#gonna demand to be picked up and catered to

[anoddopal]

owie owie have a headache from my purple conditioner and am also experiencing a gerd flare up

🥺🥺 [*looks up at my tall f/os with big watery bnnuy eyes*]

[jihyoruri]

❚ ❚ ❚ ❚ ❚ ❚ ❚ ❚ 𓍢 CAUGHT IN BETWEEN kim chaewon & huh yunjin

prev. masterlist . next

🧋★ ͘ ⴰ 10 minutes of chaewon and yunjin agreeing with each other once in a blue moon 978k views

➩ CLIP #1 PLAYING… 📼

“yn unnie I love watching my demon, im so proud o f you.” yn reads before letting out a squeal and turning to chaewon and yunjin, “they don’t like the show.” she points at them accusingly.

both chaewon and yunjin jump up in defence shouting in over each other as yn glares at them.

“we like the show.” yunjin says explaining to the fans but yn looks away dramatically.

“we just don’t think dohee and guwon should be together.” chaewon adds, “and some scenes are unnecessary.” she says a little more quietly to herself that fans couldn’t hear but yunjin could and nodded rapidly in agreement.”

“attack them.” yn demands the comments, the fans immediately listen to the girl, attacking the two other members.

➩ CLIP #2 PLAYING… 📼

“pink looks nice on you yn,” the interviewer said to the girl, this whole interview it was like she was only person he could focus every time he was talking to another member he would find a way to drift the conversation back to yn.

“oh, thank you, it always looks good on me.” yn smiles, “I like to think pink is my colour.” she responds as he nods in response telling her that it very much is.

chaewon looked at yunjin who looked back at her with the same expression on her face,as he continued the conversation with yn like the other girls weren’t there

“I finally watched the glory, you playing young yeonjin really freaked me out, you were so good.” he says as yn smiles at the compliment, “you should definitely give me acting lessons, im think im gonna get into acting.”

“oh then you probably need it.” yn responds and he lets out a laugh like she said the most funniest in the world.

the camera pans to yunjin and chaewon who both have faces scrunched up at the man.

➩ CLIP #3 PLAYING… 📼

“red isn’t my colour.” yn mumbles to herself in disgust adjusting her pink sunglasses, but everyone could pick up on it as the girls stood in grass under the summer heat.

“every colour is your colour.” yunjin responds putting her arm around the restless girl as the host announces the next game, chaewon side eyes them clearing her throat.

“it’s hot in both ways, im sticky, im in this ugly red, i don’t like running-” the girls rant gets cut off when her name is shouted asking her to come in the middle.

yn turns to chaewon with pout but the leader just laughs as taps the girls cheek as yn groans and walks into the middle coming face to face with yeonjun.

“you two will be doing a staring contest.” the host starts, “so yn you’re gonna have to take off those nice looking sunglasses.”

“staring is a sport?” the girl asks sassily as people laugh at her obvious dislike for this hybe caterers thing it was amusing to all of the groups.

“in this it is.”

yn groans and turns to look at members who laugh at the girls distress especially eunchae and sakura.

she brings the glasses to rest on the top of her head and stands closer to the txt member fixing her gaze on him.

he steps closer to her as well, a little too close for two certain girls comfort.

“im not liking this.” yunjin whispers to the leader who nods in agreement.

“are staring contests supposed to this close?” chaewon says out loud causing people to laugh be she was being dead serious.

★my new years gift‼️

[loveinhawkins]

Steve gets the idea from Dustin and Robin, in a roundabout way: Robin insists on buying a camping stove from The War Zone, which Dustin pounces upon with glee as soon as he notices it.

“Oh, we’re cooking with gas now,” he says, which is the worst pun Steve has heard thus far.

Eddie snorts, almost but not quite hidden underneath the sound of the engine. Steve smiles.

“Y’know there’s a stove right here?” he asks in benign exasperation, gestures behind him to the little kitchen area of the RV.

“Steve,” Robin says, “that’s not as fun.”

“Yeah, come on, Steve! It’ll be like at Camp Know Where—”

“Know Nothing,” Steve mutters automatically.

“—we oft dined al fresco.”

“Oft,” Eddie parrots, and Steve can faintly feel the movement of him laughing, from where he’s pressed up against the back of the driver’s seat. “Al fresco. Henderson, what lab did they make you in?”

“Eddie, either shut up or back me up, I wanna get a culturally enriching experience outta this.”

“Oh, excuse me, didn’t realise this was a field trip.”

“You’re excused.”

“Okay,” Steve cuts in, “have fun playing at camping, Henderson, but don’t come crying to me if you, like, blow yourself up.”

Robin chuckles. “Such a happy camper.”

“Boo,” Steve says flatly.

He parks the RV a little bit away from a store just off the main road—heads in alone as it’ll draw less attention. Out loud, he says it’s so he can focus without hearing whining pleas to buy junk food, whether Dustin-approved or not, but he already knows he’ll cater to each and every one of the group’s demands.

Eddie, surprisingly, doesn’t put in a request, says he’s happy to just go along with whatever everyone else wants—a far cry from when Nancy had relayed, with more amusement than frustration, “He said he wants a six-pack.”

Steve figures that the whole being wanted for murder thing would kill anyone’s appetite, but it still makes his stomach sink, that the most substantial meal Eddie’s gotten a chance to eat has been lukewarm Spaghettios.

They set up ‘camp’ in a field, and Robin’s the first to rush outside, shortly followed by Dustin, both intent on using the stove she’s bought.

Steve leaves them all to it, kind of enjoys the temporary peace of just messing about in the RV on his own—it gives him enough time to find where some crockery is kept, anyway.

He’s heating up chicken noodle soup on the stove when Eddie comes back in and tells him, “They got it working, no explosions yet.”

“Oh, miracles can happen. Good timing, by the way.” Steve switches the burner off, pours the soup into a bowl and sets it down on the table—where he’s already laid out a spoon. “Yours is ready.”

At first he doesn’t think the silence is all that unusual. He’s not really looking either, focusing on rinsing out the pan he’d used. But when he does glance up, it’s to see Eddie just standing there, looking at the bowl of soup and blinking rapidly.

It’s almost like… almost like he’s—

“Woah, hey,” Steve says, “what’s wrong?”

“Nothing!” Eddie says, even though he’s still quite clearly tearing up. “Absolutely nothing. Jesus Christ.” He groans, presses a couple of fingers to the inner corner of his eyes. “This is fucking mortifying, just pretend you didn’t—ugh.”

In barely a blink, he shuts himself away in the bathroom.

Steve opens his mouth. Closes it. Tries again. “Hate soup that much, huh?”

A watery laugh from behind the door. “No.”

There’s a silence. Steve dries the pan and puts it away before calling, “It’s gonna get cold!”

It won’t for a while yet; he can still see tendrils of steam rising from the bowl.

There’s a long, drawn out sigh, and then Eddie opens the door, sidles in to take a seat at the table.

For a moment, Steve thinks he isn’t going to acknowledge it, which is fine. But as Eddie picks up the spoon he says, head down, “It’s just. That was, uh. Really—really nice.”

Steve’s concern abates a little; he can’t help giving a slight smirk. “Would it help if I was mean instead?”

Eddie laughs again, no tears in it this time. He shrugs with a grin. “Do whatever you want, man.”

He’s eating slowly, his spoon dragging through the soup. His eyes seem distant.

“It’s just… I miss—” His voice threatens to break, but doesn’t quite get there. “I miss… home.”

Before Steve can think of a reasonable reply, Eddie scoffs, rolling his eyes. He drops the spoon with a clatter. “God, that sounds so—”

“It doesn’t,” Steve interrupts.

“Yeah, sure.” Eddie picks up the spoon again, keeps scraping it against the bottom of the bowl.

“Dude, what did I tell you? You’ve gotta give yourself a break.”

Steve pauses, stuck on what to say next.

He can’t even relate, honestly. Home has long become something he couldn’t… Something he couldn’t really miss, exactly.

It’s ever-changing: the luxury of eating a late breakfast in History; the crunch of leaves underfoot as he walked the railroad tracks with Dustin; the chill of the freezer in Scoops Ahoy, Robin’s snorting laugh bouncing off the walls.

Now it’s his car radio playing as he gives rides on busy school mornings. A high school basketball game. A goddamn video store.

“I think you have this thing,” Steve says slowly.

“A promising start,” Eddie says, lips twitching.

He’s finished the soup. The sight spurs Steve on.

“I think you have this thing,” he repeats, more confidently, “where you think that, like, we’re seasoned monster-killers, and you’re—”

“Uh, speaking objectively, Harrington, that’s kinda what you are.”

“My point is,” Steve says, “that you don’t need to—shit, I don’t know, man. Just. You don’t need to apologise or whatever. You’re doing fine.”

Eddie blinks. He’s cupping the empty bowl with his hands, breathing a little deeper, like the residual warmth is calming.

And that Steve can relate to: in the days after Starcourt, when Robin pretty much dragged him to her house, empty thanks to her folks visiting extended family. They both pretended that they just wanted to stay up late because they could, because they were just teenagers enjoying the summer, and Robin had made shitty hot chocolate from a powder, heating up milk on the stove; when Steve complained that he could hardly enjoy it through a busted lip, she’d said, still jittery, “I just thought—it’s just nice to hold, y’know?”

She was right.

One of Eddie’s fingers starts tapping against the bowl, the underside of his ring making a series of restless clinks. Steve wants to still his hand, gently press it further into the warmth. Settle him.

Eddie stands up with the bowl.

“I can—”

“Nah, I’ve got it,” Eddie says, already at the sink. He turns on the faucet, smiles. “Thanks, by the way.”

It’s so simple, so domestic, and all of a sudden, Steve’s struck with a thought: oh, I want this.

“No problem. I’ll get you something better, after… um, everything.”

Eddie chuckles. “Oh, Jesus, I think I actually would kill for some fries.”

Steve clicks his fingers. “So we’ll make it happen.”

“We?”

“Yeah, I hate to break it to you, man, but as soon as they hear about free fries—” Steve jerks his head towards the chatter outside, “—they’re gonna demand to come with, they’re like piranhas.”

He expects Eddie to play up the joke, to groan and complain.

But while he does laugh, Eddie just sighs before saying in earnest, “That sounds fucking fantastic.”

And his eyes are warm and fond, like maybe he’s found another home in all of them, too.

[aerodaltonimperial]

(Forced some words just to make sure I could. Short, silly ficlet. Whatever these two got going on is not normal.)

“I told you to put an AirTag in his luggage last time it was in the Elite locker room,” Matthew says. “You didn’t do it, and now—”

“I didn’t do it,” Nicholas replies, “because every time I walked over to that side of the room, he looked at me like he knew exactly what was I doing.”

Matthew groans. “Well, having him be suspicious then would be better than him being missing now!”

“Just text him again.”

“I’ve texted him five times,” Matthew says. “He’s answered none of them. He hasn’t answered me in days because for some reason, he never thinks he has to.”

“I asked the EA to figure out what happened with his flight, and she hasn’t gotten back to me,” Nicholas says.

“Dock her pay. This is ridiculous. We should have the flight numbers anyway if—”

“I asked him for his flight number earlier in the week,” Nicholas waves his phone around a few times. “He doesn’t answer me, either!”

“Okay,” Matthew says, “we’ll just—”

“He’s at the airport,” Darby interrupts, from the table behind them, and both Matthew and Nicholas freeze, then turn in tandem. Darby’s got his boots up on the opposite chair, like a heathen, and is scrolling lazily through his phone.

“What?” Nicholas asks.

Darby shrugs. “You chucklefucks have been talking about this, out loud, in catering, for the past fucking ten minutes. I just texted him.”

“Why do you even have his number?” Nicholas demands.

“And he answered?” Matthew says, incredulous. “Wait, what did you text?”

Darby reads from his screen: “‘Hey, where you at, you dumb bitch, I wanna punch your face in.’ And he replied, ‘Stuck waiting for car at airport, you clown college reject. You can beat me up when I get there.’” Darby lifts his chin to look at the other two. “He sounds cranky.”

Nicholas stares at Darby. “What?”

“Ask him how long until he gets here,” Matthew orders.

Darby grumbles, but his fingers tap into the screen. The room goes quiet, footsteps out in the hallway. Matthew waits with growing impatience—because first of all, what the hell is even happening where Darby gets responses from Jack before they do, and secondly, why has Jack decided that he is simply too important to answer them in the first place?

“Well?” Nicholas says. “What did you say?”

“Jesus Christ.” Darby sighs. “I said ‘ETA? Hate your stupid fucking face. Also catering has chocolate mousse pie today.’ And he replied, ‘Probably thirty minutes. Your ugly mug haunts my dreams. Save me a slice.’”

“I… “ Nicholas seems unable to complete his thought. “I don’t…?”

“What do you text each other?” Matthew asks.

“Threats,” Darby replies, breezy. “Vaguely sinister Instagram reels. A lot of knife and skull emojis. Although the other night we were promising to pick out each other’s coffins for Wembley; you guys got, like, a catalog for that? ‘Cause I’m gonna make his obnoxious.”

Matthew’s temples are throbbing. “What? No.”

“Ugh, fine. We’ll just do it online, then.”

Nicholas. “Hold on. You’re saying he always answers?”

“Jack? Yeah, he’s a fast replier.” Darby shrugs again, that absurd pink coat he insists on wearing every single day shifting around his shoulders. “Whatever. Now you know where he is. I gotta go get a slice of pie so I can smash it into his hair when he finally shows up, cause that’s gonna take forever to wash out, so fuck you very much, E-V-Shitheads.”

He gets up and wanders back over to the dessert table, while Nicholas looks at Matthew with alarm written over his features. “Fine him for the language?”

“I mean, yes, obviously, but…” Matthew’s a bit preoccupied now, in account of trying to figure out what on earth is happening here. “Should we be concerned about this?”

“Should probably be concerned about Jack not sending us his flight numbers,” Nicholas mumbles. “And the EA dragging her feet about it.” He watches Darby pick up one of the mousse plates. “This does not feel excellent.”

“No, it does not,” Matthew agrees, and then he looks at his own phone, where Jack has still not texted him back despite his five messages of where are you? with an increasing amount of question marks attached.

[thedomesticanthropologist]

What do you think the party would do on a SNOWDAY? ❄️

Astarion would be miserable. So he's either on Karlach, inside, by the fire as bundled up as possible, or he's stolen everyone's blankets and is located Beneath Them, complaining loudly, bitterly, and endlessly until he's catered to

Karlach would want Fangs warm, but not as much as she wants SNOWBALL FIGHT. Sadly the snowballs tend to melt before she can throw them, so that's a little short lived. She gets used as a heater and she absolutely does not mind. Free friend snuggles from camp mates? I can't imagine that going poorly.

Laezel and Wyll would absolutely start off with a friendly snowball fight that descends into tactical warfare

Gale, surprisingly, joins in with magic and nerfs them both. Quite smugly, in fact. He also makes the hot cocoa/coffee/beverages after the fact while repeatedly telling the story of how he won even though everyone just saw him do it. He earned his crown, he's gonna wear it.

Laezel calls bullshit on Wizards being allowed to fight with magic and demands a re-match but gets benched for putting rocks in her snowballs for tactical advantage.

Shadowheart provides commentary from the sideline, right beside Karlach for toasty warms. She squeezes Karlachs biceps several times with a little smile on her face. After the battle she sits very primly with her cuppa and side eyes Laezel. She does not reveal the rocks but she sees them going into the snowballs.

Halsin provides healing for frostbite and is generally quite merry about the entire day. He doesn't seem bothered by the cold, so he doesn't bundle up, but when the wind picks up he turns into his Cave Bear form and immediately gets used as a couch/lean against for the companions that can't glue themselves to the barbarian. Makes happy huffy bear noises and sleeps most of the day away.

[wonwoonlight]

Can you do all the members reacting “to finding out your sick by the internet” cause the other one was so good! maybe a series your choice though.

hi hi, i'm sorry i'm not accepting reqs rn so i'll answer this as a headcanon instead! thank you for enjoying cheol's version ❤❤ with that said, i'll start with jeonghan's and you can read cheol's here if you haven't already

jeonghan: would immediately call you while fuming, his jaw set and he badly wants to scream when you pick up but his worry overruns his anger so he exhales a deep breath and demands you to tell him whatever the fuck happened <//3

shua: is too worried to be angry, calls your manager, your family, and everyone who might know what happened bc you're not picking up his calls. asks if he can come over and brings a whole catering w him when he does

jun: will be very annoyed, if anything, bc he's been telling you to rest and he lowkey wants to ignore you when you apologize, but gives in and says he'll be at your door as soon as his schedule is finished; promises you a series of naggings that you will never hear the end of

hoshi: is eerily quiet when he gets to your place, which makes you feel even worse bc you know he's only quiet when he's on his edge, about to burst and barely able to keep it together. he'll take care of you in silence, asks quietly if you need anything, but will still hug you to sleep at the end of the night

wonwoo: texts your manager first to make sure what really happened and how it came to be. he wants to have all the info before he scolds you even though he got the gist of it already. after making sure (with your manager, not you lol) that it's okay for him to visit, he appears at your place unannounced, wraps you in your blanket, and refuses to let you move from your bed

jihoon: looks at you, deadpanned, with eyes that scream "i told you so" as you return his look with a sheepish one. he's not sure what good would scolding you right now be, and he doesn't want you to listen to him being annoyed when you're sick. so he holds it in and takes care of you without asking, making a mental note to himself to talk to you about it once you've recovered.

seokmin: is upset about the whole situation and the fact that he has to find out through the internet. like jun, he kinda wants to ignore you, but he compensates by taking care of you while complaining about the fact that you're not taking care of yourself under his breath. he'd be somewhat less upset had you told him you're not feeling well, so he makes you promise that you're not gonna hide your condition from him again

mingyu: unexpectedly would be calm, i feel like; kinda sees it coming, too. he's told you not once, not twice, but thrice that he's worried and you're gonna be burnt out if you don't pace yourself. so it's you apologizing to him once he calls you before he even says anything, he'd just sigh and sends you food and vitamins because he can't visit you immediately.

minghao: would actually ignore you loool only because it's a topic that he's brought up many times but you chose to ignore. so it's him ignoring you in return even though, like hoshi, he still takes care of you silently. he doesn't really talk though; doesn't ask anything, either. he hands you what you need an it's only when you hug him from the back and apologizes sadly that his wall dissolves.

hansol: annoyed but doesn't show it; he asks about your condition, wants to make sure what went wrong, asks about what the doctor said and everything in between before he asks how you're feeling. he sounds like a dad reprimanding their child, voice laced with worry but felt the need to scold you nevertheless.

seungkwan: arrives at your door with hoards of fruits and vitamins. he demands you tell him why you didn't tell him first that you're not feeling well, why you're not taking care of yourself, and what makes you think you're some superhero that doesn't need rest. and when you tell him you don't need him doing this right now, he asks what would you do if it was him in your exact same position so you'd understand why he's upset.

chan: would call you and asks how you're feeling, tries to hide the fact that he's upset even though you can tell at once from his voice. he sighs when you apologize, then reminds you that it's yourself you need to be sorry for because you're not taking care of it properly <//3

A/N: once again apologizing bc i realize i'm the Weakest when it comes to headcanon <///3 hopefully you enjoy this anyway <3

[darklydeliciousdesires]

Hey! don't know if you're taking requests right now but worth a shot! could I request prompt #17 with rio from good girls please? ♥️

Hello! Yes, unless I state requests are closed, they're always open. Oooh, what a fantastic choice you made, I very much enjoyed writing this for you :D hope you like it!

Smut below the cut, minors DNI!

To obey is your role in this, the willing sub to his dom, caterer to his demands and desires.

Sometimes, though, kitty has to flex her claws. And he likes it when you do, for that means he gets to reprimand.

"Are you being disobedient?"

You cannot reply in words, gagged with your own underwear, your thong looped back and held in place at the back of your head by his finger, turning to him and nodding.

He grunts a dark chuckle, releasing the hold, pulling the black thong away. "You know what happens when you're bad, don't you?"

"I do, sir."

His hand curls around the chest harness he has you tied in, the deep purple bondage rope that looks so sumptuous against your skin pulling taut in his grasp as he corrects your posture, picking up a nearby paddle and cracking it over your butt. It hurts, and you knew it would, but the thrill of rigid leather meeting your flesh is always worth the trade, just to feel that delicious sting.

"Bend over."

You remain upright. "Oh, she's extra bratty tonight." Another strike meets your flesh, a whimper welling in your throat. “Little kitten. You know better than to make me tell you twice. Now, bend.” 

The balefulness of his tone has you folding immediately, grasping your ankles, Rio slotting his knee between your legs to shove them apart a little wider. "And now, you're gonna take my cock like the obedient little whore you are, and stay bent until I tell you otherwise. Understand?"

You gasp at feeling his rigid length slide into you deep, your eyes closing tightly. "Yes, sir."

He enjoys the feeling of your soaking walls fluttering around him, his hand still holding your harness tightly. "Mmm, good girl."

[raven-at-the-writing-desk]

talking of family day/parent teacher conferences at NRC, think about how much people would want to pick a fight with riddle's mom and maybe even jamil's parents. crowley would hide it but riddle mom and jamil parents would go full karen mode if they found out about their sons overblotting too. they would be even more unbearable than usual omg

[Referencing this post!]

Heartslabyul forms a human barrier around Riddle 😇 Cater clones have to hold Adeuce back from doing or saying something to offend Mama Rosehearts (even though they so badly want to punch her and/or publicly tell her off). TREY HAS TO AWKWARDLY MEET HER GAZE ("Hello, ma'am. Nice to see you again?") ... I don't know if Mama Rosehearts remembers him or not, but if she does then she'll probably make a face or comment that Riddle is still hovering around bad influences from his youth.

It was so sad seeing the total change in Riddle's personality when he talks about confronting his mom during winter break 💦 He just turns into a shell of himself... (I'm not exactly a fan of Riddle shouting or enforcing his will on others, but such a drastic change in his character when his mom is around... 😭 That's truly an indication of the toxicity he grew up with and how much his mother's teachings were drilled into him.) We never really did see the aftermath of that winter break conversation (if they had it at all), so we have no idea how Mama Rosehearts reacted. I doubt she would have heard her son out; people tend to be set in their ways. If that's the case, would Riddle return to being that meek, obedient boy in the presence of his mom? Or would being at NRC with his dorm mates and his friends give him more courage to hold his ground against some of her demands?? 🤔

I feel bad for Jamil too because he's also in a situation where he has to act docile around his parents (or else be scolded and told to behave). Constantly repressing your real thoughts and feelings can take its toll on someone, especially for as long as Jamil has been doing it... I also distinctly get the impression that the Viper parents will fuss just as much about Kalim (or maybe even more) than their own son?? (Like asking how he's been, asking if there's anything they can do for Kalim, has Jamil been serving him well, etc.)

My hope would be that Kalim, now knowing what Jamil's been bottling up, holds his tongue about the winter break OB incident, but would still be able to speak up on behalf of Jamil. As mentioned in episode 4, there's no way Kalim can make a system which has existed for several generations disappear by just saying, "Jamil doesn't like it, so can you give him his freedom now?" However, I do think Kalim's sociability (and his status, of course) can help smooth over any tension between Jamil and his family. Maybe he'd say something like, "Jamil's been doing a great job looking after me! You don't need to worry about him. He's doing everything he can, so... I'm gonna give it my all too!" And only Kalim and Jamil would know what he's really talking about: that Jamil has said he's going to work hard and be his own person, and that Kalim wants to work just as hard to be his rival and meet him on an equal playing field.

I see Mama Rosehearts going Karen mode more than the Viper parents (though I do think the Viper parents would worry about Kalim's safety and get upset with their son for his involvement in attempting to harm him, whatever his reasons were for it). There is the classic Karen entitlement to how Mama Rosehearts behaves, but the Vipers seem to be more... humble? Or at least not as self-centered... though I guess the trade-off there is that other people (Jamil) bear the emotional burden on their behalf. They're both "evils", I guess--just in their own ways.

[erythromanc3r]

Crash!

Oh, hi! @pearlypairings came up with an awesome little prompt (party crashing) and naturally I took that and ran with it — right for The Grammys! This ficlet takes place in the It Ain’t Fiction-verse, circa ‘93!

💥 🪩 👠

He’d heard it a million times before – ‘they don’t feed you at those things!’ – and figured it was one of those bad anti-jokes decrying the absolute excess of the industry, the kind of bourgeois bullshit all the friends he’d made playing the smaller clubs used to scoff at when a bigger act would come around, shrieking over unmet demands in their riders.

Like, of course they wine and dine you. It’s The Grammys.

It turns out, they really don’t. Combine an empty stomach with being seated for no less than five hours for what amounted to a broadcast taping of a self-aggrandizing, industry-wide circlejerk sprinkled with the occasional live performance, surrounded by the kinds of people that made him rue the day he ever thought of picking up a guitar…and you’d begin to understand why he was determined to salvage the experience for his beautiful Plus One, who sat so politely and clapped when the signs said ‘applause’ and smiled with far too much kindness while she listened to agents and producers and hangers-on try to one-up each other through name-drops and net worths.

His label reps had mentioned an afterparty at the Beverly Hilton, and it seemed like a natural enough way for the night to progress – you go to the stuffy ceremony, then you hit the afterparty as a reward for your good behavior, right? Like some kind of marshmallow test performed en masse?

Wrong!

Eddie wouldn’t exactly call his behavior a tantrum, but he’s not particularly proud of how he handled the doorman’s inability to locate ‘Munson, party of two’ on the guest list. It was tantrum-adjacent, at worst, nothing an apology and a generous tip couldn’t fix, and he did genuinely believe this snub was initially a mere misunderstanding, that his name was missing on this particular document (the true and complete form tucked away in some back office, naturally) but Eddie’s persistence eventually resulted in a FIRM and DIRECT request for him to step aside…because he was, according to security, ‘holding up the line for the individuals on the guest list’.

Fucking ouch!

Chrissy, meandering behind him in a seashell dress and her shiniest, clackiest pair of heels, folded her arms and made her way to the valet with her head down. That’s when the plan first came into his mind – she looked way too good, was far too patient with her time for him to let her not enjoy the fruits of their labor tonight.

This particular ballroom couldn’t be any harder to get into than the Shrine Auditorium, could it?

“Not so fast, baby,” he murmured beside her as she dug through her clutch for the valet ticket. “I have an idea.”

There was worry in her eyes, sure! But there was also that glint of mischief that made his heart sing. “You don’t want to go home?”

“Fuck no, not yet at least. I want you to have the night I promised you.”

“But what if we get caught?!” She whispered.

“We leave the way we came. C’mon, you think you’re the only one who wants to rub elbows with Ms. Jackson? Besides, I could use the kinda cred that comes with crashing an industry party.” His small come-hither gestures lead them sauntering around the corner, where a gaggle of young men in black-tie adjacent catering uniforms leaned against the fence, already fatigued, already on their second or third smoke break of what would be an unbearably long evening.

And opposite them, the kitchen door was propped open with an overturned milk crate. Easy peasy lemon-fuckin’-squeezy.

“The doorman might not want to let me in, but you know who will? You know who's gonna be happy to see us? The guys who have to wash these rich asshole’s dishes. That’s who.”

(Chrissy’s dress is from the Versace s/s ‘92 collection btw ✨)

[toujokaname]

Evanescent / Episode 1

Characters: Rinne, Kohaku, HiMERU, Niki, Nagisa  

"...Hello there. I'm Nagigon ♪"

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[ Read on my site for a better viewing experience using Ois~su ♪ ]

Season: Spring

Location: Abandoned Mine

Days later, in an abandoned mine deep in the mountains.

Rinne: "Emergency project! Chase Nagigon, the mythical giant creature!"

"So, here we are at the abandoned mine! Today, us Crazy:B are off in search of the legendary creature, Nagigon!"

Kohaku: ...What the heck's this? Feels like somethin' a washed-up internet streamer would come up with...

Rinne-han said he had a weird yet foolproof plan to solve our dire situation, but is this really the solution he meant...?

HiMERU: —Fufu. That line sounds somewhat familiar.

You said something similar during the initial rehearsal for JoyLife, Oukawa.

Kohaku: Even your JoyLife was the same. You got so serious 'bout it, yet what you delivered was such a letdown...

Rinne: Oi, oi. Kohaku-chan, you've really gotten quite high and mighty, haven'tcha...?

What happened to the Kohaku-chan who used to say he'd take any job just to rack up experience?

Kohaku: You were the one sayin' we had to be picky about the jobs we take. And besides, things're different now.

Crazy:B's in high demand, so surely there were some better gigs out there?

Rinne: Nah. That's only true for you and Merumeru. The public's focusing on PBB, not Crazy:B.

HiMERU: Hm. In other words, the work for Crazy:B's four members remains unchanged?

Rinne: That's right. Niki and I are only seen as evil pests meddling with you two.

Niki: Nahaha. Thanks to that, I've been able to focus on my cooking job lately, and it's been awesome!

And with Rinne-kun off sulking somewhere, I got to work in peace. No interruptions, no chaos ♪

I wouldn't mind staying like this forev... Hey, Rinne-kun, quit holding onto my clothes! You're not gonna suplex me again, are you?!

Kohaku: Niki-han, you really just never learn...

I do understand your situation, Rinne-han. But I still don't get how this show's a solution to the problem...

Rinne: Well, as you pointed out, there's pretty much nothing deep or complicated here.

It's just a typical Crazy:B-style project to ruffle some feathers with the public's interest in PBB.

Wasn't I spending most of my free time tryna wreck the happy little lovefest you two had going?

Niki: Waugh... That's such a scummy thing to admit.

Rinne: Shuddup! This project's just a way to pass the time, forcing work outta Vice Prez Glasses-kun.

Kohaku: I see. So that's why it's so half-baked. I feel a bit sorry for the deputy director now...

HiMERU: He probably buckled under Amagi's insistence and threw together a project on the fly.

Kohaku: But seriously, what's with this "Nagigon" thing? Ain't it usually somethin' like a tsuchinoko[1] or what have ya?

And it's real strange that Nagigon sounds so close to Nagisa-han's name.

???: ...You picked up on that quickly.

Nagisa: ...Hello there. I'm Nagigon ♪

Kohaku: Hold on, it really was Nagisa-han!

You ain't even gonna wear a costume or nothin'? You're not honestly plannin' to appear lookin' like that, are ya?

Nagisa: ...No. We have various costumes prepared. A deep-sea octopus, a lion, a kaiju... I'll cater to everyone's preferences.

Kohaku: You haven't decided yet, huh. That's real sloppy...

HiMERU: —Still, to have Ran-san come for a project like this... It's hard to believe the deputy director gave the go-ahead.

Or does he have some hidden agenda behind this proposal?

Nagisa: ...That's not it. It's probably just to vent out his frustrations.

...Lately, I've been going behind Ibara's back, showing up on variety shows and acting on my own accord. I suppose it's accurate to say that his patience has finally snapped.

Kohaku: Is that really somethin' to say with a smile on your face...?

Nagisa: ...Hehe. It seems we've become close enough for Ibara to lash out at me, so that makes me happy.

...But more importantly than that. What kind of sound do you all think a Nagigon would make?

Kohaku: Nagisa-han, you're awful particular 'bout details. You don't need to go that far for such a pointless project! ♪

HiMERU: —It seems like you're having quite a lot of fun today, Oukawa. You're more energetic than usual.

Kohaku: Mm? Really? I don't notice it much myself, so I can't rightly say.

But yeah, I've been gettin' real sick of only doin' PBB gigs lately. Even if this project's ridiculous, it feels more enjoyable ♪

HiMERU: .........

Niki: Huh? Rinne-kun, I think the staff over there's looking for you?

Rinne: Ah? What's going on? They look real stressed. Something go sideways?

Kohaku: Huh? They're cancelin' the filmin'? Just like that? The weather don't even seem to have taken a sudden turn for the worse...

HiMERU: —So that's it. It appears that information about the filming here has leaked to the outside.

Upon learning about it, several fans gathered at the base of the mountain to protest against PBB being assigned dangerous work, causing a bit of an uproar.

Kohaku: What the heck's that?! I mean, it's bad enough that info got leaked in the first place, but...!

But it's up to us to decide what kinda work we do!

Rinne: ...This is the sign of impending doom after hitting the jackpot, Kohaku-chan.

We... Well, more specifically, you and Merumeru, have been forced into a position where fans dictate your work.

Kohaku: Fans dictatin' our work...?

Rinne: PBB fans enjoy watching you two living peacefully and happily.

No one wants to see Crazy:B going on dangerous adventures in abandoned mines, not like the kinda stuff we used to do.

On the contrary, some blind, overprotective fans must be thinking like this:

"They're being forced to deal with those two bothersome Crazy:B members, taking on dangerous work they never asked for."

"Poor Kohaku-kun, we need to stop this immediately. We must protect him..." Somethin' like that.

Kohaku: Haah...? That's such unnecessary meddlin'! I chose to take this job!

Rinne: But the world don't see it that way. With PBB in the spotlight, Kohaku-chan's seen as a cute idol living a peaceful life.

That's the role society's expecting from you now, and the label that's been stuck on you.

Kohaku: .........

Rinne: Anyway. With so many fans crawling outta the woodwork, it'll be tough to keep filming.

Nagisa: ...Mhm. I've contacted Ibara. It'd be wise to withdraw for the time being.

Rinne: Them's the breaks. Kohaku-chan, stuff like this is bound to keep happening from here on out.

I was late to catch on as well, but just like I suspected, things have gone horribly wrong.

[ ☆ ]

The tsuchinoko is a snake-like creature from Japanese folklore.

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[luvtonique]

Hot Take Time

Okay, I'm gonna make a hot take. I want y'all to understand that this is coming from a 34 year old man who draws furry porn for a living and has regularly interacted with well over a thousand customers in his life, as well as partaken in various online discussions, social media platform conversations, and I've been pseudo-canceled a few times, so there you go, now we know each other, run on sentence.

I need to get something off my chest and a lot of you (I'd very safely say over 95% of social media and people in the political system and even regular media) need to get this through your heads.

Here we go, ready? Say this out loud.

"Nobody is responsible for making you feel comfortable, except yourself."

That is something that people just don't seem to understand anymore. We're in this day-and-age of people doing everything in their power to convince other people to change how they act, change what they believe, change the words they can or can't use because they are "not comfortable" and they believe it will make the world a "better place" if other people adhere to a set of guidelines that these people have deemed are necessary for the comfort of the people setting the guidelines (at the expense, of course, of the comfort of the others who are being forced to walk on eggshells).

I don't know how so few of you have a basic moral of "Life isn't fair."

It isn't. Perfection is unattainable, and yet so many of you don't fucking shut the fuck up about how everyone "needs to act" or how other people need to "be better."

Shut the goddamn fuck up, holy shit.

Nobody needs to act different so that you can be comfortable, just fucking grow a spine, holy shit. I don't care WHAT they're doing. I don't care if they're transphobic, racist, sexist, misogynistic, LGBT activists, Trump supporters, Biden supporters, I literally do not give the slightest iota of a fuck. Do they make me uncomfortable? Of course they do. That's why I don't interact with them. For my own comfort I just don't. I do what makes me comfy, I eat pizza, I drink hot cocoa, I take a fucking nap, I take some painkillers for my joint pain, I do a weed gummy, I listen to music, I watch a movie, I sit outside and watch rain fall, I FUCKING RELAX.

I have rheumatoid arthritis and am in excruciating pain 24/7/365 and there is nothing I will ever be able to do about that. Do I complain about it? Sure I do. Do I appreciate it when people carry heavy things for me so I don't have to? Sure I do.

But do I stand there next to a heavy box waiting for someone else to pick it up and then go "EXCUSE ME. I HAVE ARTHRITIS. YOU SHOULD PICK THE BOX UP FOR ME. I SHOULDN'T HAVE TO TELL YOU TO PICK THE BOX UP" because I'm of some fucking delusion that everyone on earth has to cater to my disability?

FUCKING. NO.

You know why? Because I, unlike a fucking huge percentage of you all, understand that it is not everyone else's responsibility to cater to me and improve my level of comfort.

Especially if they're not getting paid to do that. If I were paying them, sure, that'd be fine. That's what maids are for, right? But they're not getting paid, and that's where it becomes a very bad thing.

Slavery.

But apparently y'all don't seem to understand that making people do special services or cater their behavior to you without any payment other than "not getting punished, canceled, attacked physically or screamed at" is literally textbook definition slavery. It is quite literally "Do this thing because I demanded it, and if you don't do it or if you do it in an unsatisfactory way, I will whip you."

Let's look at a hypothetical I made up myself.

Say there's a kid in school who, if they hear their name said out loud, attacks and bites the people who said that. There's been 15 incidents in a row, including two teachers being bit by this kid.

What's the solution?

Solution 1) Pull the kid out of school, contact their parents, suggest maybe therapy or putting them in special classes with a guardian of some sort, keep an eye on them, maybe they need to be medicated.

Solution 2) Tell the entire population of the school to stop saying the kid's name out loud and punish any kids who get bit because they broke the rule of catering to this psycho fucking bully.

How in the fuck do so many of you think Solution 2 is the correct solution? How the fuck do you think forcing 8 billion people to adhere to your specific demands via mass manipulation and forced control without any compensation other than "I won't bite you" is the correct course of action?

I have met people that literally their opening sentence is telling me how to talk to them and what things not to talk about around them, and when I asked "Why can't I talk about <completely mundane thing>" they literally had a fucking mental breakdown and got me banned from the Discord server I was in that they contacted me from.

And so many of you, SO MANY OF YOU will act like that's completely reasonable for them to have done and will say I AM THE BAD GUY for "DELIBERATELY ATTACKING THEM WHEN THEY ASKED ME NOT TO."

Holy fucking shit.

If you are so fucking bad off, so unhinged, that you have complete full fledged mental breakdowns over hearing a fucking word or because you scrolled past a text post you disagreed with or because someone voted for a politician you don't like, I'm sorry to say this but you desperately need to get your fucking head checked because that is NOT. FUCKING. NORMAL. BEHAVIOR.

"But Jay, being 'normal' is a social construct that-" SHUT UP.

Care for your own self, improve your own comfort and be happy with "Good enough" like the rest of the fucking world has been learning to do for fucking years, you actual fucking sociopathic manipulative shitfucks.

Thank you for reading.

~Jay (who has been labeled a transphobe for breaking up with a trans girlfriend after 9 years of her lying to him, manipulating him, forcing him to become trans out of emotional abuse, forcing him to attack his own mother, forcing him to pay for her HRT for multiple years and forcing him to be in a poly relationship while not letting him meet the other girlfriends she was fucking regularly while never meeting him IRL a single time. Yeah guess I shoulda stayed with her, I'm the bad guy for not continuing to let her abuse me because her abusing me was "making her more comfortable in the relationship." Listen. I hate to break this to you. But if you act like this, or defend these people, you are a fucking psychopath and I no longer give a shit what you think about me. You are a bad person.)

PS: I usually get people asking, when I make posts like this, "Jay, did something happen?" because y'all assume every time I wanna make a post like this, I just got out of a fight with someone and needed to vent. The truth this time is that this has been boiling up for the last 12 years I've been here on Tumblr, seeing more and more and more of this fucking manipulative sociopath behavior becoming more and more commonplace and accepted and more and more people are scared to speak out against it because if just one of you fucking psychos can damage our reputation and get us fired from our workspace, imagine what thousands of you could do. Well, I'm done catering to y'all. If you are my friend, I will gladly act a certain way around you to make you comfy because I always strive to make my friends, family members, ect. as comfortable as possible.

But if I haven't met you and I'm expected to cater to your comfort zone's rules before even saying hi to you? I'm just noping the fuck out of there because you are a sick, twisted pervert with a fucking power fetish who is blind to how much of a manipulative shitwad you are.

PPS: I know, the assumption here is "Jay's gonna start saying the gamer word to poke the beehive now! He's looking for a fight!"

No, I literally am not. Why would I? I'm trying to live and be comfortable why the shit would I go out of my way to rile the psychos up? I'm gonna just hang out with my friends and family and fans who love me and continue being a respectful person towards people who are respectful in return, rather than go out of my way to find horrible scumbag people and attack them deliberately because I wanna start a fight or some shit. Why would I wanna be in a fight? Why would I wanna deliberately troll or rile people up? That makes me feel bad. I was yelled at and beat by my father for 25 years why would I go try to get myself yelled at more? So take off the tinfoil hat, stop assuming I'm announcing I'm gonna be more openly disrespectful on purpose. I'm a respectful person, I don't attack people, I don't troll people, I don't do anything to deliberately harm anyone.

So I ask you very politely.

If anything you read here today has tarnished your opinion of me?

Please just block me and move on, holy shit. Do the right thing, make yourself more comfortable, stop interacting. Don't waste your time trying to "get through to me" just leave, it's not worth either of our time. Do that with everyone you strongly disagree with. If someone offends you so much you're shitting blood just block them. Why the fuck y'all gotta keep putting your heads in sharks' mouths and then complaining they keep bitin' you.

[sbk-zgvlt]

I return from my inactivity with a hypothetical

What if

Au where sebek ends up staying behind for some reason during winter break

Maybe his family is visiting his dads family and the others would also be busy over the break

So why not take the opportunity to stay a bit at school just for the break and study and TOTALLY not get into any shenanigans

HELPPP

im going to assume this is another kind of winter break and not the one where the whole. scarabia thing went down

Alright to make this extra funny I'm going to put down who exactly stayed behind: Riddle, Cater, Ruggie, Sebek

....okay thats surprisingly a little amount of people what the hell.

ANYWAYS, first day of winter break, Sebek is INCONSOLABLE. He practically locks himself inside Diasomnia, and not a lot of people stayed behind for break, so he's kind of manning the whole thing if ykwim.

Things start picking up when Ruggie sneaks into Diasomnia hoping to find something good to pawn off. He figured out that no one's really around. Everyone from Diasomnia is literally hogging the library. Then he bumps into Sebek in the kitchen

Sebek demands him as to WHY he is inside the dorm and Ruggie plays it off by saying that he was told by a Diasomnia student to get something from their room. Sebek is still suspicious of him and tells him that he'll get it himself. Ruggie sighs, plan foiled, but realizes how tired Sebek looks. Feels a bit bad for the guy, asks if he's alright. "THERE'S NO NEED FOR YOU TO BE CONCERNED!!!" "C-concerned? As if! (lie)"

It ends with Ruggie trying to convince Sebek to leave the dorm because one: how he gonna steal anything now??? two: bro u PALE as hell its like u havent seen the sun in agesss.

He's able to convince him to do so by making him think of it as patrolling the school grounds to better guard NRC. Sebek reluctantly agrees and they both head off. Things are actually great for a while, and Ruggie's thinking of sneaking off to other dorms to find more things, but they get interrupted by a stressed out Cater, saying that Riddle has gone COMPLETELY mental.

Theyre forced by Cater to rush over, and at first they think its overblot all over agian, but are surprised to see Riddle...sitting in front of a board game. It turns out that while Riddle decided to stay at NRC, his mother started sending him a bunch of messages demanding that he come home. To get his mind off of it, Cater suggested joining in on a game that him and the other dorm students were playing.

Long story short, Riddle is SURPRISINGLY good at it, and is getting increasingly competitive. He has won 6 rounds in a row.

Uhhh basically there's these arcs where these 4 try to do something that they all like/planned during the break, that kind of goes off the rails. Riddle's is playing the board game, Cater's is trying to make a day to day post of doing something interesting for the duration of the break, Ruggie's is trying to find something to fucking sell please for the love of god, Sebek is just trying his best to hold on until the break is over.

Yah hearteyes

[wewerebornsextuplets]

So...how do your OCs feel about the Riceballs?

this ones been sitting in my ask box for a little bit now, mostly because i wanted to try drawing some accompanying art for it but for some reason it just Was Not Happening. so im very sorry about the delay! but getting to it now!

under a readmore because this will probably be annoying to scroll past later

since kiru visits the matsuno house most frequently [+ passes by it on her way to and from work every day], she is, by far, the one who has interacted with the riceballs the most of the three. i think she would be mildly amused by them at first because she thinks the concept of an AI trying to become a comedian is a little funny in a strangely ironic sense, but would probably be a little offput by them and some of the questions they might have for her. the idea of a robot smoking a cigarette is also morbidly fascinating to her because of her own family history wrt smoking, but like. theyre robots. nothings gonna happen to them. so she cant really say shit.

i dont think the riceballs have much of an opinion on her since she didnt know them when they were more to service the matsuno family, and thus she didnt have any weird or strange demands for them. she just kind of occupies the space of "my roommate's friend who visits sometimes" in their mind. and to her they are just kind of confusing in a strangely fascinating way. but neither party is super interested in the other

being an artist, keiko gravely misunderstood what Kind of AI the riceballs are at first and was very sketched out about meeting them. but after finding out they were just robots, she was like Ohhh okay this is fine then. she hasnt interacted with them much but i think her temper may be a bit too short for them, haha... shes not quite as explosive as totoko, but after enough seemingly trivial questioning and nitpicking about how she sorts things/her art/etc, she would just kind of storm off and not want to talk to them for a little while. shes quite sensitive to high, squeaky noises as well, so i think their voices may just be a bit too shrill for her. nothing thats exactly Their fault so much as their programming, but just not very compatible. though keiko had some biases of her own going in

as for ippei, hes been to the matsuno household... maybe three times? and two of those times were probably just awkwardly standing around while kiru or keiko picked something up they forgot there. so he hasnt actually met the riceballs. but i think he would try to help their comedy routines by spicing things up with his more current, in-vogue teen humor, only for the material to fly over the primarily middle-aged audience they were actually catering to

and it goes without saying that none of the parents have met or Could conceivably meet the riceballs either, so for your sake and mine i wont entertain the notion

[themaladaptivewriter12]

Title: Slumber Party!

Part 2 of my “Every Other Friday!” series. Part 1 here.

Parings: Platonic

Summary:

Another Friday passes and it's time for yet another Housewarden meet, so how about a slumber party in the Ramshackle Dorm?

Cw: Light angst but nothing too big

a/n: This was like the second fic I’ve written for this fandom, and it’s been sitting in my docs since last year lol, anyways, enjoy!

Reblogs are appreciated, just use my custom tag, #TheMaladaptiveWriter12, if you do!  ( ´ ▽ ` ).｡ｏ♡

Cross posted from my Ao3: TheMaladaptiveWriter12

It was the Friday after next and this week was “Slumber Party.” What better place to throw it than Ramshackle Dorm. Mirai was excited. None of them, besides the inhabitants of Heartslabyul, had ever been to his dorm, and that was only to help clean, and now it was. There were no more squeaky floorboards, no holes in the ceilings, no torn and dirty wallpaper, no chipping paint, no more water damage, no more flickering lights, and no more dust. Mirai was proud that he was able to host this event, and everyone chipped in too. Trey and Jamil were bringing food, Kalim was bringing blankets and pillows, Idia was bringing board games, junk food, and a movie projector, Azul was providing drinks, and all Mirai had to do was provide housing, since he didn’t really have anything. So Mirai made sure everything was in place. The floors had been swept and mopped, the carpets were cleaned, miscellaneous objects were put away, Grim’s cat toys, or that’s what Mirai likes to call them, were put away, and as for Grim, well, Mirai couldn’t stash him away. But Mirai also wanted to bring something to the table, so he called Jamil, who picked up on the third ring.

“Mirai? Has something happened?” Jamil asked through the receiver. 

Mirai tended to see Jamil like an older brother, although Jamil worries too much, which Mirai hated sometimes, but he always was looking out for Mirai. 

“No, I’m fine. I wanted to know if I could make something for Kalim if you were there to supervise the process?” Mirai asked carefully. 

“Supervise?”

“Well, Kalim always says that he can’t eat anything but your cooking, and I know you being his advisor makes you weary of what he eats, and I wanted to bring a little bit of home to the party, so I-”

“You wanted to make it in front of me so Kalim could eat it?” Jamil finished.

“Yeah. Is that okay?” Mirai asked. “You can help if you want.”

There was a long silence before Jamil made a noise of affirmation, “I don’t see why not, but I can’t leave Kalim by himself.”

“What about Cater or Lilia?”

“Ah, of course. Be there in twenty minutes.”

“Thanks. See you then,” Mirai beamed from his side of the phone.

“You are quite welcome, Mirai.” Jamil said, a hint of a smile in his voice.

“See you in twenty. Later.” 

“Good bye.”

Mirai hung up the phone and rejoiced, dancing a bit. He had been racking up some courage to ask Jamil, but couldn’t do it. He really wanted to bring a piece of his home to his new one, and what better way to do that than food. 

“What’s got you in such high spirits, human?” Grim asked, walking into the lounge chomping on an apple. 

“I’m excited for tonight. I finally have the right stuff to make something from home,” Mirai exclaimed. 

“Is it edible?!”

“Yes,” Mirai laughed, “And you’ll get some if you be a good little cat and do not cause any trouble.”

“I’m good! Ima be good,” Grim said eagerly, practically drooling. 

“That reminds me, did you want to hang with us tonight, or are you gonna disappear like you always do after eight?”

“I don’t know yet, but you better save me some snacks,” Grim demanded little paws on his little cat hips.

“Of course,” Mirai said, racing down to pet Grim between his flaming ears. 

“Hey! Hey,” Grim shouted, “Enough with that sappy stuff! You’re weirding me out!”

Mirai laughed as Grim scampered off to somewhere in the dorm, and went to prepare the things for when Jamil arrived. 

A while later, knocking at the door had Mirai jumping from his kitchen cleaning. 

“Grim! Could you get that? My hands are full,” Mirai called from the kitchen. 

“Who are you to be bossing the Great Grim around,” Grim griped, but did it anyway.

Not long after Jamil was following Grim to the kitchen. It was five-thirty, and the party started at seven-thirty. They still had a good amount of time. 

“Hey Jamil! Glad you could make it,” Mirai said, washing his hands. 

“Hey,” Jamil chuckled, “It looks great in here.”

“Oh, yeah, thanks man,” Mirai said, quickly busing himself with tying his hair up into a bun, sliding his favorite blue cloth headband over his bangs, “It took a while, but without the help from the guys at Heartslabyul, this probably wouldn’t be happening.”

Jamil was silent for a second but Mirai ignored it. He was used to the stares when people saw the state of the left side of his face.

“Hope you don’t mind,” Jamil said, lifting up a duffel bag in one hand, and a tiered cake tray of food in the other, “But I didn’t know how long it would take, so I bought my stuff with me.”

“No, no, you're fine. Just stick the bag in the foyer and the food can go on the kitchen table.” 

Jamil left and came back shortly after, and Mirai just got done putting a glove on his prosthetic hand. Jamil walked up after Mirai finished and washed his hands.

“So, what are we making?” Jamil asked, drying his hands. 

“Shoofly Pie,” Mirai beamed. 

“Shoo-Shoofly Pie?” Jamil stammered.

Mirai cackled. “Yeah, Shoofly Pie. It’s a pie from where I come from. It’s mainly molasses and sugar, but once it bakes, it’ll have a cake-like texture. Hence why we call it the cake baked in a pie shell. No actual flies needed.”

“Sounds good. What do we need?”

Mirai scurried around the kitchen, preheating the oven, getting out the flour, the dark brown sugar, some cinnamon, nutmeg, salt, molasses, baking soda, and a stick of butter. Jamil watched with amusement, letting the Prefect do as he wanted.

“Oh wait! Bowls,” Mirai gasped. 

Mirai raced over to the cabinet where Grim and he kept the bowls and began climbing the counters.

“Woah, woah! What are you doing?!” Jamil yelled, rushing to the Prefect’s side.

“Don’t worry, I’m fine,” Mirai waved off, setting two mixing bowls down next to his knees, then he closed the cabinet.

Jamil sighed, grabbing the two bowls and set down at where they were cooking, before racing back over to Mirai. “Here,” Jamil said as he grabbed Mirai by his bony hips and lifted him up off the counter, and then lowered him onto solid ground. 

The whole moment seemed to slow down time. All Mirai could focus on were Jamil’s large hands, clamped around his waist, and the straight face Jamil seemed to always carry. Even if it was so little, his face still told a whole story, held so much weight, so much emotion. 

“I-I was fine, r-really,” Mirai stammered, when Jamil let him go. 

Jamil sucked his teeth in annoyance, thinking about a certain white haired Housewarden, “Now you are. So what’s next?”

Mirai walked him through the steps of measuring the flour, salt, sugar, nutmeg, and cinnamon and put them in a bowl. 

“Now we slowly add the butter,” Mirai muttered, breaking off bit by bit of butter, mixing it into the dry mixture.

“Is this the filling?” Jamil asked as he mixed up a decent pie crust.

“Uh, no. It’s for the crumble on top.”

After the crumble topping was made, Mirai grabbed their third bowl and started on the filling. Mirai added the light molasses, water, baking soda, and one lightly beaten egg. 

“Is that really all?” Jamil asked as he kneaded the pie dough.

“Yep,” Mirai chirped, mixing the filling. “I’ve had it a couple of times for the holidays, it’s quite sweet.”

Jamil didn’t look too convinced, but he kept his mouth shut. 

The two continued in a comfortable silence, the two of them doing their respective jobs. Jamil finished the pie crust and started the process of rolling it out. Mirai on the other hand began cleaning up around him, putting things back where they belonged, putting their used dishes in the sink, and cleaning off the countertops.

Jamil was still rolling out the dough when he had gotten a call from Kalim. “I gotta take this. Finish rolling that out for me?”

“Sure,” Mirai said, changing the glove on his prosthetic, “One sec.”

Jamil didn’t say anything as he left the room. 

Mirai walked over to where Jamil had been rolling out the pie dough and took over. But as Mirai began to roll out the dough, or in this case, tried to, he realized that he was struggling. He was too short, well, short enough to where he needed a stool to actually get a good push on the rolling pin.

“Give it here,” Jamil said.

Mirai jumped, Jamil scaring him, and allowed the Scarabia Vice to take the rolling pin from Mirai and began rolling out the pie dough like a pro. 

“How come you make that look so easy?” Mirai pouted.

“It’s nothing really,” Jamil mumbled, rolling the dough. 

“Well, I wouldn't say that,” Mirai said, looking over his shoulder, “I surely couldn't do that, and it looks like you have a lot of experience in the kitchen. I admire that.” 

Jamil was silent, but from the way Jamil lost his steady hand, and the way he turned his face to the far left, Mirai could tell he was flustered, but he didn’t comment on it.

Now that the dough was rolled out, Jamil filled the pie tin, Mirai filled the crust with the filling, and once the crumble topping was added, Mirai put the pie into the oven to bake.

“Well that’s done,” Mirai sighed as he stretched his arms over his head. 

“That wasn’t too bad,” Jamil said, drying off his hands, “You did good.”

“Thanks.”

“Anything else I can help with?”

“Uh, you don’t have to, but I was gonna make some hot dogs.”

“We still have some time to kill,” Jamil said, looking over to the clock on the wall. “Just tell me what to do.”

Mirai and Jamil spent the next hour making hot dogs, they were the prepackaged kind, but they had to make quite a lot of them. But halfway through, Jamil suggested also making a chili to go on top, and so they divided the work until there were thirty hot dogs and a pot full of chili.

“Thanks Jamil,” Mirai smiled, taking a sip of his water.

“Why are you thanking me?” Jamil asked. “I just helped you cook.”

“You're smarter than that Jamil,” Mirai chuckled, untying his hair, and removing the cloth headband, “I think you can figure it out.”

Jamil looked taken aback, beautiful dark eyes going wide. “I didn’t do anything, really,” Jamil mumbled, playing with his bangs, “I should be thanking you.”

“You’re welcome, Jamil.”

Jamil smirked, before patting Mirai on the shoulder, “You’re welcome, Mirai.” 

“Now let's get cleaning,” Mirai whooped, rolling up his sleeves. 

Jamil shook his head fondly. 

Just as they finished cleaning the kitchen, the oven timer dinged.

“Pie’s done,” Mirai chirped just as a knock sounded at the door, “And just in time too.” 

“Human,” Grim called from the lounge.

“I’m busy,” Mirai sang back. 

The door sounded and muffed talking could be heard. Mirai checked the time, it read six-twenty.

“What’s cookin’ good lookin’?”

“Cay-Cay,” Mirai cheered. 

Cater laughed, opening his arms in invitation, “Didn’t I say it was Cay-Cay if you were cray-cray?”

“Well, there’s your answer,” Mirai laughed, returning the hug.

Mirai snuggled against Cater. He liked hugging Cater. He was warm, he always smelt good, like something fresh and crisp, with a little hint of spice, and he always felt safe in his solid form.

“You comfortable there, Hon?” Cater asked, one hand scratching through Mirai’s hair, and his other was rubbing at Mirai’s waist.

“Yeah,” came Mirai’s muffled reply.

Cater chuckled fondly.

“You just smell really good,” Mirai groaned, letting Cater go. 

Cater laughed loudly, and Jamil chuckled from his spot next to the stove.

“You here by yourself?” Mirai asked.

“Yeah,” Cater said, “Riddle is helping Trey, and Kalim is with Lilia.”

“Thank the Seven,” Jamil sighed. 

“You know I wouldn’t leave him by himself.” 

“Well, we’re almost done,” Mirai said, pointing to the table full of food. “The pie just came out of the oven.”

“Ooh! What kind is it?”

“Shoofly?” Jamil asked more than said.

“You remembered,” Mirai smiled.

“Never heard of it,” Cater said. “Does it come from your home world?”

“Ding! Ding! You would be correct!”

Cater and Jamil chuckled at Mirai’s sound effects.

“We also made hot dogs and chili dogs for those who don’t want pie,” Mirai informed.

“Aww, look at you,” Cater gushed, pulling the Ramshackle Prefect into a hug, “Always so thoughtful!”

A set of knocks echoed throughout the dorm and Mirai perked up.

“I got it,” Cater called, letting Mirai go to answer the door. 

There was shuffling from the lounge and shortly after Trey and Riddle entered the kitchen. 

“Evening guys,” Mirai greeted

“Evening, Prefect,” Trey greeted, “Where should I put this?”

“The kitchen table is fine! We can fix it when everyone gets here.”

“Sounds good.”

“Evening Mirai,” Riddle greeted happily. 

“Hey, Riddle, how are things?” Mirai asked.

“Everything is in order, as it should be.” 

“That’s good.”

“Oh, we didn’t know where to put our bags, so we just sat them with the other two. Hope that’s okay?” Trey asked.

“You’re good.”

“Well now that we’ve got more hands,” Cater chirped, “Let’s get this party started!” 

Cater pulled his Bluetooth speaker from his bag and began playing wherever he felt fit the mood, and with the help from Jamil, Trey and Cater, Riddle directed from the top of the stairs, Mirai rearranged the lounge so that everything faced the window. The couch that was in front of the window was moved to sit along the rug, the couch in front of the stairs was moved horizontally to the window, the rocking chair was moved to the base of the stairs and the end table and coffee table were moved to sit horizontally to the window. Grim just sat there on the couch as he read, letting them move him about. Halfway through, Vil and Rook showed up and watched it all unfold.

“Evening, Rook, Vil,” Mirai called over the music.

“What fun this looks, Roi du Sommeil,” Rook commented. 

“It’s getting there,” Mirai huffed, walking over to the two, “Just set your things there, we’re almost done.”

“I was told to bring fairy lights,” Vil said, holding up the two large plastic bags.

“Fairy lights?” Mirai asked.

“Those are for later,” Cater cut in, taking the bags.

There was a knock on the door, and Vil opened it to let Kalim, Lilia, and Malleus in.

“Hey guys, drop your stuff in the foyer for now,” Mirai instructed, “After we get this situated we can go from there.”

“Okay,” Kalim complied, “I bought even more blankets!”

As Trey rearranged the food on the coffee table, Mirai, Jamil, and Malleus laid out the blankets so that the hard wooden floors were covered and cushioned, then Kalim added the pillows. Cater and Jamil stopped midway through and had a dance break, then Lilia changed the music to something harder, the base loud and booming, which he screeched along to. Riddle and Vil perfected everything, looking as pretty and important as ever as they gave orders. With help from Rook and Trey, Mirai brought another end table down to the lounge just as the Octavinelle trio arrived. 

“Little Shrimpy,” Floyd called, “Where are you?”

“Lounge,” Mirai called, “Just drop your stuff near the door.”

Azul, Jade, and Floyd entered the lounge, the drinks in a cooler. 

“Oh, that goes next to the coffee table,” Mirai directed, pointing to the space next to it. 

“Of course,” Jade said, walking the cooler to the coffee table. 

“Shrimpy,” Floyd yelled, tackling Mirai onto the floor.

“Floyd,” Azul chided, “Be careful!”

Mirai grunted as he hit the floor, taking the entire weight of the six foot two eel human.

“You okay, Prefect?” Jade asked. 

“Y-Yeah,” Mirai coughed, strain in his voice, “Fl-Floyd, it’s nice t-to see you too, b-but you gotta be c-careful. You might b-break m-me.”

Floyd cackled, snuggling his face into Mirai’s hair, “Shrimpy’s weak.”

“Yes I am, that’s why you gotta get off me,” Mirai laughed, patting Floyd on the back.

“Okay!”

Floyd sat the two of them up, sitting cross legged on the blanket pallet. 

“What time is it?” Mirai called.

“It’s seven-ten,” Malleus answered. 

“Thanks.”

“Idia’s here,” Vil called.

Idia entered the lounge with his projector equipment, and a long black bag. 

“Heyaz,” Mirai waved from within Floyd's hold, “Set it up whenever you’re ready.”

Idia nodded, walking his equipment over.

“We’re setting it up in front of the window, right?” Idia asked guesting to the small blank end table next to the surge protector plugged into the wall. 

“Yep. Is that okay?”

“No, no, that’s fine. Just making sure,” Idia said with haste.

“Cool, just tell me if you need something.”

“Here Cater,” Idia said tossing the long black bag to him. 

“Thanks,” Cater chirped, “Okay Ima need help from my tall guys for this!”

“For what?” Mirai asked. 

“It’s a surprise,” Cater said with a finger to his lips. 

Cater left the room to gather everyone else, and Floyd followed shortly after being called by his brother. 

“What are they doing?” Mirai muttered. 

Mirai turned his body around to look at Idia. Mirai thought he looked cute in his hoodie as always, and this time, he wore his hair in a ponytail, a baseball cap atop his head, and with the light of the golden afternoon, Mirai thought he looked even prettier, ethereal even. And the way he worked with the equipment, he looked more in his element than ever. His hands were working fast as he positioned the projector and his laptop, plugging in cords here, there, and everywhere, his eyes were narrowed in concentration, the tip of his tongue peeking from blue tinted lips, with a flash of his sharp teeth here and there as he muttered to himself. Mirai found the tall gamer all too cute.

“Wh-What is it? Did I d-do something wrong?” Idia asked after realizing the Ramshackle Prefect was staring.

“N-No,” Mirai stammered, “I was just watching.”

“O-Oh. It’s nothing interesting,” Idia muttered.

“You just seem really good at that kind of stuff, and that’s what makes it interesting.”

Idia’s mouth opened and closed repeatedly, as he tried to come up with an answer. Mirai laughed while getting up to leave Idia to work.

“W-Wait,” Idia called, grabbing Mirai’s arm. 

Mirai was surprised, but so was Idia, his face was red, hair growing pinker and pinker. He looked like he was surprised with himself, like didn’t mean to do that.

“Leona and Ruggie are here,” Lilia called from somewhere in the dorm.

Idia let go of Mirai and quickly busied himself with the projector again. Mirai took that as Idia wanted to forget what just happened, and got up to greet the last of his guests. 

“Oi Herbivore,” Leona called, “Move your dorm. The walk here is too long.”

Mirai laughed. “I don’t think I can do that, but I’ll ask the Headmage and let you know what he says.”

Leona smirked, a quiet chuckle escaping his lips.

“How come we’re the last one’s here, but on time?” Ruggie asked, dropping his stuff next to everyone else's. 

“They were helping set up,” Mirai explained. 

“Hey Ruggie, come here,” Trey called from somewhere.

“Coming,” Ruggie called back jogging off.

There was a sound of pattering feet from behind, Mirai turned around to catch Trey, Azul, Malleus, and five Caters scurrying into the lounge.

“What are they doing?” Mirai questioned, walking off.

“Hey herbivore,” Leona said, running his whole hand across Mirai’s head, tangling his fingers in thin blonde strands and pulling, “you smell good.”

Mirai made a surprised noise akin to a choking cat, and tilted his head back, bending his body, as Leona pulled him by the hair.

“Good?” Mirai grunted, trying to get Leona’s hand out of his hair, “I’ve been cooking and moving around all day. Ya sure it’s not just sweat?”  

“No, like, you smell really good,” Leona muttered. “Like meat?”

“Leona,” Mirai whined, face flushing, “That’s just gross. Even if I was just making hot dogs, that’s still gross.” 

Leona chuckled. “Yeah that’s what it is.”

“Ugh! Now I wanna change my clothes. That’s just plain nasty.”

Suddenly there was a crackling sound and then the whole dorm went dark. 

“Guys?! What happened?! Are you okay?!” Mirai yelled, wringing himself from Leona’s grasp. 

Mirai tripped over the bags as he scrambled to the lounge, thinking of the worse. When he entered the whole room was pitch black. 

“G-Guys?” Mirai called wearily.

One by one, strings of fairy lights lit up the room, little balls of light danced around the room like golden fireflies, making the huge blanket fort more and more visible. The top of the fort was peaked, hanging from the chandelier, a side was connected to the fireplace and the railing of the stairs above the couches. And at the front, there was a little pathway leading from the entryway into the fort, and the little door was made of blankets and sheets, tied on the edges to keep them out of the way. Mirai was in awe. He’d never seen anything like it. He just stared at the setting in front of him. 

A flash broke Mirai from his stupor, making him startle. Cater was smiling from behind his camera.

“You gonna come in or just stand there?” Cater chuckled. 

“Wh-What’s happening?” Mirai asked, voice a little distant.

A push at Mirai’s back had him whipping his head around to Leona who was smirking at him. 

“C’mon,” Cater smiled, grabbing Mirai’s hand, leading him in. 

They had to crawl in the little path way, but once they pushed past another set of blankets, the fort opened up. Kalim’s red, orange, burgundy, and purple blankets looked even better from the inside. Fairy lights lit the inside of the fort, and the little balls of light from outside also floated around in here. There were poles situated in the corners, where the fort, keeping it all in place, and in the back, there was yet another doorway, just like the one Mirai had crawled through. Mirai honestly didn’t know how they did it. 

Azul and the twins were chatting on one of the couches, Kalim, Jamil, Trey, and Riddle were sitting around the coffee table on the blanketed floor. Malleus, Lilia, and Vil sat on the other couch, Rook sat at Vils feet on the floor, Idia sat next to the projector, and Ruggie sat around one of the other tables. Leona scooted in from behind Cater and Mirai, crawling over to Ruggie, where he promptly got comfortable. 

“You can thank Cater for orchestrating all of this,” Azul said from the couch, “It was all his idea.”

“The light’s were from Vil and I,” Lilia added. 

“Idia engineered the fort layout,” Malleus imputed. Idia flushed at his honorable mention.

“I bought extra blankets and sheets,” Kalim cheered, raising his hand. 

“Rook and I concocted a potion that glows in the dark, mimicking fireflies,” Trey said racing up to a ball of light. 

“What’s happening?” Mirai muttered again, still in shock, “H-How, why?”

“Because we wanted to,” Cater said looking Mirai in the eye, “And according to a little kitty cat, a certain Prefect was feeling down, and wanted to find a way to cheer him up.”

Grim poked his head in from the other blanket door, ears flat to his head. 

“You weren’t supposed to go blabbing all that,” Mirai chided

“Well you said you were homesick,” Grim mumbled, “And you were all mopey. A-And it was annoying, so…” 

Mirai was taken aback by Grim’s confession. Yeah he was feeling a little homesick. He missed the food, he missed the music, he missed the familiarity of it all, he missed not having to try and understand everything that was thrown at him, but he wouldn’t trade this for the world. He now had friends that cared for him, he now had a purpose, even if it was small in the greater of things, he now had a reason to look forward to tomorrow and what was to come. Yeah it was hard sometimes, yeah some of these guys could kill him with their pinky finger, but he was happy with life, more than he’s ever been for a long time.

Mirai threw his head back laughing, mirth spilling from his lips before it boiled over into misery. Tears filled his eyes, and Mirai bowed his head and cried into his hands. 

Everyone was everywhere at once. Mirai couldn’t tell who was who, or what anyone was saying over his own sobbing voice. But he was trying to stop the tears that just wouldn't stop falling.

“I-I’m f-fine,” Mirai sobbed.

Mirai was pulled into a pair of soft arms. They smelled sweet like strawberries and something floral, like roses. It was Riddle.

“Ramshackle Dorm Rule by default, Mirai must confide in his upperclassmen whenever he’s in trouble, no matter the problem,” Riddle muttered, petting into Mirai’s hair.

Mirai pulled away, sniffling as he wiped his face with his sleeves, voice wet and raspy, “Thanks guys, I mean it.”

“You’re welcome,” chorused around. 

Mirai smiled, wiping at his eyes again, “You guys are the best, you know that?”

“I mean, I already know that,” Leona boasted, a snarky smirk on his lips, “But I don’t mind hearing from you.”

“Please,” Vil scoffed, “If anyone here is the best, it’s me.”

“I think it is I whom he was referring to,” Malleus’ deep baritone voice rumbled.

The three began to bicker, much to everyone’s chagrin and Mirai watched the scene unfold in front of him.

“Ready?” Cater asked, bringing the Ramshackle Prefect from his thoughts.

“Yeah,” Mirai nodded.

“Alright! Party in the Blanket Castle of Ramshackle is a go!”

Everyone filed out and changed into their pajamas, and Mirai found it a funny sight. Riddle was in a red button up pajama set rimmed in white, the cuffs of his sleeves and the hem of his pants lined with white lace, Trey was wearing a green T-shirt and red plaid pajama pants and Cater was wearing a black muscle tank, an orange and white striped pair of pants, and a cardigan that matched them. Leona was in nothing but a pair of yellow pajama pants, Ruggie was dressed in an yellow oversized t-shirt and light blue shorts. Azul wore a purple button up pajama set rimmed in black, Jade and Floyd both wore blue pajama pants with little shells printed on them, and instead of the white tee like Jade was wearing, Floyd wasn’t wearing one. Kalim was dressed in a loose champagne pajama set, and Jamil was in a red tank and loose blank pants. Rook was in a dark blue button up pajama set, and Vil was wearing a flowy dark blue satin gown. Idia was in cyan blue pajama pants and a black graphic tank, and black ankle socks, Lilia was in a large magenta shirt and black leggings, and Malleus was wearing a black satin pajama set, rimmed in a fluorescent green. 

“Everyone ready?” Trey asked, from inside.

“Coming,” Mirai called, crawling on his knees, back into the blanket fort. 

Mirai was wearing a loose long sleeved shirt, the sleeve that held his missing arm was tied a little ways below the stump. His loose black shorts reached his thighs, and on his feet were black ankle socks. 

“C’mere you,” Cater cooed, holding Mirai under his arms, and pulled him into the fort.

“Cater,” Mirai laughed as they both tumbled inside, Mirai ending up lying on top of Cater, both of them giggling.

“Getta room,” Leona hollered.

Cater stuck his tongue out at the Lion Beastman.

“Where’s Grim?” Mirai asked.

“Over here,” Trey laughed.

Grim, who was currently pouting, was dressed in a tiny blue t-shirt and gray pants, and he looked absolutely adorable.

“Aww,” Mirai gushed, “You’re wearing clothes!”

“Well he had to fit the dress code,” Kalim laughed.

“Wait,” Mirai gasped, untangling himself from Cater, and reached up onto the mantel to grab the Ghost Camera.

“Is that a Ghost Camera?” Cater asked.

“Yeah,” Mirai nodded, turning it on, “The Headmage said to use it to take pictures of my time here, to record all the nice moments, and why not use it now?”

“Then allow me.”

The ghosts, Biggie, Smalls, and Rangy, materialized and took the camera from Mirai.

“Good idea,” Mirai chirped, getting into position.

Everyone shuffled around, pushing and shoving here and there. Floyd made a scene about sitting next to Mirai, which caused Kalim to act out as well. Eventually to make it fair, Riddle made everyone sit in height order, shortest in front, tallest in the back, and Grim in Mirai’s lap.

“Everyone ready? On three,” the Rangy said, “One, two, three.”

The camera sparkled and shook, white mist swirled around it before it stopped.

“Thank you,” Mirai thanked them, putting the camera away as they dissipated once more.

“So Jamil says you made something for everyone?” Malleus asked.

“Oh yeah,” Mirai shouted, scooting over to the snack table. He only fell on his face once, but no one commented on it. “I made Shoofly Pie!”

“Fly?” Floyd asked. “Is it made with flies?”

Mirai snorted a laugh, “No. It’s just called that. It’s mainly molasses, and it’s kinda like a cake, well, a cake in a pie crust. But it’s really sweet.”

Trey cut the pie beautifully, serving it to those who wanted some, topping each piece off with the choice of a dollop of whipped cream or a scoop of ice cream. Mirai waited for everyone to get a slice before eating a piece.

“It’s sweet,” Riddle said, surprised.

“It kinda tastes like chocolate,” Kalim said with a smile. 

“It's weird,” Floyd laughed. “It’s like cake, but it’s pie.” 

“That’s the point,” Mirai laughed. “That's why we call it the cake in a pie shell.”

“You did good,” Jamil said, smiling as he ate.

“Thanks,” Mirai smiled, finally being able to taste home. Mirai felt like crying again, but refused to cry again for a second time. 

“Well don’t stop here,” Jamil said, “There's plenty of food to go around.”

And like that, the slumber party was in full swing. Trey passed around cakes and cookies, Jamil dished out a slew of finger foods like fries, wraps, sandwiches, and more. Idia bought out the chips, some dip, and some candy, Azul passed around bottles of soda, water, iced teas, and fruity drinks. Mirai bought the hot dogs and chili out, Ruggie, and Leona were more than happy to have some meat, and Cater and Lilia were more than happy with the added spice from the chili. Once the food was passed out, Idia pressed play on the movie, starting the movie marathon, and apparently it was a series about a magical dark academia. Mirai dug into almost everything. The sandwiches were amazing, so were the chicken and lettuce wraps, he also had some fries and some chips. And before he could forget, he made a plate for Grim. As they ate, Mirai tried not to look at Leona as he devoured the meat in his plate. For some reason, the look Leona had when he bit into his food, Mirai would flush, and he didn’t need to have to go down that route in explaining himself.

“Shrimpy sure eats a lot,” Floyd chuckled.

“I could eat an entire pizza if I wanted to,” Mirai answered, gulping down some cream soda.

“That’s disgusting,” Vil cringed, “Do you know how much grease and fat is in that?”

“A lot, but hey, I’ve eaten worse.”

Vil scoffed, eating his wrap.

“Mirai,” Kamil called, “Try this!”

Kalim was in his face in an instant, in his hand was a plate of spherical pastries, swirled with chocolate.

“Wha-”

“It’s called Luqaimat,” Kalim said, sticking one of the dumplings with a toothpick, and bringing it up to Mirai’s face, “Here, open!”

Mirai complied, opening his mouth, letting Kalim feed him the dumping. 

“How is it?! How is it?!” Kalim asked excitedly.

Mirai chewed thoughtfully, eating the sweet dumpling. It was soft and fluffy, deep fried, and smothered in chocolate. It was good.

“It’s good,” Mirai laughed.

“See,” Kalim cheered, eating one himself, “Here, here! Have another!”

Mirai laughed, finding Kalim’s excitement adorable. And he complied, letting the eager Housewarden feed him.

“I want some,” Grim called, bounding over to Kalim.

“Here,” Kalim said, feeding Grim.

Grim’s big eyes lit up at the taste. “I want more!”

Kalim laughed, “There’s plenty!”

  Later on Idia, Azul, Trey, Riddle, Jamil, Ruggie, and Lilia played a very intense game of Old Mage, which resulted in a screaming match between Riddle and Idia. Mirai could vaguely hear Riddle saying something along the lines of something being against the rules, which turned into him screaming his little red head off. Trey tried to calm him down but he seemed too far gone to care, Idia started going on about something like ‘you noobs being no match for me’ which resulted in an even angrier Riddle. Ruggie laughed the entire time, and Mirai was pretty sure he was cheating somehow. Cater had a photo op, taking pictures of everyone and everything, Malleus, Kalim, Jade, and Rook were very engaged with the movie and its storyline, Vil sat off to the side, having a very extensive conversation about potions with Rook, and at some point, Mirai ended up lying between Floyd and Leona. 

Floyd lay to Mirai’s right, stuffing his face with treats, while he read a comic book, and on the other side of the Ramshackle Prefect was Leona, the Beastman playing with the back of Mirai’s hair as he dozed, his long tail hitting the back of his leg as it swished lazily. Mirai knew he was doing it on purpose, but it didn’t bother him, so he let him be.

But right now, Mirai was internally having a crisis. He was stuck between the tall, pale, lean muscles of Floyd, his shoulder blades sharp, and the tiniest hints of his rib cage showed through his skin when he moved. And on the other side was tall, broad, and bronze Leona, who was pure muscle, so Mirai distracted himself by reading a book he had been meaning to read.

“Will Shrimpy’s arm grow back?” Floyd asked, lightly touching the shoulder of his remaining arm. 

“No,” Mirai laughed, “Human’s can’t grow their limbs back.”

“That’s not fair. Azul can grow legs back in his Octopus form.” There a moment before Floyd asked softly, “Does it hurt?”

“Sometimes, but it doesn’t really bother me anymore,” Mirai said, looking up at Floyd. 

Floyd was pouting, heterochromatic eyes distant. 

“Don’t worry about it,” Mirai giggled, smiling. 

“Shrimpy’s too nice to me,” Floyd whined, throwing an arm over Mirai, “I can’t be mean to him.”

He was changing the subject. Mirai guessed he didn’t like, or more like, he isn’t used to genuine niceties being given to him.

Mirai laughed, “That’s called being conscious of other people’s feelings.”

Floyd was silent, a thoughtful expression returning to his face. For a moment, Mirai thought he was gonna just ignore his comment, or worse, squeeze him for it, but it never came.

“Well I don’t like it,” Floyd finally said, pouting. Floyd got up and crawled over to his brother, draping himself around Jade from behind. Mirai could tell he was just embarrassed, and Mirai found it was endearing.

“Is that also where the scar on your eye came from?”

Mirai rolled his head over to look at Leona. He was dreading having to face Leona again, because he didn’t know how he would act having to be totally aware of his state of undress. 

“Mn,” Mirai nodded.

The scarring was pretty bad. It mimicked a burning pattern, flesh dark in some spots, light and shiny in others. It started at his forehead, and it traced down over his eyebrow, splitting it in two, down his left eye, over his cheek, and chin, ending a little ways down his neck and shoulder. It was so bad that his once green eye was now mixed with a cloudy white, little flecks of green now only shown through the top of his iris. Only on the worst days did it throb with pins and needles of pain.

“Does it still hurt?” Leona asked quietly.

“Sometimes,” Mirai answered. 

Leona reached over, running the backs of his finger across Mirai’s cheek, turning his hand, he ran the pad of his thumb tenderly over the scars across Mirai’s face. Mirai stared intently back at Leona. His eyebrows were frowned a bit, eyes not looking anywhere in particular, filled with an intensity Mirai couldn’t name. When Leona’s thumb reached Mirai’s eye, he closed them. It was too soft, and too intense, and Mirai didn’t know if he could take it.

“What about your scar,” Mirai challenged, sounding too soft, too raw for his liking, trying to revert the attention away from him.

“That’s a secret,” Leona smirked, letting his hand fall, catching the hint.

“Fine, I’ll come up with my own story behind it.”

“Oh?” Leona chuckled, “And what would that be?”

“You are six years old, and stuck in a tree,” Mirai smirked.

Leona growled something deep from within his chest, and Mirai was sure the noise would be engraved into his brain for the rest of his days. But the smirk stayed on his face, so Mirai knew it was okay to continue.

“You’re calling for help as you're stuck, and your brother comes to your rescue. The branch breaks, landing you into your brother's arms, but in your descent, you cut your face in the process.”

Leona laughs, like, genuinely laughs, and Mirai is absolutely smitten. He ends up laughing too. After their laughter dies down, Leona speaks up again.

“You okay?” Leona asked, propping his head up on his hand.

“Yeah, why wouldn’t I be?” Mirai asked, tilting his head a bit.

“Well earlier, you were upset.”

“Yeah, I’m fine now. Jus’ a lot of stuff going on, and I failed to remember what was in front of me.” 

“Oh yeah, and what’s in front of you now?” 

Mirai was genuinely going to answer his question, until he noticed the slyness behind it. He knew, Leona knew.

Mirai stuck his tongue out, making a little noise as he did. 

“Careful, Prefect,” Leona warned, “I just might have to bite it off.”

“Bleh,” Mirai said, sticking it out again.

Leona growled, and lunged at Mirai. 

Mirai yelled as was pushed down as he and Leona wrestled, rolling around in the blankets, pushing and shoving.

“No roughhousing in the Blanket Castle of Ramshackle,” Cater laughed chidingly, even if he was taking pictures of the two.

“He started it,” Leona said, trying to keep Mirai still.

“Did not,” Mirai shot back.

Everyone stopped what they were doing and watched.  

“That looks fun,” Floyd commented, “Shrimpy fight me next”

One of Leona’s hands ended up skirting Mirai’s waist and Mirai squealed, pushing Leona away.

They both went stock still.

“You’re ticklish?” Leona smirked.

“N-no,” Mirai denied, panic slowly going on his face.

Leona started inching closer.

“Le-Leona, st-stop,” Mirai demanded, shooting away from his assailant. 

Leona lunged forward, legs bracketing the Magicless Prefect below him, his attacks switching their target to Mirai’s waist, fingers skittering his belly.

Mirai laughed uncontrollably, as he kicked and wiggled, trying to get away.

“Say I win,” Leona breathed a laugh, “Say I win. Say you yield.”

“Y-you win, you win,” Mirai cackled, “I y-y-yield!” 

Leona stopped his assault and looked down at the boy beneath him. Mirai was panting, face flushed red from laughter, mouth stuck in a smile as he giggled as if he could feel the tickle. 

Leona chuckled, “You-”

Leona grunted as Mirai whopped him upside the head with a pillow.

“Now you’re gonna get it,” Leona roared, snatching a pillow from behind him, and started beating Mirai with it.

“Hey, he’s defenseless,” Kalim yelled, grabbing a pillow and whacking Leona with it.

“My turn! My turn,” Floyd cheered, grabbing a pillow, and smacking Leona.

“H-Hey! Why am I getting hit?!” Leona asked, shielding himself as he tried to hit the other two.

Mirai gasped as he was yanked from under Leona by under his arms. Looking up, Malleus was smirking down at him. 

“Thanks,” Mirai said, going in to hit Leona again. 

“Ruggie, help me,” Leona yelled. 

“I don’t know,” Ruggie said in fake thoughtfulness, “You look okay ta me.”

“Don’t worry, Leona! I’ll help you,” Cater yelled, raining his attack on Kalim and Floyd. 

Floyd whipped and flung his pillow around, smacking anyone who got to close. On one of Floyd’s backswings, it ended up flying from his hands, hitting Vil in the face.

“Hey,” Vil shouted, picking it up and throwing it back, it hit Riddle.

Riddle yelped, as it smacked him dead in the face. 

“You,” Riddle growled, grabbing the cylinder shaped cushion, swinging it by the tassels, flinging it back, it hit Azul. 

Azul screeched, picking up a pillow and throwing it back.

The chain continued until everyone had a pillow, attacking each other. Floyd was in no man's land, hitting anyone he could reach, Jamil had joined Floyd's side, tag teaming Riddle and Trey, getting his hits on Kalim during the battle. Malleus joined in some time after, using magic to throw pillows at Leona with a vengeance, and then that was when Ruggie and Lilia joined their charges’ sides. Jade and Azul took turns fighting off a very unpredictable Floyd or they set their assaults on Vil and Rook, who had deadly precision. 

“Fl-Floyd! Floyd! Floyd,” Azul shouted at the cackling eel twin, “You’re hitting me in the face!”

Floyd laughed as he wailed on Azul, before turning around and hitting his brother.

“A dangerous game you play there, dear brother,” Jade said, a sinister smile gracing his lips.

Grim kept a stash of pillows at his side, using to hit anyone who got too close. Mirai found it cute as Grim tried to lift some of the bigger pillows and throw them. Mirai on the other hand, ended up crawling from Cater, who made it his mission to hit him, and in the process, hit Idia, who was sitting very still in the corner. 

“Oopsie, sorry babe,” Cater apologized. 

It was like night and day, one second Idia looked like a cornered rabbit, then next he was a hawk, sinking his talons into his prey. In a flash, he was snatching a pillow from beside him and was wailing on Cater. 

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry,” Cater chanted, trying to get away from Idia. 

“Thanks Idia,” Mirai laughed.

Idia nodded.

Mirai laughed and playfully hit Idia in the arm with his pillow, Idia snickered and hit him back.

Slowly but surely, the pillow fight ended, everyone huffing and puffing as they lied there in a pleasant silence. Kalim giggled, then he went silent, then he giggled again. And like a virus, they were all laughing.

“‘M tired,” Floyd giggled, still catching his breath.

“As I,” Jade agreed.

“I can’t believe that just happened,” Vil said fondly, “You have quite the hit, Azul.”

“As do you, Vil. But you can thank Floyd for that.” Azul laughed, glasses long gone.

That tidbit earned him a couple of chuckles. 

“The Great Grim wants a do over,” Grim huffed from where he was spat on the floor, “All you guys did was hit me.”

“You’re an easy target,” Leona gruffed.

“Fynya! Am not!”

Laugher rang out once more.

“I suppose this should be a good time to settle down,” Malleus muttered, looking off to the windows.

Riddle hummed in agreement, “It is already nine-thirty.”

“Then I suppose some cleaning is in order.”

“Then let’s hop to it then,” Mirai said, sitting up.

After the food was cleared out, the tables were moved for the right, to give more space. Mirai helped clean up the best he could before Trey and Cater sent him away. Mirai helped out elsewhere, and in no time flat, everything was cleared out for the night.

It was late, Mirai realized, the sun had long set, making way for the moon and the stars in the dark sky. Everyone was beginning to wind down, the energy from earlier melting into something more calm and cozy. Mirai entered the fort once again, and found Idia sitting by himself, knees to his chest, biting his thumbnail as he watched the movie.

“You seen this before?” Mirai asked Idia as he sat down next to him, shoving a chip into his mouth.

Idia jumped, but settled back down when he realized who it was, muttering, “Yeah.”

“So what’s it about?”

Idia started out small, telling Mirai about the story from its origins as a novel, but once he kept going, he couldn’t stop.

 “The film is a masterpiece all in itself,” Idia rambled, flames growing brighter, and larger, his smile turning into a smirk full of sharp teeth, “Like the storyline, totally S-tier, the producers were fans themselves, so they wanted to make sure the movie hit the best points, and it did! The acting is great, although I think Henry’s acting skills are a bit mid. And like, the special effects team totally out did themselves, everything is on point. And don’t get me started on the OST.”

Mirai giggled at Idia’s rambling. Mirai found it cute when he geeked out.

“Like the use of the fog machine in this scene, genius! And-”

Idia suddenly clamped his mouth shut, face flushing a lovely red.

“Sorry,” Idia mumbled.

“What for man? So you like the makings of films that originated as literary masterpieces? We all have our likes and hobbies, so why be embarrassed about it?”

There was a beat of silence before Idia’s eyes narrowed harshly. Mirai was about to ask what was the matter when he spoke once more.

“Why are you so nice to me?” Idia finally asked, tone harsh. 

“Why not?” Mirai asked nonchalantly.

“Well you’re not gonna gain anything from this, so you might as well stop your efforts.”

“You just seemed like a really cool dude.”

“Cool? You think I’m cool?” Idia asked, unconvinced. 

“Mn,” Mirai nodded.

“What’s so cool about me? Who wants to befriend an introverted trash-tier Housewarden, who won’t leave his room unless he really has to, to only binge play MMORPG’s all night?”

“The introverted trash-tier Magicless Prefect, who never left his room unless he had to, binge playing FPS’s all night,” Mirai deadpanned.

Idia clamped his lips together, eyes widening.

Mirai sighed. “Being here has let me see the other side of things,” Mirai spoke quietly, “Being here has let me make friends. That little Housewarden meeting was the first time I actually felt seen since coming here. Being here has let me cook with someone, for someone, and talk to people who actually care about me. So even if it’s for a little while, why not try and start over and befriend the S-tier Housewarden with the cool flaming hair?”

Idia hid himself, pushing his blushing face into his knees.

“You’re not trash-tier,” Idia mumbled, “Definitely S-tier with some cool DLC.”

Mirai laughed.

“But seriously,” Mirai said, “Next time, if you need a gaming buddy, call me! I need someone who will binge play all night with me.”

Idia laughed loudly, accepting. 

“Prefect, come!”

Mirai waved to Idia and kneeled his way over to Vil, who was sitting on the couch with his legs curled underneath himself.

“Sit,” Vil said, gesturing to the space in front of him on the floor with a brush.

Mirai crawled over and sat.

Vil ran his fingers through his hair, combing through the thin strands, starting from the root, manicured nails scratching softly at Mirai’s scalp, as he pulled gently down to the tips. Vil said nothing as he did this, they both sat in a comfortable silence. After a while, Vil ran his long thin fingers over Mirai’s forehead catching the headband with the tips of his fingers, pulling it back and down off his head. 

Vil was terrifyingly beautiful to Mirai. He was a force to reckoned with, he let no one in his way, and he let no one tear him down. Mirai loved his presence, his confidence, the way he held himself, he was like a diamond, so pretty, yet unbreakable.

“Your hair is so thin, though it’s soft, like bird feathers,” Vil muttered, “you have to take better care of it.”

“It’s always been that way,” Mirai answered. 

Vil sucked his teeth in annoyance as he grabbed the brush and started running it through his hair.

“Rook,” Vil called, “Get that purple bag.”

“Yes, Belle Vil,” Rook obeyed happily, crawling out of the fort.

“No, no,” Mirai stammered, twisting his body from Vil, “You don’t have to-”

“Hush child and sit still,” Vil scolded softly, tapping Mirai’s shoulder with the brush.

It wasn’t long after Rook came back with a travel bag filled with hair care products, and another filled with tubs, tubes, and vials of creams.

“Here,” Vil said, passing the bag of creams, “Do his face.”

Vil busied himself with opening various vials of oil and dumped them into his hands, rubbing them together, then from root to tip, Vil began running his oil hands through Mirai’s hair. Mirai’s face contorted as Vil tugged at his roots, head lolling back every time.

“Roi du Poison’s grip is strong, non?” Rook laughed, mixing various creams into his large hands.

“Am I hurting you?” Vil asked, hands in his hair stilling.

“N-No,” Mirai stuttered. 

“Good,” Vil said, continuing. 

Rook rubbed his hands together, as he stood on his knees, scooting closer to the Ramshackle Prefect until his knees bracketed Mirai’s crossed ones. 

Mirai found Rook pretty. He was strong, yet so soft, it made his beauty even more intense and overwhelming. His jaw was sharp, but his eyelashes were long and soft. His green eyes were a fierce green, while his lips were in a soft smile. It made Mirai’s stomach flutter. 

“Head up,” Rook commanded and Vil tilted Mirai’s head back.

Rook got closer, placing his large warm palms on Mirai’s cheeks, using his thumbs to massage the creams into his face.

Mirai winced at his touch. 

“Son visage est si rouge,” Rook laughed. Vil leaned forward and looked down, he smirked with a chuckle, sitting back and continuing his work.

“Smells good,” Mirai mumbled, closing his eyes and Rook worked his thumbs higher on his face.

“Which one,” Vil asked.

“Both.”

Vil grabbed a comb this time, and started at the tips, working his way up to the roots, getting the knots and tangles. Rook grabbed another cream, it was pink, and began working it into Mirai’s cheeks and the dark purple bags under his eyes.

“Your freckles are magnifique,” Rook mumbled softly, “Like the stars in the skies of the Savanna. And your scars, they’re like a map, joining those constellations together.”

Mirai could feel his face flush, lips pursing themselves together.

“Beautiful,” Rook cooed, massaging Mirai’s temples.

“Don’t hide your insecurities, you’ll never learn to live them. You’re far too beautiful to hide yourself away,” Vil mumbled, his voice bitter, “Learn to take compliments, learn to love yourself. If you continue to compare yourself to others, you’ll never learn of your own beauty.”

“There’s nothing beautiful about me,” Mirai mumbled bitterly.

He thought he came to terms with himself, with his appearance. But then again he wouldn’t be so beant on hiding his face with his hair, and hiding his prosthetic with a glove, calling a fashion statement. He wouldn’t be holding back the tears that were threatening to fall. He spent his whole life comparing himself to others, indirectly downgrading himself into nothing. It was hard to see himself as anything at all.

“Don’t cry, Roi du Sommeil” Rook soothed with a sad smile, holding Mirai’s face in his hands as he leaned in to place a chaste kiss on his temple, “You’re too pretty to cry.”

“There is nothing pretty about too thin lips, too thin hair, a body that’s too thin, too boney, too pale, too many freckles. There’s nothing pretty about missing an arm, or the scars that burn my face, and the discoloration of my left eye,” Mirai bit out, angry and bitter.

“If you don’t see it, then I’ll make you. I’ll shower you in the love you deserve, until you see it,” Vil threatened.

“Where you see your flaws, I see your assets,” Rook whispered, “Don’t see yourself short.”

“But-”

“Hush, now. Let us take care of you,” Vil chided, lips brushing the crown of Mirai’s head.

Mirai sighed, keeping his eyes down, because if he looked at Rook, he didn’t know if he could take the feelings those green eyes held.

The night waned on and the party atmosphere was starting to dwindle. Vil took up one of the couches, a light-up hand mirror in Rook's hand as he applied his face creams. Leona was asleep towards the back entrance, snoring a little loudly. Floyd was dozing against his brother as Jade, Azul continued to watch the movie. Idia was dozing as well, but continued to watch, even if he had seen it many times before. Jamil and Trey were discussing their vice Housewarden duties quietly, Malleus took up the rocking chair, book in his hand. 

“Hey guys,” Lilia whispered, “Come look.”

Everyone looked to where Lilia was referring to, and as Ruggie got up, he stepped on Leona’s tail.

“What is it?’ Leona asked, waking with a snort.

 In the far corner of the fort, Mirai and Kalim were sleeping. Kalim was clutching Mirai like a stuffed animal, snoring quietly into his hair, and Mirai was snuggled into Kalim’s chest, legs wrapped around the Scarabia Housewarden like a koala. 

“You stepped on me for that?” Leona gruffed, lying back down.

“Oh, I gotta getta pic. Where’s my phone?” Cater whispered excitedly.

Kalim muttered something in his sleep, his body curling over to hold the Prefect a little tighter, and Mirai twitched at the movement, his breath stuttering, but the two never woke.

Mirai woke up hot and sweaty, his shirt sticking to his back like a second skin. He looked up and found Kalim’s sleeping face above him, his lips slightly parted as he drooled into his pillow. Giggling, Mirai shimmied himself out of his grasp, which caused Kalim to promptly turn over and snuggle him into Jamil’s arms. Sitting up, Mirai stretched his back, looking around the room. It was quiet. The only thing lighting the room was the fairy lights at the peak of the fort, and even with that, it was still quite dark. Mirai felt around for his phone, but he never found it, and he didn’t dwell too much about it. The movie was no longer playing, Idia’s laptop closed with a sleeping Idia lying next to it, his giving off a dim blue glow, the flames tame and low. Vil had his back turned to everyone, taking residence on the couch next to the stairs, thin body wrapped in a soft purple blanket, and Rook was below him on the floor wrapped in his own. Riddle was on the one above Mirai, leg and arm flopped over the edge, Jamil was to Kalim’s right and next to him was Trey. Cater was to Mirai’s left, sleeping facing up, and next to him was Malleus, who was facing Lilia who was next to him. In the front, Azul was squished between the twins, their long legs tangled together, Floyd muttering in his sleep, chewing on Azul’s collar. In the back lies Leona snoring like a freight train, with Ruggie at his side. Grim was nowhere to be found, probably in his room.

“You’ll be tired come dawn, Dear Boy.”

Mirai jumped at the deep voice, whipping his head around, a pair of glowing half lidded magenta eyes started back at him. “Lilia,” Mirai pouted, his voice quiet. 

“Apologies,” Lilia chuckled quietly, sitting up, “I didn’t mean to frighten you.”

“N-No, it’s fine.”

“Did you have fun?” Lilia asked, tilting his head to the side, a smile in his voice.

“Yes, I did,” Mirai whispered.

“I’m glad. You deserve to-”

Leona’s snoring stopped abruptly, making a sound akin to someone choking. Mirai and Lilia froze. Leona's ears twitched, as he rolled over into Ruggie, throwing an arm over his shoulders, cuddling more into hyena, and a moment later, he was snoring again.

Mirai laughed quietly. 

“You deserve to live your youth the way you want to,” Lilia continued, a chuckle in his voice, “You only get one chance.”

“I know, and yet I still asked for a second. That’s why I can’t mess up this one,” Mirai whispered. 

“A peculiar child, you are. Come.”

Mirai slowly as he tried no to step on anyone, made his way over to Lilia, who grabbed him when he was within arms reach. Lilia situated them so that Mirai was in between him and Malleus. 

“Says the vampire,” Mirai chuckled, once he was comfortable, pulling the blanket over the two of them. 

“Is that what I am to you, a Vampire?” Lilia asked mirthfully.

“Are you not? You have fangs, pointy ears, red eyes, and every time I see you, you have a bat next to you. Not to mention that you speak like you’re older than everyone, and when you tell stories, they sound too personal to be just a story.”

“Lilia, sleep.”

Mirai looked up, and Lilia craned his around. Malleus’ glowing green eye cracked open tiredly.

“You too, Son of Man.” Malleus mumbled, throwing an arm around Mirai, fingers brushing against Lilia’s as he closed his eyes once more, “You’ll be tired come morning.”

Lilia chuckled, wrapping his arms around Mirai, “I’ll be whatever you want me to be. Now sleep.”

And Mirai did.

[chierafied]

December Drabbles Day 11 - In the Absence of a Reindeer

Read on AO3.

Banner fan art by the amazing @sayuri-liu

For CookieA. Love you, friend! 😘💕

Day 11 - In the Absence of a Reindeer

The trees had bent under the heavy mantle of snow. They bowed gracefully over the road, forming a natural archway. It looked magical. A vision straight out of a winter wonderland. According to Kaede, this was the most snow Edo had seen in forty years.  

Many of the adults were complaining about the cold. When another day dawned and the grey clouds snowed more on them, they grumbled about having to pick a shovel and clear out the paths yet again. 

But the children of the village were delighted. A crowd of snowmen had gathered at the edge of the village. Sango and Miroku had helped to fashion a sledge for their children and soon enough every youngster was clamouring for one.  

Shippou and Rin had a sledge, as all the cool kids did. Every day that week they had made good use of it, sliding down the hill, their wild giggles piercing the air.  

But today, the twins had upped their sledge game, and Shippou and Rin — like all the other children — were sulkily watching their merry cavorting, green with envy. Somehow, the twins had managed to rope Kirara into pulling their sledge. They glided over the glistening surface of the snow, shrieking in joy. 

Tears burned in Shippou's eyes when he whipped around to Kagome. "It’s not fair!" he wailed. "When's it gonna be our turn?" 

Kagome chewed on her lip. She felt Shippou's and Rin's torment down in her gut. But she knew she couldn’t oblige Kirara to cater to the children's demands, either. The poor creature would likely collapse long before everyone got their turn. If only they could have a reindeer, like Santa... 

Her gaze landed on a lone figure, standing off to the side. Impervious, like a pillar of ice. An idea stirred, gleefully taking over Kagome’s brain. Grinning from ear to ear, Kagome bounded over to Sesshoumaru and explained her stroke of genius. His expression grew more and more pained as she prattled on, till he was pinching the bridge of his nose. 

"And why," he rumbled with a heavy sigh, "should I agree to such a disgrace?" 

Kagome beamed a hopeful smile at him. "Because I asked you to?" 

He blinked. Stared. Sighed again. And sulked. 

"Very well." 

*

Kagome burrowed into the fluffy white fur, safely straddling the neck of the huge inudaiyoukai. Children's laughter filled the air behind them, originating from the sledge Sesshoumaru was pulling like an oversized husky. Kagome’s own laughter rang out, delighted at the speed with which they ran. It made her nearly as giddy as Sesshoumaru’s willingness to oblige her did. 

She bent to place a kiss on his fur, soft like a snowflake. He might not even feel it.  

Regardless, she whispered against his neck: "Thank you." 

[twistedtummies2]

Who would you cast as who if NRC (including your ocs) were to do a production of Wicked?

Oooooh...oh, that's a toughy. A super toughy. I'm gonna focus on the six most prominent characters in the story: Elphaba, Glinda, The Wizard, Madame Morrible, Fiyero, Nessarose, and Boq. Glinda Cater. I honestly can't think of anybody else who'd be better in that part. You need somebody who loves superficial elements and popularity, and who can also be perky and chipper and optimistic...BUT, you also need them to be able to flip that and be really mean or really vulnerable. I can see some characters who could work for one side or the other, but Cater is the only character where I think he could fit both sides and make it even remotely believable. The Wizard The Wizard is usually an older male actor, so I think it would be interesting to cast a staff member here. I'd say either Crowley himself or Sam would fit the bill best; Sam isn't really that much older than the main cast, obviously, but he's still staff so that applies. Either of their personalities and aesthetics could match that character, I feel. If we must cast a student, then I should say...either Idia or Azul. For probably obvious reasons in both cases. XD If you want to use any of my OCs, then I think either James or Eli could pull it off. Madame Morrible Similarly to the Wizard, I can see a staff member in that role, and I feel it would HAVE to be Divus Crewel. He's got the right balance of "fabulousness" and strict harshness that character demands. Once again, if we must cast a student...I should say Jamil would be best. Not for the "fabulousness," obviously, but specifically because of his similarly two-faced nature as a character. Elphaba I held off on Elphie because...there are actually quite a few characters I can see working for her, all in different ways or for different reasons. XD With my OCs, obviously, Theodore is the one to go with. He's based on the Wicked Witch of the West, and I actually used a bit of Elphaba (among other takes on the character) in conjuring up my ideas for him. Heck, I have two story ideas for him in mind, and both of them I plan to give titles taken from songs in the show - "Defying Gravity" and "No Good Deed." So that tells you everything. If you want to go with canon characters...I can safely say I feel it would have to be one of two characters: either Malleus or Vil. I can't think of anybody else who would fit better in any way. It has to be one of those two. Plus, the humor of either one of them against Cater as Glinda is freaking hilarious to me. XD Fiyero Ahhhhh, this is a hard one! Because there's absolutely nobody who I honestly feel really fits Fiyero perfectly in the canon cast! And there's also absolutely no one who I ship with either of my Elphaba picks OR Cater, for that matter! XD So, okay, let's just ignore the ship factor - we'll get over that awkwardness when able - and specifically focus on Fiyero's character. As far as the canon cast goes...Floyd could possibly work. That whole "Dancing Through Life" philosophy he has at the start would fit him well, and when Fiyero becomes the Scarecrow...well, look at Floyd and tell me he doesn't have a Scarecrow build, so to speak. XD For my OCs, I'd personally pick Nakoda, again due simply to that opening philosophy. Plus, seeing Nakoda have to play a daring and brave prince by the end of things honestly is HILARIOUS to me, he'd be SO freaking uncomfortable, especially given his scene partners. LOL

Nessarose Hmmmm...for the Wicked Witch of the East...this is another super hard one. Because there are essentially two different sides to Nessa: for the first act she's a sort of desperate, sweet character. In the second act, however, she's cold and volatile. Once again, I can think of characters who can fit either side, but not necessarily both. I guess if I HAD to choose...presuming Idia or Eli don't play the Wizard, either of them could possibly work here. Or...I dunno, maybe Smitty or Billy tries their best to NOT be adorable in the second act. And...somehow fit into a wheelchair, in the latter's case. XD Or perhaps Epel could work for the part, show his own meaner sides, but I dunno. This is probably the hardest one so far, to be honest. Boq I think either Deuce or Trey would work best here. Heck, if we make Epel into Nessa, then making Deuce into Boq would be decidedly ironic, since I ship them both so much. XD I will say that villifying either lad, given how Boq turns out by the end, does bother me a tad...but que sera sera. I am at the mercy of the script. :P This is a very rough lineup, but right now I think it's the best I can manage.