects, so Sabastian and his lord were obligated to pay you a visit. Although they did not put you as priority to begin with: you never done things like this. 

You welcomed them to your store with a polite smile and warm greetings, as any good saleswoman would. 

Ever since transforming, you had not drank a drop of human blood. However, you can still smell the scent of their blood even through skin. It feels like...a natural perfume to you, to describe it at best. Some are sweeter then others, like tempting sweet delights, and you had to make sure you are well fed before going near them. 

That little lord’s blood is sweet and tempting. The butler, however, his blood just...is that even blood? You thought to yourself. It reminds you of the mighnight, danger lurking underneath the peaceful surface.This man is no ordinary human, you can sense that much. You had never delt with a demon before, therefor your knowledge is rather limited, only from books and theaters. 

Vampires are demons are cut from the same cloth, in a way right? Both can only venture in the shadows for eternity, trying to get by without being slain by those self righteous dastards. Sebastian had met some of your kind over the centuries, albiet none of them are as lovely as you are. You still act like a young human woman, if not for your overly pale skin you would be considered as normal. He wonders what made you this way, as all vampires, save a selected few, are humans before something happened. You seem like a kind lady, not one of those blood-hungry lowlifes he had seen before. 

You showed Ciel your collection, took his measurements when he demanded, never flinching away from the young lord’s cold attitude. When you went into the inner chamber to retrive more material choice, Ciel decided you are most likely not the murderer they are looking for, and Sebastian agrees. There is not a single scent of human blood on you or anywhere in sight, as demons can smell such things even one uses the finest soap to cover the traces.  Even though you are a vampire, if you are harmless to others Ciel is not intersted in fighting you(he has a demon for butler, so?).

“But she is a fine tailor, right milord? Maybe you can just make this a normal shopping trip.” What an unsual person you are, thought Sebastian. He might just take a little more time to observe you. It has been forever since he met another immortal being that does not irritates him.

“Very well. This would not be a complete waste of time then. I need a new suit for the social season anyway.” The young man tsked.

When they asks you to deliver the order yourself, you were hesitant about going outside. Your ususal customers send their servents to collect their orders, as you insisted so. You know what sunburns can do to you, but they offered you a down payment you cannot refuse. It is a risk you are willing to take. Even vampires needs gold to survive, if you do not wish to massacre humans for food.

The moment you stepped onto the estate, covered in a long hooded cloak and gloves, you can sense great calamity has occured in this location rather recently. But that is none of your concerns, the customer’s private life is nothing to pry about.

The servents...they are an odd flock, to say the least. They might seem clumsy or even impotent, but you know that butler knows better then to hire three imbeciles.  

After you made your delivery, Sebastian insists on you staying for the afternoon tea. You wanted to decline, since normal food has been tasting like wet paper ever since that awful day, but you find it hard to say keep saying no to such a comely man. He is the most goregous male you ever seen, and you say that as an immortal. The term “devilishly handsome” is like a tailor made suit for him. 

To your surprise, you can faintly taste the refreshement’s fruity flavours. When you were human yourself you have always loved food, missing it much when all you can taste is blood. So you helped yourself to quite a few tarts and biscuits, not knowing the demon had added special ingredients just for your vampire taste buds. You were so focused on your plate that you missed Sebastian’s calculating smile. 

That esclated rather quickly, soon you found yourself promising to tailor more clothes for Earl Phantomhive, therefore being on their premise more. 

Sebastian would always treat you to a plate of mouth-watering refreshments before you depart. Soon you find yourself answering his somewhat intrusive questions, as it is only fair to give him some compensation for those delicious treats.

The questions are surfaces ones at first. What is your favorite color or your preferred weather. Then to more personal territory, such as the reason behind your spinsterhood or what in a man that attracts you the most. You would blush madly, a feeling you have not felt in years fills your empty soul, and tell him your little answers.

How endearing. Compare to werewolves who behaves like canines, vampire leans closer to the feline side. You reminds Sebastian greatly of the black cat he encountered last spring. Your nonchalant and cheerful attitude are identical to the lovely creature. Oh and how he loves petting her soft fur. He wonders how your hair would feel under his hands. He initially might just be curious of how an odd vampire you are, but now the demon had found you to be quite an entertaining presence.

It has been so long since you had any friends, so you opened up to him quickly, disregarding the risks. You even revealed your identity to the man in black after he swears on his heart to not tell a soul. 

“My entire family was slaughtered by venegeful vampires. My father used to work as a vampire hunter for the mad King, therefore he made enemies of many. Ironically I survived, only to found out I turned into this. A creature who can only hide in the shadows forever. I swore I would never be like those blood suckers, I would never kill someone just to saitate my blood lust. Thank you Sabastian, for all those delicious cakes. They made me feel human agian once more. Also thank you for listening to my rambles, it has been so many years I confided in someone.” So you where a noble lady once. That is where your fine but antiquated manners originates from.

What a calamity you had suffered, yet you remain strong and lighthearted nonetheless. Moving from place to place, afraid to be burnt for your youthful appearance.You deserve to be cherished as the treasure you cleary are. No more hiding and running, not if he can help it.

You gladly accepted Lord Phantomhive’s offer to serve as the household’s tailor, the pay is generous and working for one person greatly reduce the risk of being discovered. Plus you get to spend more time with your new friend Sebastian! It is an offer you cannot turn down.

Sebastain is in a contract right now, but Ciel could only live so long. Prior to meeting you, he never thought about the future after his contract is completed. He imagined the two of you traveling across the European contient as friends, or something more, for the rest of your infinate lives. He has always been alone whenever he was not in a contract with humans, but the idea of being with someone forever is rather appealling to the demon. 

Even though he does not let his emotions discract him from his duties, you can still feel how he smiles whenever you enter the room. You would curl up your lips jovially in return, sometimes even teases him for having a charming smile. 

For now, Sebastian would be your good friend, always lend an ear to you for anything, or offer his shoudler should you need it, as long it does not get in the way of his duties to his liege. But who knows what would happen after the contract is completed? The world is yours to explore, with infinate amount of time, with him by your side.

[ihaveafandom-problem554]

i love your works oh my god, the wait was so worth it. thank you for doing my requests!! they all turn out great :D despite my username, I’m glad I made an account just so that I could request more of your spider bro content.

okay so uh I’m sorry if I’m requesting this a bit early since you only posted your latest spider bro today but after reading it, a sudden wave of problems and curiosity hit me so I thought:

‘yo aren’t the village gonna question why spider bro and rui only come around during sunset to night time sooner or later? are they gonna make up some excuse about them having some condition where if they stay in the sun for just a little bit they get really bad sunburn?? like “yeah so our parents died because they went out in the sun for too long so newbie demon slayers noticed this and thought they were demons in disguise and killed them, haha runs in the family amiright” idk ?? (sorry that’s a weird death) I like to imagine they pretend to be albino so that they can have an excuse in case someone ever asks them or say that they have jobs in the day time to support each other so they just visit around night time.

but honestly, I think the village would be a little sus of them but then they’ll be like “ehh they can’t be demons, they would’ve ate us already! plus they’re just so kind!!” so yeah.. (unless the village doesn’t really know about demons, then you can just ignore this)

okay so imma just start putting my ideas and prompt in here yeahh ..

so what I imagine is that the village knows about demons, but most just chalk it up as some sort of folklore to keep kids from wondering at night by themselves. however some (mostly the elders) claim to actually experience demon attacks so despite practically everyone living these two, they have their eyes on them just a bit..

the elders there would usually gather some kids and tell stories about demons roaming the night hunting for humans, and there would be people who would be as strong or stronger than the demons and slay them by cutting their heads off with a special blade- they say that there’s a whole organization dedicated for these specific people! and that those people who would sometimes come to the village with an odd uniform on are part of them.

one day while spider bro and rui visit the village, ashai drags them to where his grandfather would tell stories about demons and how the grandfather’s father were part of that organization and was called a “hashira” who mastered the sun breathing.

after that ashai would be like “that’s just gramps being all weird again with his whole demon slayer stuff, but it’s pretty interesting! it’s only a folklore though so you have nothing to be scared of. honestly, there’ll be times where I think you’re both demons or something because you guys act like you don’t know how to function as a human being sometimes, haha” and the spider bros would just be like “aha.. yeah..”

some of the elders start noticing that they only came around night, and unfortunately, not everyone is friendly. they kind of start interrogating them to the point where the other villagers would politely step in and tell them that they’re just kids with a condition that runs in their family (and rui becoming fed up then almost slashing them into ribbons). of course, a small portion of them don’t stop and are.. quite positive of it and would be a bit passive aggressive towards the two.

alright so I’ve come up with some ways it could go but I have no idea, you can decide which is better or somehow merge them together or mismatch and combine things,,, :D

1: obviously, the spider siblings can’t survive on human food. they’ll need human blood, the human food is just for when they get bored of eating humans for a bit. but.. how are they gonna get some? they can’t eat the village, and as much as they found the elders annoying they couldn’t since 1, they were pretty much right about them, and 2, if they were to eat the elders/anyone who found them suspicious even more people would start growing sus of them.

maybe.. the demon slayers that came to the village every now and then?

(name) would usually just use his spiders and take at least a cup (or two if rui’s feeling hungry) of their blood and bandage them up to go.

it lasted for a few weeks, so he thought he could control it.

him and rui did their best to try and suppress the urge, they really did.

they vowed themselves to not eat innocent people after meeting the friendly village.

but whenever a demon slayer would come to the village and whenever they took one or two cups of their blood, the more they craved just devouring them right there and then.

it was true that the two had a dislike for demon slayers, but they can’t say that most of them aren’t innocent. (I mean.. they kind of aren’t too)

they can’t do that.

but…

a few more cups won’t hurt, right?

a few days pass, and the butterfly mansion has been getting more and more demon slayers, most of them were from dangerously high blood loss, just enough for them to live and walk.. kind of.

and they all came from near the mountain.

but.. (I’m assuming this is after the fight between tanjiro and rui, but instead rui got away before tomioka could show up) didn’t tomioka, shinobu, and a few other demon slayers slay all of the demons there? unless there are a few hiding.. however they claim to not have entered the mountain, and instead went straight to a nearby village. they also claim to not have remembered anything about getting their blood taken, just waking up on a floor near the village with their arm bandaged up (it always happened at night time, too).

two or more days pass before they send some demon slayers to come investigate.

these demon slayers of course being tanjiro, inosuke, and zenitsu (plus nezuko).

when they arrived, it had been around 5 to 6, just before the spider siblings came to visit.

as they entered, tanjiro could smell a very faint scent of a demon almost everywhere (mainly around the shops and the people)- so faint that he could’ve missed it if he wasn’t searching for demons right now.

but before he could try to track it down, many young children from the village ran up to them and started excitedly asking about their uniform and their swords.

“are you guys demon slayers?”

“are grandpa’s weird demon stories are true?”

“can I touch the sword???”

it was no secret that they stood out from the crowd, and the villagers usually didn’t really question it because each demon slayer looked pretty normal and bland.

tanjiro smiled remembering his younger siblings all getting ready to eat and play during spring time.

zenitsu noticed tanjiro being confused and told them that demon slayers weren’t very well known, but it seems like it’s a folklore from around here.

and inosuke, of course was about taken aback by all of these mini humans running around them and was about to fight them until tanjiro reassured him.

ashai ran towards them thinking that rui and (name) was here a bit earlier than usual but was a bit disappointed when he got closer to clearly see their faces (and a boar head).

I TOLD MYSELF I SHOULD'VE ADDED A SCENE WHERE OLDER SPIDER BROTHER EXPLAINS TO ASHAI THAT HE GETS REALLY BAD SUNBURN BUT MY LAZY ASS SAID NO. ACTUALLY FUCK ME WHY AM I SO LAZY!?

Anyway let's do this..

Ok so the Village are familiar with demons and demon slayers but they take it as a Folklore since the grandparents keep mentioning it to the kids.

And before [Name] brung Rui, Ashai did ask him why he only came when the sunsets. And [Name] told him he was really sensitive to the sunlight, like, to the point it would actually burn him really bad.

And Ashai looked at him saying, "You could've just said you get really bad sunburn.."

And yes, his mom did smack him for saying that.

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

"Hi Ashai! You seem happy today."

"[Name]! Rui!" Ashai called out, running towards the two boys. Rui immediately pouted when he noticed the voice calling up to them wasn't one of the kind ladies trying to offer him food. Meanwhile, [Name] smiled at the boy's presence and walked faster towards Ashai.

"Yeah! I want to bring you to my grandfather-”

“Why?- Wait was is that..” Rui interrupted causing Ashai to stop walking and face Rui. “You did not just ask what a grandfather is.”

“I did. Now I want an answer.” Rui demanded his facial expression not changing a bit. Ashai sighed before explaining what a grandfather was, later explaining what a grandmother was, then explaining what a great grandfather and grandmother was.

Before Rui could ask anymore questions about people’s parents, Ashai changed the subject to the reason why he wanted to take them to his grandfather. 

‘Demon slayers’ was the first thing that came out of Ashai’s mouth and it made the two spider sibling’s heart drop. Rui’s heart dropped even deeper once he heard the word ‘Hashira’. It was almost impossible to hide the fact that it bothered him greatly.

Ashai turned around to race the two, and met their petrified expressions. Thinking they were terrified about the demon folklore, he immediately stopped talking and cupped [Name]'s face to try and reassure him.

"Oh no don't worry! It's just some dumb folklore, there's nothing to worry about! The demons aren’t real, it’s just some dumb story to keep the little ones from going outside at night. Its just gramps being all weird again with his whole demon slayer stuff, but it’s pretty interesting! Again, it’s only a folklore though so you have nothing to be scared of.” Ashai says letting go of [Name]’s face and opens the door for the two siblings to walk through. “Honestly, there’ll be times where I think you’re both demons or something because you guys act like you don’t know how to function as a human being sometimes, haha” Ashai joked, hoping to lighten the mood a bit

[Name] nervously laughed back while Rui just glared.

As the 3 boys walked inside the minka, [Name] noticed no one else was there except for the old man and Madam Yui. Not only that, but there was some strange aura in the air, as if he wasn’t welcome here. Turning over to Rui, [Name] can see his uneasy expression as well. But before he got the chance to say anything, Yui spoke aloud.

“Oh! sorry boys grandpa needs to rest, I’m sure if you come back later he’ll tell you one of his stories.”

A quiet sigh of relief was emitted from Rui. “Aww, that sucks I really wanted to you guys to here some of his stories.” Ashai pouted slightly. 

“Don’t worry, he’ll be awake soon.. Ashai, go over to the bakery and get the box wrapped in blue, its for your grandfather, don’t take to long ok?”

“Ok.. [Name]! Come with me-”

“No, I need him for something, just go over to the bakery real quick, get the box and come back.”

“But-”

“Nothing sweetie.. Hi Rui” Yui smiled, hugging the demon child who had just ran up to her. “How are you baby? Did you eat the food I sent you home with?”

“Go young man.”

Knowing he couldn’t argue any further, Ashai reluctantly went over to the bakery without [Name]. “That boy is obsessed with you, isn’t he?” Madam Yui joked. Unfortunately for [Name], he was too busy staring at the door Ashai just went through to hear what Yui said, causing him to answer a couple seconds late. “H-huh”

“The tempura and Sushi? Yeah we finished it.”

“Oh, you must still be hungry.. [Name] can you close all the blinds and sweep the floor?”

“Of course!”

“Thank you dear, I’ll be in the kitchen with your brother if you need me” Yui said, walking into the kitchen with Rui.

[Name] got straight to work, closing the blinds and sweeping isn’t anything hard...But the strange aura he felt before when he first entered, intensified. It almost felt like the air gotten thicker as well.

As [Name] swept closer to the sleeping grandfather, he noticed something right next to him. Taking a closer look, [Name]'s eyes at the sight of the samurai sword. Why does it look bigger than the usual than the swords I’ve seen.

After staring at the sword for a bit, [Name] finally looked away from the sword to finish sweeping. 

“I kill your kind with this exact sword”

...

“Is that what you tell the demons before you kill them?” [Name] questions, trying his best not to show the slightest amount of fear in his voice. “Every. single. one.” [Name] nodded, but refused to face the owner of the voice and the larger than normal sword. “Your kind disgusts me. Killing innocent souls just for your selfish needs.”

“I don’t know what you mean by ‘Your kind’ sir-”

“Demons.” He spat. “I mean Demons.” [Name] only nodded, no words, justs movements. Speaking of movements, the old man began to get up and slowly move closer to [Name]. Shit, what do I do now?

After hearing Ashai say that his grandfather was a Hashira, [Name] knew that his age didn’t affect the way he moved. The retired hashira can block his way to the door in the matter of seconds. He didn’t want to question how fast he was compared to a sun-breathing hashira. So he put the broom down and finally face the old man who was ten feet away from him. “Who many demons did you ki-”

“You may have fooled everyone in this village with your little story. But I’m not naive.” The sun breathing hashira was now walking towards [Name]. [Name] wasted no time walking towards the kitchen, he could probably notify madam Yui..

If it wasn’t for the sun breather grabbing [Name] by the neck. "Like I said before... your kind disgust me. And don't get me started on your excuse of a leader 'Muzan kibutsuji' (I hate his last name. I've spent about five minutes trying to figure out if the first half was 'kitbust' or 'kibust'). You don't happen to have any information on him do you?" With every word, the hashira tighten his grip on [Name]'s neck. Making it harder and harder for [Name] to breathe. "And don't worry about him finding you after you tell me, I'll kill you the second I get the information I need."

"A-and...wh..if...don't..?" [Name] was barely audible and on the verge of blacking out with the insane grip on his neck. He could taste own blood at this point, but he wasn't concerned about the blood trickling out of his mouth, he was more concerned about how no one was here to save him. Madam Yui told Ashai not to take long, and the bakery isn't far away from here. So what the hell?

Without waiting another second, [Name] unleashed a tiny spider to go and kill the hashira. Sure he was Ashai's grandpa but, it was either this old man or him.

"Have nothing to say? Well that's disappointing.." [Name] could feel his eyes threatening to shut as he Choked on his own blood. "P-plea....sto..p" he tried to plead. "If it wasn't for you disgusting demons.. my wife would've still been alive. I swear, I will defeat your leader, and kill every single one of you good for nothing demons-"

"GRANDPA NO HE ISN'T A DEMON! LET HIM GO" Ashai yelled, alerting Madam Yui who came rushing out of the Kitchen, Rui not to far behind. "Put him down Grandpa! He isn't a demon!" Ashai pleaded, gripping onto his grandfather's hamari, tears threathing to spill from his eyes. "PLEASE STOP YOUR HURTING HIM!"

"Oh Ashai, this isn't what you call a friend. This is a human eating demon, that killed your- OW DAMMIT" The hashira yelled in pain, thus letting go of [Name].

Once [Name] hit the floor, he immediately sucked in as much air as he could before choking again.

"[NAME] are you ok?!" Ashai called, rushing over to help [Name]. Rui would've done the same if it wasn't for Yui protectively holding on to him.

"When was the last time you took your medicine? You almost killed him! He's only a child" Yui quickly scolded the elder. " Oh sweetheart.. that kick was so powerful it almost broke my arm. You should-"

"I'm not and won't become a demon slayer. Go back to your room and take your medicine. You almost killed him!"

"He isn't a kid. That thing is a demon.. And so is the smaller one your holding."

"They aren't demons-"

"They how come they only come out when the sun goes down?" To that Madam Yui didn't have an answer. She never really thought about why they did come when the sun isn't out. Thankfully Ashai spoke up just before the elder could prove his point. "Their both sensitive to sun the sunlight. Both their parents died because of that."

Madam Yui held Rui even tighter as she looked back at the elder. "Ashai go take [Name] to Ms. Reiki." She demanded. Without thinking Ashai immediately picked up [Name] and proceeded to carry him to whoever Ms. Reiki was.

"I know you wanna check on [Name], Rui, don't worry we'll go there in a minute." Yui reassures, while cupping Rui's left cheek. "Yui, your not this naive."

"You should be ashamed of yourself, hurting a defenseless child-"

"He isn't a child.. You know that demons basically have a unlimited lifespan? That 'kid' is most likely 40 years old"

"Your just delusional, you haven't taken your medicine all day have you?"

"I do not need that Goddamn Medi...cine.. What the hell are you staring at?!" The elder quickly spat at the small spider boy who stared at the two adults.

"Nothing.. I didn't know older people quarreled.. I thought only children quarreled." Rui said with pure innocence. "I thought when hu- people got older they learned how to settle their arguments maturely, rather than idiotic children that need someone superior than them to settle it for them"

The two adults stared at Rui, both with different intentions of what to do next. "Oh, Rui, It's-"

"Don't explain anything to that thing." The elder spat. Rui watched as the two adults argued with each other. For some strange reason Rui was invested slightly uncomfortable but couldn't help but listen to what they had to say.

Throughout this argument, Rui learned some new words..

...

"I'm so sorry about my Grandfather, [Name], my mom said he's been having some illusions lately.. I didn't expect it to get this worse." Ashai apologized for the 26th time. "Like... I said for 26th...time Ashai, its ok! I'm fine really.."

"I know but he choked you and called you a demon! Why are you so calm about it?! You could've died!"

".....But I didn't..So..Yay?..." [Name] jazzed-hand. Ashai just sighed in response.

"That's odd.." Ms. Reiki said to herself, but the boys were interested anyway. "What's is it Reiki-san?" Ashai asked, his voice full of concern. "You said your grandfather choked him right?..Oh nevermind it's probably nothing.." She dismisses. "How's your throat? Is it feeling sore?"

"Well-"

"Don't speak. Just nod or shake your head." Reiki quickly spoke. [Name] nodded slightly before smiling at Reiki. "Your welcome sweetie.. Oh! Yui, is everything.."

"Everything's ok.." The two boys turned their heads to face Yui, who had just walked in with a sleeping Rui. "[Name] I am terribly sorry for what occurred and your injuries."

"It's-"

"What did I say about speaking?"

Not wanting to know the punishment for disobeying a nurse, [Name] nodded again with a smile, hoping Madam Yui will see that he forgives her. Thankfully she understood and returned a smile. " [Name] you can go, just remember to take it easy on your throat and take the medication I gave you." [Name] obeyed and made note to throw out the medication, since it had no use to him.

Both Reiki and Madam Yui watched the [Name] walk out with his admirer, Ashai.

As they left, the two women looked at each other with worry some expressions. "How did it even happened?" Reiki asked immediately. "I'm not sure.." Yui answered in disappointment. "I was in the kitchen with Rui because he wanted a snack. Then all of a sudden I hear Ashai yelling something about a demon so I ran out to see him choking [Name]"

"Did he take his medicine? Or did he continue to rant about how he doesn't need it?"

"That exactly" Yui sighed. She looked down at the sleeping Rui she had in her hands. The only thing she could think about was how the situation would have happened if she didn't come out sooner.. Rui would've lost the only member of his family.. he would've been traumatized for the rest of his life.. "The nerve of him to call him a demon.." Yui spoke through her teeth in anger.

Taking a second to rid off any dark thoughts she turned back to Reiki. "I'm leaving now. I want the kids to eat something before they leave, have a nice night."

"Same to you as well"

...

"You need to eat a human"

"I'm aware of that.. But who am I going to eat?" [Name] questioned. It has passed a few weeks ever since the two spider siblings ate a human body. Sure, the human's food is tasty and gives them energy for a couple hours, but it doesn't give them the nutrients they need. Day by day they can feel their bodies growing weaker do to the lack of human blood in their system. [Name] could care less about his own health, he was more concerned about Rui and what he was gonna eat. Every couple minutes or so, he could here Rui's stomach growl from hunger.

It pained him to see Rui in this state. Yet he's been in this state for weeks now and [Name] still doesn't know what to do or who to eat.

"We can eat that old sun-breather" Rui suggested. [Name]'s eyes widen in response. "Or" Rui continued, "We can eat everyone else who called us a demon! We'll make them regret-"

"We can't do that.."[Name] sighed. [Name] knows that Rui's way smarter than this, but after weeks of being around humans and not being able to take a even a bite out of them, is bond to do something to the way he thinks.

"They've been accusing us for being demons, if they suddenly go missing, we would have a lot of suspicion towards us."

"If we can't eat any of the old people or anyone else at the village who can we eat?" Rui asked, completely annoyed. "It's already a problem that we can't go out during the day when the sun's out, so how can we- uhh... [Name] what- what are you doing?" Rui questioned as he watched [Name] create a small spider and send it out to go in the opposite direction towards the deeper part of the woods.

"[Name], What are you?- huh?" Rui stopped talking as he sees a demon slayer slowly walk towards him like a mindless zombie.

"You did so well sweetie~" [Name] cooed to his spider, gently petting the spiders head. "uhh.."

"mh? Oh! I heard footsteps coming while you were talking.. I don't think we can devour the body this time though.. they'll probably send in more demon slayers complaining about a demon."

Rui stared at the demon slayer who had no control over their body. It's right there in front of him, he has every right to devour the vulnerable human, but then at the same time he doesn't. Just because people don't know he's a bloodthirsty demon who needs human blood to survive.

"Cut the skin open, you can suck the blood off of that. Take as much as you want but don't take too much so they can't walk, ok?" [Name] said. "Wait what about you? You need to-"

"It's fine, you need it more than me, I'll just fine another-"

"No. Take some as well, we don't know the next time you'll get choked like that.. or be threaten with wisteria.. we might not be able to regenerate as fast as we used too. I won't take a lot.. A cup or two should be enough to last a week or so." Rui demanded. [Name] only nodded in response.

Rui examined the slayer standing in front of him, figuring out where to suck the blood out of. "Cut open wherever chubbiest and take some blood. I'll send out a couple of my spiders to grab some bandages so we can patch them up. Then we'll leave them here and continue with our day." [Name] said, already making bigger than normal sized spiders to send out to the village to steal some bandages.

"How often are we gonna do this?" Rui asked while using his threads make a 'X' formation around the slayers hips. "I guess every couple weeks? or when your feeling hungry..."

It was surprising how well they managed to control themselves for so long. After taking a little more than one cup of blood, they soon decided to reward themselves with another two cups. After being satisfied, they cleaned and bandaged the body. Later leaving it mindless on the ground waiting for sunrise to come and free it from it's curse.

The spider siblings decided to do this every week or two. Find a slayer, drain most of its blood, patch it up, and pretend like nothing happened. It was hard trying not to devour the human, but the managed. Sure they had to hold each other back every now an then but the really are trying..

Meanwhile the butterfly mansion was trying to solve the mystery of the barely walking slayers with bandaged arms, legs, neck, and or stomach with a dangerously high amount of blood loss.

"Shinobu! We got another one!" Aoi called from the door frame leading to the medical room. "And Yes! Its the same bandaging pattern!" Shinobu sighed, yet kept the smile that was always on her face. This is the 5th one this month, the last person was barely alive.. if this keeps going...

"Oh! Another one?" Kanae (Yes she's alive here, I really miss her) said walking into the same room as Shinobu. "Your back so soon?" Shinobu questioned. "Only for a bit... I do have to get going soon. But since it is still day, I thought I would be able to get some more information on why some of our people are coming back with a terrible amount of blood loss. You care to join me?" Kanae offered, signaling Shinobu to follow her. Without a doubt, Shinobu followed her sister to medical room Aoi was in.

...

"Wait, The mountain that's a couple miles from here?" Shinobu asked, interrupting the story the only stable slayer was telling. "Y-Yeah actually.." The slayer answered.

"That's odd.." Kanae remarked, putting her index finger to her on her chin. "Shinobu, didn't you and tomioka slayed all the demons near the mountain?"

"Yes. Indeed we did.. We even raided the shed near the mountain."

"Act-actually.." The slayer spoke up "I never went to the mountain.. I went straight to the village near the woods."

"Why go straight to the village?"

"I was going to ask the people there if they had experince any suspicious activity. But before I got to the village, I felt something bite me. That's when I passed out. I wasn't sure how long I was out for, but when I woke up.. I was all bandaged up."

"Sorry to interrupt" Aoi interrupted "But, did you ever did get the chance to go to the village?"

"uuh no." The slayer concluded.

" Why'd you asked that Aoi?" Kanae asked. "Oh I wanted to know where the bandages came from. Anyway I should get back to work." Aoi claimed as she quickly walked off.

Aww she want to contribute but got nervous.. Kanae smiled to herself before getting up with a small stretch.

"Well!" Kanae clapped. "We'll send a couple demon slayers to investigate the area... Aoi said the patients claimed that it happened at night correct?"

"Uhh Yeah.."

"Then it's settled we'll send slayers right away to the area.. please get as much rest as you can and stay healthy, we will get to work immediately. Thank you!" And with that Kanae signaled her sister to follow her once more before leaving.

"Are you going to ask any of the Hashira to help?" Shinobu asked. "Well no that's not who I had in mind.."

"Then who?"

...

"We could've got here earlier if SOMEONE DIDN'T MAKE US STOP FOR TEMPURA!" Yelled a very pissed Zenitsu. Inosuke paid no attention to Zenitsu and instead enjoyed the last bite of Tempura he had in his mouth underneath his mask.

"Well it's only 5:48 so we have plenty of time to investigate the area" Tanjiro said trying his best to cause not another fight between Zenitsu and Inosuke for the fifth time today.

Zenitsu sighed. "Well? Do you smell anything?"

"Oh um.." Tanjiro took a second to sniff the air.

The village smelled friendly. Happy kids, happy adults, happy pets, demons, baked goods, fresh food, healthy environment..

"Huh?" Tanjiro said quietly to himself. He took another sniff around, taking him about a minute to finally, fully grab the demon scent.

"It's very faint." He unintentionally reported to Zenitsu. "It's on almost everything..and everyone.."

"Wait.. on the people too?! Dose that mean it's hiding as a human!?" Zenitsu began to panic. "It seems like it... how else would the scent get on the people."

"Start tracking it down gompochiro!!" Inosuke demanded.

"Right I should-"

"Is that a real sword?" A little girl asked. "Oh uh- where did you-"

"Are you a demon slayer?"

"Are grandpa's weird stories true?"

"Why do you have a boar hat?"

"Can I touch the sword?"

"Can I wear the boar hat?"

"Is that a bird on your head?"

A whole bunch of little kids ran up to the three strange looking people and asked them all the questions that came to mind. Not giving them the chance to answer.

Tanjiro smiled at all the kids who surrounded them, they reminded him of his siblings when it was time to eat or going out to play.

"Are Grandpa's weird stories true?"

Tanjiro's eyebrows furrowed. "I thought demon slayers weren't that well known.." Tanjiro questioned Zenitsu.

"INOSUKE STOP TRYING TO FIGHT THE KIDS- huh? Oh uhh I guess it's a folklore around here.. maybe to keep the kids from walking out at night or- INOSUKE NO"

"LITTLE ONES FIGHT MEEEEEEEE!!!"

"No! No Inosuke these are kids, you know? The ones we don't fight!" Tanjiro quickly reassured. "Huh? Why not?? Their just like us but smaller! They can fight!!"

"Oh you got to be kidding me-"

"[Name]! I didn't know you were coming this early- oh hi! Sorry.. I thought you were someone else.." Ashai apologized, he thought [Name] and Ashai came earlier due to the ruckus outside in front. Instead he ran up to a couple of strangers in weird clothes and a shirtless boy in a boar hat.

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

So why did this take me a month to post? It's not even that long..

I'll edit this in the morning and answer the other asks in the morning as well.

Remember that requests are still open and have a nice night/day/afternoon/universe

[chalkxtabletxtowers]

~A beach day full of feelings~

•Fandom: Ducktales, kinda? I based this fanfiction mostly off of the Italian comics, or "Lustige Taschenbücher" in Germany because the chemistry between the two is ströng there.

•Pairing: Donro, Donald x Gyro

•Warnings/Notes: Trans!Gyro is hinted, otherwise, this is just cute and wholesome. I originally wanted to upload it on valentines day, but I spent the day with my girlfriend and forgot about it, so here you have it now.

Everyone around them seemed to get the hints. Everyone around them seemed to understand what kind of relationship it was between them, better, than the two of them did. They were painfully oblivious, so much so, that they brushed the suspections of the people surrounding them off, even though they weren't unaware of them. But they both knew, or thought to know, that just because they were good friends, and because of that spend more time together, that that didn't mean something was going on between them.

Donald spent the days in the laboratory more often, these days. To upgrade his suit, that had been damaged pretty badly in the last incident with Magica. Even though he only understood half of was the scientist was explaining to him, it was still interesting to see old and new weapons, that were supposed to help him in the fight during crime.

On the inside, he knew that he liked spending the time in the laboratory. Being surrounded by someone. With the scientist in the room, he never had to fear that the silence took over. Silence, that he experienced everyday once the kids were out of the house. Since he never kept a job for more than three days, he didn't have any distraction. Without the three bringing life into the house, it was strangely empty, silent and big.

He had no real entertainment, besides reality TV, but that had changed ever since he spent the days in the laboratory. But he knew, that these days would be numbered pretty soon, after all, Gyro wouldn't have to fix his suit much longer, it was in pretty good condition again and the new weapons and inventions were all added, as much as that was possible.

But Donald didn't want these days to be numbered, which he, of course, couldn't tell Gyro. They were friends, and they did tend to spend some time on the weekend but... That would've been just weird, especially because Donald wasn't an apprentice, and probably wouldn't have been a very good one at that.

"There we go." the voice of the chicken interrupted his thoughts and the duck jumped "It's all fixed and ready for crime fighting again. I bet you were missed on the streets while having your forced break. But these days are over."

Donald was glad, that his suit was repaired again. He was glad, that he could do something against crime again. But on the other side, he was quietly crying. He decided to do something about it "The kids and I wanted to go to the beach on the weekend. And as a thankful gesture-" Since he obviously didn't have the money to pay the scientist "You could join us?"

The inventor seemed surprised. Not, that this was the first weekend he spend with the duck, but usually it was pretty spontaneous. Donald had never flat out asked like this, especially not in the middle of the week. "I.."

Gyro look around over his stuff, and his tables, and sighted "Think I could use a break"

When Donald returned home, the kids were already home too. He could tell by the mess in the hallway and the tossed aside schoolbags. He knew that homework hadn't been touched yet by either of them, but was too relaxed to care. He was in a good mood, but didn't really want to realise why. He just told himself it was because he could finally protect the city, and therefore the people that meant something to him, again. That was the reason, surely.

Donald decided to make pancakes for dinner, and when the kids came down the stairs because they had smelled them, they noticed that something was definitely up with their uncle "Why are you so relaxed?" "Yeah, why aren't you mad at us for not doing our homework yet?" "Did something exciting happen? Did you win the lottery? Are we rich?" "Are we rich?" "Are we?"

Donald chuckled. He wished. Well, technically, the family was rich, but he would've never gotten a single coin from his uncle, at least not until he eventually passed away. "We're not rich." He said as he sat down "I just..." He shrugged "Had a good day. Oh, and, we won't be going to the beach alone."

The three were, on their own, very well aware that their uncle had a crush. It wasn't something he could hide very well. The signs were too obvious. And they were also aware that this crush was centered towards a certain inventing chicken. But Donald, admitting that? Wouldn't happen. "Will Gyro be joining us?" Louie asked, his brothers chuckling in the background. God, it was so obvious "Yes. And that's nothing to make fun of! We're good friends and I'm being nice to him as a reward for all the good things he has done for us in the past! Including inventing stuff that wasn't only useful for me."

He looked at the three, and they knew what he was talking about. Their video game, that they could scan themselves into. Yeah, that was indeed a rad thing.

The rest of the evening wasn't so quiet, the three just couldn't stop teasing their uncle, no matter how often he kept denying a crush.

Gyro, on the other hand, wasn't much better. Not, that he wasn't well aware of the fact that he was a gay chicken.

No, he was just nervous of the thought of sharing a beach day with Donald, even though spending the weekends with the duck wasn't unusual. Sometimes, Donald would just come over for new inventions or to get something on his suit fixed, and afterwards they'd go to a café or watch a movie. Nothing unusual, just things that friends did.

And since they were friends, he was confused about his sudden nervousness. Why was a day at the beach something that suddenly scared him? After all these years, feathers had obviously grown over the scars on his chest, and he felt confident with being a male chicken.

In any way, the nervousness caused him to loose his concentration and he sighted in frustration. He wouldn't get anything done anymore, he had to take a break and clear his thoughts.

But eventually, the dreaded saturday did arrive, and there was nothing they both could do about it.

And even though they both were beyond nervous, they were also excited to spent the day with the person that meant something to them, even though they both weren't aware yet, what exactly that certain something was.

"Have we got everything?"

Donald asked, afraid that 313 would explode at any minute, judging by how full the poor car was. A single pool float was laying around, and he had almost tripped over it, and the sunscreen seemed to glue his feathers together, but he didn't care. Today was a good day, and he wouldn't let it get ruined by his reappearing bad luck.

"We think so!"

The triplets shouted back as they pressed themselves on the backseat of the car. After Donald had made sure they were strapped into their seats, like the good uncle he was, he started driving towards the beach.

"So, will you tell him today?"

Huey suddenly asked, the biggest grin plastered across his beak.

"Will I tell who what today?"

Donald asked, although he knew what they were talking about. And he could've sworn he got red under his cheek feathers.

"Will you tell Gyro today-"

Dewey continued "That he's the love of your life?"

Louie ended the sentence.

They didn't care if their uncle was in a gay relationship, as long as he was happy. And Gyro had visited them so often, that by now, they kinda viewed him as a uncle themselves. They just wanted them to finally realise their feelings, and be officially in a relationship. So that their uncle could be constantly as happy as he had been on Wednesday.

"I am not in love with him."

The duck stated, yet again. This wasn't the first time he had to defend himself in front of the kids. "We're very good friends, and that's all their is. Aren't you three glad that your uncle has found a friend?" All that he got in return from them was a simple chuckle. They knew.

After Donald had parked the car, they hopped out of it "Well, we wish you luck"

They said, before running, trying to find a good spot for themselves and the two love birds. They didn't want to be in the way of their confession.

And Donald, who was waiting at his car, did think about their words.

In love? Him? Well... He certainly knew how love felt, but... Yes, he liked to spent time with the chicken. Yes, he liked the chicken around him, and his company. And yes, they had slipped in each others arm once or twice during sleeping, but love? Didn't love cause butterflies in your stomach and a fast beating heart? He didn't feel anything of that. So it couldn't be love after all, right?

While Donald was lost in his thoughts, Gyro was already on the way to the beach, glowing with excitement.

He was, semi, aware of his feelings, or at least by now finally knew that they extended friendship. He wasn't sure yet in what way, but he was sure of one thing: That he was going to find out today. At least he wanted more weekends like this one, he told himself, and when he saw the bright red car on the horizon, he slowed down "I'm here."

He greeted Donald and almost automatically had to smile. This felt so normal, so... Domestic, as if they were a couple for years. Wait. Couple? Had he just really thought that? Blush started to arise at his cheeks, and the duck obviously noticed it, while the two made their way to the beach, the inventor either next to him, or behind him, when the way got slimmer.

"Are you alright? You look so red. Sure you haven't catched a sunburn already?" The worry in his voice came automatically, when you are a uncle of three very active nephews, you're basically worried 24/7. And, he also wanted his friend to be well. Everyone would've cared about their friend, right?

"N-No, I'm alright, the sunscreen is strong enough." Gyro quickly stuttered together, and the sailor just nodded. Eventually, after some silence, Gyro decided it would be best to switch the topic "And, did you try the new suit out yet? I hope everything works well?"

Donald nodded "Yeah, it's really good. I feel safer in this suit than I did before. The new inventions are practical, though some could need improvement." He chuckled.

When the triplets saw them walking over, they decided they had to do something. It was maybe the most cliché plan of their short life's so far, but something had to be done. These two couldn't continue walking around, being so oblivious towards one another.

So, Huey decided to take matters into his own hands and stretched his feet out. Normally, he wouldn't have wished his uncle to trip and fall over, but in this case, it was necessary for once

And, as the bad luck had already foreshadowed, their uncle did trip and fall, the scientist, that had walked behind him, falling on top of Donald. The three cheered, that was exactly what they had wanted. They didn't care how cliché this was, they knew it would work.

And sometimes, the most cliché ways were the best ways. As Donald rolled on his back in a dizzy attempt to orientate himself, his eyes catched the eyes of the scientist. In that moment, he realised it.

Maybe love wasn't all butterflies and a fast beating heart. Maybe love was all about finding comfort in someone. And being at home, with someone. And with Gyro, he certainly was at home.

"I-I love you."

The duck spurted out, his face immediately after becoming so red, that it could have been a rival to the worst sunburn. As Gyro heard the words, the chicken blushed again, before clearing his throat "I-I can only agree. The time we spent together is the most beautiful time of my entire day. I'm always looking forward to it, and when you're gone, I feel lonely. I feel like a part of me is missing. With you..."

"I feel comforted and at home. I feel like I'm in a safe space with someone, that understands me and doesn't judge me. And someone, that certainly knows my deepest secrets."

As the two joined each other in a loving kiss, the triplest cheered. They had known it all along.

[gloves94]

Sunburn [Prince Zuko] 10

Warnings: None   Rating: PG-13   Pairings: Zuko/OC   Summary:  “You have everything you’ve ever wanted.” “No.” He said softly. “Not everything…”  His golden eyes looked at her with a melting intensity she had never witnessed before. “I guess not.” She responded with glassy eyes as tears welled up threatening to break the dam of her eyes.

My fanfiction: M A S T E R L I S T

"This is what I've been missing." Iroh sighed happily as he received a relaxing massage. He could feel the tension on his shoulder's easing as the masseuse worked wonders on his knotted aching muscles.

"Who knew being lost at sea for three weeks with no food or water, and sea vultures waiting to pluck out your liver could make one so tense?" he said as he sighed in satisfaction.

The resort was beyond relaxing. The temperature was hot, soothing, yet not suffocating. Plum blossoms still bloomed here leaving a trail of lost flowers and petals to be carried away dancing with the wind.

"I can't believe I did that twice," Tsai said more to herself as she sat on a low table in the room writing with a large ink brush on a parchment she would send to her brother the corner of her eye twitching in annoyance. Honestly if she could survive being stuck on a small boat with Prince Zuko and Uncle Iroh without any of them killing each other she could survive anything.

xxx

Being at sea had been a nightmare, but it had been better than when she endured it by herself. Iroh would tell them stories about the war and about the good old times that he had shared with her grandfather. He would tell jokes and Tsai and him would pass time singing old sailor tunes.

Sometimes to pass time they would play Tic Tac Toe with some of the nuts and bolts that were lying around the floor of the small ship. Zuko would always rage whenever he lost against her.

"You're cheating!" "I don't want to play this stupid game anymore!" He would seethe in anger. Simply making Tsai laugh, he was such a sore loser.

At night the three would look at the stars and think of names for the constellations and stories behind them.

"That one looks like a platypus bear!" Tsai pointed "It's eating honey, do you see it? It's so cute!" "It looks like two dragons mauling each other to death," Zuko said darkly. She turned to look at him with a raised eyebrow in concern and he turned away grumpily, his arms crossed over his chest. Iroh had simply chuckled.

xxx

Iroh turned his head slightly and looked at his unhappy nephew sitting on the floor with his back to the doorway. Tsai had also noticed that Zuko had been in a particularly difficult mood today. She decided it was best to avoid it and try best not to trigger him. It was then that Iroh hopped off the table (he was wearing pants thank the spirits) and approached his brooding nephew sitting cross-legged besides him.

"I see," Iroh suddenly said in understanding. Iroh was funny like that. He could even understand and translate different types of silence. Feeling the air grow heavy Tsai decided to excuse herself and go check the hawkery for any messages of her brother. She tried to meet Zuko's eyes but he kept his head lowered and a conical hat to hide his expression as he brooded.

"It's the anniversary, isn't it?" She heard Iroh said just after she stepped out. She stopped just around the corner. Pressing her back against the other side of the wall.

She thought. What if- she did something nice for him today? She shook her head and went ahead to look for a message from her brother. She was ready to go home. She had had enough adventuring for now. She was ready to return to her governing duties and leg for forgiveness from her parents. she missed her bed, her room, her brother and simply having tea in the garden on the afternoons. Excitement brewed as she thought about being back home. Homesickness really was no joke, specially after being lost at sea- twice.

There were no news from Mecha yet. She blew out a lost strand of hair that had fallen out of place and with her hands on her hips decided on the best idea to keep busy by checking out the Resort's beach. When suddenly the Firehawk came. She recognized the Vice Royal insignia from Yu Dao immediately.

She greeted the bird, gave it a treat and took the message.

Her eyes rapidly took in her brother's words. His message. She scrolled each sentence faster and faster. Her lips parting. Mouth going dry. Heart beating fast. Her back began knotting with anxiety.

She flipped the note and found no other trace of the message. She clutched the letter close to her chest and painfully swallowed the sobs that had began to escape from her trembling lips. Waterfalls of tears slipped down her eyes as her knees gave. The tears just wouldn't stop pouring.

She didn't know how long she sat by the Resort's hawkery. What was she supposed to do now? To say? She couldn't go back home- what was she to do?

It was a little before the sunset when she gathered the strength to rise. She walked towards the beach that was in front of the resort house they three of them were sharing where Tsai had her own bedroom and Zuko and his uncle shared another one. She sat on the sand hunched over hugging her knees, head buried into them. She closed her eyes and let the sound of the sea shore waves lull her.

"Rough day," She heard a familiar voice say next to her. It was more a statement than a question.

Her head hurt, remaining in that position she turned her head to see the prince taking seat next to her in the darkness of the beach. The air was much colder now. It was dark with the exception of the full moon above reflecting just enough moonlight. It was peaceful. Her eyes were swollen from crying so much and her makeup had been smudged around her eyes. She remained silent and turned forward her eyes getting lost in the dark sea before them. Feeling self conscious she lowered her arms and straightened out her back just like she had been taught to her entire life. She took a deep breath of fresh air. Zuko was unsure of what to say. His Uncle had been worried when she had been absent for so long, and then he had been very worried when she missed dinner. Tsai never missed dinner.

"Was it something I said?" Zuko's first instinct was to blame himself. Maybe he had looked at her the wrong way? Made a snide comment? Afterall it wasn't his day either. However, Iroh knew these things. "I think it's beyond us," he commented. His wise eyes fixed on the girl sitting alone at the beach.

He took in a deep breath. Unsure of what to say what to do. What would a normal person do?

"You know... Three years ago today, I was banished," he began in a solemn tone. "I lost it all. I want it back. I want the Avatar, I want my honor, my throne. I want my father not to think I'm worthless," He fisted palmfuls of sand between angrily sand slipping through his fingers.

Normally Tsai would've been more empathetic. Instead her eyes remained fixed on the nothingness before. Hearing a crumbled up noise it was then that he realized she had been clutching something tightly to her chest. She removed the parchment paper and simply handed it to him, her cold eyes not facing him. He uncrumpled it and read:

'Tsai,

You have to make me a promise. No matter what happens. You will not look for me. You will not come home.

You will not respond to this letter.

You will not return home.

You will not seek me out.

I'm afraid I do not write to you with good news. Word of your betrayal to our nation has reached Yu Dao and you have been identified. Mother is beyond reason and absolutely inconsolable. You have broken the heart of our nation. Fire Lord Ozai suspects that our family is planning a coup de'etat against the crown and an uprising against the nation in Yu Dao. Officials have been sniffing around and poking holes in our lives. There are spies everywhere and nobody is safe.

And so they came for dad since they couldn't find you... Because of this I have decided to answer to these false claims and own up to them.

For our nation.

For our family.

For you.

I love you Tsai.

I don't want to put any more pressure on you, but make it count. Make a difference. If any one can change this world. It's you.

Be well, I know that we meet again under better circumstances my dear sister.

Your brother, Mecha'

Now he understood. He shared a moment of silence with her.

She had lost everything. She had lost her home, her nation, her brother. She had nowhere to go and was an outlaw in the eyes of her country and an enemy in the eyes of the others. She had brought shame and dishonor to her family.

She lowered her head once again in an attempt to hide the stray tear that had slipped from the window of her eyes. His emotions were thrown into a whirlpool. This wouldn't have happened if she hadn't come with them, this would not have happened if she hadn't freed the Avatar. She had done that for him. No matter how he saw it he now felt burdened by her demons.

Fate had tied and tangled them up together now and they had been and were currently struggling to stay afloat in the same boat. Zuko felt like he would only be her demise.

She let out a shaky breath, surprised at the skin to skin contact when he wrapped an arm around her shoulders and pulled her close. She wanted to stop crying, she had to stop crying but she just couldn't. She wondered if this is what he felt like all the time. If this was the burden that he had to carry upon his shoulders. She felt even worse for having just brushed past his demons the first time he brought them up to her.

"Tsai," he suddenly spoke. "I promise you," she turned to look at him. His eyes were blazing in the moonlight. "I'm not going to let anyone or anything hurt you. We're going to get it all back," he said determined. "Our nation, our honor, our families." His eyes were hard. "The only way is to capture the Avatar."

Already vulnerable. Her breath caught when she looked at him, his eyes, there was something about them that was different. The grip he had on her shoulder tightened and she could feel a knot forming in her throat her stomach made an involuntary flip. She looked at him, at his scarred face and then at his lips. Her eyes lingered there for a moment and she found herself unable to speak.

"Come on," He said stroking her upper arm. "Let's go," he helped her to her feet.

Xxx

The next day had been more normal. The three of them had spent the morning at the beach. They wore robes that had been provided by the resort . Zuko sat under the shade of an umbrella grumpily watching with his arms crossed.

Being here was a waste of time. He couldn't afford to be here any more while his Uncle and Tsai played in the ocean. The two were knee deep in the water looking around for sea shells and conches. Iroh had never had a daughter but he assumed this is what it would've been like.

"Look Iroh!" She said picking up a large conch that she had to hold with both of hers hands. It was large and pink with swirls of violet. They had a conversation which was inaudible to Zuko. Last night had been different... he thought to himself as he shifted uncomfortably in the sand. He had always had few friends but he had certainly never divulged such raw emotions to another human being, much less a girl for that matter.

He heard a horn being blown and saw the girl from the colonies and his uncle laughing as she blew into a conch letting the song of the sea play. The two of them shared a laugh.

Some moments later they returned to the living room of the resort house. Iroh smiled happily as he walked in he carefully dumped the contents of the small satchel he was carrying onto the table, the various shells and gifts from the sea tumbling out. Tsai did the same smiling broadly.

"Look at these magnificent shells!" Iroh exclaimed as he held up one of the shells to show Zuko then picked up a conch shell that Tsai had picked out, "I'll enjoy these keepsakes for years to come."

"Do you think we could make them into bracelets?" She suggested. Already thinking that the three could wear a set of cheesy matching seashell accessories. Iroh was about to respond when Zuko interrupted.

Sometimes he thought his uncle loved her more than he loved him and the thought drove him mad.

"We don't need any more useless things!" Zuko snapped angrily as he threw his hands in the air in exasperation at his uncle and the teen. "You two forget, we have to carry everything ourselves now!"

The room grew silent as a strange voice intruded.

"Hello, brother. Uncle."

Zuko whirled around and his eyes narrowed as he glared at his sister, Azula, who was ominously sitting in a dark corner of the room with her feet propped up on the other table in the room.

"What are you doing here?" The scarred teen snarled angrily.

'Brother?! So this was the Fire Nation's princess.' Tsai had only heard rumors about Azula back in Yu Dao. The Upper Circle nobles from the colonies had never seen her. However, the rumors were that she was a fire prodigy; she was rumored to be both beautiful and deathly. She could instantly see the resemblance as both siblings shared the same features, golden eyes, pale faces and thick black hair. Except in contrast to Azula there was something about Zuko that made him seemed more untamed, perhaps. more human was a better way to put it. Azula moved gracefully almost as if every movement had been calculated to perfection and rehearsed. Even her hair was parted perfectly in the middle of her symmetrical face. Not a single hair was out of place.

"In my country, we exchange a pleasant hello before asking questions." Azula snipped in a mock-pleasant tone as she held up a shell then stood up and walked over to the three of them "Have you become uncivilized so soon, Zuzu?"

Tsai couldn't help but giggle at the nickname 'Zuzu, really?'

"Don't call me that!" Zuko hissed furiously, embarrassed at the nickname. His fists clenched at his sides as he glared at her his eyes shifted around he room, he did not want Tsai knowing that was the stupid nickname his sister had given him.

"And you must be Tsai of Yu Dao," Azula raised an eyebrow in intrigued. Her eyes wondered every inch of Tsai's body from her smallest toe to the tip of her auburn hair as they raked in her body. "Oh, We've heard all about you," she said smugly looking down on the other teen. "I've gotta say Zuko, she really is a step down from Mai. Including the tacky red-head," she scoffed. "You could do better," she said maliciously with a wicked grin.

"Hey!" Tsai protested with an angry expression giving a step forward but Iroh held her back grabbing onto her sleeve holding her in place.

"To what do we owe this honor?" Iroh cut in quickly, even though his tone was clearly upset.

"Hmm...must be a family trait. Both of you so quick to the point." Azula mused then smirked cruelly as she shattered a shell in her hand with her tight hand grip, her smirk growing at the angry look Iroh sent her. Tsai was also glaring daggers at her. Her hair wasn't tacky! And more importantly. Who in the hell was Mai? Also just who did she think she was to talk to her like that?

"I've come with a message from home. Father's changed his mind." She played with her hair. "Family is suddenly very important to him. He's heard rumors of plans to overthrow him; treacherous plots," Her eyes landed on the red-head in front of her for a second. The vile smirk on her face stretched even wider at the mention of the treason of the Vice Royal family of Yu Dao.

"Family are the only ones you can trust now" Azula said sweetly then paused briefly as she looked at Zuko, "Father regrets your banishment. He wants you home."

Silence was her only response and her eyes narrowed as she glared at her older brother. Zuko turned away from his sister. Instead he turned to face the open window where the light breeze blew. He looked at the pink plum blossom trees that swayed with the wind. Tsai reached for his arm. There was something she didn't like about this.

"Did you hear me?" She demanded angrily as she ran her fingers through her bangs, "You should be happy. Excited. Grateful. I just gave you great news."

"I'm sure your brother simply needs a moment." Iroh explained as he watched Azula warily his eyes bleeding with suspicion.

"Don't interrupt, Uncle!" the princess snarled at the older man then looked at Zuko condescendingly, "I still haven't heard my thank you. I'm not a messenger. I didn't have to come all this way."

Tsai wasn't sure what to say - what to do. It wasn't her place to speak. This was clearly a family affair that she was meddling in, but she loathed the way that Azula spoke to Iroh.

"Father regrets?" Zuko asked in surprise as he looked at his sister in shock, "He...wants me back?"

"I can see you need time to take this in." Azula commented drily as she started towards the door of the home. "And in regards of you,"she turned and flashed Tsai an intense glare. She couldn't tell if it was one of distaste or interest. It was hard to tell with her maniacal persona.

"You best pray my father takes pity on you. Then again, he's not much of a forgiving man."

Her jaw tightened at her words. Blood running cold.

"I'll come to call on you tomorrow. Good evening."

Zuko stared at the floor blankly as he pondered everything his sister had just said while Iroh watched him worriedly his eyes clouded with concern.

xxx

"We're going home!" Zuko stated excitedly as he packed his belongings up, "After three long years, it's unbelievable!"

Tsai had never seen Zuko in such a good mood. He almost moved like a spring buck almost as if a massive load had been lifted off from his shoulders.

Iroh stared out the window of the small house and stroked his beard thoughtfully, "It is unbelievable. I have never known my brother to regret anything or to be the forgiving kind." He said pensively.

"More like you're going home. And what am I supposed to do?" The girl said upset as she rose from her seat on the ground. "You really think the Fire Lord is going to pardon me for my treachery? Let me family go just like that?"

"Did you listen to Azula? Father's realized how important family is to him!" Zuko retorted in irritation, "He won't hurt you if I ask him to." Zuko said as he packed the little belongings that he had with him. There was something in her gut that twisted uneasily and told her otherwise. She looked at him with uncertainty. "He cares about me!" Zuko said almost with glee.

"I care about you!" Iroh snapped back as he turned to face his obstinate uncle with his arms spread out slightly, "And if Ozai wants you back, well, I think it may not be for the reasons you imagine."

Zuko turned his back on Iroh, his shoulders tense, "You don't know how my father feels about me. You don't know anything!"

"Zuko," Iroh said softly in an attempt to placate the scarred prince, "I only meant that in our family, things are not always what they seem."

"I think you are exactly what you seem!" Zuko snarled as he whirled around to glare at his uncle, "A lazy, mistrustful, shallow old man who's always been jealous of his brother!"

"Hey!" Tsai's voice roared and echoed the small house. She had never raised her voice at somebody like that. It was one thing not to meddle in family affairs, but he had crossed the line. The sad expression on Iroh's face broke her heart. Zuko turned to see the scowl on his face. "Need I remind you have no business here. Colonial pest..." He uttered under his breath.

Her eyes went wide with hurt. And here she thought he had changed. She was so angry at herself. Angry for believing his façade. For thinking he would actually change. For actually allowing herself to develop feelings for him. Zuko stormed out of the small house and into the night. Iroh's heart hurting slightly he sighed and lowered his head.

"Forgive my nephew, he often speaks before he thinks."

Tsai lowered her eyes.

"I don't know how much more I can forgive."

Iroh remained silent.

"Iroh, I don't think I can go with you tomorrow." She spoke after a moment of silence. "Frankly, I don't trust Azula, and I don't believe the Fire Lord to be the forgiving kind. Tomorrow morning I'm taking off on my own."

Iroh simply nodded his head. "I understand. And where will you go?"

She was quiet for a moment. Unsure of what to respond. Where to go. She had lost her home, she had lost everything. She shrugged her arms. "Wherever the wind takes me," she breathed out suddenly feeling the spirit of a bohemian live seem more appealing than a life in prison. "Maybe I'll even be the one to find the Avatar. Who knows?"

"Oh Tsai," Iroh face palmed. "Not you too.." He said with a small frown on his face.

She was quiet for a moment as she pondered her next question.

"Iroh," she began. "Do you-Do you think we are evil? The Fire Nation I mean. When I was in the Water Tribe with the Avatar and his friends. I was called the enemy. People in the streets spat at me and shunned me for sins that are not mine. I tried to explain that everything we did was for the greater good. To share the beauty and power of our nation with the rest of the world just like we have all been taught- but they didn't see it that way. They said... horrible things to me." she said avoiding his golden eyes feeling as if he was analyzing her eyer move and expression.

"Life is neither good or evil, but only a place for good and evil," Iroh spoke wisely as he hid his hands inside of his sleeves appearing even more sage like. "The battle line between good and evil runs thought the heart of every man and woman. The key, like everything is to find the balance. Good and evil. The elements. humans. All should find its place and balance in nature," he explained.

She cocked her head to the side confused by his riddling words and scratched her chin as she thought hard about his words.

"Are you saying that good and evil are subjective?" She questioned.

Iroh let out a sigh and shook his head as this philosophical conversation was not going as he had intended too. He presumed the girl was still too young to comprehend such abstract topics.

"Why don't you put some tea?" he asked with a small smile.

Xxx

The next morning. Zuko walked down almost skipping down the stone staircase towards the docks where he could see Azula's Royal warship waiting, his belongings slung over his shoulder. The wind was crisp and fresh, skies were clear. Zuko found himself walking a little taller today. After three long years in exile he was finally going home. He would no longer be the banished prince. His father was ready to receive him with warm open arms.

"Wait! Don't leave without me!"

He paused and turned, setting his pack down and smiled. "Uncle! You've changed your mind."

"Family sticks together, right?" Iroh stated with a small smile as he placed a hand on his nephew's shoulder.

Zuko smiled slightly as he remembered his father resting his hand on his shoulder when he was younger. He looked over Iroh's shoulder to see if by any chance Tsai would've tailed behind him but there was no sign of her. She had refused to leave the room this morning after their fight last night. A part of him couldn't believe it would be the last time he would see her... He had royally screwed up this time. The scarred prince shook his head slightly and turned back to look at the ship again.

"We're finally going home!" He said excitedly as he attempted to shake the dark cloud from raining on his parade.

However the slow seemed to grow larger and larger with each step he gave until it clouded his mind and made him cave.

"Where is Tsai?" He asked before descending. "Tsai," Iroh sighed. "Has made a decision not to continue her journey with us." "What?" Zuko once again dropped his sack in surprise. "So you're just going to let her stay here? Alone?" He raised his voice instantly becoming aggravated. "She made her own decision and after your behavior last night and frankly I am not surprised," Iroh shook his head looking at his nephew with disappointment. "You have to think before you act Zuko. I know you did not mean what you said but a woman's heart is a sensitive and very complex affair."

Zuko looked at the top of the stairs and made an impulsive run for it. However was stopped by his uncle.

"Let her go." He said wisely. "If she doesn't come back it was never meant to be." He looked at his uncle with hard eyes and back to the top of the stairs where nobody stood. Before turning away and resuming their descent. He wondered if their paths would ever meet again. Where would she even go? It's not like she could return home.

Iroh frowned slightly as he looked at Azula's ship with suspicion following his nephew.

Iroh watched the soldiers standing on either side of the dock cautiously as he and Zuko made their way towards the ramp of the ship where Azula was standing quietly at the top of the ramp with two more soldiers on either side of her.

"Brother! Uncle! Welcome!" Azula greeted warmly as Zuko and Iroh stopped a little bit in front of the ship's captain at the bottom of the ramp and the three bowed to each other, "I'm so glad you decided to come." Two rows of at least a dozen Fire Nation soldiers stood behind them.

"Wait!" somebody shouted from behind. The sea of soldiers parted open to reveal the girl from the colonies standing at the very end of the stone bridge. She stood catching her breath slightly and leaned over resting her palms on her bent knees as she regained her composire. She wore her usual ochre colored long sleeved blouse and her brown skirt and above the knee boots. Her long auburn hair was worn half up and she carried a sack with her few belongings over her shoulder. "Wait!" She caught her breath as she approached Iroh and Zuko at the very front leaning forward resting the palms of her hands on her knees once again.

Zuko would never admit it but a part of him was happy to know she would be rejoining them in their journey.

Iroh's eyes opened slightly and he looked at the soldiers suspiciously then he straightened, the two lines of soldiers fell in line behind Zuko, Tsai and Iroh, closing the aisle the three of them had walked through a moment ago.

"Have you decided to come and beg for mercy before my father you half-breed mutt?" Azula taunted maliciously a vile twinkled in her eyes.

Tsai's flinched at the insult. The fact that her mother was from the Earth Nation and that her father was from the Fire Nation had always been a touchy taboo subject amongst the Upper Circles of Fire Nation officials.

"Hey!" She was surprised to see Zuko come to her defense. He glared at Azula angry and the girl simply shrugged flipping a strand of hair back into place.

"I just came to say goodbye," She turned to look at Iroh and then at Zuko with sadness clouding her warm eyes. "Aw, how touching," Azula said mockingly rolling her eyes. She really didn't have time for these sappy moments.

"Are we ready to depart, Your Highness?" The captain asked as he turned and walked forward slightly to stand at the very end of the ramp.

Iroh hugged her tightly as they bid their goodbyes.

"Tsai," Zuko turned to face her. "Home...," he whispered. "Come home with us! I promise you I won't allow anything to happen to you. I'll convince my father to pardon you. To pardon your family. I'm sure he'll understand once we explain," he spoke in a hopeful tone. Her eyes lingered on the stoney ground. She shook her head side to side. "No... I'm sorry," she whispered. "Goodbye." She said looking at him Zuko with hard eyes.

There was something about this entire situation that made her feel ill.

"Set our course for home, captain." Azula instructed sweetly as the auburn haired girl stepped back.

"You heard the princess!" The captain barked, raising his hand as he walked up the ramp, "Raise the anchors! We're taking the prisoners home!"

The captain's eyes went wide when he realized his mistake and he looked at Azula, whose expression when from surprised to furious in less than a hot second.

"Your Highness, I..." The captain started nervously just as Iroh narrowed his eyes and he suddenly attacked the guards, pushing them off the edge of the walkway and sending fire blasts at them.

Zuko snarled as he stomped furiously up the ramp, throwing the captain off as he stalked past him.

"You lied to me!" He shouted as he glared at his sister angrily, still standing several feet away from her on the ramp.

"Like I've never done that before." Azula retorted smugly as she turned her back on Zuko, waving her hand slightly and the two guards standing on either side of her suddenly shot fire blasts at the banished prince.

Zuko crossed his arms then spread them outward quickly, deflecting the attacks. He shouted angrily as he charged onto the ship to chase after his younger sister.

Zuko snarled as he leapt onto the deck of his sister's ship and sent two fire blasts at the guards, knocking them off the ship. He spun around to face Azula, who was standing patiently several feet away with her back turned and her hands clasped behind her. Azula glanced over her shoulder and smirked at her brother condescendingly. Zuko's fists clenched and fire daggers appeared as he prepared to attack his sister.

"Zuko!" Iroh shouted from the dock where he was still attacking the guards, "Let's go!" Tsai did the best to handle herself and had just kicked a guard into the ocean water.

The former general tossed one of the guards over the edge then stepped to the side to the side to avoid another guard's attack.

Zuko ignored his uncle and charged at Azula with his fire daggers, attempting to strike her with them but the princess easily dodged all of his blows with a smirk firmly on her young face. Zuko bared his teeth as he continued to attack his sister as she continued to dodge backwards. Zuko brought his right hand down in an attempt to land another blow. However Azula blocked his attack with her forearm then grabbed his wrist with one hand and slipped her wrist against the crook of his elbow. She swung him around easily and shoved him away from her, smirking as he panted.

"You know father blames Uncle for the loss of the North Pole." Azula taunted him maliciously, her smirk widening, "And he considers you a miserable failure for not finding the Avatar! Why would he want you back home, except to lock you up where you can no longer embarrass him?"

Zuko snarled and conjured two fire daggers again then leapt into the air and sent a powerful fire blast at Azula using his foot. The princess smirked and jumped away, landing safely several feet away in a crouch. The banished prince charged at her as she rose to her feet, dodging the blows her furious brother attempted land on her as she backed up further.

Azula lashed out at Zuko suddenly, leaving three scratch marks on his temple which caused Zuko to fall back. The scarred prince roared and charged at Azula again, swinging his fire daggers viciously at her, but she continued to dodge and block his attacks easily as she backed up the steps leading to the command tower of the ship.

The two fighting siblings reached the top of the stairs and Azula grabbed hold of Zuko's arm and the two stare at each other silently for a few seconds then Zuko's eyes went wide alarmed and Azula smirked. She then launched blue flames at Zuko, knocking him off his feet and back down the stairs to land on the deck.

Zuko pushed himself up slightly and turned his head to look at his sister, his vision blurred from the blow as well as the light of the flames. His vision focused on Azula just as she began moving her arms in a circular motion, lightning beginning to crackle at her fingertips.

Azula sneered as she prepared to fire the lightning bolt at her brother but her attack was suddenly halted when Iroh grabbed hold of her right hand and twisted around, redirecting the lightning towards a far-off cliff side. The former general quickly twisted Azula's arm, causing her to bend backwards. Tsai then stepped in and using all of her leg strength kicked Azula her off the ship roughly, causing her to land in the water with a loud splash.

Iroh rushed towards Zuko and grabbed his nephew by the arm and the trio raced away from the ship as far and as fast as they could, heading back up the stone stairs and towards into the lost woods.

Normally Tsai would've rubbed in Zuko's face that she was right and that he owed both her and Uncle Iroh an apology but it was not the time. They had to get out of here fast.

xxx

Azula stood on the porch of the main building of the village resort her uncle and brother had been staying at, her eyes narrowed as she looked at the gathered crowd with two Royal Procession guards standing behind her.

"Anyone who harbors these traitors will face the wrath of the Fire Lord!" The Fire Nation Princess snarled angrily as she held up the wanted poster with Zuko, Iroh and Tsai's portraits painted on it. She laid one hand on the balcony, sneering when the residents cowered away in fear, "There will be no place left to hide!"

Zuko, Tsai and Iroh panted as they raced along the river away from the village resort, away from Azula and the Fire Nation. The three finally came to a stop and Zuko and his uncle fell to ground beside the river, catching their harsh breaths. Tsai leaned against the tree catching her own.

"I think we're safe here." Iroh said after his breathing slowed and helooked around carefully, then he looked at his silent nephew.

"I told you so-" Tsai breathed. "I told you so! So did Uncle Iroh!" She called out. However, her declarations fell to silent ears. She turned to see Zuko starring at the flowing water before him then pulled out a small dagger and held it up, the blade reflecting the sunlight. Iroh closed his eyes sadly for a moment then watched as his nephew held the knife under his ponytail.

She looked at them sadly. Their hair... It was was connected them to the Royal family. To their nation. It was a part of them just as much as they were both a part of the Royal Fire Nation family.

Zuko shut his eyes tightly and sliced his ponytail off then he held the dagger out to Iroh without looking at him as he stared at his ponytail in his hand. Iroh took the dagger and cut off his topknot, holding it in his hand. The banished prince stared at the ponytail for a moment then let it fall from his and into the river, watching as it along with his uncle's topknot float down the river.

The two kneeled quietly beside the river as they processed the magnitude of what had just transpired. And just like that they had just renounced to their royal titles. She looked at them with uncertainty and Iroh turned to look at her.

"Your hair," he said looking at her odd colored hair. "It's going to be a problem," he said raising in her direction. She ran a hand through her long hair which almost reached down to her mid back. She held it in her hands tightly. She couldn't. She possible couldn't...

xxx

"My brother and my uncle have disgraced the Fire Lord, and have brought shame on all of us!" Azula declared. "And that little red haired minx," she thought of the angry expression on the colonial girl's face. "That red haired little minx..." Azula repeated more to herself this time...

A sly smiled spread across her pink tinted lips in fascination. She would be hers.

xxx

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CHAPTER MASTERLIST

[wolferals]

👄 whiskey lips*👄

arón piper imagine

*

„Hey y/n... shh wake up."

I was woken by someone shaking my shoulder.

It was Alvaro, I figured after opening my eyes and being hit by the sunlight right into em.

„Huh?" I asked tired and slowly sat up.

Thats when I realized I really had fallen asleep at the beach.

I slowly looked around and saw that the boys were gone.

„The guys are back at the house. You are burned."

He spoke in his cute accent.

I scanned my body and saw that, in fact, i was really red. Well I didnt use sunscreen because I just came down to the beach to bring Arón his phone which he had forgotten. Then we ended up splashing each other in the water and then I unfortunately fell asleep.

„Yeah. Uh thanks for waking me. Let's go."

I got up, grabbed my bag and walked next to Alvaro back up to the house Ally, their manager, had rented for us for a couple of days to get some rest from all the traveling lately.

„When did the guys leave?"

I asked Alvaro when we walked up the stairs.

„Like uhm... 10 minutes ago."

I nodded. „Okay."

Alvaro and I didnt really talk the rest of the walk. Not because we dont like each other, it was more because Alvaro was a rather shy guy and so was I. So no one ever started a conversation.

I do like Alvaro, but i feel like we just dont have too much in common.

When we arrived at the house I walked in first, directly to my room to immediately moisturize my skin from the already burned incident.

Then I took off my bikini and put on a comfy bra, a big shirt and some shorts before walking downstairs meeting the guys in the living room.

Arón, Itzan and Omar were shirtless, for whatever reason. I mean Miguel and Alvaro survived as well even tho they were wearing shirts.

„Hey sleeping beauty, uh damn u got burned."

Itzan said and put away his phone looking at me grinning.

„Didnt you use any sunscreen?"

Omar asked then and started laughing like crazy seeing my beetroot red face.

„Noo, because I never meant to fall asleep. Why didnt any of you wake me?"

-„Arón wanted to but we felt bad because you were sleeping like a baby."

Aw he wanted to wake me because Arón knew I would get burned, i told him before.

„Well..." was all I was able to say before Itzan pulled me down at my shorts making me sit next to him on the couch with me legs on his lap. „So girl, how you doin in general?"

Itzan grinned at me, then touching my cheek trying to feel up my sunburned skin.

„Im okay."

-„Can we watch a movie and order some food?"

I then suggested and looked at all the guys.

„Actually Omar cooked for us. But for a movie Im totally in. Lord of the Rings?"

Arón words made me smile. He remembered how much I loved Lord of the rings.

The rest of the guys apparently noticed mine and Arón's staring because they started making kissing noises and i heard stuff like „uhh guys hitting it off hard" of „Arón get her".

We all started laughing and Itzan grabbed my leg and said:"Yo Arón, she's my babe tho, u can have her but first u gotta pass me."

I hit him in the shoulder. Not for the „she's mine", for the „u can have her".

I've always seen Arón as an amazing guy. He's beautiful as hell, has the nicest personality ever, is caring and loving yet he hasnt had a good girlfriend at all.

Thats why he's mostly really awkward around me, he just doesnt know how to behave around a girl. Especially a girl that keeps staring at him, preserving his beauty.

„Alright let's watch a movie."

Miguel spoke and we set up the movie and Alvaro brought in the food spreading it within us.

*

About an hour into the first movie my head kept falling down and my eyes got really heavy. I felt bad because they were watching the movie because of me but i got so tired that I just got up and said:"I'm gonna go sleep. Nighty guys."

-„Ey! No kiss for papá?" Omar asked confused grabbing my arm.

„No way. You'll get a hug but thats it."

He seemed pissed but nodded. So I gave him a hug, said good night to the rest of the boys and headed upstairs.

The moment I opened the bathroom door I heard a „Wait"

from behind me.

„Arón." i smiled.

„Whats up?"

He came up to me and asked rather shyly:"Might I get a goodnight hug too?"

I smiled even wider from all his cuteness.

I took a step closer to him and pulled him in a nice warm hug. He put his arms around my waist and held me really close for a while, giving me the opportunity to inhale his sweet scent of the chocolate he had eaten before.

„Buenas noches y/n." he then whispered and smiled at me.

„Goodnight Arón." i giggled and entered the bathroom real quick.

I have never giggled from anything a guy has said.

What is he doing to me?

Without thinking about it, I got ready for bed. When I changed into my pants I noticed something in my back pocket.

It was a little note saying:"You looked pretty today."

Was that from Arón? But it seems more like something Miguel would say. I was wearing those pants sleeping at the beach, so everyone could've put it in my pocket tho...

I then walked to my room, snuggled into bed and watched some videos before putting my phone aside and turning off the lights.

I still heard the guys downstairs but I just ignored it and tried to sleep. Unfortunately I couldn't because they were talking really loud, so I slowly headed back downstairs.

„Hey uh guys?"

They all turned around to look at me.

„Could you please keep it down a little bit?"

They nodded and Alvaro said:"Of course y/n. Everything for you."

This led to even more noise coming from the guys.

All except Arón.

Where was he?

„Night."

I went back to my room and kept staring into the dark, still thinking about the note. I dont know the guys' handwritings so it really could've been everyone.

And still i was wondering where Arón had been.

Something that second made me get up to walk to his room.

I knocked at the door lightly and got a „yeah" response.

I slowly opened the door and saw Arón sitting on his bed with a lot of polaroids in front of him.

„Hey?" he spoke, which sounded a little bit like a question. „I didnt know you collected polaroids."

Before he could answer I sat next to him on the bed, looking at the photos.

„Yeah uh my mom got me a polaroid camera for my birthday and i kind of like to capture moments on instant film."

This simple fact made me go crazy. I've always been a big fan of polaroid cameras, i had 4 to be honest:D

„Thats amazing."

I looked into his eyes and saw the sincere agreement in his brown puppy eyes.

„Can I take a picture of you?"

He then asked rather shyly and smiled at me.

I laughed a little embarrassed because i really hate it when people take pictures of me.

„O-okay." I answered and smiled back.

-„Smile for me." Arón took a camera and held it in front of me.

„No wait."

-„yeah?"

I laughed again and said:"Lets take one together."

He hesitated for a second but then agreed and I sat right next to him.

„Alright, ready?"

I looked at him smiling and nodded before looking back at the camera.

-„I,2,3."

And the flash went off. Seconds later the instax wide film came out of the camera and I took it with my left hand.

„Dont shake it." Arón said.

I gave him a serious look and spoke:"I know. I have a polaroid myself."

He grinned, then took the picture out of my hand and we kept staring at it as it was developing.

When it was clear i started smiling. I was smiling into the camera while Arón stuck his tongue out looking at me.

It was honestly super cute.

„Here." He gave it back to me.

„You keep it."

I smiled ever wider but then said:"No its your film. You bought it, that shit is expensive."

Arón grinned again and then simply added:"No you keep the picture and in return we take some more with my phone, then i got some too."

Laughing I agreed. He took his phone and we started taking some selfies.

At first we really took it serious to take some pretty pictures but at some point we didnt care anymore and were just goofying around.

„I love this one." i laughed and scrolled through his phone.

I was having a lot of fun and I guess Arón did too because I have never seen this guy so happy. Laughing all the time and he literally got out of his comfort zone I could see that.

Usually he was really serious but right now he was relaxed and seemed to be happy.

Which made me happy since I knew about his past and all.

„Send them to me!" I laughed and looked at him as he was looking at the pictures himself. He was honestly so beautiful, jesus christ.

„Do u think the guys are still downstairs?"

He asked without looking up.

„Should we check?"

-„Yeah."

Arón and I then walked through the hallway. The guys made some noise so they were obviously still downstairs.

„Hey guys." I said and jumped onto the couch sitting next to Omar.

„I thought u wanted to sleep dude." He hit Arón in the leg as he sat down as well.

„Yeah but i couldnt. I met Y/n on the hallway when I went to the bathroom and we decided to join u guys again."

Wait what?

He really denied hanging out with me. Was he embarrassed?

„Nice. We actually wanted to hit this beach bar in 30. Do you guys want to come with us?"

Miguel spoke.

Im actually not a big fan of partying but right now i was bored as hell and since i love dancing, why not?

„Im in." i said.

All the boys looked at me in confusion because I usually never go out with me. They know how much I hate clubs and alcohol.

„Wow okay. Arónsky?"

Arón shook his head.

„Oh come on dude. Even y/n is going."

-„Nah I'm not in the mood to partying."

I looked at Arón and decided to work my female charme to make him go with us. „Aróny, please come with us. For me."

The guys started groaning again but Arón started laughing.

„Alright. But no one is going to make me drink anything tonight."

So we got up to get ready for the beach party event we saw a sign of.

„Back in the living room in 30 okay party people?"

Omar ordered and we all went into our rooms.

*

*

After 10 minutes of staring at my closet I decided to wear a boho dress Ive bought recently. Since it was very hot out still I only needed the dress and some shoes.

I then applied some make up, not too much though, and put my hair into a half up bun.

Then I went downstairs where I met Itzan looking just fine as always. I gasped because he looked so good. The loose shirt made him look even broader.

„Damn girl u look hot."

He grinned and put some dished into the sink.

„I could say the same about you Itzan."

He laughed a little and then came up to me.

„I like it, a lot actually."

He scanned my body, making me slightly uncomfortable.

„Thanks." i whispered and looked to the ground.

„Nah come on, look at me."

He lifted my chin with his thumb. When my eyes met his soft brown ones he smiled and mumbled:"You'll dance with me tonight, im telling you."

I laughed a little, of course I would dance with this guy. He's a god on the dance floor and I could learn a lot from him.

„Oyy guys." I immediately stepped back and turned around.

„Oh y/n lookin good!" Omar cheered and came down to us.

„Thanks." I smiled and then sat onto the couch with my phone in my hands.

„Alright I'm done." I heard Arón's voice coming from the stairs.

Fuck he looked good. Itzan looked hot, yeah, but Arón's outfit gave me chills everywhere.

„Wow." i whispered and looked at him.

Apparently I said it louder than i thought because Omar started making kissing noises again and Arón looked down slightly embarrassed.

Fuck...

„Chicos y Chica, estamos aquí."

Alvaro and Miguel ran downstairs looking good as well.

„Alright lets hit the party."

Itzan grabbed my hand and pulled me with him, outside the house.

„Jeez Itz. Chill. Im coming."

He laughed with his funny dirty laugh and started running down the stairs to the beach with me on his arm.

„Guys hurry up!" he yelled back to the guys who were just laughing at his eager running.

*

When we all had arrived at the bar we already heard some good latin music playing and people dancing.

„See u later guys, y/n follow me."

-„Wait what?"

Before I understood what was going on, Itzan had pulled me with him to the bar.

„Have a drink and then we'll dance." I laughed and nodded. „Alright, but only one. I hate being drunk."

Itzan knew that I hated it so he understood and ordered me a Sex on the beach. (Classic him:D)

For himself he got a Bacardi-Cola and some shot I didnt even know.

„And go." We chugged our drinks really fast and once the glasses were empty, he pulled me (again) to the dance floor. He started moving his hips right away and I was feeling a little uncomfortable but after a while I got more and more fluent in my motions and at some point Itzan and I were grinding against each other (in a non-sexual way tho) and I was having a lot of fun.

Itzan was such an amazing dancer and guy but still i had feelings for Arón and i definitely wanted to dance with him after that. Itzan spun me around so his stomach was touching my back. I could feel his abs just right and his breath against my neck.

„Me gusta como tu mueves tus caderas baby." he whispered in my ear giving me chills.

I didnt understand what he said since I dont speak Spanish yet he turned me on somehow.

But no! I like Arón, not Itzan.

„Do you want to get out of here hun?"

I immediately turned around and looked at Itzan who was biting his lower lip.

„Itz I'm sorry... But i honestly like Arón a lot and uh I dont want to hurt you, you're amazing at dancing but dont hate me for saying that."

He smiled and answered against the loud music:"I knew you liked him. Even though you're beautiful as hell and I'd love to have u as well. But im fine, you go girl. Get your man." Once I turned around I saw Arón dancing with a girl.

And it was not just dancing, they were basically all over each other. He met my eyes, looked at me for a second and then didnt even hesitate and grabbed her face to kiss her.

My mouth fell open and I stared at them kissing for a while before something in my brain reacted without thinking.

I turned back to Itzan and pressed my lips onto his. He kissed back immediately and i put both of my hands on his half exposed chest.

Then I turned us over so I could watch Arón in the corner of my eye. He did the same. We were kissing other people but staring into each others souls like we're crazy.

But he started it. And i wouldnt be ready to make him win. I pulled away from Itzan, bit my lower lip and said:“Lets go."

He grinned, grabbed my hand again and we left the party. I turned around, meeting Arón's look once again. He looked confused.

Well i wasnt planning on sleeping with Itzan, i just wanted Arón to believe i would.

We walked away from the beach party until I spoke:"Can we please just go somewhere else? I need to get away for a little." He looked at you in confusion but then seemed to read your face and nodded. „Claro." You two then made your way back to the house where your plan was to turn on some music and have your own party.

The second you had entered your bedroom to get changed, you heard the front door open and a girls laugh downstairs. Immediately you walked out the room again and looked down to see Arón kissing that same girl from the party. No, no, no! You swallowed and thought about it for a while but then decided to destroy this. You knew he was playing. Quickly you made your way downstairs and coughed to make them both look at you. „Hey." you spoke with a fake pissed tone. „Baby who the fuck is she?"

Arón looked at you confused. „Baby?" the girl asked and looked between the two of you.

„Your girlfriend?"

You then walked towards her and spoke:"Yes, bitch get the hell outta here."

Before saying anything else she left the house, looking very pissed.

„What the fuck y/n?" Arón walked up to you and grabbed your arm. For a bit you just looked at him and then did something you couldnt believe alcohol had made you do. You grabbed him by the neck and kissed him. Just like this. He kissed back but seemed to hesitate a bit.

The kiss didnt last too long because he pulled away eventually.

„You bitch." he spoke and it shocked you. His face was straight and he stepped back. But he then started to grin and you calmed down again. He didnt actually mean it.

„You did this shit with Itzan to make me jealous hm?" He came closer to you, making you step backwards. „Hm?" he asked again

You swallowed. He was so fucking hot.

„Maybe."

He grinned and pushed you further backwards until your back hit the kitchen counter.

„Speechless much hm y/n?"

His cockiness turned you on.

You just shook your head. „No."

Before you knew, his whiskey lips were back on yours, making you close your eyes.

He basically owned you that moment. And it was all you wanted.

After pulling away he grabbed your hand and wanted to pull you out the house. „What are you-?"

He laughed and leaned down to whisper in your ear:"We're going back to the beach but this time you'll be grindin that ass on me alright?"

[peachpitmp3]

oh don't worry!!! and tbf i took. just as long to reply so,, ig we're even? my bad-

it used to be reading,,,, y eah.

being a ghost in general >>>. yeah. hi so i'm going to need to steal this for my discord status /hj. IT'S SO TRUE, AND MAYBE THIS HAS SOMETHING TO DO WITH MY GHOST OBSESSION BUT !!!

PINECONE !!!! YES. ABSOLUTELY. "anyways yeah i would simply exist ™ and vibe and vibe and vibe and i’d be in the forest and it would be so gender." you are so right, i love that so much lmao.

DUDE. all of those sound insanely good and cool and amazing, and i hope you get to write them!! mbs x jatp au- i mean. and pirate!flarrie au??? incredible.

oooh i love that!! pretty voice >>. but also yes, luring people to their deaths is absolutely a plus /j.

hmmm i'd go with dragon, i think. typical but very cool. and of course, if we're counting ghosts as mythical creatures, then ghosts. because !! floating and being able to Exist Without Disturbing sounds. so nice. HFSDKFJL i had not actually head about that, but i love that. idk if i would actually use it in a serious manner, but i think that's a fun comparison. king of scars, radio silence, and solitaire. i actually got king of scars from the library, but i haven't started it so,, lmao yep.

probably the over-the-top cheesy and Heterosexual romance novels, but i don't know if that's an official genre. i don't really like reading horror ig, and the thought of historical novels is meh but i would probably enjoy it. i do, and i think my past self would find it absolutely insane that i have good friends, friends who are online, and that i'm out to people. younger me was also much more annoying and in general,,,, yeesh. i'd like to think i'm a better version than younger me?

what do you think your past self would think of you now? if you made a playlist with a very specific title to describe your current mood, what would it be? what was your last hyperfixation? what is something you wish you had the nerves to do? - 🌵

dude ghost obsession is so so valid honestly. such a mood and i feel like you might be giving me a ghost obsession at this point. i'm not mad about it.

pinecone <33 my gender <33 wow looking at that sentence you quoted i was incredibly incoherent but i'm glad you agree lol

eeee thank you !! my jatp hyperfixation is very rapidly fading but it's still fun to think about lol

no no you're right it is a plus /hj

oooh dragons are sick !! solid choice !! and of course, ghosts, yes, naturally, iconic.

dude i heard it literally once adn i got obsessed with it. i have yet to use it in a sentence but that's okay !! AAAAH radio silence my BELOVEDEST. so true. solitaire is also so good!! i haven't read king of scars but i heard it's good so !! nice !!!

okay no that's absolutely a genre lmao. such a mood i physically cannot bring myself to read those anymore. oooh yeah historical novels are tricky tricky i feel like they're real hit or miss and i never have any real motivation to read them lol.

okay do not hate on younger you !! younger you made it possible for you to be as amazing and vibey and iconic as you are today so i will not stand for this slander >:( no matter how terrible you may have been >:(

that being said i was an absolute monster of a child and as much as i hate my current age and phase of existence,,, i would rather get a sunburn on my ass than be my 7th grade self again. my past self would probably be very disappointed that i haven't really. done anything with my life? they would probably also be confused because i didn't really realize gay people existed for a WHILE. idk they probably wouldn't like me but that's fine. i don't like them either lmao.

oooh that's an amazing question. uhm... i'd say "please brain for the love of god let me sleep" and it would have loud music in it because for some reason that's easy to fall asleep to.

my last hyperfixation was for sure JATP. it's coming to an end very steadily adn i am not happy about it. something i wish i had the nerves to do was join group calls!! a bunch of my friends on discord always are on those and i just... can never break past the wall and join them. it's weird.

if you made a playlist with a very specific title to describe your current mood, what would it be? do you go through hyperfixations quickly or slowly? describe how you would decorate your ideal bedroom/what it would look like? what is something you wish you had the nerves to do?

[ethereousdelirious]

this was meant to be pure sickfic but it evolved into Sickfic With Feelings (tm) and I’m super embarrassed about that for some reason so pls be nice to me ;;

Fandom: C.ritical R.ole Campaign 1

Characters: Mainly T.ary and V.ax

Pairings: N/A

Tropes: That thing where the whiny character gets sick and everyone thinks they’re overreacting and then they all feel terrible when it turns out the character was actually downplaying their symptoms, compliant patients, Feelings, slow-ish burn

Summary: This was supposed to be a vehicle for me to explore T.ary’s family trauma and it somehow ended up being about V.ax’s guilt problems and martyr complex lmao. Anyway, T.ary gets sick and V.ax feels bad that everyone was so dismissive of him

Warnings/Notes: emeto!!! also this takes place approximately nowhere in canon, I made everything all up, just try not to think about it too much

Vax took in another breath of cold mountain air, relishing the sting in his lungs, and tried to smile. Vox Machina (sans gnomes) had been trudging through the rocky mountain pass for three days now. Everyone was cold, exhausted, and in desperate need of cheering up.

"Nice day, isn't it?" Vax said to Vex's back.

"Oh, shut up," she said, not bothering to look at him 

"Al-right." Vax clapped his hands once. Despite the cold, it was a nice day, and the watery sun shone through the mist that left them all with a delicate sheen of moisture on their skin.

"Tary thinks it's a nice day," Vax tried again. "Don't you, Tary?

Tary sucked in a long breath  "I have rocks in my boots."

"How?" Keyleth demanded. "They go up to your knees! And you're wearing--" She gestured vaguely downwards. "Knee… armor."

"Greaves," Percy murmured.

"You gotta stop dragging your feet," Grog advised.

"I'm not dragging my feet," Tary protested, his words punctuated by a gasp for breath. Out of all of them, he seemed to be having the hardest time adjusting to the altitude. Paradoxically, this had led to less complaining than Vax had expected. Perhaps Tary couldn't whinge and walk at the same time.

"Gentlemen," Percy said from the front of the line. He had been particularly grumpy these past few days. Vax suspected he wasn't sleeping well on the rocky ground, though his pride would never let him admit it. "I suggest you focus your energy on walking rather than talking. If we make good time we should reach the end of the pass today."

"Alright, alright," Vax said. "I'll be quiet if it means getting out of these gods-forsaken mountains faster.

They returned to their silent trudging, though Vax congratulated himself on easing some of the tensions of the morning, although a tiny part of him he tried to suppress piped up that Scanlan would have done a better job of it.

The peace was short-lived, however, and Vax was sure he could feel their collective stress levels rising when Grog broke the silence: "Tary, pick your feet up."

"I'm sorry," Tary said, sounding dangerously tearful and out of breath. "If we could just stop for a second--"

Vex's shoulders tensed and Percy let out a hissing breath through his nose.

"Maybe in a bit," Vax said, striving for diplomacy. "We really need to make good time, 'less you want to spend another night up here." Gods, but Tary made himself hard to like sometimes.

"No," Tary said hastily. He took a few panting breaths. "I'm sorry, I'll--"

"Knees up," Grog interrupted. "There you go."

Vax hadn't realized how much the sound of boots scraping against gravel had bothered him until it was suddenly gone. Tary had been dragging his feet.

The silence was unexpectedly blissful in the face of so many other discomforts. Vax licked his chapped lips, tasting blood, and undid a few buttons on his undershirt. While his ears and nose still stung with the cold, his cheeks ached with sunburn and the covered parts of his body smoldered beneath layers of cloth and leather. Apart from his clear head, it was an uncomfortable feverish feeling that dragged his mood down by degrees despite his best efforts to keep his spirits up.

He nearly snapped when Tary began to breathe heavily and drag his feet again. How hard was it to just walk? Being an adventurer came with a certain level of leaned stoicism that Tary had nearly mastered-- Or so Vax had thought. Listening to Tary pant like a work-dog, Vax suddenly wasn't so sure. At least Tary wasn't complaining as much as he used to or asking from breaks every ten minutes--

"I'm sorry, can we please stop?"

Or not. "Look, Tary," Vax said, trying to sound more patient and kind than he felt, "we're all tired. Everything you're feeling, we're feeling it too. And the best thing we can do is just keep moving forward."

"Until we stop for lunch," Grog added.

"Right," Vax agreed.

"I'm sorry," Tary said in a small voice. Still gasping between words, still dragging his feet.

"Knees up," Vax reminded him. The tell-tale scrape stopped.

"Attaboy," said Grog, and they all went quiet once again.

It was Keyleth who suggested they stop for lunch, after a murmured conversation with Percy that Vax couldn't quite make out. He certainly had no arguments. His feet ached, his mouth was dry, and he'd had a rock in his boot for the past twenty minutes or so.

Vax collapsed on the spot when they reached it and nearly tipped onto his back due to the harsh grade. At least they were heading downhill. Small victories. "I'm so ready to be done with this," he said, pulling off his boot and shaking the rock out.

"You have no idea," Vex muttered. She looked disheveled, and not in the charming, rugged way she usually did. Her cheeks were aflame with sunburn and her hair was a sweaty, tangled mess. Vax was sure he'd be called upon to brush it later. "What are you staring at?"

"How about up there?" Keyleth said, pointing ahead of them, where a large rock formation blocked the sun, creating a patch of shade big enough for the six of them.

"You look great," Vax told her, and sprang away before she could smack him. His tired muscles protested the movement and he crashed down to earth far harder than he would have liked.

"Stop messing around so we can get moving again," Percy snapped. He, too, was bright red, and his lips were pale and bloody where they had cracked. Vax studied the group in turn while forcing hardtack down his throat. Grog and Keyleth fared much the same as Percy, all flaming red cheeks and peeling lips. While Tary had not escaped getting sunburnt, he was already starting to tan under it, and a few new freckles dotted his forehead. He had found himself a flat rock to sit on, propped himself against the cliff wall, and fallen asleep.

"Bastard," Vax said to wake him up.

Tary opened his eyes. "Me?"

Vax uncorked his water skin and took a long drink. "Look at you, all tan and sexy."

"Ah." Tary flashed a smile that didn't meet his eyes and caused a split on the side of his mouth to open up and start bleeding.

"You'd better eat," Vax said. Tary nodded and Vax turned away to check in with Keyleth.

He was almost feeling better when they got up to leave, only for his mood to drop again, like he'd stepped wrong and walked off the edge of a cliff. He frowned down at the object of his irritation, hands on his hips.

"Leave him there," Percy said, rather unkindly.

Vax bared his teeth and shook his head. "I really thought he was improving."

"If he doesn't shape up after this," Keyleth said in a warning tone, but did not finish the sentence.

Vax tapped the toe of his boot against Tary's breastplate, right where the bottom of his ribcage was. "Come on, Goldie, rise and shine."

Tary jerked awake and looked at Vax in wild-eyed confusion. "Sorry! I'm awake!" He grabbed his bag and leapt to his feet, nearly falling into Vax.

"Steady." Vax caught him, shivering at the cold metal of Tary's armor against his palms. Up close, he looked much worse than Vax had thought, with dark circles under his eyes and a hard set to his jaw. Perhaps he wasn't sleeping well, either.

Vax turned away and fell into line behind Vex, and the familiar dagger-sharp pain flared up in the soles of his feet. He couldn't wait for this trip to be over.

To his surprise, the steep downhill didn't last much longer. The loose gravel gave way to a gentler slope of dirt with ever-increasing patches of grass tall and trees that threw lines of shade across their path.

Percy slowed the group's pace so he could consult the map. "We're almost to the main road," he announced, sighing audibly.

They all let out a collective groan of relief.

Then there was the distinctive scrabbling sound of someone losing their footing and a stern, "Pick your feet up" from Grog, and Vax turned around to see Tary looking worse for wear: his chest heaved with deep, desperate breaths and he was lagging so far behind that Grog was practically stepping on his heels trying to force him to keep pace. Even his posture was abysmal; he looked about three seconds away from doubling over and sobbing.

"Lost my balance," Tary explained with parchment-thin bravado, not meeting Vax's eyes.

"It's almost over," Vax reassured him. "Chin up. We'll do some training later and get you used to being at altitude."

Tary nodded and Vax turned to face forward again before he tripped and brained himself.

Poor Tary. Vax couldn't help but shake his head. With all his naïvete and swagger, he was lucky it was Vox Machina who had found him. Other adventures would certainly have not been so kind and probably would have left him in the mountains instead of just joking about it. But the fact remained that Tary needed to learn to walk the walk as skillfully as he talked the talk, and Vox Machina could only account for so many shortcomings.

Every step was agony. The sky seemed to darken more with every second that passed and Vax had to force himself forward with visions of cozy interiors and free-flowing ale. They were so close; the city gates loomed in the distance, teasing and beckoning.

None of them had the energy to speak and their pace had slowed to a crawl. The road was wide enough for them to fan out, but they continued to march in single file. One wrong move and their single-minded focus would shatter--

Vax froze at the sharp clank of metal greaves colliding with solid earth.

"Oi," said Grog, but Vax was already turning.

Tary had fallen to his knees. His head was bowed and his blond hair hung in his face, obscuring his expression. His knuckles were white around the edges of his breastplate and he was shaking badly enough to make his breath hitch.

Vax tried to feel something other than annoyance at this new show of melodramatics. "C'mon, Tary, we're almost there. You can make it."

Tary pitched sideways and vomited into the grass, narrowing avoiding Vax's boots, which were suede and likely would not have survived the encounter.

"Well," said Vax. "Shit."

"Sorry," Tary breathed, not looking up. "Sorry, sorry, sorry." He had himself propped up on one hand, the other still wrapped tight around his midsection. He stiffened and gagged, cutting himself off, but nothing came up. Vax considered in a strange, detached way that that made sense. None of them had eaten much in the last three days.

Tary dry-heaved again with a choked, broken sound and Vax snapped out of it.

"Grog," he said. "Can you get the others?"

"No need," Grog said with a strange laugh, but Vax had already stopped paying attention.

He knelt beside Tary and pulled his damp hair out of his face; he was soaked in sweat and burning up with fever-- How had none of them noticed?

"Fuck, Tary, I'm sorry." Vax untied the strip of leather holding one of his braids in place and used it to tie back Tary's hair. His face, white as a handkerchief, was wet with sweat and tears, and dark circles rimmed his glassy blue eyes. "I'm so sorry, Tary." Of course he'd been sick the whole time, and they'd all been prepared to think the worst of him, to ignore him when he showed signs of weakness.

"Please don't leave me here." More tears spilled down Tary's cheeks. "I can keep up."

"We're not gonna leave you," Vax promised. "Okay?" Tary nodded and Vax sighed, relieved that his friend wasn't delirious. "Do you think you're done throwing up? We've still got a ways to go."

Tary swallowed hard and sat back on his heels. "I… I think so. But I might need some help standing up."

"You just stay right there," Vax said. "I'll have Grog carry you."

Tary let out a shaky laugh and wiped his eyes. "You mean all I had to do to get out of walking was throw up? I would have done it two days ago if I'd known that."

"Yeah, well, it won't work twice." Vax tousled Tary's hair. "Rinse your mouth out, okay?" He stood up and recoiled in surprise at the sight of his friends with their backs to him, weapons drawn.

"Guys?" he said, one hand flying to his belt. "Did I miss something?"

"Just covering you," Percy said, lowering Bad News. "Constant vigilance and all that. How's Tary?" His tone was nonchalant, but the crease between his eyebrows gave him away.

"He's sick," Vax said. "Got a nasty fever. I don't think he's in a fit state to walk anywhere."

"Say no more." Grog thumped his chest with his fist, stowed his weapon, and went to go scoop up Tary.

"Be gentle," Vax called after him.

"I'm always gentle." Grog knelt. "Alright, Tary, on my back."

"Doty lets me ride on his shoulders," Tary said, looking at Grog sideways.

"Fine, but if you faint and crack your head open on a rock, don't go blaming me."

They all watched with bated breath, but Tary clambered onto Grog's shoulders without incident and they all set off once more.

The temporary adrenaline rush wore off far too quickly, and soon Vax's head was filled, not with concern for his friend, but with thoughts of a cozy little inn, a roaring fire, a warm bed. Maybe tomorrow they could go out and find some sort of salve for their sunburns.

When they finally, finally reached the city gates, Tary hopped down off Grog's shoulders to avoid stirring up unnecessary attention. They were all of them too tired for diplomacy and far too tired to fight.

Tary was shaky and walked very slowly, with none of his usual bounding exuberance, but he didn't collapse like Vax feared he might. In fact, he was bearing the illness with surprising dignity given everything Vax knew about him. Perhaps he really was toughening up.

A few steps into town softened reality into a blur. Nearly drunk with exhaustion, Vax blithely let Percy and Vex take the lead.

The inn they found was everything Vax had dreamed of. In the hearth, a fire roared at a semicircle of armchairs, and beyond that were tables set up for dining. The whole place smelled of spices and cooking meat, and Vax's stomach clenched. He didn't care if it cost a hundred gold per person, they were going to eat well tonight 

Well, all except Tary. Vax looked at him, a little guilty, to try to gauge if the smell was making him nauseated, but he looked remarkably at ease.

"How's your stomach?" Vax asked, just in case Tary was being stoic.

"Not as bad as before," Tary said. A sudden shiver ran through him and he pulled his arms in, though his armor would certainly keep any body heat from coming through.

Vax was just leaning in to feel his forehead when Percy interrupted them. "We got three rooms."

"Buddies?" Vax said to Tary. "I promise I won't stay up until three sharpening my daggers."

"Sure," Tary said, rubbing his forehead distractedly.

"You should lie down," Vax said. He took the key from Percy and led Tary up the stairs. "Not gonna lie, you had us worried back there."

Tary just shrugged. "Dramatics become me."

"That they do," Vax agreed. But something had been troubling, and he banished the smile from his face. "Did you really think we were going to leave you?"

"I…" Tary said. He paused at the top of the stairs to catch his breath. "I heard-- I knew I would slow you down and… My father wouldn't have stood for it."

Vax clenched his teeth. Hadn't he thought the exact same thing? Rather than answer, he looked at the tag on the key and unlocked the corresponding door, holding it open for Tary. "We're not him," he said finally. "We're your friends and we're always gonna look out for you." Tary sat heavily on one of the twin beds and Vax hurried forward. "Starting with getting your boots off."

"Bet you wish you'd let me bring Doty along now, don't you?" Tary teased. He was still shivering, but his smile seemed genuine enough for Vax.

"You should have made him better at climbing," Vax said. He worked Tary's boots off with a practiced hand and stood to help him with his breastplate.

"I hate being this dirty," Tary said, shuddering and holding himself.

For once, Vax couldn't blame him for complaining. None of them had had a proper wash in days, and Tary had the added misfortune of fever-sweats and vomiting. Speaking of… "Here, do you have a rag?" Vax asked. "Your hair has a little bit of--"

Tary squeezed his eyes shut, paling visibly. "Don't say it."

"Sorry, I forgot you're squeamish." Vax wet the hem of his cloak and worked it through Tary's ponytail while Tary sat there with his hand over his mouth and trembled.

"You used your cloak?" Tary demanded when Vax stepped back into his field of vision. "Vax, that's disgusting."

Vax just shrugged, unperturbed. "Black doesn't stain."

"Burn that," Tary said. "I'll buy you a new one."

"Sure," Vax said for the sake of not arguing. "Now lie down."

Tary did not have to be told twice. He burrowed under the covers and curled up on his side. "Good night."

"I'll bring you up some dinner," Vax said.

Tary didn't answer, so Vax took the key and left.

Vex and Keyleth pounced on him as soon as they saw him, but Vax refused to talk in depth until they were all seated and eating.

"Like I said, he's fine." Vax took a bite of shepherds pie.

"Told you so," Percy murmured, then winced.

Vax grinned, all too familiar with the sensation of getting kicked by Vex under the table. "I mean, as fine as he can be."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Keyleth demanded.

"I mean, if I had a fever and vomited everywhere after three grueling days of hiking in the mountains, I wouldn't exactly call myself 'fine,'" Vax said, a little exasperated. If they kept pestering him like this, he was going to start talking with his mouth full. "He's sick. He has a fever and he's probably going to be miserable for a few days. What else do you want me to say?"

"Nothing, I guess." Vex sighed. "I just feel bad. We weren't very nice to him."

"We're not nice, we're Vox Machina," Grog said, making his first (and guilt-inducing) contribution to the conversation. Vax was surprised he'd been paying attention while simultaneously decimating what must have been three-quarters of a cow's worth of cooked beef.

"We couldn't have known," Keyleth said in a tone like she was trying to reassure herself. "He could have told us he wasn't feeling well. We would have listened."

"We could have asked," Vex shot back.

"Why would we have?" Percy asked. "He's never been shy about things like this before. How were we to know he wasn't just, well, being himself?"

"I suppose you're right…" Vax said, privately unconvinced. He'd have to ask Tary why he hadn't spoken up.

Vax declined, as he was heading upstairs anyway. He had underestimated just how fatigued his muscles were, and so entered the room too clumsily for someone of his background. He made such a racket with the door and the tray that Tary woke up and lit a candle.

The cook had been extremely gracious in fulfilling Vax's request for vegetable soup and some bread, even going so far as to supply him with a tray and an extra pitcher of water. She even offered to take it up herself.

Tary looked simultaneously better and worse; while was no longer deathly pale, the fever flush on his cheeks was a poor substitute for a truly healthy complexion. A few strands of his hair had slipped from the ponytail Vax had tied for him, and these were damp and stuck to his cheeks.

"Gods, sorry," Vax said. "I didn't mean to wake you up like this. Anyway." Self-conscious, he swept his hair over his shoulder. "I really think you should eat something. D'you feel up to it?"

"Just the bread, then," Vax said. "And some water."

Tary was already half-asleep again, his head lolling against the pillows. "I'm not hungry."

Despite his earlier protest, Tary was refreshingly cooperative. He ate without complaint, even trying a few shaky spoonfuls of soup at Vax's behest. Vax forced himself to stay standing while Tary ate, sure he would fall asleep instantly if he so much as sat down.

"Let's see," he said when Tary had finished eating. "Water… Bin…" He nudged the wastebin over with his foot. "Do you want to brush your teeth? There's a washroom down the hall."

Tary's eyes were already closed. He hummed something, presumably a negative, so Vax blew out the candle and got ready for bed in the dark.

He was asleep nearly as soon as his head hit the pillow, entrenched in strange dreams until a noise wrenched him from his slumber. He snatched his dagger out from under the pillow and brandished it, but saw no threat. His heart thumped violently in his ears as he scanned the room.

There was no lurking assassin, no would-be assailant hiding in the shadows. Just Tary, vomiting over the side of the bed. Vax's heart dropped into his stomach. He didn't need color vision to perceive the flush of fever on Tary's cheeks, nor the beads of sweat on his brow. Vax shot up, unsure of what to do. He watched helplessly, dagger heavy in his hand, as Tary vomited until he was dry-heaving.

"You alright, Tary?" Vax whispered. "Need anything?" No answer. Nothing. No jokes, no apologies. Just shallow, pained breaths. "Ah, fuck."

Vax lit up a candle, not missing the way Tary flinched away from the light.

"Sorry," Vax whispered. He set the candle down and picked up the water glass from the nightstand, pressing it into Tary's hand.

Tary shook his head. "Hurts."

"Just rinse," Vax said, but Tary kept his lips firmly closed. "Alright, come here."

There really wasn't room for both of them on the twin bed, but Vax made it work. He scooted in close and pulled Tary against his chest. Tary's fever had certainly gone up. "We pushed you too hard," Vax said, stroking Tary's hair. "I'm sorry. Really. Does it help if I talk?" Tary nodded, so Vax continued, "We didn't know. I'm sorry we didn't notice you were feeling so poorly."

Vax kept talking about whatever crossed his mind while Tary shuddered in his arms. He told stories from his childhood with Vex and talked about where he'd like to end up, the sort of happy endings he envisioned for all of them.

When Tary eventually stilled, Vax stopped talking, though he kept running his fingertips through Tary's hair. It hadn't escaped Vax's notice how frighteningly quiet Tary had been.

Maybe, Vax thought (hoped), Tary was just quiet about his ailments by nature. Maybe not everything needed to have some great trauma attached to it.

Despite his best efforts, Vax began to relax. He was only barely on the bed, his spine was curved at an odd angle, and Tary's feverish weight on his chest made him feel suffocated. But beyond all that, he was exhausted and his muscles ached.

Vax closed his eyes.

--

Vax awoke to a confusing mix of joint pain and loud noises, realizing with alarm that Tary wasn't in bed. He opened his eyes to find his absentee bedmate on his feet, leaning hard against the wall, with the graveyard pallor and shaky footing of a man about to faint.

Vax jumped up, defly avoiding the wastebasket, and lowered Tary onto the other bed just as his knees started to buckle.

"Sorry," Tary gasped, bracing his elbows on his knees so he could bury his face in his palms. "I got confused."

He was shaking again, Vax noticed with dismay. He sat down beside Tary and put a hand on his back. "It's okay. Catch your breath."

Tary wasn't listening. "I thought-- I thought-- If Father had seen us like that…"

Heat flooded Vax's face and he clenched his free hand into a fist so tight it would have drawn blood had his nails been any longer. "Forget him. You're safe here." Vax laughed humorlessly. "Drink some water for me." Tary nodded and didn't wait for Vax to help him. "You're a surprisingly good patient," Vax said absentmindedly, trying to picture how things would play out if Percy or, gods forbid, Grog, had been this ill.

Tary set the glass down. "I'll take that as a compliment "

"Feel free." Vax got up so Tary could lie down properly. "Sit tight. I'm going to clean up a bit."

"You know," Tary said. "If you had let me bring Doty…"

"Oh, save it," Vax said. "We're friends, Tary, it's not like looking after you is this great chore."

It was hard to tell with the fever, but Vax thought that Tary might have been blushing. He busied himself with cleaning up so as not to subject Tary to any undue scrutiny.

Not that Tary had ever been shy.

"Why didn't you say anything yesterday?" Vax asked when he returned from the washroom, the wastebasket still dripping water.

Tary let out a clipped breath through his nose. "What do you mean?" he asked, looking at Vax with half-lidded eyes.

"You didn't mention that you felt ill."

Tary shrugged. "I wanted off the mountain. You wanted off the mountain. And…" This time, there was no mistaking it: his whole darkened in a blush. "Well, I-- I know when I'm being annoying."

A wave of guilt washed over Vax. He took a breath to say something, exactly what he wasn't quite sure, but Tary winced and clutched at his stomach through the covers. "I wish Pike were here. Bet she'd have some holy, shiny spell to make you all better just like that." He snapped his fingers.

"That would be nice," Tary agreed. "But it's part of life. Not very glamorous, though, is it? 'Doty, take this down: Threw up all over Vax after a harrowing trek in the mountains: my most heroic act to date.'"

Vax chuckled and sat down on the bed again, as his legs and feet were still incredibly sore. "Bet you're glad we had to leave him behind now."

"I'm never glad to leave Doty behind," Tary answered earnestly.

The guilt that Vax had been suppressing boiled over with that simple admission and he sighed, toying with the tail of one of his braids. For all his apologizing last night, he still felt the sickening weight on his shoulders, still saw the look of pain and betrayal in Scanlan's eyes when he'd left them. "Look, Tary," he said. "I owe you an apology. We all owe you an apology, but I don't think Percy and Keyleth are ready to admit it."

Tary cracked half a smile, but let it drop when Vax didn't smile back. "Well, I was going to make a joke..."

"We have a tendency to make people feel like outsiders," Vax said. "Even people we love and trust. I think we've been too hard on you, and…"

"Well, it's all in good fun, isn't it?" Tary cocked his head, his eyes wide and questioning. "You tease each other all the time."

"I just don't want you to feel like we're laughing at you." Vax sighed and tucked his hair behind his ear. "I feel like we can be so callous sometimes. I don't want to be like that. Especially not to you, Tary. And I hope we don't…" Here it was. "I hope we don't ruin you." Like we did Scanlan.

"Ha," Tary said, with the implications of much greater energy. "A true hero is never corrupted." He deflected a lot, Vax realized, more than they had picked up on at first. For all he played the bumbling adventurer, there was something beneath the surface of which they'd only seen glimpses. Tary seemed to notice he had been caught and continued, "And anyway. You could never ruin me. I've already learned many valuable lessons from you, from all of you. I'm just grateful you decided to take me on after you beat me up."

Vax let himself smile at this. "Do me a favor?"

"Anything. Within reason."

"Don't ever scare me like that again, okay?"

"Sure, Vax. Next time I think I'm going to become deathly ill, I'll notify you at once." Tary muffled a yawn behind his hand and kept his eyes closed a second too long.

"I'll let you get some rest," Vax said, standing up slowly. "Can I let the others in to have a look at you? Vex was beside herself last night thinking you were on your deathbed. And Percy and Keyleth were pretending not to worry."

"And Grog?" Tary asked, sliding further under the covers.

"Well, Grog thinks we're all overreacting." 

"You can let them in," Tary murmured, his eyes sliding shut. "But you have to tell me if Vex cries, alright?"

"You got it." Vax stepped out into the hall to fetch his friends.

[nomimits7]

Isolation ~ Drabble 8?

Title: Isolation

Genre: Just some random drabbles

Warnings: Slight mental break but its mostly Y/N having an emotional overload

Paring: BTS x reader

A/N: this is what my head could muster up after my shock yesterday. I was summarising the whole day and only made it halfway with the one unit. I am dead. DEAD. Anywho, this has happened to me before so yeah let’s see what other nonsense I can think of for the next part.

#7

∞

The moment you opened your eyes you knew today was going to be one of those days.

You’re moody. You had no reason to be, but you were beyond the point of a normal bad mood. From the first ‘good morning’ shared with the boys, they could see something was off.

You tried your very best to avoid them. You knew you were one of the worst people to be around during one of these episodes. But they clearly didn’t catch the signals you were sending.

To be more specific, Hoseok and Jimin didn’t. They followed you onto the roof. You were just searching for some peace and quiet and maybe some time to figure out why you were in a mood. At first, they didn’t say anything, Jimin sat down next to you and started reading while Hoseok sat down very close to your other side to avoid falling off. In a way, you kind of appreciated the little bit of comfort they brought.

That was until Hoseok started talking. Again, at first, it was bearable. Little chit chat about the weather and the view, but soon Hoseok started asking too much questions. How many siblings you have, what are your parents like, how you grew up, the type of friend you had, why did you come to South Korea. Personal questions.

You snapped. Like really snapped at him.

“Do you ever do anything else but ask useless questions? Why the hell do you care where I come from and how I grew up? Does that determine my worth in your eyes? Huh? Does that determine if you like me more or less?”

You were shaking with adrenaline. Tears streaming down your face as unspoken emotions filled your eyes. You felt bad but it was far too late to apologize to the wide-eyed sunshine boy sitting next to you. His arms still clinging to you in fear of falling. His eyes held an unknown emotion as he just stared at you. Jimin didn’t look any better on your other side. They watched your every move as you opted for staring off into the distance.

Without another word, both men got up and left you alone on the roof, drowning in your emotions and for the first time you cried your heart out over unknown heartbreak and sadness. You cried over every bit of anger you felt for some unknown reason. You cried because you haven’t felt this alone in a long time.

∞

You had no idea what the time was when you finally got off the roof and entered the kitchen. All the boys were sitting around the table enjoying their dinner when you entered. They immediately stopped their chit chat to watch you. No one said a word as you took in the sight before you. They were eating something with a lot of meat and some leaves, with no space left for you to sit.

Just like you took them in, they took you in. your eyes were swollen and red from the crying, you looked beyond exhausted and the shine has left your eyes. They knew you hadn’t eaten since this morning and the way your skin glowed red could only mean you had sunburned. You were most likely dehydrated as well. Still, they waited for you to say the first words.

To their surprise, you simply gave them a weak smile before turning around and heading towards your room. You barely made it to your bed before your legs gave way and you came tumbling down. Your vision blurred as a pair of arms wrapped around you, preventing your body from hitting the ground. Just as you were about to turn your head to see who has saved you from a massive bump to the head, you blacked out.

#9

Taglist: @vividwoosan​ @slutkoo​

[incoherentbabblings]

77 TimSteph 😊💜❤

Fic Ask Game

Thank youuuuuuuuuuu

#77 “In your dreams, pretty boy”

“So, why did you bring me along?”

“Weddings are a big deal, boy wonder. And I want to look good next to you.”

“You always look beautiful.”

Stephanie’s smiley face peered around the curtain. “Only in your dreams, pretty boy. But thank you.”

Tim perked up, “Welcome!”

“But this is different. We need to look like a unit.”

“We need to match?”

“Within reason.”

Tim laughed loudly, disturbing the other shoppers, and Stephanie’ grin disappeared round the other side. He was being a good boyfriend, carrying Stephanie’s shopping bags, patiently standing outside the dressing room as she flung dress after dress over the curtain railing. Soon enough she poked her head back around the fabric, hair tousled from all the dresses she’d tried on.

“Do you know what colour Selina’s flowers are going to be?”

Tim looked down at a sequined monstrosity she had dismissed immediately that he loosely held. It was orange. He wasn’t sure he had ever seen Stephanie in anything orange before. He wasn’t sure if he wanted to.

“…Blue?” He guessed.

“Blue?” She asked, incredulous. With one eyebrow raised, Tim knew she wasn’t having it.

“White?”

She narrowed her eyes. “You don’t know do you?”

“No.”

She huffed, tugging the curtain shut again. Two dresses that he didn’t get to see later, Tim heard Stephanie sigh, defeated.

“I think today is a bust Tim.”

He shrugged, picking up the assorted dresses sheepishly, handing them over to an assistant.

“Never mind Steph, we have time.”

“Yeah but…” She emerged, wearing a casual little white sun dress. She tugged a shoulder strap into place and grabbed her little bag, slinging it on her shoulder. “I don’t want to let the side down.”

Tim handed her one shopping bag, then took her hand.

“No, no. Don’t even let yourself go there.”

“Well, I can’t turn up in a paper bag.”

“Let Alfred pick you something.” Tim said as they made their way through the department store. Something caught Stephanie’s eye and she tugged them over to the lingerie section. Tim gulped, but tried to stay focused. “He has good taste. And it’ll fit if you give him your measurements. He buys us all our nice stuff.”

“So, I can see. But you know I like to do things myself.” She muttered, inspecting some plain t-shirt bras. Tim hovered, not sure what to do with himself. He politely stared at the back of Steph’s blonde head, deliberately ignoring the underwear that surrounded them.

“You can go for a wander, Tim.” She excused him, “I’m not gonna make you…” She paused, a twinkle coming into her eye. “Actually.”

“Huh?”

She twirled around, skirt flouncing around her thighs. “Go pick me a bra you like.”

Tim blinked.

“Why are you like this.”

“It’s not a punishment Tim. Go on!” She laughed, mood improved. “I’ll wear it on a date night.”

Tim blinked, then dutifully wobbled off. Sadistically, Stephanie laughed. It was always easy to get him worked up, he was just too much of a gentleman to do it unprompted. She stared at a duo black and white pair for a good five minutes until Tim returned, thrusting a hanger into her hand. His face was flushed pink, but Stephanie was delighted.

“Oh! Strappy!”

Tim’s pink skin turned red, his ears looking sunburned he was so embarrassed. Stephanie ignored it - and the fact that he was holding his breath - and inspected the piece. Nodding approvingly, she looked up across the space, catching the eye of a floor assistant.

“Excuse me, I’m sorry, but does this have any matching bottoms?”

Tim turned purple.

[anonthenullifier]

You think Tommy & Billy occasionally have to hear their parents get referenced or discussed in classes or school hallways?

I am so so sorry this took a long time. I hope you enjoy it! 

The echoes of the bell are still bouncing through the halls and the room is still teacherless. There are signs that Mr. Byrne, their physics teacher, is around – a coffee cup sitting on top of a pile of their ungraded papers (which is fine by Tommy, he’s tempted to just go knock the mug over and get everyone As) and also the word DENSITY scrawled on the board. “What is it - 3 minutes and we get to leave?”

“Fifteen,” Billy doesn’t even turn to acknowledge his twin, too focused on organizing his notes, “pretty sure that’s only for college and also not sure it’s even a real rule.”

Apparently today his brother is in one of his serious, academically focused moods. “No one asked you, nerd.”

Now Tommy’s earned a steely stare, “You did.”

“Whatever.” Fifteen minutes seems excessive anyway, if Tommy is going to lead a revolt to not have class, he’d rather only wait five minutes, max. Given the make-up of their classmates, he’s reasonably confident he could get at least three-fourths of the back two rows on his side. Definitely not going to garner any sort of sympathy or fealty from the front rows, where they sit, because Billy says he hears better up here. Tommy only sits with him because they are near the door for an easy escape. “Do you think he’s dressing up again?” 

Billy writes Density at the top of a new page before looking at Tommy with disdain finally aimed at someone other than him. “God, I hope not.” 

“Who do you think it’ll be this time?” 

“Probably Carol.” Tommy snorts and then gags at the mental image, also a sliver proud of Billy’s emotionless delivery.  You see, Mr. Byrne is one of those…”cool” teachers, self-described, not student labeled like their kickass literature teacher next period. He’s “up” on memes, pop culture, and slang, though usually only on an academic surface level, the way old people try desperately to relate to the “youths” of the time. Why he tries, Tommy doesn’t know, the man has to be at least in his mid-thirties.* His choice of cultural relevance this semester? Superheroes. It’s awful, every week they have to watch him fanboy about someone else they know. It’s bad enough being the children of Avengers and dealing with other students who either have unoriginal questions (“Why do Hulk’s pants not rip apart?”), want autographs (particularly from Tony), want to prove they can win a fight without super powers (they can’t and Tommy’s detentions prove this), or, his favorite is when they ask sexually explicit things about his parents. That is a topic he never ever ever ever wants to think about ever again. 

Tommy checks the clock – four minutes. One more and then Živjela revolucija!** 

“Good morning class!” Dammit. “Today we will be…,” Mr. Byrne’s entrance is drowned out by sniggering, everyone murmuring around them and Tommy swears he can feel at least fifteen people looking at him.  

“Oh no.” It’s Billy’s voice that worries him the most. 

Tommy finally looks up,”Oh fuck no.” 

“That’s right,” it was bound to happen, they should have seen this coming, should have dropped this class when the whole superhero examples and costumes started. But they didn’t, they had just a bit too much faith in humanity. “Today we will be learning about density from the expert himself,” Mr. Byrne, face painted a too bright red and a plastic gem that he probably stole from a troll’s stomach stuck to his forehead, tries to swipe his Halloween costume store quality cape dramatically, “The Vision.”

A swift kick to the left gets Billy to tear his eyes away from the abomination at the front of the room, “Fuck this shit, I’m out.”

Except a thin blue strand traps Tommy in his seat,, “It’s one day,” Billy’s mouth doesn’t move but Tommy can hear his damn placating voice in his head, “we need this class to graduate and you can’t go to the principal again, so just stay and suffer.” The last part is almost gleeful. 

“Nope, I’ll just get a G.E.D.” Tommy throws his brother and teacher the middle finger as he vibrates his molecules and phases the hell away. 

Dad’s face is not pleased and mom’s eyes are glowing. “I swear this one is justified.”

“Yes,” his dad’s voice matches the tone he’s used on villains begging for freedom, who try to explain that the death ray was just meant to exterminate the rats in the city not, you know, the group of people tied up, “I am certain your detention will be justified this time.”

Well, he’s a lost cause, so Tommy shifts to the more rebellious parent, “Mom, I promise, that man is a lunatic and I had no choice but to skip.”

The Scarlet Witch, feared and revered for her reality warping, is about to tear a hole in reality and kick him out of this existence. “I’m sure.” 

Jody, the secretary, in all her villainess cardigan wearing glory shushes them sternly, “You know the rules.” The reprimand is replaced by a mannequin-esque smile, “The teacher is on his way and then Dr. Bennett will sort this all out.” 

Five minutes of agonizing silence pass, dad on one side in his unassuming and gaudy sweater vest and mom on the other, flicking arcs of scarlet between her fingers, before an out-of-breath Mr. Byrne arrives. He’s changed, now in khakis and a polo and face clean other than a slight tinge of red that looks like a sunburn. The conniving bastard. “The Vis-, I mean, Mr. and Mrs. Maximoff, what a pleasure to meet you.” 

Mom provides a taut, yet polite smile, “It’s too bad we didn’t meet under better circumstances.” 

“I agree,” Mr. Byrne’s voice conveys the same feeling that a patronizingly placed hand on the shoulder would, “Tommy is such a bright boy.” The if only is left silent, thankfully, a phrase he is so sick of hearing. 

This is all bullshit. Mr. Byrne knows exactly why Tommy left and yet, as the way it usually goes, the adults will all believe the adult. Actually, as it usually goes, he’s going to be left out here and not be allowed to speak his piece. 

The door to the principal’s office opens with a, “Mr. and Mrs. Maximoff, Mr. Byrne, please come inside.” 

His fate is sealed now, at least one more detention and maybe, if he’s lucky, an expulsion, though honestly that wouldn’t be luck because then he’d probably be forced to do some community service thing or, worse, have dad homeschool him.  But then, like an Avenger that’s been gone for a way too damn long time during the battle, salvation comes in the form of Billy rushing through a portal in the office wall. “Wait, I have evidence!”

“William,” the principal’s voice is almost the same cadence as dad’s when he’s disappointed, “this is unprecedented.”

Billy is way better at playing along with superiors, his body folding in just enough to show he is ashamed at the breach of protocol, but he remains steadfast against the admonishment. “I know Dr. Bennett, but I have pictures of what happened in class today.”

Curiosity is the prime emotion in the office, but it is not the loudest, that would be the absolute blissful terror draining the last of the color from Mr. Byrne’s face. “Let us see it.” Billy hands his phone over to the Principal who squints with a “Huh,” and then hands the phone to mom who immediately starts laughing while dad, well, it’s hard to read his reaction, but Tommy knows that anytime he stands that still and that impassive it means he has come across something so horrendous, so lacking in social respectability that he is doing everything in his power to not phase through the floor. “Mr. Byrne, I believe you and I need to have a conversation. Thomas?”

“Yes, ma’am?” Whatever kindness may have been on her face is gone. “Um, yes, Dr. Bennett?”

“You should go back to class.”

He salutes her. “Will do.”

Tommy waits just a moment longer to watch the slouched form of his teacher go into the principal’s office before joining his family in the hallway. “That was amazing! You should save me every time…” he’s really confused right now why everyone isn’t celebrating with him. “What?”

“You should get back to class,” mom doesn’t sound mad, in fact, she seems entertained by the whole thing and is only putting on the parental facade because it’s what she has to do as his mom, “we can discuss some better ways to handle these types of situations later,” something he expected, “once your poor father here isn’t so traumatized.” Ah, he sees it now, dad’s still a bit stiff and hasn’t blinked in awhile, it would be rude to rub this in any more, that’ll be for dinner tonight. 

“Sounds good. Won’t skip class again.”

“I’m sure…” 

Billy tugs Tommy away as he counters back, “Have faith, mom,” and he walks away a free man.

*30, according to my own students, is the equivalent of being elderly and about to die. 

**Long live the revolution!

[purplesurveys]

815

At what time of day do you normally feel the best? I love the evening the most. I get to have my coffee, it’s quieter around the house, and it also gets a little bit colder so it’s more fun to hang around by then. Do you normally have to hem pants? I’ve never had to do that before. If I need my pants fixed, I usually ask my lola to do it since she’s good at that kind of stuff. Name one reason why someone should not commit suicide. I can’t speak for other people, but I personally stay because I don’t want to leave Kimi behind and because I’ve seen countless mini-documentaries of parents who were left devastated by their kids taking their own lives. What would you do if you had no one to love and support you? That sounds so fucking bleak. I imagine bringing myself to therapy so I can learn how to deal with such a situation, and so that I at least have one person to talk to. If you didn't have love and support, would you feel life was worth living? No. But that’s why I imagine I’d be going to therapy, so my mind can be changed.

If you had no family nor friends nor money, would you feel life's worth living? These questions are so stressful to mull over and a tad bit triggering lmao, can I pass at this point? If you're unhappy, what would it take to make you fulfilled? Depends on what I need, which differs every time. Sometimes I’d wanna be alone, other times I’d want to be with other people, other times I’d need to drive and take longer routes than usual, or to binge YouTube videos, or a good nap...it’s always different. What was the last thing that upset your stomach? The meds I had to take for my UTI. Feeling poopy was one of its side effects, so even though it didn’t upset my stomach per se I did have to have several trips to the bathroom then. Do you have to go the pharmacy a lot? No, only when something’s wrong with me which doesn’t happen too often. Are you sunburned? I haven’t been sunburned since I was like 10. The tendency just suddenly stopped at some point. Do you wish someone loved you? I have a lot of people who already do, fortunately. Do you call yourself stupid often? Like every other hour lmao. What's a song you love? From Eden - Hozier. Do you miss anyone who was mean to you? Not to my knowledge. I’m glad they aren’t in my life today. Name someone you know who is a cancer survivor. One of my former Filipino teachers in high school. Are you friends with any cancer survivors? I don’t think that I am. Does God often answer your prayers? How was your day today (or yesterday, if it's morning)? It was average. Nothing out of the ordinary happened today but I did like the fact that my parents still left the living room aircon on for most of the day even though summer’s over and the weather’s already begun to be a little colder. Do you wish the sunrise and sunset lasted longer? Not really? I’m fine with the ones we’ve got lol. Would you want to relive your childhood again? Fuck no. It had some nostalgic bits, like the shows I used to watch or me playing outside, but it was far too traumatic for me to miss it as a whole. I’m happy being a grownup.

Were your college years the best years of your life? Not fully. My time in college only peaked by the second half, so it wasn’t all that great. Junior and senior year were very fun and eye-opening, though. Would you rather re-live high school or college? Ooh that’s quite a pickle...both periods had their highs. High school was a lot easier (academically), it was a time when I could fuck up and it was okay, and I found my first group of friends. College was a time of independence, a lot of growing up to do, and I also found my second group of friends. As miserable as I was during my freshman year, I ultimately have to go with college because I hated most of the people in my high school anyway and because I really loved the independence I gained in college, from being able to drive on my own and managing stuff on my own time to being free to choose my class schedule. And also, duh, I passed my dream school? I’d relive my years in UP in a heartbeat. What is the dumbest sports-team mascot you've heard of? Not really familiar with sports mascots to begin with. Are you a sports fan? Err, not really. I’m a pro wrestling fan, but it’s not 100% a sport. Where do you feel like you fit in the most? In my college and in my org. I’m sad that I only get four years with them – three when it comes to my org. Do you hate social classes? Yes. Do you think talent should have anything to do with social class? What? I have no clue what this question is insinuating but lmao of course not. I know some crazy talented people who wouldn’t be considered rich, and I know some bland-ass wealthy people who can’t do anything impressive at all. Name a country who's history you know nothing about. Australia. Name a religion you know nothing or very little about. Zoroastrianism. I only remember the founder. Don't you hate know-it-alls? I hate when they start getting conceited. What is your favorite store at the mall? I love visiting Fully Booked every chance I get. When was the last time you went to the mall? That would be when I had my eye checked last early March, because the clinic I visited was inside the mall. Aside from doing that, I also had late lunch at Marugame Udon which apparently would be the last time I’d have their food for a while, unbeknownst to me :( Do you have a bed or do you sleep on a mattress on the floor? I have a bed. When was the last time you went for a run? LOL never. Have you ever tried hard drugs? No. Which school subject did you hate the most? Back in high school I really hated the advanced math and science classes e.g. chemistry, physics, calculus, trig. In college, I found myself hating philosophy and economics the most. What was the last thing you wore from Aeropostale? I don’t think I ever wore anything from them. Which devotional do you read? I don’t read those. Do you appreciate classic literature? I appreciate and recognize their impact, but I don’t like reading them.

What is something you find strange? People who keep pushing for the All Lives Matter narrative. Cringe. Do you like your natural hair color? Sure. I’ve never actively complained about it, that’s for sure. Would you rather get a pixie cut or get dreadlocks? Pixie cut, because I’m pretty sure getting dreadlocks as a Filipino is a form of cultural appropriation? Would you rather dye your hair or get a perm? Dye it.

Do you keep Christmas lights up year-round? No, we don’t. Have you ever started a new trend? Just me? Lmao no. Do you have any artwork of yours from high school? I definitely don’t. Whenever a teacher would give our artworks back, I crumpled it up as soon as I got it and would throw it away. I just simply rejected all of my attempts to be creative lol. What did you win a scholarship for? I’ve never gotten one. But my university did start implementing free tuition for all undergrads starting in 2017 when I was a sophomore, so it’s kinda like the same thing. Did your college meet your expectations? Yes, and more. UP taught me far more than classroom lessons as it opened my eyes to the more important societal issues happening outside of school. It made me recognize our farmers who never earn the income they deserve; the factory workers stuck in poor working conditions; the jeepney drivers whose work is never respected; the millions of working class Filipinos who simply deserve better;  and the government that is more corrupt than I thought. My college on the other hand taught me to be fearless and to never hesitate to search for, report, and defend the truth, and to disseminate just that to the masses. Bottomline is that words can’t even begin to describe how grateful I am to have studied there and I will always be very much in love with my school. What was the best thing about college? The best thing about mine, at least, was the throng of life lessons and eye-opening realizations it gave me. Each of them has been more valuable than any lesson I learned in the classroom. UP taught me that there were a thousand other issues far more important than problems I face in my own privileged bubble, but that I can help facilitate change if I wanted to. How old were you ten years ago? 12. Easily the worst age I’ve been in. What's the best piece of advice you can give someone ten years younger? Stay. It’ll get better. Not instantly, but it does get better. Do you feel like you are old enough and experienced enough to give advice? I think anyone’s fit to give advice no matter how old they are. Even kids can be quite insightful. The differences just lie on the topics people give advice on. How old were you when you started to feel mature and experienced? 17, after I had a series of shitty stuff happen to me at one point in 2015. When I got past those, I could tell I wasn’t the same person that I was, like, two months back. Were your 20's hell? I’m only in my second year lmao, can you get back to me in eight years? What type of bug do you see the most often in your home? We don’t get a lot of bugs at home, fortunately. We have tons of ants though. Do you put off things until the last minute? If I’m not passionate about the task, yes. Do you have the air conditioning on right now? Nope, just the fan. Is your mom the same size as you? She’s slim but she’s still ever so slightly a bit larger. We can technically share clothes but some of them would still look loose on me.

Does camping appeal to you? I have moods where it does and moods where it doesn’t lol. What color is your sleeping bag? I don’t have one. How often do you pray? Do you surrender to Christ daily? When was the last time you went to church? Do you know any Christians who aren't judgmental? Only a handful, and it’s usually people in my age group. Most of the others suck, and I can say this because I’ve had coooooooountless personal experiences with rude, hypocritical, sexist, homophobic, and transphobic Christians and Catholics. Do you believe there are any good people in the world? Of course. What's one thing you are scared of? Flying cockroaches.