#have seen one in person to really grasp it. they have been to zoos right? but probably zoos in Sicily. do those have penguins?

[breitzbachbea]

BEA HI RE: ZOO ROME HAS A ZOO WITH PENGUINS and this zoo is one of the best-signalled attractions in the city like. oh so you're in your car? we have a run-down street sign for the direction you need and A BRAND NEW ONE FOR THE ZOO

Honestly, now that you say that, and it could just be my brain getting tricked ... but I do think I remember advertisements of the zoo during one of my last visits to the city. I'll buy that immediately, yeah.

[maladaptive---daydreamer]

Fake it till you make it

You were never really one to receive post from home. Your parents would send you a letter every once in a while, sometimes a small care package towards the end of term, but they would come in black lidded boxes tied together with red silk ribbon. This was the precise reason why you were so confused when a school post owl dropped a crushed brown box in front of you and flew back to the owlery.

“What the hell is that?” Your best friend, Draco, asked, voice laced with disgust.

“I have no idea” you replied, cautiously picking the box up looking for a clue as to who the sender was.

“Well open it, don't leave us in suspense, Y/N” Daphne urged.

You ripped the brown parchment off the box to be greeted with a cake box from a bakery in Hogsmeade. You lifted the crumpled box lid off to reveal a small square carrot cake. It had been decorated with white icing, and a note had been piped on with orange icing.

“Go out with me?” Daphne read. “Oh my, you’re getting asked out! Does it say who the sender was?”

Draco looked at you suddenly interested in this delivery.

“No it doesn’t, and I’m glad it doesn't because I definitely don’t want to go out with the owner of this cake.” You replied, pushing the box away from you and returning to your breakfast.

“You don't mind if I take that do you, Y/N?” Crabbe asked, licking his lips.

“Go ahead, Crabbe.” You pushed the box towards them and both him and Goyle reached for the cake.

“Acting as though you’ve never seen a cake in your lives, you disgust me the pair of you” Draco sneered. He picked up the parchment the cake was wrapped in with two fingers and began to stare at it.

“What are you doing?” You asked, looking up from the page of the Daily Prophet you were reading

“I’m checking to see who sent it.”

“I already did that, there was no name on it.”

“You might have missed it”

“I can read, Malfoy”

“Well there doesn't seem to be a name on here, a shame really, I would have enjoyed watching you turn him down and embarrass him in front of the whole school”

“Who said I would have turned him down?”

“You did, just now,”

“I only said that because its an anonymously sent cake, it could have been poisoned for all I know. Had I known who the cake was from I would have reacted differently”

Draco looked confused for a second before getting up, announcing he was going to make his way to potions. You and Daphne did the same a few minutes later and met up with him again in the queue outside the classroom. You had potions with the Ravenclaws, which according to the sorting hat was its next choice for you, but it believed you’d be better suited in Slytherin. It meant that you managed to get along well with some of the Ravenclaw students. Before long, Slughorn called you all in and you took your usual seat at the back, taking up a four-seat bench with you, Daphne, Draco and Blaise. Today's lesson was about sleeping potions, Slughorn announced he would be pairing you up rather than you working with the person you sat alongside. He began reading off a list, pairing Daphne with your friend, Alicia, Draco with Marcus Belby and you with Terry Boot.

You reluctantly got up and moved to a station near the front of the room.

“Morning, Y/N” Terry greeted, oddly giddy for a Tuesday morning

“Morning, Terry” you replied, giving him a small smile. You read through the instructions in your textbook and began to chop up your ingredients.

“Anything interesting happen this morning?” He asked, looking up from the valerian root he was chopping.

“I did get a weird package at breakfast.”

“Oh, you did?”

“Yeah, someone tried to ask me out, bit stupid though they didn't leave their name”

“I did! it was on the inside of the lid”

“Pardon?”

“Erm yeah sorry about that. What I meant to say is that I sent it.”

“Oh, right, well” You were honestly speechless, you had maybe spoken to Terry once, apologising for Draco’s remark about his mother.

“It's just you’re so beautiful and smart, and you’re nice”

“Terry I’m flattered but I’m just not interested”

“You think I’m ugly don’t you?”

“No- I”

“Don’t lie to me Y/N”

“No I swear, it's just” Your mind raced at a million miles an hour to try and come up with a passable lie. “It's just that I’m actually going out with someone already. We just haven't told anyone, you know how-”

“Who?” He cut you off, his face twisting with anger.

“I don't see how that’s any of your business” The sheer cheek of him was enough to make you angry as well,

“Well, then you’re lying, if it were true you’d say who. You do think I’m ugly”

“It’s,” You paused, blurting out the first name that came into your mind. “Its Draco”. You were already kicking yourself for spluttering his name out. Any Slytherin boy would have done fine, but you just had to say his name.

“Oh, right. Makes sense, you two are inseparable,”

An awkward silence had fallen over you and he barely spoke another word the whole lesson. Slughorn had administered each pairs sleeping potion on a cornish pixie, the pair who managed to keep their pixie asleep for long enough was due to receive a prize the next lesson. You returned to your seat at the back and grabbed your things.

“What’s wrong with you?” Draco asked, pulling the back of your robe

“Huh? what-”

“You look ill, do you need me to walk you to the hospital wing?”

“Walk the long way with me to defence against the dark arts?”

He nodded and the two of you left, splitting off from Daphne and Blaise.

You walked in silence for a bit

“Are you going to tell me what the matter is?” He stopped and faced you for a second

“I found out who sent me the cake” You admitted, continuing to walk

“And?”

“It was Terry Boot.”

Draco started to laugh.  “You’re lying”

“I swear but this isn't even the worst part” You were beginning to explain but he wouldn't stop laughing. “Draco, I’m serious! stop laughing there's more!”

He calmed down after a few seconds and you continued.

“I tried rejecting him nicely, but he just didn't take it. So I lied and told him I’m going out with someone”

“Oh? whos the unlucky bugger?”

You slapped his arm. “It's you”

“Me?” He looked genuinely shocked.

“I’m sorry it was the first name that came into my mind. But I just wanted to give you a heads up because he’ll probably tell his friends and the whole school will probably find out! Ugh I’m sorry Draco”

“Sorry for what?”

“Well that everyone’s going to think we're together”

“They could think of worse things, Y/N. Plus I don't care what they have to say about me,”

“you're not angry?”

“Of course not, people thought we were going out anyway.”

“Thank you, Draco, seriously”

“You know, we might as well make it believable, just until he moves on, something tells me Boot isn't going to let this drop.”

“What do you mean believable?”

“Like act like we’re a couple. Hold hands, you know all of that”

“But what about all your admirers”

“I could care less about them, your happiness and safety matters more than the opinions of the mediocre witches and wizards in this school”

You felt your heart swell a bit, you honestly didn't expect Draco to prioritise you like this. “So we should just fake it until he gets a girlfriend?”

“Exactly, just follow my lead”

You two ended up being a minute late to your lesson. He took your hand in his and the two of you walked in after everyone had taken their seats.

“Mr Malfoy, Miss Y/L/N, you are late to my lesson” Snape stated.

The whole class turned and looked at you, noting your hand clearly being held by Draco

“Sorry professor, we accidentally walked the long way from potions” Draco explained, swinging your hands.

“Two points from Slytherin, take your seats.” The two of you sat down.

“You and Draco?” Daphne hissed, knowing how long you had been crushing on him.

“Mind your business, Greengrass” Draco replied, sitting back in his chair putting his arm around the back of your seat.

“I'll explain later,” You promised, not wanting to piss off Snape, by talking in his lesson, any more than you already had.

For the rest of the day, you were ogled at like some caged animal in a zoo. Students from every year glanced and immediately dissolved into whispers with their friends. Word clearly travels fast around Hogwarts. You walked out of your last lesson with Daphne, getting ready to head to the Slytherin common room before dinner.

“You better be getting ready to explain this whole thing to me.” She said, pulling you away from the other students

“Yes, as soon as we get to our dorm-”

“Mind if I steal my girlfriend from you, Daphne?” Draco interrupted, appearing from what seemed to be nowhere.

“Yes I do actually,” She replied, pulling you further from Draco.

“Too bad, I’ll be taking her anyway”

“I swear I’ll tell you daph-” You explained apologetically, pulling your arm from her grasp.

Daphne stomped her foot like a toddler and turned to walk to the Slytherin common room. You, on the other hand, were stood with Draco, getting, even more, stares because the two of you were finally stood together, giving feeding truth into the rumour that was swirling around the school. He put his arm lazily around your shoulders and the two of you began your stroll to a more quiet part of the castle.

“I know you want to tell Daphne everything, but do you think that's wise?” He asked quietly

“Yes, she's my best friend, why wouldn't I?”

“I thought I was, I’m hurt”

“You are, you mug, but she is too”

“You know what a big mouth Daphne has, not to mention you know what she’s like once shes had a bit to drink, she might let it slip.”

You pondered what Draco had said. It was no secret that Daphne Greengrass liked to gossip, but it was also no secret that she couldn't handle her alcohol, spilling some of her families darkest secrets after a few shots. Not to mention had she slipped out that you lied about dating Draco it would be embarrassing for not only you but him.

“Ugh I hate that you’re right”

“When am I not?”

“But what am I supposed to tell her when she asks? She knows when I’m lying”

“Well we did spend basically the entire summer together, we’ll just say it happened then.”

“This is all so stressful! Why couldn't I have thought of another excuse? If I knew this was going to be the outcome, I would have agreed with him and said I found him ugly,” You dropped your head onto his chest. He wrapped both of his arms around you, swaying side to side.

“I know, love, but its too late to go back now”

You and Draco had been in this exact moment before in your friendship, only this time it felt different. You felt like you were more than two best friends consoling one another, it was almost as if you were just two teenagers in love. Only for a short while before reality came crashing down on you, it was all just fake.

The two of you went back to the common room to drop your school bags and robes before making your way to the hall for dinner. Despite it being late, there was still a large proportion of students sat down to eat. You took a deep breath as Draco’s hold on your hand tightened and the two of you walked in. Every single pair of eyes in the room were trained on you, it felt like an eternity before you finally got to your seats on the Slytherin table.

“Finally, you have no excuse not to explain yourself to me now, Y/N” Daphne scoffed.

“Don’t get your knickers in a twist, Greengrass. Were going out, that's it, what more do you want?” Draco retorted.

“Id like to know when, how, where. All of the details, Malfoy”

“Well we started going out in the holidays-” You began to explain before she cut you off.

“Pardon, the summer? As in 6 months ago? You have been hiding your relationship from me, your best friend for 6 whole months?” Daphne’s voice began to rise.

“Daphne-”

“Watch how you talk to my girlfriend, Greengrass, otherwise you'll find you can't speak another word.” Draco practically snarled at her, he looked as though he was about to rip her head off.

“I wanted to tell you, Daph I really did, I just wanted to keep it between Draco and I for a while, just in case it didn't work out, so it wouldn't be awkward.” You explained calmly.

“Hm, I guess that's a valid reason, you’re forgiven for now. But from here on out, I want to know everything. Did you at least find out who that ghastly cake was from?”

“Terry Boot”

She almost choked on her rice. You filled her goblet with some water and slid it to her.

“He confessed to me in potions, I tried to say I wasn't interested but he basically forced me to admit that I had a boyfriend”

“You poor thing,”

She had quickly forgotten and moved onto the next piece of Hogwarts gossip that took her fancy. Draco was engrossed with his own conversations and it hit you, your new reality was Draco Malfoy’s girlfriend, that was until Terry Boot managed to get his own one. It was something you had wanted since the second year, you felt as though you should have been over the moon, one of your most wild fantasies was playing out right in front of you, but you weren't. It wasn't going to last, you were sure he didn't even like you that way, he was just being the kind but overprotective Draco you had got to know over the past few years.

Once you had filled yourselves up with dinner, you and your friends made your way back to the common room, Draco's hand found yours and he held it as you walked down to the dungeons. Once you had got to the common room, Blaise forced a group of fourth years off the sofa in front of the fire and pulled out his deck of exploding snap, which you all played as a group. The warmth of the fire coupled with the comfort of the sofa made you want to curl up and fall asleep, you could feel your eyelids drooping as you tried and failed to suppress a yawn.

“Tired, love?” He asked, tilting his head.

“A little bit, I think I’ll head up to sleep in a bit” You responded, another small yawn passing your lips.

He nodded and simply pulled you into his side, your head falling on his chest and his arm around you resting on your hip

“God, you two are disgusting” Pansy grumbled as she walked past, taking note of you and Draco in your loved-up state.

“We all know you're just jealous you’re not in Y/N’s place” Crabbe laughed.

“Shut up Crabbe,” She snapped, trying to hit him around the back of his head but failing.

Your whole group laughed as she stomped away. You only managed to last another hour before you really were going to fall asleep, though you were reluctant to move from your position, you got up and announced you'd be heading to bed.

“I think I’ll join you.” Daphne yawned, getting up and stretching.

You made a move to leave but were pulled back by Draco.

“Gonna leave without saying goodnight were you?” He smiled

You laughed, “of course not, goodnight, Draco”

He kissed the back of your hand, sending a jolt of electricity from where his lips touched right to your brain, “goodnight, princess”

You smiled and headed up to bed, feeling as though you were floating on cloud 9.

Over the next few days, you had fallen into a routine, he’d wait at the bottom of the stairs from your dormitory for you to come down every morning, as soon as he saw you, he’d chirp a “good morning, love” before walking you to breakfast. He would walk you to and from every lesson that you didn’t have with him, he even went as far as waiting outside the girl's bathroom for you so he could walk with you back to the library. You had to admit it, Draco Malfoy was the best fake boyfriend.

One cold Wednesday afternoon, you were in the middle of a potions lesson, Slughorn was going on and on about the properties of belladonna, he even hinted it would come up in your exam, but all you could focus on was the contractions of your uterus. The first two days of your period were the worst, horrific cramps, bloating, tender boobs and hot flushes. Madam Pomfrey was aware of how debilitating your period was and would always send owls to your teachers informing them you would be absent from lessons, you didn't even care that Snape would find out about your period, all you wanted was to lie in bed. You tried your hardest to ride out the pain for the next 40 minutes of the lesson before you could go to the hospital wing and get something for the pain.

“Just ask Slughorn to leave early,” Daphne whispered.

“This is going to be on the exam, I can't just leave now”

“Y/N, you are literally dying, I’ll give you my notes, just please go to the hospital wing”

“I’ll be fine,”

You took a deep breath and shrugged your robe off you in an attempt to cool down. Draco slide you a note

‘Everything okay?’

‘Yeah, just my period, nothing to worry about :)’

‘Are you sure? I know how bad they get’

‘I’ll be fine, focus on the lesson!’

‘How can I focus when you’re in pain’

‘Oh shut up, I’ll be fine, I’m a big girl’

Draco read your last message and slid the sheet of parchment into his textbook. Another jolt of pain ran across your abdomen, causing you to squeeze your belly in pain. Draco’s arm shot up almost instantaneously.

“Professor, Y/N isn't feeling well, may I escort her to the hospital wing?”

“Of course m’boy”

You glared at Draco before collecting your things. and trying to discreetly leave the classroom without disrupting the lesson further.

“Do feel better Y/L/N” Slughorn called from the front of the room.

“Thank you, professor” you mumbled, feeling slightly embarrassed.

“Here give me your bag,” He said, going to grab your bag off your shoulder.

“I’m on my period, Draco, not dying”

He held out his hand anyway and you handed him your bag. He knew you hated being touched too much, it made you feel hotter, so he linked his pinky with yours.

“The corridors are empty, you don't need to hold my hand,” you stated, looking around

“I don't need to but I like to, your hands are soft” You saw him blush slightly as he said it. You simply smiled as the two of you walked into the hospital wing.

“Ah, miss Y/L/N, I’ve been expecting a visit from you” Madam Pomfrey went into her store cupboard and produced a violet potion and measured a dose. “You know the drill, come back tomorrow after breakfast and I’ll give you more, I’ll send an owl to your teachers, what’s your next lesson?”

“We have transfiguration” Draco answered for you while you finished downing your medicine.

“Right, well I’ll tell Professor McGonagall you'll both be absent from the lesson, be sure to catch up with the missing work Mr Malfoy”

You thanked Madam Pomfrey before returning to the Slytherin dormitory. The boys had managed to disable the charm that prevented them from coming up into the girls' dorms, so Draco followed you up.

“Draco, honestly I’m fine.” You signed, dropping onto your bed

“You don’t look fine,” He crossed his arms and looked down at you.

“I just need to get into some comfy clothes and lie down and I’ll be fine, I even have chocolate in my trunk.” You crouched down and opened your trunk and fished out your slab of Honeydukes chocolate. surprised to find that you only had 6 squares left.

“That’s hardly enough, wait here.”

“Dra-”

He turned and went down the stairs, leaving you alone. You changed out of your skirt and into some comfy trousers and were about to unbutton your blouse when Draco returned with a full slab of Honeydukes chocolate and his old quidditch jumper.

“I remember you saying how soft this was, I don't need it anymore, you're free to keep it,” He said sheepishly

“Thank you, Draco, seriously” He smiled at you and just stood there, looking at you. “Erm, I need to change,”

He slowly turned around and you unbuttoned your blouse and unhooked your bra throwing it on your bed before putting the jumper on.

“I’m done,”

He turned around, his eyes immediately landing on your black lace bra on your bed, you followed his gaze and quickly snatched the bra and stuffed it back in your trunk.

“I had you pegged for a cotton bra girl myself,” He smirked

“If you think that's scandalous, you should see what I wear on the bottom” you replied, winking. You got under your covers and began to open the chocolate, Draco sat awkwardly at the foot of your bed.

“Why are you sitting like that?”

“I’ve never been in your dormitory before,”

“It's literally the same as yours, come, sit” You moved a bit to the side and he came and sat next to you, stretching his legs out. At this point it was a reflex, his arms wrapped themselves around you as you buried yourself into him.

“Draco,”

“Hmmm”

“Thank you,”

“You’ve said that already”

“I mean it, honestly,”

“Anything for you, princess”. You two fell into a comfortable silence as you lay on his chest, being lulled to sleep by his chest rising and falling.

You were awoken by a loud squeal, you blinked and slowly opened your eyes.

“You two are just the cutest!” Daphne shouted.

You looked around confused for a moment until you saw what was in Daphne’s hand. She handed you a small bouquet of roses with a note attached that read:

I didn't have the heart to wake you, I’ll bring you dinner if you're not up to coming down, I hope you feel better, love - D x

You smiled as you conjured up a small vase filled with water. It was time to admit it, you were deeply, truly and utterly in love with Draco Malfoy

A Hogsmeade trip had been planned for that weekend, at first, you were planning on skipping it, but after some convincing, you decided you’d go. You decided to replenish your potions store, as well as getting some more quills and ink. Draco treated you to some sweets from Honeydukes, before you and your group headed into the three broomsticks to grab a butterbeer before you returned to the castle. You sat in a booth with Blaise, Daphne, Goyle and Pansy, choosing to squeeze yourself right in the corner. Blaise got up to order the drinks returning a few moments later with six butterbeers in his hands. The six of you fell into a discussion about the quidditch tournament, the boys getting heated over Ravenclaw’s win over Slytherin in their last match. After a while Daphne excused herself to go to the bathroom, only to run back a few moments later.

“You will not guess who I just saw snogging Hannah Abbott in the women’s toilet” Daphne yelled, sitting back in her seat at the end of the table.

You all looked at her, waiting for the other shoe to drop.

“Terry fucking Boot!”

The whole group looked at you and Draco. At that moment you felt a million different emotions, recently it had felt like you weren't faking anymore, you had tricked yourself into thinking that it was all real, forgetting about your deal with Draco. But you knew that this revelation meant it was all over, you and Draco would fake an amicable break-up and remain to be best friends and the thought of that killed you.

“Well, at least now he won't get hexed for looking at my girlfriend” Draco joked.

You smiled and took a sip of your butterbeer. Once you had all finished your drinks, you returned to the castle and settled in your spot in the common room. You were sat with Draco but all you could think about was how this little bubble you were in was going to burst soon. You practically zoned out, your eyes losing focus as you stared at the fire.

“Are you quite alright? You look as though you’ve been stunned” Daphne asked, looking confused.

“Mmm I don’t feel too good, I don't think being out in the cold was a good idea” you mumbled, blinking slowly.

Daphne came and felt your forehead.

“You do feel a bit warm, why don’t you go lie down for a while”

You agreed and went up to lie in your bed for a while. You ended up skipping dinner too, you played up your symptoms to Daphne and she left you alone out of fear that she’d catch whatever you had. You didn’t end up getting out of bed until the next morning, barely having the energy to brush your teeth before you trudged to the great hall for breakfast in your pyjamas. Draco saw you come in and his eyes lit up, he was worried after Daphne told him you were sick. As soon as you sat down he began to pile food into your plate.

“Whoa calm down, I’ll barely be able to eat half of that” You pushed his hand back to the bowl of baked beans prompting him to drop the spoon back into the bowl.

“You haven’t eaten since yesterday, you must be starving, love”

You shook your head reaching for a cereal bowl instead. He looked at you concern filling his face. He kept glancing over at you while you ate, making note of your unusual silence. Once he had noticed you stopped eating your cereal squeezed your hand under the table, you pulled your hand away and acted as though you were scratching an itch on the side of your neck.

“Y/N why don’t we take a visit to madam Pomfrey, just to make sure you’re okay”

“I’m fine Draco, it’s probably just a cold”

“Draco’s right, you should make sure it’s nothing contagious or something” Daphne agreed

“Fine, let’s go then” You dusted your pyjamas off and got up, defeated.

You followed Draco out of the great hall. He began walking the opposite direction to the hospital wing and pulled you into a deserted part of the corridor.

“Are you okay?” He asked immediately, his tall frame towering over you.

“I’m just tired Draco, that’s all”

“You can’t lie to me, I’m your best friend”

“I’m not lying, I’m just tired, I haven’t been sleeping well the past few days”

“Has someone said something? Threatened you? I swear if I get my hands on them”

“No ones done anything. You don’t need to keep the overprotective boyfriend act up anymore, we’re alone and Terry has a girlfriend now”

“Act?” His face had fallen and he turned to look away

“Draco?”

“You really thought it was all an act?”

“Was it not? You said it yourself, we were faking it until he got a girlfriend so that he wouldn’t try and make a move on me”

“How can you be one of the smartest witches in our house but be so dense at the same time. “

“Excuse me,”

“It wasn't an act for me”

Your heart stopped.

“What?” you honestly couldn’t believe what you were hearing

“It wasn't an act for me. I didn't do all that just because I wanted Boot to back off, I did it cause I’ve fancied you for a while” Draco began pacing, as he explained himself

“but-”

“You said you would have gone out with the sender of that cake if it wasn't anonymously sent. I don't know why, but it didn’t sit right with me. I didn't like the fact that you were willing to go out with someone that wasn't me.”

“So you waited for me to find out who did send it, so you could propose this crazy idea?”

“I didn’t expect you to find out, hell I didn't even know I was going to say it, but once you agreed to go along with it, I felt like maybe you’d see that us being more than just best friends wasn't that bad, and maybe you'd be willing to give me a chance.”

“Can I let you in on a little secret?”

He stopped and looked down at you and nodded,

“I've fancied you since second year”

He smiled and grabbed both your hands

“And since we’ve been fake going out, I’m pretty sure I’m in love with you now,”

“Say that again”

“I’m in love with you Draco,”

“Say it again,” he said, placing his hands on your cheeks and staring into your eyes with adoration.

You laughed “I love you”

“I love you so much more, princess. Way more than I can even explain”

You beamed up at him, you felt like you could honestly explode at this point. all those years of crushing on him and wishing you could tell him how you felt, and here you were.

“I'm going to kiss you” He whispered

“I think it's about time you did”

He moved slowly before giving you a sweet but passionate kiss. His lips were softer than you thought they'd be.

“At least now we don't need to worry about telling our friends,” You joked, resting your forehead against his.

He laughed and kissed you again. Something you know you would never get tired of. As cliche as it seemed, you did it, your best friend was now your boyfriend. It was just you and Draco, safe in your perfect bubble.

[jokertrap-ran]

(光与夜之恋 Light and Night) Sariel’s 5✩ Inspiration: Twilight Winds [夕暮之风] Date Translation (END 5: Listen)

“Don't tell me you're going to go to the seaside to go mountaineering, or maybe to the zoo for a meal next time?”

*Light and Night Master-list | Sariel’s Personal Masterlist *This is a Paid Card from the July BP~ *For that one follower of mine that cried at his poisonous tongue since day 1, you know who you are ^w^ *Spoiler free: Translations will remain under cut *Join the Light & Night Discord (＾▽＾)~ ♪ *This 5✩ Inspiration has 6 Endings!! *Sariel’s tag will be #For Night, For Causation

✥ Choice: Listen [倾听] ❖ASMR

But… If we weren’t going to pray and pay our respects here, then what else can we do in a shrine?

⊹ Go on a Boat Ride ⊹ 

MC: I think I remember seeing that we could take a Boat Ride down there…

❖☆———————————★❖

We both walked to the outskirts of the Shrine. There was a river not too far away along with a couple of small wooden boats floating on it.

MC: That one!

Sariel furrowed his eyebrows into a slight frown, snorting.

Sariel: Going on a Boat Ride at a Shrine? You sure do know how to pick.

Sariel: Don't tell me you're going to go to the seaside to go mountaineering, or maybe to the zoo for a meal next time?

I mimicked him, snorting in kind.

MC: It's only unique because it's not commonly seen, okay!?

Sariel seemed like he had more to say, but I quickly dragged him along by the sleeve and pushed him aboard before he had the chance to say otherwise.

❖☆———————————★❖

Sariel: Wha-

Sariel: Why the hurry? The boat's not going to run.

Sariel: You've been in such aflutter the whole day, what if you-

Sariel: Give me your hand.

Sariel: Okay. Now stop fidgeting. I won't let you fall over.

Sariel: Scared now? Your reflexes are as bad as ever.

Sariel: ...Hm?

Sariel: I see it. Just a squirrel.

Sariel: How would I know what it's doing? You can go ask it if you want to know.

Sariel: If you already know that you won't be able to understand it either way, then why ask me?

Sariel: ...Foxes and squirrels have nothing in common at all. Please refrain from making unnecessary connections like this.

Sariel: Close my eyes? What are you planning again?

Sariel: I'll give you the benefit of doubt this time.

Sariel: You-

Sariel: Didn't I tell you not to fidget…?

Sariel: Quiet. I will release you in time.

Sariel: ……

Sariel: The air here is good, and it's also very quiet.

Sariel: I suppose it's alright. It's way better than squeezing with the crowd all around elsewhere.

Sariel: I will be more at peace if a certain someone stops chattering.

Sariel: Hm?

Sariel: I don't really feel anything other than how cool it is.

Sariel: The hardest thing to obtain during Summer is coolness? You're way too easily satisfied.

Sariel: My thoughts on Summer?

Sariel: Nothing special. Every day is pretty much the same.

Sariel: But being here like this now… isn't all that bad either.

❖☆———————————★❖

Even the winds grew chillier when it neared the evening. The Emas, disturbed by the wind, knocked into each other before separating, making very soft clacking sounds as it continued.

He looked at the Ema, a seemingly far-off look crossing his face.

Sariel: And here I thought you'd write something like "I want to become a great designer".

MC: I did initially want to write that… but I remembered what you told me just now.

MC: I think I'm not really someone who believes in God either.

MC: Rather than entrusting my future into the hands of the unseeable and intangible, be it fate or God, I'd much rather grasp it with my own two hands.

MC: That's why I decided to write my true feelings right here, right now; and that's "happiness"!

I beamed up at him, only to see his gaze fixated quietly on me, ever so watchful.

MC: What?

Sariel: ...Nothing.

Sariel: You're just as simple to please as a kindergartner.

MC: ……

I turned back to look at the two Emas thoughtfully.

MC: I’ve said so much, so why won’t you just tell me what you wrote on it? This is so unfair…

Sariel paused for a while. A short period of silence fell before he finally gave an inaudible sigh.

Sariel: Just a simple wish.

MC: A wish? But didn't you say just now that it was… a waste of time to pray to the Gods?

Sariel: Weren't you the one who insisted that I write something?

Sariel: I just wrote down whatever I felt like, but I'll fulfil it myself when the time comes.

Sariel: And just like you said earlier, no one has the right to control the destiny of another; not even God.

Sariel’s tone was one of utter indifference as if he was merely stating a cold, hard, fact.

But… I got the vague feeling that there were some heavy, unspeakable, secrets hidden buried and masked behind those words of indifference.

A wave of unease tugged at my heartstrings. I couldn’t help but grip tightly onto his sleeve.

MC: ...I won't force you to write any more Emas next time.

A brief look of surprise flickered across his face before a faint smile appeared.

Sariel: There won't be a next time anyway.

It was no doubt an icy line, yet his tone was a rare sort of warm, like the evening breeze of a Summer day, gently caressing and brushing against my heart.

MC: Oh, but I’m just talking about the Emas! I still want to come to Kyoto with you next time.

MC: We’ve got a time limit this time, but there are still so many places we’ve yet to visit!

Sariel shot me a look, softly humming in thought before turning, seemingly intending to leave.

Sariel: You sure are optimistic.

MC: Can't we?

Sariel: Depends on your performance.

MC: I’ll have to perform well then! I’ll start working my hardest once we get on the plane tomorrow!

I raised my hand into the air in a solemn vow before hurriedly following after him.

Jingle—

A white fox appeared the moment the two of them departed. It raised its head, staring up at the two Emas that hung together.

The evening breeze blew, making the two Emas rattle gently in the wind.

The Ema beside the other one flipped over. On it, in Sariel’s handwriting, read: “I wish to be with her forever”.

Jingle, jingle—

Another ring of the bell sounded, and the black words on it started to fade along with the winds that blew past.

It was as if it were a wish that could not be spoken of; a wish that could never be fulfilled.

⊹ ˚✩ ━━━━━━━━━━━ ∘◦ ✥ ◦∘ ━━━━━━━━━━━ ✩˚ ⊹

✥ Choose your Ending:

END 1 | Choice: Do Nothing [都不做]

END 2 +3 + 4 | Choice: Call Out [呼唤] ⊹Speak⊹

END 5 | Choice: Listen [倾听] ❖ASMR

END 6 | Choice: Heart-throb [心动] ★Night★

❖☆————— ⊹ For Night, For Causation⊹ —————★❖

Previous Part: Prologue

[everywhereallofthetime]

Some Girl ... Part 12

Word Count: 2.3k

Warnings: None.

// * // * //

Sunday / July 25th

After talking before bed the night before, Charlotte and Shawn agreed that he would ride with her, Jonah, and Mackenzie to Elisa and Jack’s. It didn’t make sense for them to take two vehicles to the same place. Shawn said he’d walk over and grab coffee on the way. Make a good first impression, he had chuckled, although Charlotte could hear the truth within his words.

Shawn arriving early would give him, Jonah, and Mackenzie a chance to meet and get to know one another a little before they joined everyone else. They would talk over coffee and after Sebastian woke from his morning nap and nursed, they would leave for brunch.

Charlotte nearly swooned when she opened the door for Shawn.

His skin was bronzed and glowing, having spent so much time outside over the past week. His hair had lightened a shade as well, and whatever products he had put in it that morning had his curls and waves behaving beautifully.

He was wearing white jean shorts with a brown belt, a trim-fit, navy blue button-down with the first few buttons undone and the sleeves rolled up, and brown Vans with blue accents.

“Good morning, babe,” she beamed. She hated how only one day away from him had suddenly become too long.

“Good morning,” he grinned back, wrapping the arm of his free hand around her and snuggling her tightly to him. He breathed her in. It had been only one day but he had deeply missed the soft scent of her.

When they eased out of their hug, Charlotte ran the open placket of Shawn’s shirt between her thumb and forefinger. “You look so handsome,” she smiled. “I love you in blue.”

“Thank you, darling. You are as beautiful as always.”

Charlotte was wearing a white, short-sleeve, off the shoulder blouse and white and navy blue striped shorts. She noticed that her outfit complimented his perfectly.

“Are you ready to meet my brother and his fiancée?”

“I hope so,” he chuckled.

She linked her hand with his which wasn’t carrying their coffee and together they walked further into the condo. Jonah and Mackenzie had been sitting at the kitchen island but stood when Charlotte and Shawn entered the room.

Before any introductions could be made, Mackenzie breathed, “Oh my God, you two are adorable.”

“I swear, we did not discuss what we were going to wear today,” Charlotte laughed.

“It’s perfect,” Mackenzie giggled, “I love it.”

Charlotte introduced Shawn to Jonah and Mackenzie.

Jonah gave Shawn a once-over when they shook hands. He was tall, fit, and clean-cut, with a strong jawline and five visible tattoos. He was very attractive. Any man secure enough in who they were could admit when another man was attractive.

Mackenzie, on the other hand, gave Shawn a thorough head to toe.

Charlotte was used to women reacting favorably to Shawn, and she also knew it was something that was always going to happen with him being who he was. Even if the person didn’t know who he was, aside from being a global popstar, he was simply an incredibly attractive man. In any case, Charlotte had no true claim on Shawn. Besides, Mackenzie was happily engaged to Jonah; Charlotte knew she meant no harm or disrespect.

They all sat together at the dining room table with their coffees. Charlotte took a sip of Shawn’s coffee and instead of giving it back to him, she handed him hers.

“Babe,” he chuckled.

“Yours is better.”

“It also has a lot more caffeine,” he tittered.

She took a couple of additional sips and then, somewhat reluctantly, handed it back to him, reclaiming her own.

Charlotte looked at Jonah and Mackenzie’s amused expressions, and explained, “Too much caffeine isn’t good for Bash.”

“I started reading What to Expect: the First Year after I met Charlotte and Bash for the first time,” Shawn admitted, blushing.

“What? I didn’t know that,” Charlotte breathed, astonished. Shawn shrugged nonchalantly. “Why are you so fucking cute?” she smirked, briefly cupping his face, stroking the pad of her thumb along his cheekbone.

Jonah didn’t say so out loud, but that was something truly admirable. Not many male friends of a single mother would bother to take the time to do that. Hell, not many boyfriends would.

“How old are you, Shawn?” Jonah wondered. Shawn was already proving himself to be quite mature, but he still looked relatively young.

“I’ll be 23 in two weeks.”

“August 8th,” Charlotte offered.

“Leo,” Mackenzie tacked on. “And Charlie, you’re an Aquarius?” she asked. “February?”

“The 4th,” Shawn said, with a nod.

Mackenzie simply smiled in an all-knowing sort of way.

“Are you originally from Toronto?” Jonah asked Shawn.

“Born and raised in Pickering. Graduated from Pine Ridge.”

“I have a buddy who went to Pine Ridge. Played varsity hockey.”

“I played hockey. And soccer and basketball, too. I was in drama and the glee club. I also did Leadership Camp every year except my last.”

“Did you go to college?” Mackenzie asked.

“No. I was too busy touring…”

Jonah looked confused. “Excuse me?”

Shawn looked at Charlotte. Jonah and Mackenzie noticed that an entire conversation seemed to pass between them without words.

“I don’t meet very many people who don’t already know who I am,” Shawn said.

“Should we know who you are?” Mackenzie asked.

“Not necessarily. Not by sight anyway. Maybe not at all. You may know some of my music.”

At that moment they all heard Sebastian through the baby monitor. It wasn’t the ideal time for him to have woken up.

Charlotte frowned. “I would say, hold that thought, but...”

“It’s all right. Go,” Shawn smiled reassuringly.

She stood from the table and ran her fingers through the little curls at the nape of his neck. “May as well get it out of the way, babe.” Just before Charlotte entered the nursery, she said, “Alexa, play Shawn Mendes.”

// * // * //

The moment Charlotte returned after nursing, she heard Jonah ask, “Elisa and Jack, and everyone, you’ve met them already? We’re not springing any surprises on them?”

“He met them last weekend,” Charlotte answered.

“Hi buddy!” Shawn beamed at Sebastian.

Sebastian was already reaching for Shawn when Charlotte handed him over. “All except Valerie. And she is very excited to meet him today.”

Jonah could easily see that Shawn and Sebastian had already bonded, and he really liked that Shawn was thoughtful, sweet to, and respectful of his sister. They made a good match, even if they weren’t officially together in any capacity more than friendship.

“How did it go?” Charlotte asked, looking from Shawn to Jonah and Mackenzie. “You’re cool?” she said to her brother and his fiancée.

“We’re cool,” Mackenzie smiled.

“I always expect everyone to immediately recognize him.” Charlotte turned to Mackenzie, “I was anticipating having to have a conversation with you yesterday when you saw the picture of us on the console table.”

“What picture?” Shawn asked.

Charlotte retrieved the photo and brought it back to Shawn.

“Aw babe, I want a copy of this.” Sebastian tried to grasp the frame and bring it to his mouth. “Really, little man? Everything has to go straight into your mouth, eh?”

“I thought you might,” she smiled and pulled from her pocket the coolest flash drive keychain he had ever seen. “All of the photos from the zoo are on it. You can keep whichever ones you want and delete the rest.”

“This is amazing. Thank you, darling,” he said, grinning brightly, wrapping an arm around her waist.

“Should we get going then?”

// * // * //

Charlotte’s family was ecstatic when she and Shawn, with Sebastian in his arms, arrived at brunch with Jonah and Mackenzie.

As Jonah was swept up in hugs and excited chatter, Shawn whispered encouragingly to Mackenzie, “Try not to feel overwhelmed. You’re marrying into an incredible family.”

Mackenzie squeezed Shawn’s forearm. “Thank you, Shawn.”

Jonah introduced Mackenzie, who was eagerly and enthusiastically welcomed.

Everyone was happy to see Shawn as well. They adored him almost as much as Charlotte did, which settled warmly in her chest.

The only one who hadn’t met Shawn yet was Valerie, and with the tiniest nod from Charlotte in her direction, she finally approached, greeting her cousin with a bright smile and a hug.

Charlotte squeezed her back, quick and tight. “I’m happy you’re here.” She then took Sebastian from Shawn and introduced him to Valerie.

She and Shawn could both see how excited Valerie was to meet him, but she did an admirable job keeping her composure, which was good. She needed to get used to Shawn being around.

Elisa swept by and snatched Sebastian from Charlotte’s arms and yelled over her shoulder at the trio, “Go eat!”

// * // * //

Once stomachs were full and minds were mimosa-relaxed, and when Jonah had the chance to step away from the whirlwind of aunts, uncles, and cousins, first making sure Mackenzie felt comfortable enough for him to do so, he went looking for Shawn.

He found him with his sister, of course; they were practically joined at the hip after all. They were cleaning up the kitchen, laughing so hard about God knows what that they were wheezing.

“So this is where the real party is. Clean up. Who knew?” Once Shawn and Charlotte had a chance to catch their breath, Jonah asked, “Do you play pool, Shawn?”

Charlotte gave Shawn a look that said, I warned you this might happen.

Shawn just smirked at Charlotte before turning to Jonah to say, “I’m better at ping pong than pool, but sure.”

“Great.” He then said to Charlotte, “I’ll get him back to you before you know it.” She softly bit her bottom lip and blushed.

The two young men headed downstairs to the rec room.

After the break and when they had each had one turn, Shawn said, “Charlotte told me you would want to talk, man to man.”

“No pretext then, eh?”

“What are my intentions with your sister?”

“We’ll get there,” Jonah chuckled. “How long have you and Charlie known each other?”

“Not long. Less than anyone might expect. We’ve never been outright asked and we’ve always sort of skirted around the specifics.”

“Why?”

Shawn nervously ran his hand though his hair. “Because it’s kind of ridiculous and we’re afraid we’ll be judged for it.”

Jonah was both curious and apprehensive. He waited until after Shawn took his next shot, sinking one ball, but not the next. He was hoping Shawn would offer more on his own, which he did as Jonah took his turn.

“I don’t know how you felt when you met Mackenzie for the first time, but Charlotte and I... It was immediate, the connection we made. She was heaven-sent when I needed someone the most.”

“And when was that? I’m asking outright.”

Shawn’s cheeks reddened. “A week ago.”

“Wait. Hold on.”

Shawn looked at Jonah in a way which said, now you know why we skirt around it.

“Okay. Reserving my judgement. Go on.”

Shawn continued, telling Jonah about where, when, and how he met Charlotte, and how their lives have intertwined since then. He took a deep breath before saying, “You know how you hear about ‘love at first sight’ and ‘when you know, you know?’ It’s like that with us. I mean, not exactly. We’re not in love,” he blushed. “But there’s deep affection and appreciation between us. She’s the most honest and accepting person I know. She’s sweet, and she’s kind, and I know I can place my faith and trust in her.”

“Forgive me for asking, but I have to. I have to watch out for my sister. I’m sure you understand, having a younger sister yourself... You’re not looking for a rebound or taking advantage of her in any way, are you?”

“Wow. Blunt. But I appreciate that. If you know Charlotte at all, she doesn’t let anyone take advantage of her... And with who I am, I have to be careful that I’m not the one being taken advantage of.”

“I didn’t even consider that,” Jonah said, thoughtfully.

“Regardless, no. I care about her too much. I wouldn’t do anything to hurt her.”

“Has Charlie told you much about Booker?”

“I know that she loved him, and she said he was good to her when he was around, but she also used the words 'complicated', 'reckless', and 'dangerous'. I haven’t pressed her for more. We don't really talk about our exes.

“She hasn’t asked me about my ex aside from wondering how I’m doing. I know Charlotte would tell me about Booker if I asked, but I would rather have her offer to tell me when she feels ready to. It doesn’t seem to matter much though because, as far as I understand, he hasn’t even tried to reach out since she left him. Which is a dick move, by the way. If I had a son, I’d do anything to be in his life; never mind what kind of relationship I had with his mother.

“We’ll have those conversations when we’re ready, or when we need to.” Shawn then said, “She misses you a lot, you know. You should really make an effort to come back to Toronto more often. And Bash is going to grow up so fast. You don’t want to miss that.”

“I like your integrity,” Jonah said. “And I like you. I like you for Charlie.”

“We’re-”

“Just friends, I know. Still. You care for her. She cares for you. I like how you treat her and my nephew. I see how you watch out for them. I hope you’re in their lives for a long time, whether you stay only friends or someday it turns into something more.”

// * // * //

Part 13

[silverwhiteraven]

Words Most Important - MariBat GarMari Soulmate AU

[Hello~! This is a 7+k word fic written for a MariBat AU fan in need of some Garfield Logan/Marinette Dupain-Cheng content! (They also Beta read this, so thank you to them!!) Content includes an original Akuma, Puns, GarMari crossover pairing, Adrinette platonic pairing, an original take on First-Words Soulmate Tattoos (please credit if you decide to use it), and ends with a first-meeting! Hope you enjoy~!]

[Posted on A03]

This was not how the day was supposed to go. 

No, not at all, not a bit. 

But they're there now.

And here’s what happened.

Beast Boy had been in one of the Titan’s aircrafts heading for Paris, France, on an investigation of an old rumor. The rumor was really just a random, by-chance, overheard conversation heard in passing from someone describing having taken a vacation to France a handful of years back. The highlight of the vacation they had described was a shapeshifter. A beast with bright violet eyes had begun its attack at the city zoo in the form of a panther, and they supposedly witnessed it be defeated while in the form of a Tyrannosaurus-Rex by a pair of local heroes. 

The friends of the teller were skeptical — not because of lack of belief in heroes and villains, but because, as they searched the internet for satisfaction to their curiosity, there seemed to be no evidence whatsoever. The speaker had simply shrugged, stating they had been too panicked to take footage of their own, and the local news had skimmed over it excitedly — but too quickly to record a copy. They added, a little confused themselves, that when they returned home and tried to look it up, they, too, had seemed to be pulling up blanks with their searches.

Their only proof of evidence was their own word and memory.

They claimed to have found a few obscure posters online who shared similar stories of travels to Paris, but they all seemed to have very little luck in getting their stories shared or noticed.

Even the European branch of the Justice League only had a shrug in response to the questions.

Direct conversation seemed to be the only way these tales went heard, yet they never went far, a strange trait for rumors to have. 

So, there he was, on a simple recon mission. No engaging the enemy if seen, ask questions but do no harm. That’s was all it was intended to be. Well, it certainly didn’t go as planned.

Garfield watched as rather suddenly near the heart of Paris, a huge cloud of mixed colors and shades erupted. Perplexed, he began a slow turn to circle it, a mile wide berth between them. He barely got the controls turned before the cloud began to expand outward all round, and a wall of colors was heading for him. With wide eyes, he went to evade, but it was far too fast. 

For a short moment, he took notice as the closing in colors distinguished themselves through the new proximity to be small flower-like petals. They were uneven, non symmetrical, like little ovals cut diagonally through their minor axis. 

Then they struck.

Well, not so much struck as phased through the craft and him like they were nothing. 

Until the petals cleared and one, single, coral red petal struck him solid in his chest. He stumbled back, his seat no longer under him and the straps no longer securing his body to it.

In fact, the entire aircraft was gone. He was newly collapsed on the ground in an open street, a walled-in river to one side of him. In a panic he looked around, down at his chest and then right up into the sky. He spotted it still airborne and far off, with the wall of the cloud of colored petals having left it far behind as it disappeared into the distance. It took him a moment to realize it was now without a pilot.

“Uh-oh.”

He was off the ground in a moment, transforming into a falcon and took off after the craft.

He didn't reach it —definitely not for a lack of trying. 

Rather, barely after he started after it, a pale red glow emitted from his chest where he had been struck, and he found himself teleported once again back towards where he had been dropped the first time. He tried twice more before giving up.

Perched and pouting on top of a chimney, he watched as the craft finally crashed outside the city limits and unceremoniously caught itself on fire, leaving a glaring dark smear of smoke in the air. “Well, that sure went up in flames. What now.” 

A distant crashing sound pulls his attention completely around, and he finds himself staring wide eyed at a collapsing Eiffel Tower. 

“Well, today certainly has room to get better,” he remarked absently as the iconic landmark disappeared under a debris cloud of its own making. The glow from his chest started back up again, and he sighed as he braced himself. 

Beast Boy dropped into a bush, transforming back into his most human form as he jumps back out. He stops when he notices a very out of place rusted beam across his path. A lot of interconnecting beams. 

He looks down the length of the structure and realizes he’s at the Eiffel Tower now, at least, somewhere around where it’s now laying. Likely near what used to be the top, considering the beams were gathered close and the higher up ones sloping upwards and out, while the place where they gathered closer seemed to be supporting a floor, the rest of the structure's top hidden from view by the angle from where he stood.

He barely has time to consider what his first move should be before the glow is back, at the same time he hears another building collapse in the direction of the Tower’s feet, and he’s standing in a different spot.

At the bent and upturned feet of the Eiffel Tower. 

His brows furrowed and arms crossed, “I get the feeling I’m being dragged around now, that’s uncool ya know,” he adds, looking down with a halfhearted glare and frown to his chest. 

Not wanting to take any chances that whatever the coral red petal did to him would respond in kind, he turned back into a bird and took off in the direction he was being teleported, which seemed to correspond a little too well with the latest destruction. He really hoped he wouldn’t end up joining in a fight. He already lost his ride, he didn't want to break one of the mission’s rules, too.

Beast Boy watched the ground from above, and after a moment spotted movement followed by more noise. A giant came jumping out of a collapsing building. Several people, actually, two smaller, normal sized people carrying several others each followed suit.

The first person was huge, twice the average height. Their clothes — a simple androgynous formal suit and domino mask — were colored as though to mimic the cloud of petals as it had first appeared. The entire thing was swirls of blacks, greys, and whites, with an iridescent sheen like oil or mother-of-pearl. Their eyes and short hair matched as well, the entire look one matching theme. 

And they looked as mad as a smacked hornet.

The other two were running away from the first figure and setting down their human loads in safe spaces, people who must have simply been stragglers of an evacuation seeing as how there were no other people around, before heading right back towards the colorful…person. Was it even human? Nothing that tall was usually human. 

One was wearing an all-black, shiny leather bodysuit with matching close-body plates of armor, his eyes flashing green and catlike through his loose pale hair as they glared towards what Garfield now assumed was the enemy of the pair that rescued the people from the collapsed building. 

The other of the two wore an armored-looking bodysuit as well, but this one was red, black, and spotted, and just as shiny as the other. Her midnight hair was up in a braided bun, which was held in place by a pair of red, black-tipped ribbons, leaving her ocean-blue eyes clear below side-swept bangs. 

The two, obviously heroes, barely got close with a charge before they were jumping to retreat and dodge as the colorful villain began blasting them with shots and beams of equally colorful energy. The energy seemed to be dragged from the center of their chest, where two solid, iridescent metal petals, oil-black and mother-of-pearl white, slotted together into a heart, and into their hand’s grasp. 

“Power sources?” he mused as he settled on a roof edge. He was a bit worried, the heroes seemed to be doing just fine on their own for now. They were slowly gaining ground, without one sign of being injured at all. But it didn't seem to be fast enough, seeing the trail of destruction the fight was leaving behind. 

Maybe, he could help, just a bit. 

Yeah. 

Yeah! He could! 

He wasn’t exactly engaging the enemy, just… assisting some heroes! Besides, the enemy he was looking for in Paris obviously wasn't this one, so he was still following instructions, in a rule-dodging way, but still. 

Mind made up and a crooked grin on his beak, Beast Boy transformed once more. He was still a bird, but this time he chose a much smaller, much less noticeable bird. 

A hummingbird, to be exact. 

Zipping through the air, he made his way towards the fight, staying above it and out of the way of wildly-aimed energy shots, whipping yo-yo wire, and metal bo staff swings. He zigzagged through the air as they moved about, following and watching for an opening. The two other heroes communicated wordlessly, clearly teammates well-versed in their dynamic. He could tell though that the black-cat-styled one wanted to speak up a few times like a habit. Garfield could practically see the unsaid quips in his mouth, but he never got a chance, as they were interrupted by attacks every time.

“Mood,” he said to himself, as he was also not one to stay quiet for long. He just couldn't help it! It made the fights so much less tense for him, so less frightening. 

He also made a small note of how the villain didn't talk as well, and guessed that he had simply missed all the typical villain-monologue this one had had in stock.

The two heroes found their own openings before Beast Boy did, and they each struck opposite shoulders of the villain with their weapons, knocking them back into a wall with a crash. They didn't get up from the ground right away, but were quick to raise their hands yet in a counterattack. When the villain finally sat still for just a moment, Beast Boy struck.

Still a hummingbird, he dive-bombed straight down to the villain. He flew past their head on one side, grabbing the petal-heart-object as he pulled back up, then shot off back into the air on their other side.

The energy blasts fizzled out, since their power source — “Yes! I was right!” —had been removed. The villain looked panicked, looking all over the ground frantically for the item Beast Boy just stole and was now holding high in the air. The item, despite being metal, was surprisingly light, and his worry of needing to shift into a new form to hold it was dismissed. 

The hero pair, seeing the defenses of their opponent vanish, closed in. 

The fight was over the moment the wire of the ladybug themed yo-yo secured itself around the villain, unbudging. They took an extra moment to secure them to a tree, just in case they thought to try caterpillaring away as a last ditch effort.

“Pound it!” the two cheered in union, bumping their fists in a clearly traditional fashion. The two then glanced around themselves, looking for the villain’s power source that Beast Boy held. He noticed a purple mask-like butterfly symbol appear before the villain’s eyes as they scowled, fruitlessly struggling. 

The two heroes looked to each other then the villain with questions in their eyes. “Where did your Akumatized object go?” the ladybug-themed hero asked, clearly confused yet wary. 

The villain scoffed. “Like hell if I know. Yes, I don’t know where your stupid Akuma went, Hawkmoth, so leave me alone. We clearly lost this one. You aren't getting your precious Miraculous through me, and clearly I won't be finding my Soulmate through you.”

The colorful person doubled over and fell sideways in pain, held upright by the yo-yo, and Garfield felt alarmed and concerned at the sight. He dropped the Akumatized Object he had stolen, flitted closer to the tied up person, and transformed once more, now into a butterfly, and perching on the bark of the tree near them. 

The object made a light, ringing clatter as it hit the ground, and pulled the defeated villain and hero pair’s attention to it. 

“Oh!” the pair said, grinning to one another. 

“Care to do the honors, Chat Noir?” The ladybug one held out a red-and-black object, halting her partner in walking over to retrieve the heart-looking item.

Garfield saw the gleeful and mischievous smile spread as he took it. “Of course, might as well get some use out of it, don’t you say, Ladybug?” She only laughed and waved at the villain’s power source laying on the ground.

Chat Noir lifted and pulled back his arm, holding the red and black object, before flinging it forward at the Akumatized object.

It struck true, and embedded itself upright into the ground among the now perfectly split remains of the colorful, heart-shaped petals. 

The red and black item stopped quivering in its spot, and, besides the abnormal colors to the usually silver piece of merchandise, Garfield recognized it. 

It was a letter opener, with the handle in a perfectly shaped miniature replica of the Titans Tower. Garfield had one back in his quarters in that very Tower. 

Then, a violet-streaked black butterfly emerged from the shattered metal remains.

“Well, all together that was rather unnerving,” Beast Boy commented quietly, and the villain, who happened to be close enough to catch it, whipped their head around with wide eyes, staring at what used to be a very unassuming Beast Boy in butterfly form. 

“Sup,” he says, just before the enemy is rapidly covered in dark, violet black bubbles, which scared him off his tree perch and almost, almost, making him transform back into his usual form, but manages to hold it off. 

He stared at what is now a normal looking human, with no costume or signs of powers to be seen. The cable around them fell away with the slack. He kept staring, so much so that he missed whatever Ladybug does with her now retrieved yo-yo as she calls out, “No more evildoing for you, little Akuma! Gotcha!”

He did, however, manage to pry his eyes away from the un-transformed person quickly enough to watch Ladybug open her yo-yo to release a pure white butterfly. 

“Bye-bye, little Butterfly.” 

He flew up into the tree as the hero duo approached, ignoring the impromptu dagger Chat Noir had thrown, and shifted into a chipmunk to better perch and look down from the branches.

“Hawkmoth is no longer a threat to you. How are you feeling?” Chat Noir asked, crouching down by his partner. Concern was laced into his soothing tone. Ladybug had gathered up the petals of the broken Akumatized item, revealed to be a set of two half-heart pins, as well as the letter opener, and was now sitting close to the untransformed person.

“I…” They paused, looking down at their now-exposed arm. Two lines of text flowed parallel up their forearm. The bottom one had faded into a sickly grey. Some of the words he could read of it were not very pretty. Tears built and fell from their eyes and they sobbed. 

“She said something to me, it- it was bad, really bad… I never knew that words that ‘mean the most’ can sometimes be so… so mean. I...” They sniffled. “I wanted to find my other soulmate, I really needed them…”

Ladybug gave them a sympathetic smile and rested a hand on theirs in comfort. It became apparent to him that this person must have been a victim to this Hawkmoth person and that dark butterfly he had seen. 

“Words have a lot of weight on us,” Ladybug said to them, “The people behind them and their meanings can be a lot to have sometimes. I want you to remember something,” she requests, and wiped away a tear from the civilian’s face. 

“Remember that if these aren't the words you want on you, to make an effort to change them. Make sure she puts in the effort, too. You know why? Because they are her words to write, not just yours to bear. You don't have to accept these words if you don't want them to be the ones that have the most meaning.”

Ladybug gently tapped the faded words with an encouraging smile. “See? Even now, you’re making sure they don't stay. You can bring them back, if you still want to keep your connection and strengthen it. Just make sure the words that are there are the ones you truly want to value most.

“And them?” She tapped once more on their arm, now on the other set of words, and finally dropped the two heart halves into their palm, then closed their fingers around it. “You'll meet them when it's time. Not even I could make mine come sooner than they're meant to. Don’t worry, you’ll meet yours and hear their words, I’m sure of it, when it's right.”

“Never heard words so wise, Bug,” Chat Noir added with a soft and proud grin. He helped the victim stand, after making sure they were steady, before letting them head off. Lingering sorrow and pain were still clear in their tense shoulders, but hope and determination powered their steps.

Ladybug stood with a sigh and a content smile, before she pulled the Titan Tower letter opener back out and gave it a last glance before tossing it into the air.

“Miraculous Ladybug!”

Garfield watched in stunned awe as the world was momentarily filled with glittering ladybugs, and as they swept past him, all damage was turned right back to what it had been before. He even watches the sparkling trail as it brought back the city’s iconic Eiffel Tower. 

When they were gone, he turned his gaze and attention back to the heroes and their enemy-turned-civilian. 

But they weren't there.

In fact, as he stumbled back once more, “Oh snaps,” and popped back into his regular form, he’s pretty sure he was the one who now wasn't where the two heroes are, wherever that was. He spun around, and there was the aircraft that was nothing more than a hot mess in the distance barely over an hour before. 

Surprisingly, he was right where he and it were originally supposed to be: parked in a clearing outside the city.

“Huh. Weird.” Garfield heads into the aircraft, going straight for the communications station. He finds it blown up with notifications of warnings and concerns from his team. 

He read over it all, making sure to record and send a quick report of what he experienced on his end.

Turns out, that cloud of petals had expanded out at a seemingly impossible rate over the surface of the Earth and even out towards space. The petals seemed to be physically unstoppable, except for the single petals that would break from the main wall and were apparently attracted to individuals. Every individual to be precise, like there was a petal or even more assigned for every person in the universe. 

One of the speedsters had even tried to outrun his own and failed at it. He had coincidentally ended up in Paris, too, though he had been rather disappointed he didn't get to see the Eiffel Tower —it just wasn't there. 

Beast Boy figured he just got there some time after it had collapsed and couldn't see it from where he was.

Also it turned out that everyone experienced the same thing he had when they stuck: they were teleported somewhere they didn't know, or didn’t intend to go, or hadn't expected to get to so soon. 

At least, that was the experience of those who hadn't met their soulmates yet.

Those who knew their soulmates were simply teleported to each other: either to the location one was already in, or somewhere random in between. 

And when the magic ladybugs came to the rescue, everyone was put where they had been.

He thought it was over, then started one more recording to message out. 

“Hey guys. So, I think I know what happened. I don’t think whatever put everyone back actually put people back, exactly. See, I mentioned how I was brought back to the aircraft, right? Well, this isn't where it crashed, it's where my landing zone was. It's where I was supposed to be, not where I had been, especially considering I was hit while still flying this thing. 

“That lady hero, Ladybug? She said something about not being able to force a meeting between soulmates before its time. And the Akuma — that’s what that villain was, by the way, just now found out — turns out I can find all the stuff I need on the Internet while in Paris. I bet it's either a magic or cyber firewall that keeps it in check outside of Paris’ networks. 

“I even found stuff on that shapeshifter! He was an Akuma, too, Animan, so he’s long gone. Anyway, the Akuma wanted to find their other soulmate after being hurt by the first one. Bet you five that their power was to transport soulmates closer to each other. Bet again the fact that I haven't met mine yet kept it from transporting me all the way, but the Akuma also kept me from getting too far away.”

His face lit up in a wide, dopey grin with realization. “I bet mine is here, I wasn't able to get very far away from all the fighting after all, maybe they were one of the people who got caught up in the fight.” His smile softened, and he rubbed the nape of his neck, where he knew his soulmate’s words spanned over it, starting from one shoulder and ended on the other. 

“Even if I met them while the fight was still going, I bet another five that not once, through even a whole convo, they would have said the words. After all, you can't force a first meeting. It has to be a surprise.

“Besides,” he laughed, “with the adventure I was on, that would have been one big terrible circumstance for a first meet, yeah? So let's see where this goes. Beast Boy, out!”

He sent out the new update message before he stood and stretched, then dressed out of his hero uniform and into casual clothes. Beast Boy finally booked it out of the aircraft with a holler powered by a previously-suppressed excitement finally coming to the surface. 

“MY SOULMATE’S IN PARIS!! But first,” he added with a sly grin to himself, “food!”

~~~

Ladybug watched as the magic ladybugs clear away the damages before turning back to Chat. “Well, this was an eventful day. Glad we didn’t get teleported halfway across the world or something,” she added as the two make their way onto a high roof. 

Chat follows her up and laughs, giving a lighthearted shrug, “True, but I bet we can thank Kaalki for that — at least, on my end.” He reached into his pocket and pulled out a pair of silver sunglasses that he slid on with a wink. A Kwami followed the glasses out and hovered at his shoulder.

The Horse Kwami spoke up with a huff as she accepted a macaroon from Ladybug. “You absolutely can thank me, and should. You, M. Chat Noir, almost got transported to the Americas. I had to cancel out Split-Soul's power until your other Soulmate was struck with their own Soul-Petal, thus bringing them here. It took longer than expected; whoever they are, they must have found some way to avoid the Soul-Petals, at least temporarily.” 

“And Ladybug?”

Kaalki gave him an odd look. “You are my current wielder, and I can only use my transportation ability once at a time, in this case, on you, in a non-stop reverse-teleportation. I had no time or energy afterwards to attempt the same for Mlle. Ladybug. However, it seems she had no need for my power. My guess is her Luck held and her other Soulmate is either already in Paris or was brought here, instead of her to them. Or the Soulmate Bond between you two assisted in keeping her here, any of these options are plausible.”

The two heroes looked at each other with dumbfounded expressions as the information sank in. 

“Ladybug…”

“Chat… They could be here. Right now. I- I might meet my Soulmate soon.” She became overwhelmed with nerves, excited and nervous all at once. 

Her partner grinned at her as he saw what was about to happen coming, and opened his arms to her. She slammed into him with a crushing hug, laughing as her overflow of emotions comes out as tears.

“I don't even know if I’ll meet them yet,” she added, hugging her best friend closer for a bit of extra support. “But that's okay, just knowing they were so close, even for a little bit, it’s… amazing. I just can't wait. I hope we meet soon.”

“I look forward to you telling me all about them, Bug. Good Luck.” They both laughed at that, knowing full well her luck was always out of whack outside the suit, and he never could avoid a fitting yet sincere pun. 

She breathed deeply for a moment then stepped back and wiped away her tears; Chat made sure to catch the ones she missed. 

“You good?”

“Good.” She nodded, and gave him a beaming smile that he returned. “Now, let’s head home! Maman and Papa made a huge order today and you know there's always extras left over.”

“Yes!” He cheered, pulling out his baton, “Dupain-Cheng sweets, here I come!”

Together the two headed to Marinette’s home, and dropped in through her open skylight that they had exited through and left open earlier when the first Akuma struck, then latched it shut with an added sense of finality to their day. They de-transformed and toss their respective Kwamis their treats before following each other down the multiple flights of stairs, then burst into the back of the bakery with big smiles. 

“Marinette! Adrien!” Sabine Cheng smiled back at the two as they made their appearance. “You're just in time, we have some reject meringues left over for you to take upstairs for snacks if you want them. Would you mind helping us in the bakery later before closing? We expect a small rush for all the end-of-day goods.”

“Of course, Sabine!” Adrien nods enthusiastically, grabbing the tray of proffered meringues. “Did the Akuma earlier cause any troubles here? That one was a doozy, almost gave me a heart-attack.” He emphasized his private pun with a wink towards Marinette, who smirked and rolled her eyes.

Sabine laughed, though remained oblivious to the secret behind the pun. “Other than Tom appearing in front of me on top of the counter without warning? No, all was well here. Though, he did grab one of the shelves when he almost fell — turns out it's a bit loose, ‘cause it fell right off the wall with the baskets of bread. Lucky us, Ladybug’s cure cleaned it all right up, and we can fix the shelves tomorrow.”

“Oh! I can do it when we come back down. It’s safest to get it done as soon as possible, right? I’ll even do it before the rush, promise.” He saluted, emphasizing the promise like a scout.

Sabine nodded, no longer shocked by his eagerness to help out. Sometimes, she just wanted to adopt the boy, and she knew she could without a doubt. “Alright, dear, just be careful when you do.”

“Yes Ma’am! Let's go, Marinette!” He grabbed her hand, the one where his words were etched into her wrist, balanced the tray on his other, and dragged her back up the stairs. 

“Slow down, you’ll make me trip!” she exclaimed, and followed him up with only a slight stumble. 

They headed right back up to her room, and passed a meringue each to the three Kwami, then proceeding up the steps to her loft and out into the open air of her shaded balcony. He set the tray down on her spool table. The two settled down into matching lounge chairs on either side of it and finally took treats of their own.

“So…” Adrien started, looking at her expectantly, a mischievous glimmer in his eyes.

“Hm?” Marinette looks back at him as she bit her meringue, tilting her head curiously, though wary at his look.

“Your other Soulmate, huh?”

She scoffed, rolling her eyes at him once more. “Haven't met them yet, like you already know. Yeah, they might be in Paris, but we don't know for sure. And like I told the Akuma victim, we won't meet until it's time.”

“But you're still hopeful, right?”

“Yeah, like I said earlier, I hope I meet them soon, but, I’m okay if not. I know they're out there, and that still counts.”

He sighs and laid back. “Yeah, me, too. Though, knowing they were so close? It’s a little hard to not be disappointed that not even an Akuma’s desire-fulfilling powers could bring them around quicker. Just wish they would get here faster. Like come on, pick up your feet!” He threw out his arms dramatically before slumping back in a pout.

She laughed and reached across the table to pat his hair. “They're coming as fast as they can, promise.”

He looked back at her in mock skepticism before his grin returned in full force. “Speaking of picking up feet, can I see you other Soulmate’s words again? They make me crack up every time.”

“Oh come on! They're not that ironic,” she protested, but obliges anyways as she lifts her right leg and settles the ankle to rest on the edge of the table. 

“Are you kidding me?” he questioned, leaning forward to look at the words, laughter in his eyes. “This is being ironic at full power. I would swear with you being, well, her, and these words, you would have met them by now.”

Words wrapped around her ankle like a decorative piece of jewelry. 

“Oh wow, my hero, thanks!”

“Yeah, well, you’ve seen yours, too, right?” She reached over and tugged up his shirt, revealing the words running along the front of his left hip.

“Since when did the cat lady have a son?”

He laughed, and she added, “If your dad knew why it said that, he would faint on the spot and then lock you up permanently when he comes to.” He only laughed harder at the thought and she sat back again with an exasperated grin of her own. 

As he quieted again, he looked at her with a question. “Kaalki said the Americas, right? Do you think it might have been the United States?”

“We can ask later, but yeah, maybe. Why?”

“Well, it does say ‘cat lady’, so clearly we’re bound to meet while I’m being him. Do you think this ‘cat lady’ is, maybe, another hero?” He looked nervous to ask, but open to the idea. 

“Maybe? We can check.” She waved her phone at him, the search engine already open. She took a moment to search ‘cat themed american heroes’ while Adrien leaned closer, biting into a meringue as he did so. 

She shook her head at the broad list of results, humming to herself in thought. “Maybe…” She tried again, changing the search to ‘black cat themed american vigilantes’. Her eyes went wide at the top results, and pulled up an image, showed it to him, and his expression followed suit to her own.

“Is that…” 

“Yep. You know, with the familiarity that ‘cat lady’ sounds like, maybe you should be thinking about if your Soulmate is the one who’s also a hero.” She finished off her meringue with a pointed look, and he munched the last of his with a thoughtful look.

“What if,” he swallows before continuing, pointing at her, “both of us have hero Soulmates?”

She took a moment to process that then looked out over her balcony railing, tapping her chin. “Yeah, maybe. I mean, it would make a whole lot of sense. I don't see us stopping being heroes even after Hawkmoth is defeated. Even if someone else takes up his mantle like Timetagger suggested, there will always be other villains out there, new and old, big and small. I want to help fight them, so maybe we’ll be helping other heroes, too, and not just us on our own.”

The soft smile he gave her in response relaxed her, and she smiled back just as softly.

“You're right, Buginette. I wouldn't want to stop and give that up, not ever. I plan to go full Daredevil!” Adrien cheered — a bit too enthusiastically, because he wound up knocking the empty tray off the table with his arm, and it fell to the deck, bounced with a clang, and went right through the bars of the railing — falling to the ground below. 

They both rushed over and leaned out, checking to see if it fell on anyone. The sidewalk and street was clear, and the tray was resting rather casually against the curb. Marinette raises a brow at him. “I thought Daredevil was aware of his surroundings at all times.” 

Adrien chuckled sheepishly and rubbed his neck guiltily, but bumped her side in retaliation to her jibe. “I meant fighting crime both in and out of the mask, you know? Become a lawyer or something.”

Marinette nodded and gave an encouraging smile. “Yeah. Yeah, I can see it. I’ll help you out any way I can.”

He gives a sly smile, “Any way? Even show up in court as her and then reveal yourself?”

Without hesitation, she nodded once with a sense of finality. “Yes, even that. You’re my partner, my friend, and practically my brother, if my parents have say anyways. I support you, all the way.”

His grin is wide and bright as he turned to her fully and pulled down his shirt, revealing her words written over his heart. She has no time to read them as she watched them rewrite themselves before her eyes, sparkling silver before fading back to black.

“You’re my partner, my friend, and practically my brother. I support you, all the way.”

She laughed and looked him in the eyes as he grinned back, her heart feeling loved, and she loved knowing her words meant so much to him. “You missed a part.” 

He laughed, too, and then they're both giggling against each other's sides as they looked back at the ground, unconcerned for the moment about the tray. 

“Remember our first words to each other?” Adrien asked quietly, soft and content.

“Mhm, you said “Well, hey there, nice of you to drop in,” right after I fell on you that first day.” They both giggled again and he nodded.

“Yep, and you said, “Sorry, I didn't do it on purpose.” Who would have known what those lines would mean to us, let alone why they were said. I’m glad they happened. You're the best person out there, Marinette, thanks for dropping in on me.”

“Yeah.”She nodded back to him with a held back laugh. “You're welcome I'm such a klutz.”

They sat in comfortable silence after that, just basking in the renewed calmness of the day, and casually kept an eye on the fallen tray to make sure no one saw it and took off with it. 

A slight disturbance down on the far side of the park drew Marinette's eyes and she nudged Adrien, gesturing toward it. “See that?”

He looked, and a moment later made a face like he bit something distasteful. “We’ve both seen enough fan-made crowds to know what that is, and how to avoid them. I wonder who the poor famous soul is.”

“Let’s find out,” she said, and whipped her phone out once more, opening the camera function. He raised a brow at that. 

“Your camera’s that good?” 

She nodded with a grin, “Yep! Lucked out with this one,” she stated with a wink.

He rolled his eyes but grinned in appreciation. “Good for you, mine stinks like cheese.”

“Get new cheeses then,” she quipped, and ignored his plaintive “I wish…” as she leaned closer to her screen as she zoomed in. 

It takes a minute, but she finally got a good image and a clear view, and snapped a picture, sitting back with wide eyes as she looked it over. “No way.”

“What? Let me see, who is it?” She let him take the phone as she looked back over the balcony and down towards the relatively small and far-off gathering of people.

“Pretty sure that's a foreign superhero, Adrien.”

“No way,” he parroted as he stared between the phone and the small group. “That's definitely a hero —. one of the Titans, too; I recognize him from one of Alya’s other hero blogs. That’s so cool, we don’t actually get to see other heroes that often, do we?”

Marinette shook her head, looking back to him. “Nope. We’re way too busy all the time, even with one so close we probably shouldn't try going over, even in costume.” Adrien deflates a bit at that, but nods in understanding, knowing full well what she means. “Besides, like you said, Alya has her side blogs, and nothing hero-related ever gets past her. I bet she'll have something up on one of the blogs by tomorrow.”

Adrien brightened back up with a chuckle. “Yeah, Paris gets a lot of visiting heroes. Alya won't rest whenever one is spotted. Still, I don't think we've ever had one visit so close to an Akuma attack before, I wonder if he saw it…”

“At the very least he experienced it,” she stated “That Heart-Petal blast Split-Soul did went worldwide, if not off-world, too.”

“True. Not a lot of Akumas pull attention from outside of Paris, though. So, here’s to hoping none of it is negative.” He held up a split meringue he had previously stashed away, offering her a half. 

She took it and tapped it against his as they call out in unison, “Hear hear!”

Together, they finished off their last treat and headed back down into the building once more. They joined Marinette’s parents in the bakery, and Marinette went to get the fallen tray from outside, then brought it to the back. She found Tom and asked if he needed help with the cleaning in the back, including the shutting off and clean-out of the ovens. Adrien found Sabine and asked about the shelf. 

Sabine helped Adrien bring out a ladder for him to use, as well as a couple tools and screws that he set aside. Marinette joined the two up front, as her father had claimed he would get her assistance later and sent her to help with the shelf.

“We need to get all the bread off the shelves first. Here, I’ll pass them to you, okay?” He went up the ladder and grabbed the first bundle. 

Unfortunately, he seemed to be rather unused to the use of ladders, and had  trouble turning or stepping back down without his arms. 

In what Marinette assumed was an accurate rendition of what happened earlier with Tom Dupain, Adrien stumbled on his perch and, after dropping half the bread, shot out an arm to grab the very shelf they were trying to get fixed.

Just as that was happening, Marinette saw the flash of movement at the door as it opened with a little ring from its bell. After so many years of practice predicting chain effects and their results, her movements came instinctively. 

She jumped forward, grabbed an empty display tray, and held it above their heads as a makeshift shield against all the catapulted bread and the shelf itself as she dove for the newcomer to unceremoniously tackle him out of the way. 

The shelf had scraped the bottom of the tray as she had gotten in its way, shoving it off course, and as the two people went down, one end of the shelf thudded hard into the ground just to the side of where it had previously been headed, the place the newcomer had been about to be, before falling to the floor with a bang.

Marinette and the other both sat up on the floor and looked over to the shelf and the surrounding mess of bread. Adrien and Sabine are both momentarily stunned into a still silence.

“Oh wow, my hero, thanks!” The other boy breaks it, and Marinette tinted with a gentle blush alongside her nervous laugh. She hadn't heard that phrase as often outside of Ladybug’s mask, and it had always felt different, a bit more embarrassing. 

This time it had felt a little extra different in another way and she turned to him.

She blinked owlishly as she recognized Beast Boy beside her, already realizing the words that next tumbled from her mouth were full of both irony and coincidence, considering she really was a hero, and so too was he, but at the same time being protection from baked goods and a shelf wasn't much of a heroic feat.

 “I’m not much of a hero, I just do what needs to be done, the best I can. Anyone can do it.” His expression lights up at her words, and she realizes in that moment why him having called her a hero felt so different: Her Soulmate Mark was reacting to the words he spoke, and she felt them for the first time as though they were a solid thing around her ankle, right where it belonged.

Beast Boy was quick to reply, “I’ve never heard words more true.” 

His grin widened and his eyes seemed to glimmer. 

“Well, I’ve certainly read such true words,” he adds. “But it’s nice to finally hear you say it. Hi, I’m Garfield, Gar for short, and, I think you’re my Soulmate. I really hope I'm not wrong.”

Adrien and Sabine, who had both broken from their stupor sometime during the floorbound conversation and had moved closer to check on the two, both froze for a second time at Garfield’s words.

They all watched as Marinette felt Garfield’s words react once more and she stuck out her right ankle for all to see as the words there shimmered a golden iridescent. It felt like she had put her ankle directly into a beam of sunlight through a window, before it faded back to black and the feeling left.

“I think you’re my soulmate. I really hope I’m not wrong.”

She flushed a darker shade as she covered it back up, embarrassed to have everyone see just how important those specific words had been to her, and so soon after meeting him, too! At least one of her fears was eased: she hadn't met her Soulmate while being Ladybug.

“Hi, I’m Marinette, and we’re definitely soulmates. It’s nice to finally meet you. Sorry about the bread.” She quickly stood up from the ground and held out her hand to her Soulmate. He grasped it lightly and they steadied each other as he pulled himself up, a bit of a dopey grin on his face. 

“Nice to meet you too, Mari, and don't worry about it, I've been through far worse than almost being turned into bread pudding.” Adrien laughs at that, breaking from his second shock, and was joined by an overhearing Tom who had finally joined the group in the front to investigate the original commotion. Even though her mother turned a sympathetic yet encouraging look to her, Marinette didn't feel at all disappointed that a third jokester had added himself into her life.

“Garfield, meet my mother Sabine, my father Tom, and my Platonic Soulmate Adrien. My family. Family, welcome Garfield, my Soulmate.”

And welcome him they did, with open arms and several hugs, one of which he pointedly compared to Cyborg’s in strength with a touch of amused surprise. 

Honestly, this was not how the day was supposed to go for either of them.

No, not at all, not a bit.

At least, from their expectations it wasn't.

In actuality, it went exactly as it was Destined.

And they're here now.

That’s what matters.

[End!! Thank y’all so much~!!]

Tag List: @the-navistar-carol @persephonebutkore @freshbark @ethelphantom @soulmate-game 

[cottage-babe]

Burning Scars part X

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Masterlist

whoops i missed two weeks of updating, sorry, concussion stuff :) im all good now tho so more! updating!

I changed the original story up a bit :)

Summary: Y/n, a werewolf from a hidden village, comes across Zuko and Iroh after being exiled. How has fate intertwined the wolf into the avatar’s destiny?

___

Zuko’s been acting a little... weird lately. 

Well, let’s clarify something; Zuko always acts weird. But ever since the trio went into work that day, the boy had been on edge. 

Y/n was standing at the tea station, just leaning against the wall and spacing out. Iroh was beside her, humming a small tune as he prepared the next batch of tea. Then, the boy quickly walked up to them in panic. 

“Guys, we have a problem.” He said as he set the teacups he was holding onto the table. “One of the customers is on to us. Don't look now but there is a girl over there at the corner table.”

Y/n snapped out of her daydream and looked over to the person Zuko was talking about. It was a pretty girl; she had long dark hair pulled into two braids and a sappy smile on her face. Instantly Y/n knew that she wasn’t suspicious of anything. 

“Didn’t I say don’t look?!” Zuko whispered and dragged both of his companions arms to turn away. 

A laugh almost escaped Y/n’s mouth as she shared a look with Iroh. “You know Zuko, I think you’re right, I’ve seen her here a lot.”

The clueless teen nodded his head and furrowed his brows. 

“Seems to me she has quite a little crush on you.” Iroh laughed and went back to whatever it was that he was doing. 

Zuko let out a ‘what?’ and Y/n sighed in response. She had to keep reminding herself that she and the other boy were nothing remotely close to romantic. If anything was learned from last night, they were just friends; family, at most. And she was okay with that, honestly. She had so many issues with him that it probably wouldn’t even work out. But still, she couldn’t deny the fact the Zuko might’ve been the topic of her daydream just moments ago. 

Y/n resumed her position of leaning on the wall. She watched as the ‘mysterious’ girl walked up to the counter and began to talk to Zuko flirtatiously. The girl introduced herself as Jin and payed for her drink. 

“Thank you and ... well, I was wondering if you would like to go out sometime?” Jin asked with a hopeful gaze. 

Zuko paused in bewilderment and it almost made the poor girl regret her request. Y/n wasn’t going to butt in, she really wasn’t, but soon she decided that it was for the best. Maybe if she helped him get in a relationship, it would help her get over her slight (once again, very very slight) feelings over him. 

“He’d love to.” Y/n responded for Zuko. 

The boy looked around his shoulder and sent the wolf a questioning glare, but she just sent him a smile and turned to help Iroh make some tea.

My job here is done. 

Jin and Zuko talked a bit more and ended with her saying that she’d meet with him at sundown. That meant that for the rest of the day Zuko chatted nervously with Y/n and Iroh, giving off mixed feelings between ‘I don’t want to go’ and ‘should I dress nice?’. Y/n let Iroh do all the talking, she wasn’t too much of an expert in that area.

When she was in her pack, Y/n wasn’t exactly popular among the boys. They mainly drifted her to strong, beautiful sister and the girl wasn’t bothered by it too much. She had a few crushes here and there, but that was about it. Nothing was ever acted on. 

So hearing that this was Zuko’s first date relieved her to an extent; at least she wasn’t the only one who’d gone this long without being in a relationship. But there was the other part that nagged her a bit, the fact that Zuko was having his first date; with a stranger none the less. 

Quit all this feeling stuff, it’s getting annoying. 

Y/n may or may not have been giving Zuko a form of silent treatment for the day. If he ever asked her anything, she answered, but other than that, she never intimated any conversation. There wasn't any particular reason (lies), but it certainly didn't go unnoticed by her roommate.

"Hey, uhh.. if you don't think that I should go, I won't." Zuko said randomly on their break.

Y/n's eyes furrowed in confusion. "I literally answered her for you, Lee. If anyone is being hesitant, it should be you."

"So," he began. "Your not bothered? At all?"

There was this weird look in the boy's eyes, something of... Hope?

That's weird.

"Listen, if you need advise or something, Iroh will probably be your best bet." The werewolf laughed awkwardly.

He just sighed and went back to work.

When closing time was coming and there were hardly any customers left, Zuko and Iroh went to the backroom to prepare. Y/n didn’t really pay attention to what they were doing; she just assumed that they were cleaning up any dirty bits he picked up or making him smell better. 

That was why when Zuko walked out into the dining room with his hair slicked back ridiculously, Y/n couldn't hold back the snort that escaped her. Why would Iroh do this to him? Some revenge she didn’t know about or something?

Zuko glared at her and she just masked up her laughter as a cough. “You look great!” She even put a thumbs up to try an convince him of her lie.  He just rolled his eyes and took a deep breath, slowly opening the door of the restaurant. By that time, the few remaining people had filtered out and it was just the three of them. 

When the view of Jin came, even Y/n couldn’t hold back her gasp. 

The young girl was really quite beautiful. Her braid was fixed and she had a youthful enthusiasm to her features. It was a beautiful contrast to the adult life that Y/n and Zuko were thrown into. 

Jin’s eyes widened at the boys new look and laughed, saying something clever to him. Zuko just shut the door so his two roommates wouldn’t listen in on their conversation. 

“He’s growing up so fast,” Iroh jokingly sniffled and wiped a fake tear. 

Y/n laughed and nodded her head. I hope he’s nice to her. 

The werewolf turned and returned to the backroom so she could put her apron away. She assumed that Iroh was following, so she didn’t bother waiting. 

“So,” She began, “what should we do tonight?” Y/n began to wave her arms around dramatically. “Get some food? Watch a play?”

She was really looking forward to tonight. Now they didn’t have Zuko here constantly breathing down their necks (”We don’t have enough money for that!!” “Why buy that when you can buy this!” it got a little redundant at times). 

Iroh slid his apron off and chuckled. “Oh no no... I’m far too old to have fun at night.” 

Y/n deflated. To be fair, the sun hadn’t fully set yet. “I mean... I guess we could read at home?” 

He shook his head once more and turned toward the werewolf. “Just go have fun, meet new people. Don’t let someone like me slow you down!”

She pouted. Why does he think that time spent with him is wasted? She has plenty of fun hanging out with the sweet uncle! Y/n looked at his happy, aged face and observed his truthfulness. She knows that he just wants her to have fun, but still...

“Just go, Y/n, and I’ll see you back home tonight.” Iroh smiled. 

Y/n sighed, looking at Iroh one last time, before turning around and heading out the same door that Jin and Zuko left through. When the brisk air hit her, it felt different somehow. Maybe because this was her first time being out alone. She means this quite lightly, of course, but something about it still irked her. 

The sun was sorta bright out, but not much. 

It had set halfway, so the small beams were jutting out the tops of the building and the sky was painted the scene of fire. Oh, her and her love for sunsets. 

Y/n decided to pick a direction and walk. Honestly, in this part of the city, there weren’t many sights to see; everything interesting rested in the higher Rings since they could afford it. 

After a few minutes, the girl saw a stand selling sweets. She patted her pockets and brought out her tips from work. It wasn’t much, but definitely enough for the night. 

She paid for some iced treats; Popsicles of some kind. She wasn’t entirely sure which flavor to pick, so she went with her childish side and decided to buy two that she was interested in. 

As she continued her trip, Y/n stopped at a few places to watch things. Since night was approaching, shows were starting on random parts of the streets. People performed odd talents for money and it excited the girl; maybe she should do something like them, it seems fun. 

At some point, Y/n ended up at the entrance of a zoo. 

She was almost finished with the first ice cream in her grasp when she decided to enter the park. It seemed deserted and there was only one person at the front desk. 

“Umm, excuse me? Are you open?” Y/n asked since the worker was almost half asleep. 

The man jumped awake and looked around, startled. Then, his eyes landed on the girl’s curious figure. “Yes. Is it just you? Where’s your friends?”

Y/n pouted in response. “It’s just me, how much is it?”

She began to ruffle through her pockets, hoping that it was enough to see the animals, but the man waved a hand in the air.

“It’s fine, you can just go ahead. Just don’t feed the animals.” He said while looking suspiciously at the girl’s popsicles. 

Y/n nodded her head and smiled in thanks. Then, she went inside.

She wasn’t entirely sure why she wanted to be here; it would be hard for her to see captive animals when she herself was one (well, not caged, but you get the point). Her pack elders had informed her of zoos and used it to scare the kid wolves so they wouldn’t go and try to find humans. Of course, that never worked on Y/n and her siblings. She honestly just thought that it was fake up until this point. 

The werewolf walked around to each cell to observe the animals. It almost made her cry; they all just looked so lonely. Y/n couldn’t imagine how trapped they must feel in this small cage; a part of her was happy that she wasn’t in that situation, though. 

“They all look so sad.” 

Y/n turned around and was met with a young boy, possibly about twelve years old. He was bald with a blue arrow tattooed across his forehead and arms and held a long stick in his hands. The orange of his clothing made him standout against the dreary greys of the zoo. 

The girl looked at the animal across from them. It was a Rabaroo, an animal with long ears and bouncy legs. Y/n could hear small chirps coming from the pouch in her front, but she decided not to say anything. 

“She’s really hungry too, I can tell.” Y/n said as she walked up closer to the cage. 

The poor animal was almost pleading for help. She had a thought that the Rabaroo knew what she was, a predator, but still asked for help. These animals must be really desperate. 

The boy joined her. “I wish there was something I could do, but I’m not sure how to help.”

Y/n nodded her head in agreement. When she got this feeling in the past (before they entered Ba Sing Se with their Ostrich-Horses), she found a solution; to just let them go and be free. Now, however, she just felt helpless.

Instead, she just looked at the boy and held out the other ice treat in her hand. “Do you want one? I can’t finish both.”

He got a childish excitement in his eyes and grabbed the treat. Y/n smiled back at him, maybe something good can come from today. 

“I’m Aang, I’m looking for my lost Sky Bison.” Aang said as he began licking to Popsicle. 

“Y/n,” she introduced herself while thinking, what the Spirits is a Sky Bison? “I'm just wandering the city; thinking."

“Really?” He asked. “What are you thinking about?”

What was she thinking about?

There’s so much that should be on her mind right now; her future, how her family’s doing, how she’s doing, but for some reason the only thing that’s been scattered around her brain recently was Zuko. Something about him just seemed so.. spirits, she couldn’t even find the word for it. But it seemed like she was seeing him differently now.

“Oh, you're still here?"

Y/n and Aang turned to the voice that spoke. It belonged to the man at the front desk, the one that let her in for free.

"Do you know what's wrong with the animals?" Aang asked the owner, ignoring the rude phrase that he said.

"Well, the Dai Li won't give me any money because the kids stopped coming. And the kids won't come because my zoo's nasty and broke." The owner sighed. "I wish I could give all these animals the big, open space that they need."

Y/n frowned. He must have really good intentions, it's just the situation that makes him seem bad.

She met eyes with the younger boy to her side and was surprised to see the... Joy?

"Let's do it!" Aang yelled out, surprising both people beside him. "There's a big open space right outside the walls of the city!"

"But how do we transport them?" Y/n asked.

She was totally on board with the idea, it's just that it seemed a little... Impulsive. But she was talking to a child, though, and they always have such big ideas.

"Oh I'm really good with animals." The boy smiled. "Do you want to help me?"

The werewolf paused, thinking that maybe she shouldn't get involved in this event. But one look at the poor Rabaroo peering up at her with it's wide eyes made her cave in.

"You know... I'm pretty good with animals too."

--

She was not as good as she thought she was.

Aang and Y/n separated because they needed to find a way to calm the wild animals running loose. The boy (spirits bless him) thought it was a fantastic idea to let all of the animals go at once; from the biggest animals to the smallest rats. It was wild.

And so here the werewolf was, chasing down a pair of Raccoon-Crows. Since the sun had set long ago, there weren’t a lot of people out. Most who enjoyed the liveliness of the night has had their fun and returned to the welcoming embrace of their beds. Oh, if only I stayed home to sleep.

“Get back here!” Y/n yelled as the birds flew off once again.

They seemed to look at her with a mischievous gleam in their eyes; waiting for her to get close before bolting off once again. It was getting very annoying.

She didn’t regret helping the young boy, especially since she might’ve gained a friend out of this. She only regretted not coming up with a better plan; or at least to wait until morning.

“AHHH!” A voice screamed off in the distance.

Y/n groaned and turned toward the yell, knowing that some animal was probably attacking some random citizen. What she didn’t expect though, was to run face first into Zuko and Jin’s date.

Jin had a hog-monkey climbing on her dress and Zuko was in full panic mode. He tried to help her push the animal off, but it seemed to have a steel grip on her. Luckily, they were alone in some fire lit plaza.

Y/n felt really awkward, especially with how private the area was. What would they need privacy for? She quickly pushed that out of her head though and whistled loudly to catch the Monkey’s attention.

The animal and the two teens looked at her in surprise. Y/n took out a treat that the Zoo Keeper had given her and waved it to catch the eyes of the Hog-Monkey. When it loosened it’s grip, she threw it as far as she could away from the group. Luckily, it jumped away in excitement.

“Y/n?!” Zuko exclaimed. Sighing in defeat, the werewolf slowly joined the duo.

Jin was still slightly frightened and was grasped onto the boy’s arm. Y/n pretended not to see it.

“Hey Lee. Fancy seeing you here?” She tried miserably as she scrunched her face up in discomfort. Maybe they’ll be able to cut this conversation short.

“Why aren’t you back home with Uncle?” Zuko said as his eyebrows squished together in anger. “What are you even doing out here?”

“I decided to go out too,” she explained quickly, “but listen, I met this boy and we’r-”

“A boy?!” He seemed to be fuming now. “You can’t just go around talking to random people.”

This made the werewolf (and Jin, but we’re kinda ignoring the sweet girl for a moment) raise her eyebrow in disbelief. He’s really out here, scolding her for making friends when he’s on a date with some girl he’s never met before. Does he ever think before he speaks?

“I-” Y/n paused and took a deep breath to calm herself. “You know what? We’ll talk about this later. I think we’re both busy at the moment.” 

Zuko glanced at his date and the werewolf used that distraction as an excuse to leave. She ran off in the direction of the Hog-Monkey, hoping that it hadn’t run too far and purposefully ignored the boy who yelled in protest behind her. Stupid Zuko and his stupid anger issues. 

When she got far enough, she slowed to a walk and looked around. The monkey must’ve gotten away because it was nowhere in sight. 

“Hog-Monkey.... c’mere monkey, I have treats.” Y/n spoke loudly out into the dark streets of Ba Sing Se. 

She hoped that the animal would hear her words and come barreling toward her, but she was only greeted with silence except for the soft footsteps coming from a lady walking down the street. Besides for the lady, the entire street was empty and no other animal was in sight. 

That was when she heard it. 

A high pitched ringing noise that rattled her bones and made her brain shrink in protest. It was louder than anything she’d ever heard before. It wasn’t the noise that was painful, no no, it was the feeling of being ripped apart that did. 

The noise, for some reason, caused the werewolf in Y/n to go absolutely crazy. It was fighting the girl; desperately trying to shift into its natural skin so it could run toward the ringing. 

Y/n hunched herself over and groaned out in pain. She looked at her hands and saw it shifting between claws and human hands; she could only imagine what the rest of her body was doing. 

“Are you alright, sweetie?” 

The transforming-girl looked up to meet the eyes of the lady who was on the street. Her eyes were filled with worry, but slowly changed into something of fear.

Before the werewolf could do something to hurt the kind woman, Y/n bolted down an empty alley. Spirits, what is happening to me?

She leaned against the dirty wall and tried to catch her breath, but her wolf just kept clawing at her, desperately trying to escape. She punched the wall, leaving a fist-sized dent (her mind just brushed it off as her wolf power, but that was weird, right?). Then, while the ringing noise still blasted through her ears, she felt her snout slowly grow out of her face; a growl of effort roaring through the alleyway. 

The young girl wanted to cry. Why couldn’t she control herself right now? She was used to the pain of transforming, she had done it all of her life, but she’d never experienced the pain of her two natures battling. It was something entirely different.

The seconds that were passing seemed like hours.

All she could think was, when will the ringing stop?

Soon, she didn’t have the power to hold it back anymore. Her human body was weak and she hated herself for it. She let her werewolf grow into its natural size, towering above her normal height. She felt her clothing rip until it was just strips of fabric on on the floor. 

The ringing stopped, but her wild mind remembered where the sound came from and began its run there. 

Fortunately (although, its also very unfortunate), her journey was ended when something sharp pierced through the skin on her neck. Her dark eyes jumped around until it landed on the fearful lady from the street shaking beside a group of men.  

Y/n felt a sudden drowsiness come over her and her large body fell limp to the floor despite it’s fighting. Just before the unconsciousness came over her, though, the green circle on the men’s chest became prominent in the moonlight.

Then, her world went dark.

__

Dai Lee >:(

also Aang’s whistle thing >:(

 i know that this is a VERY slow burn, but maybe some... couple-y stuff in the next few chapters? we’ll see ;)

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Masterlist

Taglist: @bucky-blogs @hopefuloperaangelnerd @simplyfandomish @oddlypointlessescapes @lozzybowe @woohoney @whalerus @cece-lives-here @bwndito @kiaoizz @lrmilikepie @ohmigooosh

[himbowelsh]

Could you do 67 with Spina and Roe? In a platonic way?

intimacy prompts  (no longer accepting) 67.   experiencing new things together

When Spina laughs, he sounds like a goddamn hyena, and Eugene’s not sure how he’s supposed to feel about it.

“Wait, wait — I’m sorry, okay, gimme a minute —“

Eugene taps his toes and waits.

“It’s just — ooh, Jesus Christ —“ he has to stop to wipe away tears, clutching his stomach like it’s gonna leap off his body and tap dance away. “You really mean to tell me you’ve seen alligators, you’ve seen bears, you’ve seen a goddamn lynx… but you never been to the zoo?”

“Ain’t got one in our town,” Gene shrugs, gaze wandering out the window. When Spina doesn’t quit starting at him: “Or the next town. Or the town after that. Not ‘less I feel like taking an Uber all the way to Broussard, and I’d rather not.” He studies the two glasses Spina’s set in front of them — cheap plastic, decorated with rainbow polka dots — thoughtfully. “But there’re bears in the woods, alligators in the bayous, and my petit cousin Merriell once got a big cat for a guy. Kept him locked in our shed for almost a week.”

“That’s… insanely shady. You hear how that sounds, right?”

“This goin’ somewhere, Spina?” Gene asks, not half as exasperated as he tries to sound.

Spina leans far back, tilting the rickety wooden chair he’s sitting in until it touches the wall behind him. He’s got amazing confidence in a piece of furniture he obviously bought off the IKEA sales rack, and probably hammered together himself while cursing the instruction manual. He pulls the rim of his beanie down on his brow, still chuckling. “Alright,” he declares, “add it to the list.”

“List of what?”

“List of things we gotta do together while you’re in Philly. If you think bagels are that great —“

“I never had one before, Spina!” Breakfast this morning was an experience, but his friend doesn’t have to keep bringing it up. Gene comes from Louisiana, not Mars.

“The list,” Spina repeats, snapping his fingers. “Nah, buddy, you’re gonna love it. The Philly Zoo is great! Huge, and it’s got more animals than you could imagine — we almost lost Babe to the monkey enclosure once. The zookeepers took one look at ‘im and thought he belonged there!”

Now, Gene can’t help but smirk. “I really hope that’s a joke, but can’t be sure.”

Spina provides no enlightenment. “Right, so. The zoo, the karaoke bar, the IMAX —“

“I been to movies before, too.”

“But never to a movie with the screen so big it could suck you in and shit you out the other side. Hell, does your local theater even have reclining seats?”

Gene stays silent. Calling the furnishings in his hometown movie theater “seats” is a stretch; half of them will stab you with springs the moment you sit down. Spina says the movie theaters in Philly serve hot dogs, goddamn hot dogs, and cheese fries, and have a whole candy counter — “hell, the one at the corner of Franklin just got an open bar,” he declared, and Gene had almost had an aneurysm.

“You don’t plan on letting me sleep this whole trip, do you?” he asks instead, blinking mildly at his friend.

Spina grins, showing off the slight crookedness of his teeth. “A few hours, here and there. You might haveta be sneaky about it.”

“Some kinda human rights violation.”

Spina snorts, reaching over to take another sip of his drink. “I still can’t believe,” he declares, setting the colorful glass down on the counter, “you’ve never had ginger ale before.”

“I can’t believe you’ve never drank straight whiskey through a straw,” Gene replies, totally stonefaced. He lets it linger for a moment, taking his own sink of the oddly-flavored soft drink — no, he’s not a fan of Canada Dry — before chuckling softly. “Guess you could say we come from different worlds, Spina.”

“Never had pastrami, never had a hoagie, never had clam chowder or Italian ice… whatever your world looks like, I’m too scared to live there.”

“The spices alone would kill you.”

Say a lot about Spina, but at least the man knows how to take a joke. He sips his own drink again, chuckling. For a moment, they settle into companionable silence, just the two of them alone, Gene a thousand miles away from home.

When Spina stands suddenly, Gene’s gaze tears away from his polka-dot drinking glass. “Come on,” his friend says, nodding his head towards the doorway. “Got one more new thing on the agenda for today.”

Silently, Gene follows him out of the kitchen and down the narrow hall, past the half-open closet door and chip in the plaster that Spina swears his building owner’s gonna get fixed. He’s not sure where they’re headed, until they come into Spina’s crowded living room, and maneuver around couches and tables to the other side.

Spina pushes the balcony door open and grins. Gene hesitates, like any sane person would.

“I did not fly all the way up here to visit just so you could push me to my death thirteen stories up.”

“Come on, Gene.” Spina is fearless in the face of familiarity. He leans on the balcony railing without a care in the world, even if to Gene it looks flimsy as a toothpick. “In another life, you mighta been a paratrooper.”

“Call Other Life Me up, then, and leave me outta it.”

Spina doesn’t back down. Arm extended, he beckons to Gene, grasping for him...  and maybe Gene’s just weak for people with trustworthy faces, and maybe Spina has the trustworthiest, because he gives in. One step, than another...  and suddenly he’s standing on the balcony, looking down at sprawling Philadelphia below.

It’s not so bad, he realizes, once he’s looking down. Looking up would probably scare him more; at least looking down doesn’t seem so far away, actually being able to see the ground. Cars race by on crowded streets; pedestrians linger outside corner stores and diners; lights flicker and change, horns blare, and a police siren wails from the distance. The city sure is one hell of a place  ---  more different from Bayou Chene, even from Baton Rouge or New Orleans, than Gene can comprehend. A different world, inhabited by a different sort of people...  but beautiful, nonetheless. 

“Never been this high up in my life,” he mutters. After a minute, he realizes he’s still gripping tight to Spina’s hand; a beat of hesitation passes before he releases it. His friend chuckles at his side, but Gene doesn’t feel mocked at all.

“Really something, huh buddy?”

“Mmm-hmm,” Gene mutters. In another life...  he might have liked heights after all. “Really something to see.”

[perlukafarinn]

4 + 39, Destiel, obviously

Mistaken for a couple + Kid ficThis got really long (2.4k words) but I have no regrets.

In October, Dean has an unremarkable one night stand with a woman named Lydia. He doesn’t hear from her again but eleven months later, he’s suddenly a single father to a baby girl who just survived the car crash that killed her mother.

It’s a lot of change in a short amount of time, especially considering he doesn’t know of Emma’s existence until he gets the call from the hospital. He’s responsible for a whole ass person now - a tiny, fragile person who won’t stop crying and who screams bloody murder whenever Dean tries to put her in a car seat.

The little hypocrite is fine with the bus, so Dean resigns himself to public transport for the next while. Dealing with dirty looks from his fellow passengers as Emma cries her head off is easier than the alternative. At least it’s regular crying, not those demonic shrieks she makes in the car.

“Maybe you’re holding her wrong.”

Dean glares at Cas, who’s in the seat next to him. He’s been taking the bus with them ever since Dean brought Emma home, and although Dean is grateful for the company that doesn’t mean he’s gonna put up with unsolicited criticisms.

“Maybe you should shove it.”

“Hand her over,” Cas says, ignoring him.

Dean hesitates but then complies. Maybe the tiny bit of distance will make the endless crying more bearable. 

Cas takes her carefully into his arms, supporting her head like the nurse at the hospital had shown Dean and cradling her to his chest. He bounces her just slightly and then, miracle of miracles, her crying starts to die down.

Dean stares at him in wonder. “How did you do that?”

Cas shrugs. He’s looking down at Emma with a small, gentle smile and Dean feels something in his chest clench at the sight.

“What a sweet girl you two have,” coos a woman sitting across the aisle from them.

It takes Dean a moment to realize she’s misinterpreted the situation. He wonders if he should correct her but before he can, Cas answers, “Thank you.”

Unfortunately, the woman takes that as her cue to continue the conversation. “Did you adopt?”

“No,” Cas responds dryly. “Dean forgot the condom.”

“O-oh.”

She stops bothering them after that and a couple of stops later, she’s off.

“So,” Dean says as soon as she’s gone, “is it an open relationship or did I cheat?”

“You cheated,” Cas answers without hesitating. “Hussy.”

*

The zoo is Emma’s favorite place in the world. Dean’s not crazy about it himself but he’s a sucker for those big blue eyes of hers so they go every week - twice, if Emma’s feeling fussy.

Cas always joins them, even though he must have better things to do. Dean expected his social life to suffer since becoming a single parent, and it has, but he’s seen more of Cas in the past few months than in the last three years combined.

(It probably helps that Cas is divorced now - Daphne never could stand Dean.)

It’s early Saturday afternoon but the slight drizzle keeps most people away. Dean has Emma strapped to his chest, shielding her from the rain with an umbrella, but he gets the feeling she wouldn’t notice it anyway. Their first stop is one of the monkey cages and Emma is captivated, shrieking with laughter and babbling cheerful nonsense at the unimpressed looking monkeys.

“I don’t get why she’s so obsessed with those things,” Dean says.

“I do.” Cas crouches, holding out a finger to Emma who grasps it in her chubby hand. “It’s because she’s a monkey herself.”

“Don’t listen to him, Em,” Dean tells his daughter, taking her unoccupied hand and kissing it. “You’re the cutest little girl in the world.”

Cas straightens and shoots him a wry smile. “Is that why you put that bow in her hair? Or is it because of that woman who told you how handsome your son is?”

Dean pats Emma’s head, careful not to disturb the pink bow clinging precariously to a few strands of hair. That woman was not the first person to confuse Emma for a boy, probably because most of her clothes are hand-me-downs from Cas’ nephew, Jack.

“No,” he lies, because he’s not up for another one of Cas’ lectures about how gender is a construct.

They watch the monkeys a while longer, since Emma can’t seem to get enough of them. The drizzle is starting to turn into proper rain so Cas huddles close, underneath Dean’s umbrella

Eventually, Dean decides they need to check out the rest of the zoo. He begins to walk away from the cage but Emma starts immediately wailing, reaching both hands out to the monkeys.

“Let her stay a little longer,” Cas says.

“If it were up to her, we’d never leave. We can’t give in every time she starts crying, she’ll stop as soon as she sees something else she likes.”

“Ten more minutes.”

Dean rolls his eyes but relents. Next to him, a woman who just arrived with her baby in a stroller laughs.

“Sucks to have to be the strict one, huh?” she asks. 

“Oh, we’re not-” Dean cuts himself off, because why bother. “Yeah, it does.”

“My husband is just as bad,” she confides. “He would let this one get away with murder if it weren’t for me.”

Dean hums. Cas isn’t paying attention to the conversation, too busy reading the plaque in front of the cage.

“I would have figured it would be twice as bad with two daddies, but you seem to be doing okay.”

“Yeah, sure.”

The woman cranes her neck, peering curiously around Dean at Cas. “Which one of you is her real dad?”

A shot of annoyance goes through Dean and he answers without thinking, “We’re both her real dads.”

“Oh, you know what I mean.”

“I don’t. Cas,” Dean adds a little louder. “C'mon, let’s check out the tapirs.”

Emma starts wailing again as they walk away but like Dean predicted, she stops as soon as she spots something else to occupy her interest - in this case, a big rock.

“We’re both her real dads?” Cas asks.

Dean blushes. “Sorry. I just hate it when people talk about family not being real, just because you’re not related by blood.”

“I know.”

“Didn’t mean to drag you into it.”

“It’s fine. I do consider you and Emma to be my family.”

Dean swallows past the lump that’s suddenly formed in his throat. “Yeah. Well. Right back at you.”

He ignores the flutter of hope in his chest. That way only lies danger.

*

Dean is expecting some tears on Emma’s first day of pre-school. If not from her, then from himself. Surprisingly, they both handle it well. Emma stumbles off without saying goodbye when she spots a slide on the playground and although Dean gets a little misty-eyed, he keeps it together.

Then he turns to Cas, who is noticeably distressed.

Dean nudges him. “You okay, buddy?”

“Yes, I’m-” Cas clears his throat and Dean pretends not to notice when he wipes away a tear. “I’m fine.”

“It’s only a few hours. I’m sure you can handle it.”

Cas shoots him a glare. “I’m going to wait in the car.”

He walks off and Dean feels a little bad for teasing but not enough to actually go and apologize. 

Emma’s new teacher walks up to him. “This is nothing unusual,” she says, gesturing at Cas’ retreating back. “But Emma is adjusting remarkably well.”

“Yeah, she’s a champ,” Dean says, chest swelling with pride. He can still see Emma from here, toddling her way up the short steps to the slide. 

“Will you or your partner be picking her up? Or both of you?”

Emma slides down, stumbling as she lands but managing to stay on her feet. She shrieks in delight, running back around to the steps to go again.

“Hm?”

“Sorry, husband.”

Dean turns to the teacher, attention caught by that word. “What?”

“Which one of you will be picking up Emma?” she asks again. “You or your husband?”

Dean stares at her blankly for a moment. “Me,” he finally answers. “My - uh, my husband is working late.”

Later, once he’s taken care of all the formalities with the teacher and has said goodbye to Emma, Dean heads back to the car and wonders why he didn’t correct her. Why he went along with her mistake.

Why the hell the word ‘husband’ sounded so good when applied to Cas.

*

On Emma’s second birthday, Dean discovers that strangers aren’t the only ones who have been mistaking him and Cas for a couple.

He’s in his kitchen, putting away all the dirty dishes from Emma’s party. The birthday girl herself is taking a nap and although most of the guests have gone home, a few still linger in the living room, talking quietly among themselves.

He’s just about done loading the machine and putting the leftovers away when Mom joins him.

“Bobby and I are about to head home,” she tells him. “Just wanted to say goodbye.”

Dean closes the fridge and walks over to hug her. She’s smiling at him when they part, eyes shining. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing,” she says. She clears her throat, pats Dean’s chest. “I’m just… really happy for you, sweetie.”

“Mom,” Dean says, putting his hand over hers. “Have you been drinking?”

Mom snorts, swatting him. “I mean it, kid. I was so worried about you when you got the call about Emma but you’ve handled the situation better than I could have hoped for.”

Dean shrugs, uncomfortable at the deluge of sincere praise. This is the kind of emotional honesty members of the Winchester family don’t usually engage in unless somebody’s on their deathbed. 

“She’s lucky to have you,” Mom continues. “And you’re both lucky to have Castiel. I’m glad you’ve all found each other.”

Dean’s stomach sinks. He searches Mom’s expression for any hint of a joke but she looks completely serious. 

“Mom… I don’t have Cas. We’re not together.”

“…You’re joking.”

“I’m not.”

Mom blinks. “But you’re…” She huffs. “I don’t understand.”

“Sorry?” Dean scratches the back of his neck. “I dunno what to tell you, we’re just friends.”

Neither one of them speaks, the silence between them growing awkward.

“I’m… gonna go,” Mom finally says. “Just forget I said anything about Castiel.”

“Okay,” Dean says, knowing full well he’s not gonna be able to.

Strangers thinking he and Cas are involved is one thing. But Mom? Maybe it’s time for Dean to reevaluate the way they come off to people. The last thing he needs is for Emma to get confused about the situation.

*

Dean considers bringing it up with Cas but it’s just too awkward and in the end, very little reevaluating is done. Dean likes that they’re close, even if they’re never as close as he actually wants. He doesn’t wanna lose any part of what he and Cas have, doesn’t want anything to change between them.

So he says nothing, and things stay the same. 

The conversation with Mom is all but forgotten a few months later. Dean is working late, so Cas offers to picks Emma up from pre-school. They’re both kneeling around the coffee table in the living room when Dean comes home, drawing with crayons on the blank pages of Emma’s coloring book.

Dean feels ten different kinds of warm and fuzzy at the sight of them and he can’t help but smile. Cas looks up, finally noticing him, and answers with a gummy smile of his own. 

“You staying for dinner?” Dean asks, ignoring the way his heart just skipped a beat.

“Mhm,” Emma hums without looking up from the coloring book.

“I suppose I am,” Cas agrees.

He stays for dinner and then he stays after, helping Dean get Emma to bed. Even once she’s asleep, he stays and does the dishes while Dean throws a load in the laundry. 

Neither one of them says anything, but by the time they’re done with the chores and collapse on the couch in front of the TV it’s clear that he’s not going home to sleep. It’s not the first time he’s staying the night, or even the fiftieth - it’s become something of a habit since Dean got Emma. The guest room is basically Cas’ room by now. 

They channel surf until Cas makes Dean stop on some competitive reality show about blowing glass. Dean becomes invested despite himself but even then, he’s exhausted and the couch is very soft and inviting.

He doesn’t remember falling asleep but when he wakes up, his head is laying on Cas’ shoulder and Cas is slumped against him, snoring softly. It’s dark outside and the only source of light is from the television, now showing a late night talk show with the volume off.

Dean sits up, jostling Cas awake. For a moment, they just look at each other, both smiling sleepily. Then Dean, forgetting for a moment everything they are and everything they aren’t, leans in and kisses him.

It’s not a first kiss. It isn’t tentative, or curious, or impatient and passionate. It’s a routine kiss, the kind you give a partner you’ve been with for a while, brief but assured and loving.

He pulls away and it’s not until he sees Cas’ face that his brain finally catches up with him. 

“Shit,” he mutters, recoiling. “Cas, I’m sorry, I wasn’t thinking.”

He moves to get up, but Cas grabs his hand, holding him still. He doesn’t look shocked or disturbed. Dean can’t read his expression at all, can’t tell what that searching look in his eyes means.

“Don’t apologize,” he finally says. “I’ve been waiting for you to do that for ten years.”

Dean’s jaw goes slack. “Wh- ten years?” 

“Yes,” Cas says, matter-of-factly. Then, “I’m going to kiss you again, if you don’t mind.”

Dean doesn’t mind. He very, very much doesn’t mind, especially with the way Cas’ hand cups the back of his neck, thumb rubbing the sensitive skin behind his ear before he leans in, kissing Dean with gentle pressure and precision. Or the way he licks the seams of his lips until he opens them, turning the kiss a little filthy and sending bolts of heat dancing down to Dean’s gut.

They part, and something occurs to Dean.

“Wait, is that why Daphne hated me?”

Cas laughs. He’s so close, Dean can feel the way it rumbles in his chest warm and low. “No, actually. She thought you drank too much.”

Then he’s kissing Dean again, and the conversation is officially over.

*

It isn’t until he’s in a relationship with Cas that Dean realizes he was basically in a relationship with Cas already.

Seems he was the one misunderstanding things all along.

[tinyhwng]

i’ll be your friend

request? yes (anon)

pairing: classmate!hyunjin x reader

t/w: nothing really. just fluff

genre: fluff fluff fluff

word count: 1,750

a/n: sorry this took so long + you don’t sound demanding at all!! i hope you like it :))) + requests are still open, just give me time to do them <3

summary: Hwang Hyunjin. The innocent heartthrob of your highschool. The person everyone admired, and the person you never really thought anything about.

ugh why is he so cute

It’s only been a week ever since the reorganization of the seats. You felt glares every now and then from girls who you could only assume, hated you for being the one Hyunjin had to sit beside, but it wasn’t like you chose it that way. He volunteered to sit beside you and you had no right to contradict, at least he wasn’t loud and actually took the effort to study unlike your past seatmates.

You weren’t the friendly type but you weren’t the mean one either. You like staying in your own little corner while everyone else talks among themselves and this was something you’ve always been used to. Friends? You had none. Well, a few aquaintances here and there who asked you to teach them lessons they’ve missed but not at the point where you exchanged how are you’s and traded social media account usernames and truly, it was something that never bothered you. It was only when lunch came around you truly felt the sudden need for someone to talk to. Everyone else was out while you stayed in that classroom you already spend half your day in, burying yourself in numbers, words and your constant worry to get better grades.

Time to time, you would find yourself eyeing the boy beside you. Nothing really in your mind but your eyes just seemed to always wander towards the direction of the tall boy. He was tall, chiseled face, plumped lips and eyes dark enough to reflect the stars and keep them in there. After a few times of subtly looking at the boy, you realized why he was so popular. There was just something about him that made your attention gravitate towards him and you couldn’t help but give in everytime.

During the second week of the new seating arrangement, the pressure of the upcoming exams sent your mind through hell and back. You studied more often than usual which resulted in you getting less sleep and it definitely showed. One morning, you came later to class than usual and you immediately spotted the cup of coffee that resided on the corner of your desk. Confused, you took it anyways since you certainly needed it if you wanted to stay awake for your morning classes. Burying yourself back to your school work, you failed to notice the small, gentle smile that had emitted from the boy beside you.

Lunch soon came around and while everyone rushed out of the room, you glued yourself back to your chair, rummaging through your papers to look for something to study. You were too immersed in your studies that you failed to realize the existence of the sleeping boy beside you. You tapped him to wake up, informing him that lunch has started.

“Uh- Lunch started by the way.”

The boy jolted awake at your touch, his eyes quickly wandering the room and then retracting back at you. “O-Oh, thank you.” He quickly arises from his seat, making his way out the door before he stopped in his tracks and went back to sit down.

“Are you not eating?” He faces you, his elbows resting on the desk as his face rested on the palm of his hand. “I’ve never seen you eat.”

You shook your head, your eyes not leaving the papers full of words in front of you but you definitely felt the strong gaze from the boy.

“I’ll be back.” The boy muttered before he went towards the door and disappeared into the hallways.

You were confused but you ignored it, returning back to studying. It wasn’t until two pieces of bread was gently placed on your desk that you finally looked away from your work.

“Eat. It’ll help with studying, trust me.” The tall boy muffled with bread in between his lips.

You shook your head and declined, sliding it over his desk.

“Come on, y/n. If you’re worried I’ll ask you to pay me back, don’t. This is my treat.”

“You know my name?” You shift yourself to face him.

“It says right there. Y/N.” He laughed as he pointed at the name tag you placed all over your things.

Your face flushed red in embarrassment and he soon shifted his body to face you too. It wasn’t until then you felt your heart rate rise like it could combust at any given moment if he gets anymore closer. But you collected yourself, not wanting to embarrass yourself even more.

“Why don’t you eat lunch?”

“I do” you lied, “I just don’t like the food here.”

“What do you mean? Their food is alright.”

“Not for me.”

“How about friends? People usually use this time to catch up with friend-“ “I don’t have friends-“ You interrupted which you soon regretted.

“Impossible. Everyone knows you, your name is pasted on every bulletin board. How can you not have friends?”

“Just because my name is mentioned everywhere doesn’t mean I have friends. I don’t.” Your voice almost shook and you felt confused as to why suddenly your chest felt heavy. “No one’s really interested in becoming my friend.”

“But why not? You’re the smartest in our grade and everyone always seemed to talk about you.”

“They don’t talk about me, they talk about my grades. Those are two different things.” A small but awkward laugh escaped from your mouth.

The boy beside you became quiet and you felt unsure as to why but you cued yourself back to your work, guiltily opening the packet of bread that he slid back your desk again.

“I can be your friend you know.” the boy blurted out causing you to choke on the piece of bread that was in your mouth. “Oh my god- are you okay?”

You face him with a piece of bread tucked in between your lips while you held the other half with your hands. “Huh?” you mumbled.

“I’ll be your friend.” He smiled, placing an unopened can of coffee on your desk. “Drink this and stop talking with bread in your mouth.”

You opened the can of coffee. “Says you” you mumbled before drinking and digesting the piece of bread in your mouth.

Slowly, the two of you became closer. You rarely heard him speak before but now, he was the first person who would ask you how your sleep was and if you had finished your homework. Your lunch was less quiet now that he eats with you, bringing you snacks from the cafeteria and chatting about random things. He brought out things about you that you didn’t even know yourself and slowly, your excitement builded up everytime you’d go to school.

Your skin tingled when you felt your arms brush against each other and your heart felt jumpier than usual and you thought that somehow, it could fly out. Butterflies filled up your stomach everytime you’d hear him hum to his favourite songs or when he would say your name in the sweetest way to get your attention. Being with him just felt... good.

It was when he proudly showed you pictures of his dog that you felt no butterflies in your stomach but a whole damn zoo. The smile that had emitted from his face was enough to send you the most peaceful place on Earth and that was when you finally admitted to yourself that all along, even if you were afraid to admit it that you liked him. A lot. And he was all you wanted.

“Hey, y/n. Can we make a bet?”

“Uhm... sure?” Your raised your eyebrow in confusion, “what’s the bet?”

“If I get a better mark than you next test, you’ll owe me a favour.” He smirked in confidence which you couldn’t help but laugh at.

“Deal. And if I win?”

“Then I owe you a favour.” He extended out his hand and you shook it in agreement.

You both tensed up as the results of the tests were being handed out. You both face each other, both exams in hand as you exchanged smirks.

He proudly slams the test paper in between you two. “100, y/n. I think I win-“

You place your test beside his as you laugh out loud. “Guess we both got perfect scores.”

His face crumples into disappointment, not about your score cause he was proud of you but the disappointment that his long time plan was now ruined.

“B-But...”

“You know what, how about a favour for each of us?” You smiled, trying to cheer up the defeated boy.

“Ok- deal.”

“What’s your favour, Hyunjin?”

He takes a deep breath, his eyes shaking before coming back to face you. “G-Go out with me?” He whispered.

You tensed up in your spot and your face easily flushed red. You looked at him but no words seemed to escape from your mouth. He immediately saw the look you had and his hands made its way towards your hands where he took it and squeezed it which he knew helped you calm down. “It’s okay y/n. You can say no-“

“No. I-I want to. I want to go out with you, Hyunjin.” Your body felt less tense at his touch, helping you speak.

“Really?” He smiled as he cupped both of your hands in his hands. His dimples was more prominant than usual and you couldn’t help but admire them.

The lunch bell rang and students scattered out into the hallways down the cafeteria. There was still this small awkward aura between the two of you but ever since he took a hold of your hand, he still hasn’t let go. You looked out towards the window, avoiding the awkward situation.

“Y/N, can I do something?”

You look back at him and nod. He lets your hands escape from his grasp as his hands made its way towards your cheeks. He gently cups it, holding it like you were the most fragile thing in the world and he felt the heat escape from your cheeks. You nodded and he smiled as his face slowly closed the distance with your face. You closed your eyes and you felt the tender clash of your lips together and you felt the world stop. You melted into his touch, his light kiss that seemed to solve every single worry that you may have. He pulls back to pause, resting his forehead onto yours as he displays the most captivating smile you’ve ever seen. And that was when you knew: you were all his.

[isaacdian]

hope you don't mind me asking, do you have any Isaac and Miria headcanons? i'd love to read some from you. you appear to have a good grasp on the characters, and great love for them. :)

aw thank you so much for the ask, sure thing!

some of these will probably get into theory territory as well, because i’ve had the novels sitting in my mind for years now, and there are a few details i’d like to mention (beware of baccano light novel spoilers, just in case).

this could get a bit long, so you can read it below the cut:

i’ll write my headcanons/thoughts in no particular order. more people might have come to similar conclusions, but i don’t think i’ve seen any posts or had any discussions with anyone regarding these (at least in depth), so!

- i like to think that miria and isaac ran away from their then (seemingly) unhappy lives after they got to interact with each other for quite a while, and not spontaneously upon meeting for the first time.

there isn’t much evidence to back this up beyond some characters commenting that they “were probably runaways” or that “maybe they eloped”, so they might have escaped together on the spot, since we already know they can be very impulsive. however, i get this feeling that their bond took some time to develop, and i’d love to see some of their interactions as isaac dian —and— miria harvent before they ever became isaac & miria, if that makes sense.

i doubt they met too long before their string of robberies, though? this is such a weirdly specific and probably meaningless thing to pinpoint, but in 1935 miria asks isaac if he’s ever been to the circus, and he responds that he does remember animals, but he doesn’t remember if that was the circus or the zoo. this hardly means anything, but their circumstances overall don’t really make me think that they’ve known each other since they were too young.

- whatever optimism and general exhilaration regarding life isaac has is innate. on the other hand, miria has mostly acquired her own sense of hopefulness over time, with isaac’s help.

miria is a 100% confirmed literal ray of sunshine and this indisputable. it just hasn’t/doesn’t always come to her as effortlessly as it may seem. bloody to fair isaac and miria magic show color page.png

this is somewhat related to the next one (and also the last point i’ll mention at the end of this post):

- when isaac gets arrested and he and miria get separated in 1934, they’re both having an equally hard time dealing with this.

okay this one is like. obvious ksjksk. but i wanted to talk about how they deal with this situation, because at first glance it looks like miria got the shortest end of the stick here. and in a way, that might be true! i’ve already mentioned that miria herself has been shown thinking about how much isaac helped her to be happy, and narita has been deliberately vague regarding the nature of their silliness, on top of hinting at the possibility of their shenanigans being a kind of mechanism to escape the harsh realities of life from the rolling bootlegs (very first novel), if i recall correctly.

(btw:

i recall that somewhere in the 1935 arc, graham starts talking with the usual “let me tell you a sad, sad story” prelude. however, isaac and miria are upset by this, and they tell him that he shouldn’t tell sad stories, because if you do it, your happiness will run away. meanwhile, this part in cloudy to rainy living rent free in my head:

i have to laugh..........)

that being said, i couldn’t help but feel like isaac was having an equally bad time, even if he displayed it in a different and not so blatant way. while i was rereading the novels after i got to buy the official english release, i felt very strongly that something was definitely wrong about their separation, which, again, is obvious to us readers and to the characters who know isaac & miria. but it extends beyond that. there was this general feeling of knowing that whoever came across an unaccompanied isaac would magically feel like there was something missing. i don’t know how else to explain this. he’s still full of energy and optimism and he’s fueled by his desire to reunite with miria, but every time he’s shown hesitating or doesn’t reach a satisfying conclusion while thinking about a frivolous topic, it hits you like “oh... right” (firo didn’t help much on that last front, either, so miria and isaac must have had to discuss what exactly happens to fellas who don’t believe in fairies after their reunion... lol)

in short, he needs miria just as much as she needs him. this is something i’ve seen other people mention as well: isaac might be the “force” factor in their relationship, but that force won’t amount to much without miria’s “direction”, and viceversa. the lift each other up, and they keep each other grounded, too.

i’m also remembering isaac and sham’s conversation and just. there’s a self-esteem/confidence factor in there. Fun Game of Spot the Difference

and this is getting ridiculously long, so i’ll spare you from having to read my dumb thots about isaac’s (possibly real) fear of miria not liking him, as the narrator implies, which i subconsciously ended up linking to that one impossibly crack ending in the ds game, where you pick the option of him not knowing frankenstein’s monster’s real name, so miria leaves him after realizing how “cheap and uncool” he is LMAO

- isaac’s father might have been an academic of some sort, as well as a stern man who disapproved of his son’s flighty and childish tendencies.

???????? besides miria’s implied tragic backstory, the most we know about both of their pasts is that isaac comes from a wealthy family with whom he seems to have a bad relationship with, so even though i’ve tried to work out other details (his parents’ provenance for instance?) i can’t really elaborate on this. even if isaac’s knowledge on the topic is pretty scrambled (to put it nicely lol), he knows a lot about “the orient” as he puts it, and the “dian” surname is pretty unique so who knows!👀 i’ve only mentioned his father because isaac, too, has only mentioned his "old man” twice so far in the novels, if i’m not mistaken. in my opinion, it also speaks volumes how flustered isaac got when molsa apologized to him, because it was the first time someone older than him has done this. and this is pretty arbitrary, but if isaac started robbing and getting into trouble before he and miria even met and/or before he got kicked out/ran away from home, that whole deal about “being used to dealing with policemen” (in the unofficial translation i read back in the day it was something along the lines of “this isn’t my first time being interrogated by the police”) in 1934 would make sense, i guess, considering that miria didn’t realize what was going on at the moment even though she’s a fairly perceptive person.

anyways it’s too bad we don’t know that much about miria on this front, also!! i get the vague feeling that she might have also come from a wealthy family (probably not a good environment, though), since in 1935 it’s mentioned that the closest they’ve ever gotten to working/having a job was when they were digging for gold, apparently. that’s why i can’t really think of anything too specific regarding miria’s past and upbringing... i have a feeling that she might have felt alone, trapped and/or overwhelmed. let’s just hope that when she said her bruises would heal up fine with ice in 1935 it had nothing to do with this “i should have died” business :(((

- even though isaac and miria love their friends and would do anything for them, they aren’t particularly attached to anyone (or any place) besides each other.

this is more of an observation than a headcanon, but i find it really interesting: they would definitely do anything for their friends, and they do enjoy life very intensely, but that’s precisely why they don’t seem to be fixed in one singular spot? basically, i feel like they’re the personification of “home is where the heart is” taken to the extreme. they could go anywhere and do anything as long as they have each other, and they will never make any attempts to actively do things that make it easier to label their relationship, such as getting married, which is heavily implied by firo (i think) in 2002 bullet garden (i think!!). that’s also part of the reason why i’m sure they’d never find themselves commiting to things like taking care of a pet, or a child; it’s more like they instantly “adopt” everyone they run into, as if they’ve always been friends, even if they won’t meet again for months, years, or ever again. anyway, isaac and miria are extremely good and they are literally going to be happy together forever and ever! they don’t need to prove that.

that doesn’t mean they’re not sentimental, though! i like to think that they keep some meaningful objects that remind them of fond memories of their friends. and this is hardly canon because it shows up in the anime And in a background at that, but shoutout to the rocking toy horse in their california mine lol.

- miria knew about her own immortality (as well as isaac’s) before the 2000s.

THIS IS PROBABLY MY SPICIEST TAKE and i tried to back it up in the next point of this list. i still keep thinking i’m reading too much, into this but

i can’t stop thinking about the implications, folks

which brings us to:

- miria is smarter than isaac is and actually has a fairly good idea of when he’s making stuff up, but is happy to let him take the lead.

i won’t deny that isaac and miria dedicate a huge chunk of their day to doing moronic stuff, and they are pretty dumb, but i feel like people don’t give them enough credit for how perceptive they are. even though that’s true of the two of them, i feel like this mostly applies to miria.

among other things, we’ve learned that she knows ronny isn’t human and has supernatural powers (wow), which is why she comes to him for help after isaac’s arrest. she’s very good at paying attention to small details, such as the kind of programs ennis watches on tv, or chané’s feelings, when the two talk in 1934. miria also “really knows her way around japanese” and has been shown to --apparently?-- multiply large numbers in her head in 1935... while isaac was talking about how good of an idea it would be to use the martingale betting system. not to mention how isaac stated he “doesn’t know how to count money” earlier in this arc. my god ksdjgjks. i want to know what’s up with this, if anything.

so, yeah! there’s probably more stuff that i could mention, but i am exhausted lol. thank you for your patience anon, i have no idea how long this has been sitting in my inbox. always happy to get baccano questions <3 i apologize for any typos/errors and the like.

bonus headcanon: miria grabs ennis with one hand and chané with her other hand and they go out with their arms linked and excited and they learn more about having fun, as friends do. no printer just fax

[blurglesmurfklaine]

Christmas Eve With You (Let It Snow)

Summary: It's Christmas Eve in Lima Ohio, and Kurt has a lot to do: find the perfect gift for his dad, make a life changing decision, and--after an unexpected turn of events--escort pop star Blaine Anderson around town. You know, the usual...Based off of Netflix's Let It Snow

A/N: Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, and Happy Kwanzaa to you all!! I personally celebrate Christmas and it's my favorite holiday and I've never written a Christmas Rom-Com AU so I decided last minute to write one lol. Relatively short, part one today, part two to come hopefully before the New Year!

Read on AO3

***

Congratulations!

We are delighted to inform you that you have been accepted into the New York Academy of the Dramatic Arts. With an acceptance rate of less than 4%, NYADA is one of the top tier schools for those wishing to perfect their

Kurt tore his eyes away from the page and slowly drew in a deep breath. He didn’t need to keep reading. He had practically memorized the damn thing in the first hour he opened the envelope. He began folding up the acceptance letter for what must have been the hundredth time and opened his desk drawer, tucking the letter underneath some old papers where his dad would never find it.

He pulled on his coat and any other winter wear necessary to make the freezing train ride to the swap meet bearable.

He would probably come home later and read the letter just one more time, scouring it to see if it had the answer he needed, but right now he had an elf to find.

***

“I’m looking for a Townhouse Moments Christmas Elf number forty-three.” Kurt explained to the man at the swap meet while this year’s crappy pop Christmas song played on in the background. “I ordered it online ahead of time, but they gave me number forty-two.”

The vendor simply looked at him with an almost bored (and definitely condescending) expression. “Listen, kid. You and every other collector out here are looking for this guy, and I don’t have him. You’re not gonna find it. Not on Christmas Eve.”

Kurt sighed, the background song seeming even more annoying than usual. Seriously, the swap meet couldn’t find any holiday music better than some lame Blaine Anderson single? “Look, I really need this figurine. My dad’s Christmas kind of depends on it.” He explained desperately.

The vendor shook his head. “Like I said, I can’t help you.”

Kurt angrily huffed and shoved the figurine he’d brought with him back in his pocket. “Merry Christmas,” he muttered under his breath before heading back to the train station.

At least the train had a stop near the Lima Bean. There was nothing quite like sitting with a warm cup of coffee in your hands while watching the snow fall down through the frosted windows.

***

Blaine stepped up from the platform onto the train, immediately searching for a seat in an area that wouldn’t be too crowded. He rarely got a chance to walk through the world without being gawked at like some Zoo animal, and he wasn’t about to have that ruined by an overexcited fan.

It’s not that he wasn’t grateful for everything his fans provided him, but sometimes it got to be a bit much and he needed a moment to just… retract from all the pandemonium.

He finally spotted a somewhat secluded area and headed towards it. Before he could make it, though, he felt a tap on his shoulder.

“Excuse me,” a voice called out from behind him.

Blaine sighed before reluctantly turning around to face a boy, probably around his age, with pale skin and a nose slightly pinked by the cold they both just entered from.

The boy looked slightly startled, as if he had just realized who Blaine was, but remained calm.

“Look,” Blaine started. “I really don’t feel like taking any pictures right now.”

The boy pursed his lips and glared at Blaine. He then extended his hand out and Blaine looked down to see he was just returning his phone that must have fallen out of his coat pocket.

“You dropped this,” the stranger said with a bit of sting in his voice as he shoved the phone back into Blaine’s grasp.

“Oh,” Blaine replied lamely. “Sorry, I—“

Mystery boy scoffed and held up a hand to silence him. “Don’t bother.” He muttered, then turned around to find a seat.

Fair enough, Blaine thought.

Just as Blaine was about to head back to find a seat of his own, the boy whipped around, apparently not quite done with him yet. “And by the way,” he began. “You don’t even know anything about me. I don’t care for your trashy pop music, I’m not one of your Blaineiacs who swoons at just the mention of your name, and I’m definitely not the type of person who would just throw myself at someone just because they’re famous.”

“I never said—“

Once again, Blaine was cut off, but not by the (admittedly attractive) boy. The train suddenly jerked forward and the momentum sent the strange boy flying backwards into Blaine’s unsteady arms.

Blaine felt his breath hitch, caught off guard by the suddenness of it all. He looked down and caught the boy’s gaze, realizing he had some of the clearest crystal blue eyes Blaine had ever seen. Awesome. The universe throws a super cute guy into your arms and it’s someone who thinks you’re a complete asshole.

As soon as it happened, it was over. Before either of them knew it, the train was on its way, steady enough so that the pale boy had the balance necessary to shoot himself out of Blaine’s arms like a repelling magnet.

His face flushed bright red and he gaped at Blaine for a moment. “I–That wasn’t—that was the train,” he said in a huff before whipping around and heading to his seat on the other side of the train car.

Blaine followed him with his eyes the entire time.

***

Not even ten minutes into the ride, Kurt felt the train slowly come crawling to a stop. “No,” he pleaded under his breath. “Please, no, we’re so close to the Lima Bean,” he whined.

But sure enough, the conductor’s voice came over the intercom and loudly announced that the train would be stalled indeterminately due to the recent snowfall.

Kurt sighed and looked longingly out the window towards the Lima Bean. This was ridiculous, he could see the rooftop to his favorite coffee shop just over the snow-covered hill. There was no reason he couldn’t make it there without incident.

He drew in a steadying breath before standing up and heading towards the doors. Unfortunately, before he could completely escape the defective cab, another figure came up in front of him and unintentionally blocked his path.

It so happened to be none other than the Blaine Anderson. Of course it was Blaine. Of course it was the idiot celebrity who thought everything revolved around him.

“You headed to that coffee shop, too?” Blaine asked without turning back to look at Kurt, using his clover hand to block out the morning sun as he stared off into the distance.

Anderson only kept trucking on forward as Kurt followed his lead—coincidentally, of course.

“I’m not following you,” he felt compelled to say. “I also just want a decent cup of coffee.”

Blaine gave him a charmingly warm smile and hopped off the platform into the soft snow. “Of course. Then, I suppose, you wouldn’t mind keeping me company.”

Kurt followed his lead and hopped off the train, beginning to trudge through the snow after Blaine—again, completely by chance that they were headed in the same direction.

“Fine. Just know that this is completely coincidental!”

“Deal.”

***

“Deal,” Blaine said. “So, uh, do I get your name? I mean, it’s only fair since you already know mine.”

“Yeah, because everybody knows your name, right?”

“I–no-! That’s not what I meant…”

The pale boy narrowed his eyes slightly at him and looked him up and down like he was deciding whether or not to trust him. “Kurt,” he finally answered. “Kurt Hummel.”

Blaine extended his hand out and Kurt stared at it for a second before taking it. “Blaine Anderson—because I’m not going to assume anybody knows my name anymore.” Blaine noticed the corner of Kurt’s mouth twitch up, barely noticeable. “Nice to meet you, Kurt.”

They walked on for a few moments in silence before Kurt spoke up again. “Why did you even take the train into town?” He asked.

Blaine shrugged. “I wanted to get away from the tour bus for a while. It felt real being in there. Surrounded by real people.”

Kurt chortled. “If the train made you feel real, the Lima Bean is gonna blow your mind.”

***

Kurt and Blaine stood in front of the long awaited coffee shop, both staring up at the broken and incomplete sign at the top of the building. The worn out block green letters should have obviously spelled out “LIMA BEAN”, but time and weather had taken out the L.

“Say it to yourself,” Kurt instructed Blaine. “Out loud.”

“Ima Bean?” Blaine said questioningly.

“I’m A Bean.” Kurt said dismally. “Because nobody in this town is—or ever will be—anything but a tiny bean in the universe… at least, that’s what we would say growing up.”

“That’s… morbid.”

Kurt simply shrugged before heading in through the doors. “It’s the truth,” he grumbled, remembering the letter burning a hole in his desk drawer and knowing he could never ever let it see the light of day again.

The Lima Bean was empty for the time being, but Kurt knew it would be filled with McKinley high teens in no time.

The couple silently made their way to the counter and Blaine took note of the barista who was… not exactly someone he imagined to be working at a coffee shop, but a job was a job he supposed. The barista had his head down, showcasing his unique haircut (a mohawk) while he began to take their orders.

“Welcome to the Lima Bean,” he sighed before slowly upturning his head. “What can I…” Just as Kurt had expected, Puck’s eyes grew wide upon seeing Blaine. “Get for you today…”

“Uh, Puck.” Kurt started timidly. “This is Blaine… I didn’t expect you to be here, I thought you’d be preparing for your long awaited Christmas Eve Rager?”

Puck pouted. “Uh, yeah… so my parents flight was delayed ‘cause of the snow, and they caught me setting up for the party. Decided I should come to work instead. But!” He held up his index finger and his face lit up. “I convinced Sam to let me have it here! So if you’re free tonight, just come on down to I’m A Bean.”

Kurt stifled a laugh at his friend’s wild antics. “Sure thing, Puck. Though, at this point,” he jerked his head towards Blaine. “I don’t know where this day will take me.”

“Been there… anyways, what’ll it be?”

***

“Order for Kurt!” Puck called out.

It was both their orders, but they’d decided it’d be best if they didn’t use Blaine’s name. It turned out to be a good call considering the fact that a group of Titans and Cheerios walked in as soon as Kurt and Blaine sat down.

Kurt got up and shortly returned with their coffees and pastries.

“Are you going to actually finish all that?” Kurt asked, referring to the small mountain of food Blaine had ordered including a tomato and mozzarella panini, a snowman cookie, a breakfast biscuit, and his medium drip.

“Yeah, I don’t like to waste food. It’s like a charity thing for me.” At Kurt’s unamused look, Blaine rolled his eyes and gave his real explanation. “We uh, didn’t grow up with a lot. It feels kind of wrong to throw out a meal when I remember the days we didn’t get one.”

After a moment of processing, “Oh…” was all Kurt could pathetically offer, suddenly feeling like the biggest asshole in the world.

Here he’d been, making assumptions about Blaine when he really didn’t know anything about him. Kind of the way certain football players would do to Kurt.

Okay, so Blaine had kind of come off as a presumptuous dick, but now Kurt realized he himself was making that same mistake.

He watched as Blaine took a bite of the panini and the too full sandwich overflowed with cheese into Blaine’s upper lip. Kurt giggled. “You’ve got a little…” he pointed to his own mouth, trying to point out the stained area on Blaine’s face.

Blaine stuck out his tongue, but completely missed the area. “Did I get it?”

“Not at all,” Kurt laughed again. “But I’ll go grab you some napkins, your royal highness.”

As Kurt was standing up, Blaine opened his mouth to contest before noting the playful look on the other boy’s face.

“And add some more creamer to this bad boy while I’m up,“ He said, gesturing to his half full coffee.

Kurt was nearly to the condiment table when a hauntingly familiar figure blocked his path.

“Where you going off to, fairy boy?”

“Merry Christmas to you, too, Azimio,” Kurt scoffed, trying to side step his long time tormentor.

Azimio followed Kurt’s move, leaving him in the same position he was not a moment ago. “Heard my boy Karofsky’s got a boyfriend over at Thurston high now.”

“Good for him.”

“That’s the farthest thing from good, my man. If it weren’t for you turnin him gay, we’d still have a winning offensive line.”

“I really don’t have any time for this,” Kurt lamented.

“Not so tough without your army brother to protect you, huh?”

Kurt opened his mouth to explain that he didn’t need anyone to protect him, but was immediately silenced by Azimio suddenly slapping the cup out of Kurt’s hand. Kurt flinched as lukewarm coffee splattered around him, the majority of it spilling right on his shirt.

“That’s for turning my best friend into a homo.”

“Hey!” Puck called from behind the counter. “Get out of here!”

“I am a paying customer!” Azimio argued.

“Read the sign, dickwad. Right to refuse service to anyone. That includes no good Lima Losers like yourself!”

Azimio rolled his eyes and angrily stormed out of the store.

As Kurt looked down his stained shirt, he could feel Blaine’s horrified stare burning right through his back. “Oh my god, Kurt. Are you okay?”

He turned around to face the other boy, still shaking with rage and that twinge of humiliation he always felt after scenes like this, no matter how hard he tried to push it down.

“You wanted real?” Kurt asked, feeling tears he would never let Azimio and Langanthal see begin to burn behind his eyelids. “How’s this? Only out gay kid in the entire town gets harassed on a daily basis—even publicly, as you just saw—finally gets an out when he gets into his dream school, and can’t even go because his dad is too sick to be left alone!”

Blaine reached out to place a comforting hand on Kurt’s shoulder. “Kurt—“

Before Blaine could finish his sentence, Kurt heard the table full of Cheerios become more chatty than usual, and he came to a startling realization. He quickly turned around, scanning the table to see that several of the McKinley High cheerleaders were whispering to each other and pointing at Blaine.

“Shit,” he muttered before facing Blaine again. “Restroom, back window,” he ordered as the head Cheerio stood up from the table and made a beeline towards them.

“What?”

“Just go!” Kurt ordered nudging Blaine in the right direction.

Blaine finally seemed to notice the onlookers and started to quickly walk towards the bathroom as one of the cheerleaders walked right behind Kurt.

He spun around to face her, a fake smile on his face. “Hello, there Satan—Santana!”

“Was that... Blaine Anderson?” She asked brusquely, staring down Kurt and crossing her arms.

Kurt raised his eyebrows before turning his head behind him to check that Blaine had made it to the impromptu escape route. He turned to Santana again and sighed, throwing his hands out in defeat. “Yes,” he said, feigning a trenchant dismay. “You caught me. Blaine Anderson is here, with me, at the I’m A Bean …” Kurt scrunched up his nose and smiled wryly at her. “And if you wait a few more minutes, I’m pretty sure TuPac is going to start a flash mob!”

She rolled her eyes and scoffed. As she turned around her perfectly cooked ponytail nearly whipped him right across the face.

He watched her take a seat with the rest of the Cheerios and let out a sigh of relief before heading out to go find Blaine.

***

Blaine writhed and squirmed with all his might, but still wasn’t able to get enough momentum to hoist himself out of the window. He lay on his back, the top half of his body exposed to the bitter cold while the bottom half was stuck in the warmth of the I’m A Bean. The opening wasn’t big enough for him to turn around to get on his stomach. In that position, he could easily reach out for something and just pull himself out.

He he was straining to reach for the window to get some sort of leverage when he heard a giggle. And if he weren’t in the situation he was currently in, he might’ve taken more time to appreciate how beautiful that laugh was.

“Wow,” Kurt chuckled. “I wonder what TMZ would pay for a photo like this.”

“Not enough,” Blaine grunted, struggling for some sort of hand hold. “Now, are you— going to— help me— or not?”

Kurt rolled his eyes and headed over to Blaine.

He laced his arms underneath Blaine’s. “Alright,” Kurt said. “I’m gonna pull on the count of three, so brace yourself. One…”

“Wait, on three or after three?”

“What? Clearly on three, Blaine.”

“Wait, did that count as three?”

“Oh for fuck’s sake.”

Kurt tugged and Blaine slid out of the window with ease. The momentum of the pull sent them both toppling backwards—Blaine’s entire body on Kurt—towards the ground.

They hit the frozen ground with an “oof,” and immediately bust out into a fit of laughter.

“That went well.” Kurt giggled.

Still laughing, Blaine turned his body to face Kurt. “Yeah, we’re the epitome of grace.”

They settled into a surprisingly comfortable silence, both warmed by being in the other’s embrace. After a moment, Kurt cleared his throat and shifted backwards,as if he’d just realized the position they’d fallen into. He shuffled to his feet and brushed off some snow from his pants. “So, um, it was so nice—and super random and bizarre—to meet you,” Kurt said, shaking his head. “But I have to go. I have… things to do.”

Kurt headed off in the direction of his next destination, but not without Blaine following close behind. “Like what?”

“Like go meet my dad to watch my Jewish best friend play mother Mary in a multicultural holiday play. “

Blaine rolled his eyes. “Fine, don't tell me.”

“Oh, I only wish I were joking… Whatever, I have other things to do. Important things.”

“Like what?” Blaine pried again, hoping it was something he could accompany Kurt to. He was intrigued by him, and wanted to get to know him better.

“Like make the biggest decision of my life!” Kurt finally snapped, whirling around to face him. Blaine wondered for a moment if he had been too intrusive before Kurt deflated, like a cat un-bristling its tail. “I got into NYADA. It’s one of the best schools in the country for musical theatre, but it’s in New York and I can’t go.”

Blaine thought back to the incident that happened moments before he had nearly been discovered, then back to when he first met Kurt. No wonder Kurt was so wary of him.

“Because of your dad.”

Kurt gave a meek nod of confirmation. “He had a heart attack last year that put him in a coma for a few days, and now, he has… cancer… and we don’t know which way it’s going to go… I asked NYADA for a deferral, but they said I would lose my scholarship.”

They both stayed silent for a moment, neither quite knowing what to say after that. “Sorry for the huge downer,” Kurt mumbled. “I just… haven’t said that to anyone yet. Aside from kind of yelling it at you in the I’m A Bean a few minutes ago… Anyways,” he started up again, turning from Blaine and heading off into the snow covered terrain. “Merry Christmas, I gotta go.”

Blaine continued to trudge after him. “What, where?”

“I told you, multicultural nativity play.”

Blaine caught up with Kurt and sent him his most charming grin. “Sounds fun.”

***

“A hundred and fifty six piece elf village?” Blaine asked in astonishment as he and Kurt walked through the underpath of some trees.

Kurt let out a dry laugh. It sounded even more ridiculous aloud. “Some people’s dads collect coins, or artisan beer bottles; mine collects elves and their homes… So, what are your plans for the holidays?”

Blaine just gave him a halfhearted shrug. “I’ll probably just stay in the hotel room.”

“Christmas Eve in a hotel room?”

“I travel a lot. I’m used to it.”

“And I’m used to getting harassed by idiot meatheads, that doesn’t mean I like it.”

Blaine barked out a laugh, making Kurt’s stomach flip involuntarily. “I guess, just once… I’d like to stay in one place for a little while.”

Well, Lima isn't the worst place to spend Christmas Eve, Kurt nearly said before stopping himself and realizing he would look like a total creep if he did. He lightly shook his head, trying to bring himself back to reality. Head out of the clouds, Hummel. He probably has a girlfriend on the tour bus waiting for him.

“So why does your dad like Christmas so much?” Blaine asked, breaking Kurt out of his thoughts.

“Oh. I think… I think it’s because my mom passed away between Thanksgiving and Christmas.” He took note of the sympathetic look on Blaine’s face before continuing. “So now I think he wants to make Christmas this big and spectacular thing… for me, I guess. I used to love the little figurines when I was little, because I kind of looked like them. My mom decided to start collecting them a few weeks before she died.”

“I’m sorry about your mom,” Blaine said, adding a gentle hand on Kurt’s shoulder. “But that’s pretty sweet of your dad.”

“Yeah… I guess it is.” Kurt smiled warmly. “He’s a great dad.”

The two boys finally reached the peak of the hill. The view overlooked a beautiful wintry scene, complete with frosted evergreen trees and a meadow blanketed in fresh pillowy snow.

“Wow, it’s beautiful.”

Kurt scoffed. “Snow can hide a lot… it’s like the spanx of weather…” Blaine laughed and another comfortable silence fell between them for a moment. “So, where did you grow up?”

“New York. Queens. Growing up, you had to be tough and my brother was… I, on the other hand, was a little more sensitive… and I think that came off as weakness to the other kids.” Blaine shrugged it off. “But it was okay because I always had music.”

Kurt nodded and smiled understandingly. “I know exactly what you mean. The only thing that keeps me sane around here is the glee club. When I’m not singing, I don’t really feel… whole. It’s like—“

“Like you’re barely even a person.”

Kurt let out a little puff of air in astonishment. “Yeah… kind of exactly like that…” As they tread on, Kurt could hear the sound of ice softly crunching beneath their feet. “So uh, what do your parents think about your job?”

Blaine let out a short laugh that felt just the tiniest bit bitter. “Well, my mom supports me but… My dad doesn’t think performing is a real job. He’s really strict. He wasn’t too happy when I came out to him either, but he got over it… sort of.”

Kurt snapped his head up to look at Blaine, eyes wide as he processed the words he just heard. Came out, as in… “Wait a second, you’re…”

A smile tugged at the corner of Blaine’s lips. “Queer as a three dollar bill.” As soon as it was there, it faded. “But uh, it’s not something I advertise, you know? My dad thinks it’s better—safer, if I don’t.”

Kurt cocked an eyebrow, doing his best to push down the butterflies raging in his stomach. “Like a safer career move?” Why would Blaine’s dad care about his career if he didn’t even think it was valid?

Blaine shook his head. “When I was in middle school, before my first album, I went to a Sadie Hawkins dance with a friend; the only other gay guy in the school. While we were waiting for his dad to pick us up, these three guys came and beat the crap out of us.”

In an instant, Blaine felt Kurt’s hand on his. “I… I’m so sorry.”

“I uh, never pressed charges or anything. Just transferred and never looked back, which made sense at the time, but now I just regret not standing up to them.” Blaine looked right into Kurt’s crystal blue eyes as he came to a stop. “So if you ever get the chance to do what I didn’t, you should take it.”

***

They lumbered on through the snow, finally reaching the peak of a hill with a gentler slope than the last one.

Families stood huddled together while groups of children, wrapped up tighter than the presents under their trees, waddled to sleds and rode down the hill.

Kurt watched a smile crack Blaine’s face and he narrowed his eyes with a light suspicion. “What are you smiling at?”

“We should go sledding.”

“We don’t have a sled..?”

Blaine just picked up his pace to a light jog and headed towards a group of women huddled together. He faced Kurt, but kept up his jog in a backpedal. “Young moms; kind of my bread and butter.”

Kurt huffed out a laugh as he looked on at Blaine introducing himself to the star struck mothers. He offered to take a few selfies with them before shortly returning back to Kurt with—lo and behold—a sled.

A minute later they were at the edge of the slope and Blaine settled himself behind Kurt. Kurt felt his heart racing and if he was being completely honest, he couldn’t tell if it was because of the dropoff or the way Blaine was pressed flush against his back, his arms wrapped snug around Kurt’s waist so that he could take hold of the reins.

Blaine started to scoot the sled forward and Kurt felt his nerves kick in. “Wait!” He cried out.

“Is everything alright?”

“Yeah, I just… despite living in a snow covered town for eighteen years, I’ve never actually been sledding before.”

Blaine leaned forward and rested his head in the space between Kurt’s head and shoulders. “It’s okay,” he murmured. “I’ve got you. You’re safe with me.”

Kurt had absolutely no reason to believe Blaine—considering the short time they’d known each other—but for some reason, he found that he did. He believed he’d be safe with Blaine because he already felt safe with him. Safe enough to tell him about his mom, safe enough to confide in him about his dilemma with his dad, and now, safe enough to go sledding for the first time.

He nodded and felt himself pressing his cheek closer to Blaine’s. Blaine pushed them forward and off they went, down the gentle curve of the hill.

The air started rushing quicker and quicker against Kurt’s face, until they were riding at an enjoyable speed. Kurt felt Blaine’s arms close in a little tighter around him and he turned his head to smile back at the other boy, who graciously returned it.

The smiles were wiped clean off their faces when they faced forward once more and suddenly came into contact with a bump in the hill that sent Blaine tumbling backwards with an “oof.” Kurt managed to stay on, panic rising as he realized he had no control of the sled.

“Oh no. No no no,” Kurt yelped as he approached the sharp incline of a snow bank, unable to do anything to slow down or avoid the oncoming collision.

The sled went up the ramp and Kurt went flying, landing hard on a cleared path of snow he didn’t even have time to recognize as the road. He heard a harsh noise in the distance while he groaned and tried to gather himself. Kurt finally made it to his feet and the (now much louder and closer) noise finally registered as the revving of an engine from an oncoming car that was coming down way too fast for this weather.

The car seemed impossibly close and Kurt wasn’t sure he’d make it out of the way in time.

Out of nowhere, Blaine came racing across the road and practically tackled Kurt to the safety of the other side of the road.

The curly haired boy lay with his body pressed warmly against Kurt’s for a moment before clearing his throat and rolling off to the side.

Kurt let out a breath (of relief or disbelief, he really couldn’t tell) and watched it wisp away into the cold air. After the initial shock faded, Kurt turned his head to look at Blaine, who lay next to him looking just as dazed.

Of all the things he expected to do after a situation like this, feeling a smile start to curl on his lips definitely wasn’t at the top of the list. But Kurt took one look at Blaine’s (horrified) honey colored eyes and couldn’t help but think how ridiculous this whole situation was. Before he could help himself, he exploded into a fit of laughter.

Kurt felt an unfamiliar tingle in his chest—something light and warm, that he maybe only had a memory of. As his laughter grew and he watched a smile spread on Blaine’s lips, the glow spread down through his arms and legs and all the way down to his toes until his entire body felt sunny, despite being surrounded by mounds of snow.

[iamnotoriginalphil]

Caught in the Heat (Loki x Reader) - Part 9

Synopsis: Tony brings some home truths to your home.

Words: 1342

Warnings: swearing

Part one

Part two

Part three

Part four

Part five

Part six

Part seven

Part eight

You’d forgotten how nice it was to be at home, having someone else look after you. Nothing could compare to your father’s cooking and your bed was more comfortable than anything else in the world. Living in the city you sometimes forgot the comforts of home. You never had to worry about leaky showers or roaches. You weren’t woken up by stray car alarms or your neighbours having an argument.

It helped that your parents weren’t nosey fuckers like your neighbours were. The amount of times Mr Williams from across the hall thought he was owed an explanation of where you’d been made you so mad you would have moved just to get away from him. Your parents left you to your own devices, for the most part.

It’s not that they didn’t worry. From the abrupt silences when you entered a room or the shared glances you could tell they were concerned about your sudden reappearance. You didn’t know how to tell them you fell for a mass murderer. You didn’t know how to tell anyone.

You spent a lot of time in your childhood bedroom. It reminded you of your angsty teen years, moping around about a guy. The self-hatred was certainly familiar. You hated feeling like all the progress you’d made since graduating high school was slipping away.

“Honey, you have a visitor.”

You looked up from where your head was buried in your pillow. Your mother was standing in the doorway, the concern on her face making your heart clench. You pushed up from the bed, wondering who would be there to see you. Maybe one of your friends from high school had come to see you.

It was weird to see Tony sitting on your parents’ old sofa. He was looking around, a picture frame clutched in his hand. You paused in the doorway, not sure how to proceed. You hadn’t expected to see anyone from the Tower ever again.

“You were a cute kid,” he said.

“I still am,” you said, crossing your arms over your chest.

You stepped into the room, taking a hesitant seat in your dad’s old armchair. He looked at you and you shuffled uncomfortably. You’d never liked taking the spotlight in Tony’s gaze. It always made you feel as if you were being judged for something you were bad at.

“When are you coming back?” he asked.

“I’m not sure I am,” you replied, looking at your fingers twisting together in your lap.

“Have you told Bruce?”

“I keep meaning to send him an email…” you trailed off, not wanting to admit this was the kind of scenario you were trying to avoid.

You sat in silence, wanting him out of your house, wanting him to leave you alone so you could try and get your life back on track. You had one more semester left and then you could try and transfer to another college somewhere on the other side of the world and get your doctorate.

“I think you should come back.”

You looked up at Tony, not sure if you’d heard right. There was no way Tony wanted you back, not after all the shit you’d put them through.

“I don’t think I should.”

He gave you that half smile you’d seen in so many pictures. You didn’t like disagreeing with him, not when you knew he had so much more experience under his belt and more brains in his head than you could count. You didn’t feel qualified to disagree with him.

“Bruce is lost without you,” he said, “and he’s not the only one.”

“If you’re talking about Loki then you can stop. I’m not coming back,” you snapped.

“Don’t pretend like this isn’t his fault,” he said, “I never took you for a coward.”

“Really? Because everyone, including me, did,” you said.

“He might piss me off, the little shit that he is, but he was more manageable when you were around,” he said.

“You hated me being with him,” you scoffed.

“I think you can do better but I also think you can do worse,” he said, “he makes you happy and given you lock yourself away in that lab that’s no small feat.”

“He’s a murderer,” you said.

“Not for many years, and he’s actually saved more lives than he’s taken,” he said, “much to everyone’s surprise.”

“That doesn’t make him a good person.’

You couldn’t meet his eye. You stared out the window, watching a storm gathering in the distance. You’d only been home a week. He couldn’t be that unmanageable yet. It wasn’t your problem if he was. He was his own person.

“Do you know how many people are dead because of me?”

You looked up at Tony, not sure what he was getting at. He was staring at you as if he could see the thoughts in your brain. You wanted to hide.

“But you never meant to kill them,” you muttered.

“Don’t be so sure.”

You sat in silence. You didn’t have an answer to that. You knew he wouldn’t kill innocent people, knew he cared more than that, but you also knew that some of his actions must have killed people. You’d seen the results of the fight in New York. They’d tried their best, and even though it had ultimately been Loki’s fault, you were sure they hadn’t been able to save everyone.

“I used to manufacture weapons,” he said, “I have blood on my hands.”

“I know.”

“So what’s the problem?” he asked.

“It’s different.”

“Is it?”

You didn’t have anything to say to that. You knew his past, knew what he’d done before he’d become Ironman. Everyone knew. It was common knowledge.

“Do you miss him?” he asked.

“Yes,” you admitted.

“So what’s the problem?” he asked again.

“Everyone in that tower thinks it’s disgusting that I’m with him,” you said.

“Who told you that?”

“No one had to tell me. I can see the way they look at me.” You didn’t realise you’d stood up until you looked down at Tony, “they come and look at me like I’m in a fucking zoo.”

“They come to see the woman who tamed the snake,” he said, “we’ve known him a long time and we’ve never seen him so amiable.”

That shut you up. You’d never thought that maybe the looks weren’t a bad judgement. You had thought the worst and might have fucked up the best thing in your life. You felt sick.

“Come on.”

Tony grasped your arm and steered you past your parents. They watched with worry on their faces as he led you out the front door. He paused on the porch. You looked out, expecting to see some expensive car in the drive. Instead there was a man with his back to you and hands in your pockets.

“Loki,” you breathed.

You were pulling out of Tony’s grasp, flying down the steps. Loki turned in time to catch you as you flung yourself into his arms. You clutched at him, feeling the tears gathering in your eyes. If he was here it had to mean all hope was not lost.

“Love,” he said, his arms wrapping tighter around you, pressing you into his body as if he wanted to absorb you.

“I’m sorry,” you whispered, “I’m such an idiot.”

“Perhaps,” he said, “but I forgive you.”

“I’m so sorry,” you said.

He pushed you back, cupping your cheeks, wiping the tears away. You squeezed your eyes shut, trying to stop them. A cold pair of lips were pressed to your cheek. You opened your eyes, watching him draw away, a smile on his face.

“I missed you,” you said.

“I missed you too,” he admitted.

You reached up, pulling him down into a kiss. He wrapped his arms around your waist, lifting you off your feet. You laughed, pushing your fingers into his hair. He laughed with you, swinging you around.

“I’m coming back,” you said, “today. I’m coming home today.”

“Home,” he repeated with a smile.

“Yes, home.”

Tags: @sheridans-dynamos @tumultuous-love @juniperbab @internetgremlin @true-queen-of-mischief @sev7en @fleurs-en-ruines @lokilover2000 @hakuoyuki @el-eldritch @foreverbeingthunderbuddy @fuckthatfeeling @dangertoozmanykids101 @bluestaratsunrise @dark-night-sky-99 @justanothermarvelfanaccount @themusingsofmany @loving-life-my-way @loki-poki-foki @nobody0660 @grahoundart @cobra-anon @libellule2001 @1800-fight-me @themusingsofmany

[ko-chan-the-blueberry-donut]

Everyone Loves Hermione Chapter 1

@thefiresfromheaven

@magicallyxwicked

Hello guys! Since my “Everyone Loves Marinette” from Miraculous Ladybug is well liked, I wanted to try the everybody loves prompt with Hermione! Enjoy

Disclaimer: I don’t own Harry Potter.

Summary: In which everyone can’t resist Hermione’s charms and Hermione is too dense to notice while Ron is sure he’s the only sane one in the Wizarding World

Pairing(s): Hermione/multi with also lots of adults wanting to adopt Hermione along with platonic/bromance Romione

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Chapter One:

Harry was sure to keep a low profile as him, the Dursleys, and Dudley’s friend Piers made their way around the zoo. This was his chance to relax for once, and he wasn’t going to spoil it. He made sure to stay quiet and polite, not wanting to anger his relatives with anything.

His relatives were even generous enough to get him a popsicle. Harry licked the treat greedily, never before being able to have one while Dudley and Piers got more extravagant ice cream desserts. If the ice cream vendor saw the difference in the way Harry and the two other boys were being treated, he didn’t show it. He jovially waved the family goodbye as the Dursleys, Piers, and Harry journeyed to the reptile house.

Dudley and Piers wasted no time in trying to find the biggest and most dangerous reptile to ogle. They came upon a brown boa constrictor who was lazily snoozing away. That seemed to anger Dudley, as he pounded on the glass while him and Piers yelled at the snake to move. Harry resisted the urge to sigh, knowing Uncle Vernon was keeping an eye on him.

“He’s so excited!” Aunt Petunia said adoringly, watching her son. Harry wondered when the zoo staff would come to reprimand Dudley and Piers as the snake continued to ignore them. Harry felt pity for the snake, as it reminded him of himself when he was locked in his cupboard. He couldn’t imagine it was very fun for the snake to have people tapping on the glass at it all day.

It seemed someone else shared his sentiments that Dudley and Piers were torturing the poor snake for a girl Harry’s age with brown bushy hair wearing khaki shorts and a jade green polo approached Dudley and Piers, sternly telling them off for disturbing the snake. Dudley and Piers gave her glares, and looked like they were going to push her, but the girl stood firm despite her small size, hands on her hips, tapping her foot. She huffed and showed a badge, saying something and it seemed to have gotten the boys to back off. They left the boa and went to go find Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia, no doubt trying to get the girl in trouble.

Harry watched as the bushy-haired girl turned to the glass, laying a hand against it and whispering to the snake. It appeared as if she was trying to apologize for its torment, despite it not being able to understand her. He looked around, seeing that all the Dursleys and Piers were busy, and made his way over to the glass where the girl was. He’s never seen someone stand up to Dudley before, and it made him curious.

“Oh, hello!” the girl noticed him, giving him a sunny smile, and Harry felt very shy. What does one say to a girl? He’s seen girls at his school, and they were usually too afraid to talk to him due to Dudley. “Do you want to see our boa? He’s sleeping right now due to just being fed, but he’s still pretty cool!” she told him.

“Err yeah. Sorry about my cousin earlier.” Harry murmured shyly but the girl heard him. She frowned at the mention of Dudley, and Harry cursed himself—why couldn’t he ever talk to people?

“No, I’m sorry you’re related to a horrid person. Some people don’t know how to act.” The girl said simply. Harry gaped at her, shocked someone else besides him said it. The girl mistook his expression as offense and blushed, trying to mend the situation. Of course, she is still terrible at talking to people!

“Sorry! I didn’t mean to sound rude! It’s just that the animals don’t enjoy being treated like that. I’ve been volunteering here for three months now, so I’ve started observing how the animals react to certain situations.” She said flustered.

“Erm no, it’s fine, really.” Harry said just as flustered, worried Uncle Vernon would come down on him any second with his blasphemous words about Dudley. “He is a terror.”

“Oh thank goodness!” the girl looked relieved, making Harry feel better he soothed her. He’s never seen someone being comforted by his words, and it made him feel happy. “I thought for a second I made a faux pau!” she held out her hand to shake, and Harry was stunned at her smile. “I’m Hermione Granger, by the way!”

Harry shakily reached out his hand, wary that any second she’d take it back and laugh at him, but she didn’t. She waited patiently as he made his hand touch hers. Her grip was soft but firm, and Harry found himself relishing in positive human contact for the first time in forever.

“I’m Harry. Harry Potter.” He introduced himself. “You said you volunteer here, Hermione?” he was curious. Hermione was ecstatic at the question.

“Yes! I went on a school trip here four months ago and unfortunately we didn’t really get to see any behind-the-scenes stuff or get to learn lots of knowledge so I decided to volunteer here to learn more and partake in the occasional research with the zoologists! It’s really fascinating! I’ve never thought I’d learn so much—for instance leopards hunt from the trees, jaguars love the water, an elephant actually can’t jump, and rhinoceros’ horns are actually made of hair!” Hermione blabbed on about animal facts. Harry contently listened, finding himself interested. He liked the way she was so animated when she talked about all she learned.

Nevertheless, Hermione seemed to have realized something for she stopped talking, looking embarrassed. She fidgeted, toeing the floor with one of her sneakers.

“What’s wrong?” Harry asked, wondering why she stopped talking. Hermione blushed, fiddling with her fingers.

“Errr it’s just, I realized I was rambling about stuff again. I tend to do that a lot—it makes my classmates really annoyed.” She admitted shyly. Harry sympathized—his relatives got annoyed with him a lot.

“It’s okay. I like the way you talk. It’s very expressive.” He told her sincerely. He wished more people would talk to him like that—like he was worth talking to. Hermione appeared unsure.

“You’re sure it’s okay?” she asked, afraid he’d turn around and say he was tricking her. Nonetheless, Harry proved her wrong.

“Yeah! Tell me about this snake, please.” Harry smiled. It was positively wonderful to have someone who wanted to talk to him. Hermione didn’t disappoint, immediately launching into facts about their boa constrictor.

“He’s native from Brazil, but he’s been bred in captivity.” Hermione told him, gazing at the brown boa. Harry felt sad at that. Hermione noticed. “What’s wrong, Harry?”

“It’s just… it has to be boring being in this cage for all your life and your only entertainment is people poking their ugly faces in at you.” Harry mourned. Hermione surprised him then, taking his hand. The contact was heavenly, and Harry’s entire face erupted into a blush.

“I see what you mean, but he’s very well taken care of, Harry. Though I imagine I guess even our snakes would wanna stretch their wings once in a while…” Hermione replied empathizing.

“You’re telling me. This place ssssssssucksssss.”

Harry jumped, whipping his head towards the glass where the boa constrictor was staring straight at him. Hermione glanced towards the boa as well, shocked it was paying them so much attention.

“I’ve never seen him so interested before…” Hermione murmured. Meanwhile Harry continued to watch the snake.

“Erm… Hello.” Harry greeted the snake.

“Bout time you noticed me. To busssssssy flirting.” The snake hissed. Harry’s face erupted into a red flush. He couldn’t look Hermione in the eye. Hermione grasped his hand tighter, wondering what he was so flustered about.

“Are you all right, Harry?” Hermione was concerned. Harry was too embarrassed to bask in her worry for him.

“The snake… he’s talking to me.” Harry whispered, afraid she would think he was crazy. However, Hermione gave him a curious look.

“What’s he saying?” she whispered, excitement laced into her words.

“Hey. Tell her to get me out and have her take me to Brazil! I like her voice when sssssssshe talkssss to me.” Harry was so embarrassed. Did the snake want to take a vacation with Hermione?

“Errr he likes your voice.” Harry said softly, too mortified. Hermione brightened. She turned towards the snake.

“Oh you’re so precious! I’ll be sure to sneak you extra food!” Hermione promised.

“No. I wanna go to Brazil with her.” The snake affirmed. Harry’s grip on Hermione’s hand tightened more. He didn’t want her to go far away to Brazil. She was so nice.

Before Harry could say anything, he was shoved out of the way, taking Hermione with him. He wrapped his arms around her to keep her from getting hurt, but they still ended up on the floor. Harry glared at Dudley and Piers, the culprits of the shoving.

“Move out of the way! I wanna see the snake!” Dudley cried. He pressed his chubby face against the glass, eyeing the snake like it was a circus. Harry’s eyes narrowed. He was used to being shoved, but shoving Hermione, the first person who was actually kind to him, was a great offense.

Suddenly, the glass vanished, and Dudley fell forward into tank. He was screaming as the snake slithered out onto the floor. The snake stared at Hermione and Harry, and Harry pulled her snuggly close to him, afraid the snake was going to abduct her. The snake huffed.

“Fine. Ssssssssshe’ssssss yourssssss ssssssince you freed me. Brazil, here I come. Thankssssss, amigo!” and like that the snake was off, snapping at people’s feet to get them to move. Everyone was in a panic that a snake was free. Hermione just blinked.

“Oh no, did I do it again?” she whispered fretting. Harry stared at her. Did she do weird things too?

“Does weird stuff happen to you too?” Harry also whispered. They stared at each other, not knowing how to proceed.

Loud banging on the glass startled them both from their moment and they turned to see Dudley screeching to be let out of the tank. Petunia and Vernon came over, panicked that their son was in the snake’s cage. Piers appeared freaked out as well. Meanwhile, Harry helped Hermione off the floor and got up himself.

“Mummy!” Dudley wailed. Harry snickered. Now who was the one locked up! Let’s see how he liked it!

Unfortunately, Vernon heard it and went straight towards him, intending to hit him. Nevertheless, Hermione surprised Harry yet again when she went in front of him, shielding him from Vernon.

“Move out of the way, young lady! That boy’s a freak!” Vernon demanded. Hermione refused to back down. She wouldn’t let Harry get punished for something she did!

“Harry did nothing wrong! And he’s not a freak! He’s the nicest boy I’ve ever met!” Harry was grinning ear to ear, blushing bright, at Hermione’s compliments and her defense at him. He didn’t think she could’ve been more perfect, but she proved him wrong.

“He locked my son in there!” Vernon snared. Hermione huffed.

“No! I did it. Your son and his friend were banging on the glass and distressing our snake, so I loosened the lock and it swung him in and swung shut!” Hermione lied. She couldn’t very well tell them the glass disappeared unfortunately. Vernon waved a finger at her threateningly.

“I will have your job for this! Where is your supervisor? I’m filing a complaint!” he promised. Harry’s hand grasped Hermione’s. He didn’t want her to lose her job when she enjoyed it so much. Guilt bubbled in his stomach. Regardless, Hermione didn’t stand down.

“Go right ahead, sir. I will also be sure to report of your ill treatment of Harry here as well. Are you his relative perhaps? I wonder what police will think if they heard you were trying to hurt a little boy.” Hermione said calmly. Vernon’s face turned purple while Petunia’s paled.

“Vernon, our reputation…” Petunia whispered in horror. Vernon’s vein throbbed at his temple before he made angry noises and turned away.

“Come along, boy! Piers, go get a staff member to get Dudley out!” Vernon ordered. Harry was reluctant to let Hermione go, afraid his uncle would ruin her, but Hermione stroked his hand with her thumb in reassurance.

“It’s okay, Harry. I’ll be all right.” Hermione gave him a gentle smile, and Harry believed her. He sighed in relief, sad to part from her, but knew he’d get in trouble again if he didn’t hurry to his aunt and uncle.

“Boy! Come!” Vernon bellowed.

“Bye Hermione!” Harry told her, rushing after his relatives. He would never forget her. She was the first person to show him kindness and treat him normally. She was the first to ever protect him.

She was his angel.

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

There you go! Hope you guys liked it. Sorry there isn’t much comedy in this one, but rest assured there will eventually be comedy in the form of Ron Weasley.

[dacergirl369]

s14 trailer breakdown!!!

okay so from the trailer there are six clear episode plot line we can see- a zoo episode, a laser tag episode, what i will refer to as the ‘melon episode’, dines out 2.0, a noir episode, and an episode where he whole gang seems to have a corporate meeting and then watch a movie at a private screening that they find *very* exciting. So, let’s go through what we can see about these plotlines from the trailer and what we can piece together from bts info, and then look at what’s missing from trailer and what this could mean. buckle in, because my ted talk is about to get started. in the essay i literally will. Let’s go.

So, we have an episode list, but only the description for the first ep, “tg gets romantic”. we know that in “tg chokes” the gang goes to guiginos at least once due to a scene rob leaked on instagram (https://www.instagram.com/p/B1NBx6-HOxM/?igshid=yg2ql5uyu4w1, https://www.instagram.com/p/B1zgApEHXhv/?igshid=1ge7qkgw5bm0d), so let’s start there.

We can see the entire opening scene for tg chokes on robs instagram, which shows us the gang are back at guiginos for a meal all together (which is also shown in the trailer). But the trailer has another guiginos scene (where dee appears to have a reaction and the waiter appears to use an epipen on her), where the gang (bar charlie and mac, who both only own one quote unquote “nice” outfit), are all wearing different outfits. So we know they visit guiginos at least twice this season. These more than likely happen in the same episode (what i called “dines out 2.0” before but we know is actually called “the gang chokes”).

Moving on to the laser tag episode. It’s... a laser tag episode. Unfortunately I don’t have much to say about it, but it’s a very clear plotline featuring the whole gang. It’s hard to tell if they wear the same outfits at another point because of the vests, but based on dees shirt i don’t think so. This plotline most likely takes up most or all of an episode (maybe dee day? my girl seems to be really enjoying the laser tag, so maybe?).

Then we have the noir episode, which we know is “the janitor always mops twice”. A whodunnit where the premise is to find out who diarrhoea poisoned frank. features the whole gang + the waitress, based on cast instagrams.

Then we have the screening episode (?) which i will go on record as saying i believe will be the thundergun episode (thundergun 4: maximum cool), but that is just personal speculation and not really based in any “facts” or “real world observations” or whatever pussies and people with small meat base their predictions on. we see the gang in a meeting in a corporate style office (the scene where charlie thinks the window is a two way mirror) and then later towards the end watching something on the big screen in an empty cinema and cheering (wearing the same outfits as before). Personal prediction: they’re gonna try convince a studio to let them make thunder gun 4 like they did with lethal weapon. i WOULD like to point out that in robs instagram pictures with dolph lundgren he is wearing a grey v neck shirt sleeve t shirt and in the shots i just mentioned he was wearing a baseball shirt with a print on it, so just keep that in mind when assessing the realism of this theory. But those might have just been backstage or after shooting pics. Anything is possible in iasip.

Okay, next I’m gonna talk about the zoo episode. This is the first episode i’m gonna discus where there are gang members missing from what i can figure out of the plotline. So, we have a very clear story in the trailer of mac and charlie going to the zoo, seeing the meerkats, charlie pisses on mac. Later in the trailer, frank is shown tormenting a gorilla. dee and dennis do not appear to be at the zoo with them, and kaitlin and glenn don’t seem to have been on set at the zoo based on social media posts. dee and dennis are only seen alone together in one scene during the trailer, which is this puppy (0:05), where they appear to be at some kind of fair/stand/protest or something? I’m not sure what it is, but dee appears to be texting while dennis laughs mockingly at her, so potentially (WILD SPECULATION ALERT) the zoo episode is the gang texts and dee and dennis have the main plot of this episode. this is the only dee and dennis solo scene in the trailer however we do have unaccounted for plotlines so this could be a part of that and their plot in this episode may not have a shot in the trailer.

Finally (not finally, but lastly out of the plotlines i have lovingly sherlock-ed together), we have the melon episode. This is probably the episode the trailer gave us the most information about, and we can out together almost a whole plotline from these shots. This seems from the trailer to be crickets only episode of the season, although there is a video of david hornsby on robs instagram (https://www.instagram.com/p/B1zEOJjnPG8/?igshid=yfciekezwnc3) of him wearing a different outfit, so maybe there’s another episode in store for rickety cricks this season.

The gang appear to be watching a show in the bar, dennis tells them to shut up so he can watch, they gasp and remark how much they love the show, although dee says the plot is absurd. Dennis says humans are stupid and should be eradicated, which is met with agreement. Seems like we’re gonna have some good ol fashioned meta references this season, folks! Anyways, after this they somehow stumble across franks melon in a safe, ask him and it, and drop it from a ladder (from which cricket catches it). they also seem to be looking at the office computer while dee gags. this looks to be a classic “gang finds a thing and is surprised and intrigued by it so investigate but in an idiot way” episode, although we don’t know what frank is up to during this melon madness. he doesn’t seem to wear that shirt at any other point during the trailer. hmmmmmmm frank wyd

that brings me to the end of clear episodes in the trailer, but there are a few other things that, while they don’t really fit in with any specific plot, gives us a little info about what else is going on this season.

we have a plotline where frank is in the waiters house with him and his mother, not sure what the gang is up to but we see frank wear that shirt earlier in the trailer with charlie. we don’t not see charlie wear his shirt again in the trailer so it’s most likely a plot not in the trailer. there’s also a shot of frank and charlie in their pjs in their apartment, potentially from the first episode (tg gets romantic) as according the episode description it appears to be the episode this flyer is from (https://www.instagram.com/p/B1ZZB-PnDeB/?igshid=nta7myvov0t2), which would make sense for the boys in their pjs, although they could really do that at any point in the season. we ALSO see mac and dennis in their apartment, also in pjs, talking about lunatics. this is likely from the same episode as the charlie & frank pj shot to mirror them, which strengthens the argument that it’s from the first episode due to both sets of guys having the same set up and problem just in different ways (both advertise for a person to come live with them, it goes wrong). dee is also there in this macden shot. maybe she is the lunatic in question? idk. we have dee and mac on what looks like a basketball court, dee is dancing, and after that we also have mac and charlie in the macden apartment and mac tries to swipe charlie’s boaba. i have no idea about these, so i don’t have much to say. just thought i’d bring em up.

NOW, onto what we didn’t see in the trailer. we KNOW there is an episode with poppins because of this instagram post (https://www.instagram.com/p/B01Cqu4nwMK/?igshid=1cc2y1uvonml0). none of the outfits these three are wearing come up in the trailer, so i’m forced to believe this is an episode we have not seen any shots of yet. not sure what dee and dennis are doing. it could be that shot i mentioned before in the zoo section, but we can’t be sure. we didn’t seem to see anything about the global warming episode that has been teased, either.

so let’s recap what we know (or what i think i know). there’s ten episodes this season. we can deduce six coherent plots from the trailer (laser tag, noir, zoo, melon, chokes, potential thundergun). we know there’s an episode with poppins with mac charlie & frank, and the global warming episode. the first episode is tg gets romantic, which we have the description of and most likely those pj shots. so that’s nine plotlines overall we seem to have a grasp on right now. i believe the one we don’t have any info for right now is the finale, and that both the plot details and the shots are being kept under wraps so that the finale is more hard hitting when it comes out. i do believe they’re gonna go hard, we’re living post mfhp, anything is possible, and last seasons finale is an awful lot to top. i can’t even guess at the finale plot. i am so excited.

so that’s my official trailer breakdown and review, i hope this was coherent and if you know anything else or know that im wrong about something please tell me, i’m just so excited i want to have as clear a picture as possible bcs i can’t wait to know what the seasons gonna be!!!!!!

((thank you to @lesbian-mac for listening to my two hours of trailer related rambling and telling me to post this lmao <3))

[shuwuwua]

farmboy!joshua

in which your first time in the rural countryside–crap internet, 20 minute drives to the nearest grocery store, random deer in the roads, and all–is not bad. not bad at all. (aka joshua and animals and being very soft) [fluff]

word count: 3k

disclaimer: not all rural areas are the same. you can get high speed internet. (just not in my personal experience lmao)

you were born, raised, and spent most of your livelihood in the same city

a proper skyscraper sort of city, not a “it’s bigger than a town so i guess we have to call it a city but the tallest building here is still only 4 stories high” city

your family wasn’t really one for vacations but this summer your parents decided to switch it up and spend a few weeks with your relatives who live in the countryside

and although you’ve been skeptical as to what’s possibly worth spending that long in the boonies, you figure it’s been a while since you saw those relatives and don’t say much against it

you’ve tried unsuccessfully for the past few days to avoid nature by browsing YouTube, but it’s proving difficult with your relatives’ lack of surfable internet

they finally suggest you go to the petting zoo

and you snort a little at first bc it’s not your ideal pastime but you suppose that’s what you gotta work with now in the boonies

so you drive to the nearby petting zoo. you exit your car.

and your hit with the Smell™ (of dried grass and poop, to clarify)

and you’re like. oh yeah. i’m definitely in the countryside.

you proceed.

as you walk up the path to the main buildings, you see some of the larger animals around you. horses. cows. the pigs are outside feeding at this hour. you’re kind of in awe because you’ve never seen a Live Cow and,,, they’re kinda cool how they’re so chill and they look sorta Smooth like they’d be really pettable and you wonder if you’d be able to milk one or smthn

but you’re getting a little ahead of yourself.

you open the barn door. and are immediately hit with more Smell™

you wonder if it’ll attach to your clothes. you figure you will deal with it later.

there is something else to deal with at the moment.

“wait, no–lucky! come back!” someone yelps as they rush around in front of you, chasing what seems to be a ball of fur that moves at the speed of light

or a puppy. same thing, really. 

that someone takes a giant leap of faith, only to just barely miss the pup and end up face first on the floor, which you can’t imagine being the most sanitary of surfaces

you look away in search of the flurry of fur. you can’t see it, but you can definitely hear it. unfortunately, it doesn’t sound like it has a collar, so you prepare yourself to scoop it up completely rather than grabbing its collar. as expected, it runs into your direction and you launch at it...

success!

lucky squirms in your grasp, barking and sniffing at your shirt. they must decide that you’re an agreeable human, because they start trying to lick your face

“wow, you caught him!” you look up at seemingly the body from earlier

and like,, not to exaggerate but is this what looking at an angel is like?

the boy you’re looking at looks back with such bright eyes and with a gaze full of affection, although after a second you realize the affection is probably for the dog. he has the best smile you’ve seen in a good while, because people you pass by in the city don’t smile that much. he just radiates Warm and Good and is probably great for business, because he’s just as cute as the puppy who is still going at your chin

“i… yeah, guess i did. uh, you kind of have straw all over you” is what you settle on saying to him, because out of all the things you noticed about him, your brain decides that the straw and dirt still sticking to his cheek and various parts of his shirt were the most acceptable features to point out. while they weren’t the more flattering options, they probably saved you from the complete AWKWARDNESS that would have come from mentioning his eyes or beaming smile or really anything else bc the straw and dirt were the only flaws.

“oh!” he exclaims, straightening up and brushing off his shirt

“… here too,” you say, grasping lucky in one arm as you move your other hand to your cheek

of course, he wipes at the wrong side.

“the other side”

“right. ok. am i good? sorry, that’s not a great first impression.” 

he still has a smear, but you decide it’s probably not going to budge and he’ll figure it out later. and he has no clue what a great first impression it was. clearly. “no, it’s fine.” 

he continues to smile at you and you’re still crouched, clutching lucky. lucky then decides to yelp because he’s tired of the severe lack of attention, which snaps you back to the situation. 

“oh, right.” you stand and give lucky back. 

“here he is!”

once lucky is back in the boy’s arms, he immediately starts to lick at his jaw. the boy sighs and pulls a treat out of the pocket of his apron, waving it around lucky’s face. “what are we going to do with you?” 

he turns back to you. “sorry about that, lucky is a very excited young pupper, as you just saw. the most problematic of all his siblings. anyway, i’m joshua! welcome to nabiya petting zoo. is it your first time here?”

you nod. “er. it’s actually my first time in this area, or in this part of the country, really. i’m from a pretty big city.”

“oh! well, a bigger welcome, then. i hope you enjoy your stay.” 

he rubs lucky between his ears. “isn’t it nice to get away from the busy urban life sometimes? i’ve always thought it’s really relaxing around here.”

“yeah, it seems… nice so far,” you say loosely, reflecting on how you haven’t really seen enough to come to that conclusion

he still has that warm smile. “i’m going to put lucky in his pen. hm… you’re the only one who’s come in so far today, so i could show you around if you want?”

“yeah, sure! i haven’t seen a lot of these before,” you reply, going down the list of animals at the side on the wall.

“ok, i’ll be right back!”

when he comes back y’all walk around n look at things and he asks you if you want to hold or feed some animals and you take everything pretty well, more than even you expect

you look at the normal domestic sort of animals like a litter of kittens, and the pen with lucky and his other pupper brothers and sisters

typical farm animals like pigs and sheep

sheep are not as fluffy as you imagine, they’re actually kind of gross looking if they haven’t had a bath recently

nonetheless you find them kind of cute, and you even pet one of the rams, aptly named… sam the ram

something tells you joshua was responsible for the name

you guys go out to the field and observe some turkeys strutting around

“huh so that’s the thing you see in clipart, the thing hanging off their faces”

“yeah it’s called a snood”

“LOL huH”

“only the dudes have snoods”

“um”

“during mating season, female turkeys pick male turkeys with longer snoods. you could say they’re in the snood for love.”

“please stop”

y’all spend a lot of time with the rabbits bc “bunnies are my favorite animal” says josh as he crouches next to a brown fluffball of a bunny, petting it

it’s just such a Good n Wholesome scene you can’t help but let slip “wow ur so cute”

he looks up, but his expression says he is otherwise unbothered

“sorry, what’d you say?”

“i SA ID the buNNY is sO cuTE” panics

“oh” joshua says. “alright” he turns back to the bunny, a tiny smile on his face

before you know it, 4 hours have passed and your stomach is letting you know dinnertime is approaching, so you bid josh farewell and wonder if you’ll ever see him again because that was a hecking nice 4 hours

you find yourself coming back again two days later lmao

today, joshua is putting out slop for the pigs. he grins at you. 

“hey again. what brings you back so soon?”

you find some excuse like “ykno i just bonded with sam the ram so well i had to come back, we’re bros now” and josh just laughs softly at you

“ok. you wanna look at some horses today?”

“whoa. o-okay.”

when he brings them out ngl you’re kinda intimidated bc like,, they’re some toL bois.

one time you saw a pony at the state fair but that was smol n cute and walked at a pace of 3 miles an hour

but these horses?? threatening. now you understand where the horse in horsepower comes from

“hey, don’t look so scared. they’re harmless!” the black stallion chooses that moment to snort and buck a little. 

you gulp.

“no, really.” he pets the stallion. “snuffles has never hurt anyone.”

you blink

“,,, snuffles ??”

joshua gives you a hard stare. “7 year old me thought that was an appropriate name and today years old me still thinks it’s fine”

you raise your hands to say “ok man ur turf ur way”

joshua clears his throat dramatically and turns back to ,, snuffles. “so aNyway, i brought snuffles out because i think he’s the best for a beginner to ride, and i’m assuming you’ve never ridden a horse before.”

“yeah i haven’t… wait did you say we’re gonna riDE them??”

“yeah, we don’t usually let people do that but i feel like you need the whole farm experience so you can go home and tell your friends the country isn’t just yeehaw and old town”

“but like… isn’t this just proving the point of old town? you literally have the horses in the back.”

“however, my hat is not matte black. i don’t even have a cowboy hat. or Wrangler. or anything else the song mentions. just the horses.”

“ok joshua if it makes u happy i will take snuffles to the old town road”

he gives u a big :D

he instructs you on how to mount the horse and stands behind you in case you start falling but thankfully you don’t so we don’t have to go over any kind of cliche

~ gripping of the waist for balance ~

or

~ catching you in his arms ~

scenes

: ))

“hey, good job! give snuffles some pats or something.” you reach a hand out to stroke the side of snuffles’s face. he whinnies a bit. Well frick, you think, that was kind of cute.

joshua decides he’ll walk some laps around with you before letting you actually ride snuffles by yourself. after you seem to be comfortable, you guys walk/trot around some and that’s how the rest of that afternoon goes :)

picture this with me

the sun is low in the sky

and y’all and your horses are just looking out over the hill

skin lookin immaculate bc it’s the golden hour

a massive grin you don’t even realize you have on your face.

and then you gotta go home, as your stomach reminds you again.

over your stay at your relatives’ place, you visit the petting zoo more times

you and josh become pretty comfortable with each other

he always has a lot of time to spend with you bc people don’t come that much this early in the summer, and in general they don’t get a huge amount of traffic but that’s okay financially bc the petting zoo is just a side thing, it’s mainly his family’s farm

and so you learn more things about him and his family from your times together, you guys sometimes sit around with some lemonade and hold some bunnies. lucky has also taken a liking to you, so you hold him a lot.

joshua tells you about his parents having always wanted to live peaceful and healthy lives, eating their own produce, moved to the area before he was born and it just expanded into the farm.

so although no one lives on the farm, they live pretty close by and he spent most of his childhood around all the animals.

you wonder if he was born with the soft, patient, and gentle nature needed to care for all the animals or if the animals shaped him to be that way.

but on top of that, he really loves spending time with them. even though he’s there basically every day, he never seems tired of his job.

“but what about you though? i’ve never really been that far from here, so i wonder what a big city is like.”

you trade your chaotic urban stories for his peaceful rural ones, and he trades his farm accident horrors for your memories of solidarity in the city.

you tell him about all the great food, countless different flavors of restaurants and a bubble tea chain every few blocks

you tell him about the convenience, the variety of transportation and the proximity of things, like basic groceries

the crowded sidewalks, the crowded metro, the crowded shops

the neon signs that light up the night, the period of quiet and calm somewhere around 3 in the morning, when you can open the window and hear the city nightlife in its most muted yet most raw state.

not only has time in the countryside made you appreciate it more, but also your home life more.

while you’re still wrapped in your memories, joshua smiles softly at you from the side. lemonade long forgotten, ice long melted. “that sounds really nice. your stories make me want to visit you in your hometown some time.”

huh. he could’ve just said visit the city, but he said visit you in your hometown. joshua has such a way with making the conversation personal.

you process what he said again and think about what it’d be like if he came. you could take him to all those places you raved about… it’d be like…

,,, a bunch of dates really. your brain frazzles a bit at the thought.

“… yeah! … that’d be pretty cool.”

and that’s how your afternoons pass these days. lemonade at the side, bunnies in hand, breeze passing through hair.

eventually josh asks you if you want to hang out like… nOT at the petting zoo

and you’re like whoa ok what’s your idea

and he’s like “can you meet me at watchtower hill tomorrow at 8pm?” 

he thinks about what he just said and quickly follows with “i know that’s kind of a really late time, but i promise i have no nefarious intent! oh, shoot that makes it seem like i do. i really don’t i promise! i just wanted to show you what the sunset and night sky are like in the countryside. oh, i just spoiled it…” he flashes you an awkward smile and some finger guns. “yep, that’s what we’re doing! no nefarious activities.”

you grin at him. “calm down dude, i didn’t think like that in the first place. i’m usually out even later at home anyway.”

he rubs the back of his head and laughs it off with you.

you do meet the next day at 8pm. he brings some midnight snacks that his mom made. except they’re not really midnight snacks, because you’re not trying to stay out there until midnight (spoiler: you do, because y’all yak a lot)

you guys sit on your jackets, watching the sunset. it’s the kind of temperature that’s says it was mad hot during the day, but now that the sun is going down, it’s cooled into a pleasant room temperature with an occasional warm breeze. 

for once you all don’t say much, because it’s nice to just share the moment. 

you reflect on how you’ve come to experience the area recently. most of it was the petting zoo, but sometimes you’d take up some of joshua’s suggestions about the area and report back to him how the experience was later on. 

looking out at the sun that bleeds out into the blueish black night, you think that it’s been a pretty good time here, and maybe it does have an edge on city life.

as the last of warm colors finally seep out of the sky, the moon takes over the night and the stars become more apparent than you’ve ever seen before.

seriously, it’s a scene out of a movie. you know, the wide screen shot of the protagonists staring at the sky, mystified. the panorama over the constellations that twinkle down at you, a little gift from the galaxy.

“i’ve never seen the sky like this. all the twinkling lights in the city come from the streets, and the buildings. which are pretty in their own way, i think. but Mother Nature… is really something else,” you say.

“yeah,” he says, looking at you as you’re still in awe at the sky. “something else.”

a few more moments pass, but it’s a timeless night as the sky is frozen in space.

joshua lays back on his jacket.

“hey,, maybe this is sort of crazy but.”

you turn to him, raising a brow.

“it’s been really, uh.. it’s been. really awesome getting to know you. i’ve just kind of… seen the same sorts of things all my life. the same sorts of people. i mean! of course, everyone is unique in their own way but! you know.” he takes a glance at you. “rural folks, urban folks. there’s a difference. so I’ve really enjoyed talking with you. uh, i mean i enjoy talking to you regardless of if you’re from the city or not!”

he puts a palm to his face and sighs. from behind his hand, he says, “i just like you.”

“i like you too, joshua! you’re a really great guy.”

“no, not like that. i mean. i like you.” he finally removes his hand.

you blink a little. and finally burst into a grin. “yeah. i like you too. you’re a really great guy.”

it’s his turn to blink

you lie back as well. he slowly starts to smile next to you

the stars above shine on.

yeah. this is a life you could get used to, too.

a/n: i stole the snood puns from a website i was reading sry website. hope you guys enjoyed and i had a lot of fun writing joshua this way (he’s all squishy, not exactly canon i would say lol)

[thetravelerwrites]

Blue: The Dry Run

Rating: General Audiences Additional Tags: Monster Lover, Gender Neutral Reader, Asexual, Agender Demon, Demon Friend, Reader-Insert, SFW Words: 2135

Blue is anxious about going out among people openly for the first time, so their partner suggests a trial to help them feel less nervous: a petting zoo.

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“But what if they don’t like me?”

You sighed at Blue in exasperation. You were trying to convince them to come with you to one of your classes. Your young students often dealt with feelings of being different in a world that didn’t understand them, and you knew Blue understood that feeling very well.

“You’re blue and fuzzy, hon, they’ll love you. You’re like a giant teddy bear.”

“What if they’re frightened? I’m a demon, a creature, a… a thing. Won’t they be scared of me?”

“Of course not. You haven’t been out in hundreds of years, Blue. The world is a different place now. All kinds of creatures walk among humans these days. You’re not the only non-human out there. A handful of my kids are half-human. Orcs, werewolves, dragons, nagas, even other demons. Hell, my boss’s assistant is an incubus, for fuck’s sake. Openly! Like everyone knows he’s an incubus; he doesn’t even try to hide it. Everyone has to have a job these days, you know. And I think the kids would really like you.”

They were sitting scrunched up on the bed, twisting their tail in their lower pair of hands and looked down at themselves. “But… I’m naked.”

You folded your arms and smirked at them. “Now your grasping at straws, Blue,” You said. You turned and looked into your closet. “But if it’ll make you feel better…” You riffled through the rack with your lips pursed. “Hmm…you’re too tall for most of my clothes…” You said. “Oh, here we go.” You pulled out a long, pale pink sundress with yellow flowers. “My sister left this last time she stayed over. I’ve been meaning to send it back to her, but…”

You bid Blue to stand, and they stood up straight. You’re glad you made the decision to move to an apartment with vaulted ceilings so that they could stand at their full height. Their constant crouching was painful, even for you.

You put the dress up to their long, spindly body and considered it. “I think this would look good with your coloring,” You said. “It’s supposed to be ankle length, but I think it’ll be just over your knee. Would this make you feel better?”

They shrugged noncommittally.

You sighed. “Look, why don’t we try a dry run?”

“Dry run?”

“Yeah. Just go out. Nothing big. Maybe the petting zoo.”

“Petting zoo?”

“Yeah, it’s full of cuddly animals you get to play with.”

They gave you a flat expression. “I know what a petting zoo is, my love.”

You laughed. “I take my class there all the time. It’s great for trauma relief. The proprietor is a friend of mine, I can get her to let us in on the weekend.”

“What purpose would that serve?”

“You can play with the animals. Animals are a great judge of character. If they’re not scared of you, then the kids, who are old enough to be reasoned with, won’t be either. Come on, please? It’ll be like our first real date. We’ve never actually had one, for all the time we’ve been together. Please?”

You pressed your hands together as if praying and pouted a little. Blue squatted and sighed, taking the dress and pulling it over their head. Luckily, both sets of arms fit through the armholes. They looked silly and adorable in it.

“If it’s for you…” They signed reluctantly. “But I can’t promise I’ll enjoy it.”

“If you don’t, we’ll come home and I’ll never bring it up again. I want you to be comfortable, but I also think you’d really enjoy yourself.” You took their face in your hands and gently kissed where their nose would have been, if they had one. “There’s no reason to hide, Blue. This world is as much yours as it is mine and there’s no reason why you shouldn’t have everything you want from it.”

“I have you. What else could I want?”

You smiled and hugged them. “I love you too. But…” You sighed. “You’re immortal. Or, at least, you’ll live much longer than me. I want you to have something after… after I’m gone. I don’t want you to disappear again.”

They couldn’t argue with that, as much as they disliked the thought. They had been summoned to protect others before you, and had lost them all long ago. Despite never having revealed themselves to any of their prior charges, Blue always felt the losses deeply and had receded to the void after their deaths, waiting to be summoned again. Blue believed their only purpose for existing was to protect, but you were hoping to give them more than that this go round. They were more to you than a bodyguard or a guardian, they were part of your soul now. You loved them.

Blue couldn’t kiss you, as they had no mouth, but they nuzzled their face to your neck before pulling back and signing, “Okay. I’ll go.”

“You’ll love it. I promise.” You said, running a finger down the middle of their face. They did that strange smile that only involved their eyes.

That Saturday, late in the evening, you had made arrangements with your friend Lizzie for her to open the petting zoo for you simply so she could meet the elusive Blue you were always going on about. She admitted to you that she kind of thought you had made them up.

It was nearly midnight when you managed to get Blue, wearing the sundress, out of the front door. You promised to take all the back ways, so that they would be seen by as few people as possible. You assured them that it wasn’t necessary, that no one would scream or run from them, but they were still wary.

“Don’t look so worried, honey,” You told them, taking them by the hand and pulling them down the sidewalk in the dark just outside of the light of the streetlamps. “It’ll be fine.”

Blue allowed themselves to be lead by their hand, skulking behind you with their eyes darting to and fro.

“Lizzie is very nice, I promise. I’ve already told her all about you, so she knows what to expect,” You said.

“I doubt that,” Blue said.

“Blue, her husband is an onikuma and her best friend since childhood is a horned forest guardian. She’s really not going to be all that surprised by you.”

Blue shrugged and continued to follow you.

You walked up the steps of the community center and ignored the front door. All the lights were off except for the annex building where the petting zoo was kept in back. You skipped a little and pulled Blue forward, as they had stopped when they saw the light ahead.

“Come on!” You said excitedly. If they could have groaned, they would have.

Silhouetted against the open door was your friend, Lizzie, waving an arm over her head in enthusiasm.

Blue faltered in their steps, but you used your momentum to carry them forward. Blue was very strong despite the preternatural thinness of their body and extremities; if they really wanted to wrench themselves from your grasp, they absolutely could have. The fact that while reluctant, they were still complying, spoke to the level of trust they had placed in you. You hoped you weren’t betraying that trust.

“Hey, guys!” Lizzie called. Blue tensed but didn’t retreat.

“Hey, Lizzie!” You said in return, rushing up the stairs to give her a hug. You looked back and saw Blue lingering just outside of the light. “Blue, come on, she’s not going to bite you.”

“Unless you ask nicely,” Lizzie said with a grin.

Blue came forward slowly, fidgeting with their tail nervously.

“Wow, so this is Blue, huh?” Lizzie said, taking a few steps forward and putting out a hand. Blue eyed her warily, but took her hand in one of theirs and shook delicately. “I really did think you made them up, you know,” Lizzie added to me.

“Told you so,” I said.

“Yeah, you did,” Lizzie said, smiling brightly at Blue.

“Nice to meet you,” Blue signed after you nudged them.

“You, too,” Lizzie replied. “Well, ready to pet some animals?”

Blue nodded, the cascade of their hair shivering as they did so, and They followed you and Lizzie into the building.

Inside there was a miniature pony, a few pigs, a llama, some lambs, a goat, and a pen full of little rabbits.

“Ooh! Look, Blue! Bunnies!” You said, pulling them toward the pen. Picking one up, you set it in Blue’s upper pair of hands. Blue cradled it carefully, waiting for it to fight them or freak out, but it didn’t. It simply sat placidly in Blue’s grasp, nose twitching.

You took one of Blue’s lower hands and pulled it up, showing them how to stroke the bunny. When you let go, Blue continued on their own.

“See? Not so bad, right?”

Blue didn’t answer, just scratched the bunny behind its ear. They then knelt down and put their hand out, and the other bunnies came over and sniffed it curiously.

“Here,” Lizzie said, holding a cabbage in her hands and breaking off some of the leaves for Blue to feed to the rabbits. Blue took the leaves and held them out, and the bunnies flocked to them, much to their delight. Blue then sat cross-legged in the pen, surrounded by rabbits as if they were the bunny messiah.

“Cute dress Blue’s wearing,” Lizzie said in an undertone after you had retreated to give Blue some space.

“Yeah, it was my sister’s. I just forgot to give it back.”

“So, Blue’s a girl?”

“Nope.”

“A boy?”

“Neither,” You replied.

Lizzie scrunched up her face in confusion. “Well, I know you call them ‘they’ and all,” She said. “But… what have they got going on… you know… downstairs?”

“They’re an eldritch horror borne of the void, Lizzie, they don’t need to have anything ‘going on downstairs,’” You told her in a sniffy tone. “Besides, the only person who needs to be concerned about that is them.”

“Well, you’re together, aren’t you? Wouldn’t it concern you, too?”

“I’m a sex-repulsed asexual, Lizzie; it doesn’t make a difference to me what they may or may not have… physically. Blue is what they are and they don’t need to be anything else. It’s not complicated; they’re happy, I’m happy, and that’s what matters.”

Lizzie shrugged. “If you say so.”

Blue sprung up to their feet and trotted over to you, a small procession of bunnies following in their wake, and they smiled their eye-smile. They still had a rabbit on their shoulder.

“I want to pet the horse now,” they said.

It took another three trips to the petting zoo before Blue decided they felt confident enough to greet your class. You had also experimented with different articles of clothing, but Blue decided they liked the sundresses best. It allowed for freer movement, and they liked the way the fabric fell around their body. Halter top dresses worked best with their four arms.

While going to put away Blue’s new clothes, you hand touched a bag that you had stowed away in the closest nearly a year ago, the one with the bits of the bunny, Blue’s vessel.

“Whoa,” You said, holding it if for them to see. “I’d forgotten about this. Why did you rip this to pieces?”

“To get out,” They said. “Demons are physically trapped within the confines of their vessels. We literally have to ‘break’ free of them. I had no reason to do so before that night, but when I couldn’t discern why you were so distressed, I freed myself to try and comfort you better, though I seemed to have had the opposite effect.”

“Aw,” You said, hugging them around the middle. They’re lower set of arms wrapped around your waist while the upper pair settled on your shoulders. “It’s all good now. You’re a huge comfort to me, Blue.” You pulled up and looked at their face, frowning slightly. “I do wonder what you get out of staying with me, though.”

“I get love,” they said with their eye-smile. “That’s all I need.” They’d brushed their forehead against yours affectionately and you kissed their face.

The next day, Blue picked out the white sundress with the roses on it, their favorite, and shyly accompanied you to the school. They walked scrunched up at first, but when they saw other creatures, like demons, orcs, and beast-people, walking among humans, they straightened out a little and seemed a bit more eager.

When you got to the school, you introduced Blue to your colleagues, who greeted them warmly, which was surprising to Blue.

Outside your first class, you turned to Blue.

“Ready?”

They smiled and nodded.

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