#he specifically wrote that it's now pink and while it is more red than pink it does have a somewhat feminine shape to it

[toiletshit]

the reason why the green pumuckl had been removed from the Nusspli packaging is because they started transitioning

[becauseimanicequeen]

Rewatching Pit Babe (ep. 1-2), A Post that Started Messy but Turned Into One About the Colors

This is part of my Crazy-Ass End-of-Year Rewatch Challenge where I will rewatch my favorite shows, my least-favorite shows, and some shows in between. After a few days of trying to figure out what to start with, I pulled Pit Babe out of a bowl (yes, I literally wrote each show on a piece of paper, put them in a bowl, mixed them around, and pulled a title because I couldn't decide).

I can't promise cohesive thoughts in these posts because it's the end of the year, I'm currently living in right-brain land 10+ hours per day, and I'm TIRED because the darkness of winter is coming. You've been warned.

Also, since this is a rewatch, there are spoilers ahead.

Background

I watched Pit Babe as it aired last year because racing alphas, betas, and omegas sounded like some chaotic sorority collage show that could possibly tickle my fancy (I had no idea what omegaverse was back then, so excuse my idiocy, lol). Little did I know I was walking into a world where dudes could, theoretically, get pregnant? (Again, excuse my lack of knowledge of that world.)

Setting that aside, though... Besides Pavel looking all fine and tasty and me being on a high from hearing Nut's voice again (there's just something about that slight rasp of his voice that gets me every time), it became a chaotic wild ride I enjoyed so thoroughly that I gave it a 7/10.

Will I change my rating after this rewatch? Who knows. I'm more interested to see how much of it my currently fucked up memory has forgotten already.

Anyway... Let's go, let's go, let's go, let's go! (I clearly haven't forgotten the song, though...)

Episode 1

We are back with the neon colored intro!

I'm already vibing with this because I'm such a slut for neon lights!

I'm always talking about how neutral I am when it comes to characters. But teams are a whole other thing. And I'm all for X-Hunter here.

Not because of Dean because all I want to do is kick his shins, lol. But blue is one of my favorite colors, and I'm a simple girl. Give me blue (or purple, pink, and especially all of those in neon) and I'm in heaven.

But, let's get back to the show, shall we?

Which is when...

The sniffing begins! I approve.

Oh, look:

It's Winner Winner Chicken Dinner. (Every time I hear Winner's name or see him on my screen, my mind goes: "Winner Winner Chicken Dinner" for some reason. So, I'll obviously continue with that, lol.)

Excuse me as I obsess about these reddish/pinkish neon lights for a moment because... just look how pretty that light is on both of them!

The way it enhances their beauty. The way it symbolizes both Babe and Charlie's naivety (yes, Babe is naive too since he trusts Charlie so fast even though Charlie has a hidden reason for being there) and that someone is lying or withholding information.

But if we ignore all of that for a moment and just look at the light... It's so fucking pretty!

But, again, I'm a slut for neon lights, so I might be biased and over-obsessing about it, lol.

The Way I'm laughing at this bitch, though:

Way is feeling Way more threatened than he would like to admit. (Btw, that red light covering some of Way's reflection in the image above and shining behind him in the image below made me think about lightsabers and Darth Vader. And it's justified.)

Way, my sweet lovesick cinnamon bun (I don't know, that just came to mind as I'm eating one at the moment, lol), your Way will never be Babe's Way. Babe's Way is turning in another direction.

In this direction, to be specific:

I guess he just smells better.

You know what? I'll also change my Way in this post. Because...

That red light above is literally glaring at me to make sure I notice it and what it wants to communicate to me. And, since I haven't written about the colors in the shows I'm watching for a while now, I might just turn this rewatch into posts with word vomits about the colors in the show...

Yes?

Yes.

So, let's rewind for a bit.

The show has already established that it's the red team, Red Racing, against the blue team, X-Hunter. To put it in rough strokes, the red team is the bad side with Winner Winner Chicken Dinner, and the blue team is the good side with Babe and Alan (I won't include Way here because of the red that follows him around, and since I've already watched this show once before, my choice to exclude him are justified).

On the blue side: We've already seen Babe in blue. We've also seen Charlie in blue, but he's not on the team yet, he's only trying to fit in at this point (because he has his red moments too!). Alan is blue, and Dean is blue (for now).

On the red side: We've seen Winner Winner Chicken Dinner–I mean, besides his racing overalls and car, look at that image above from the bar and you can see the red details on his jacket and the red light behind him. Does that red light look familiar? It should since I wrote about a similar light crossing over and showing up behind Way in the images above. So, if you ever felt off about Way, the colors were telling you that you were right to feel that Way, even though Way's on the blue team.

AnyWay...

This crossing of colors happens a lot. A lot. So come with me into the second episode and more of the crossing of these two colors (and perhaps some additional colors will pop up as well? We'll see...).

Episode 2

On the subject of the red team. Let me introduce the major(?) investor:

Surrounded by all that red. Interestingly, there are spots of blue as well (there's a car and some signs in the background, and the reporter's microphone as well as a band he has around his neck). And let's not ignore Tony's clothes. The suit looks like it's dark blue and the tie is definitely blue. He's trying to pose as someone he's not. But he never fooled me! That man is a walking, talking, charming problem investing in a red team that suits his fiery temperament!

And then we're switching over to the blue team, where the pool table's mat is in the right color.

But even here, there are red details (like the machines, or whatever, in the background and the balls on the table), showing that the line between blue and red is crossed on both sides. And I'm not just talking about the colors crossing in the different teams' garages, I'm referring to the characters in those teams as well (if you've seen the show and noticed the colors, you know what I mean).

The only ones we can be sure of are Alan, who is the owner of X-Hunter and loyal to the blue, Tony who is investing in Red Racing and hides his psychopathic tendencies behind a calm and peaceful facade once in a while (or perhaps more often than I remember? We'll see...), and Winner Winner Chicken Dinner who will always stick to his true color (good for him).

Everyone else seems to be mixing the blue and the red. Babe, for example, had a red past.

The same goes for Way, Charlie, and Jeff (which we're getting hints of, and I'll show them throughout these posts).

Also, Way just used his manipulation power. This is the first time we get to see it, already in episode 2.

You know, it's funny that I was more sus about Way during my first watch of this show than I ever was about Charlie. But I think Way's manipulating Ways/power was what made me unable to fully trust him.

Charlie, on the other hand... How can someone as cute as this:

Hurt anyone?

Okay... How can someone as cute as Charlie be manipulative?

Ehm... How can someone as cute as Charlie have an evil bone in his body...

Fine, I give up!

Charlie is sus... (But he's harmless.)

Yes, he has red in him too. But I'll get to that in a bit because first, Jeff is introduced while drinking a red drink and arriving at the X-Hunter garage dressed in blue carrying a red bag:

He's walking the same line between red and blue just like Charlie (and Babe and Way).

Also, both the red and the blue show up when Jeff and Charlie are discussing why Jeff applied for the job at X-Hunter.

And if that wasn't dropping enough hints, Charlie is framed with the red and blue at the gym.

And while he's fighting Kim, they're both on a blue (and red) mat with red velcro on their gloves:

These boys are all over the place (color-wise and on the floor) and I'm loving it! Nothing is red or blue here (well, except Alan, Tony even though he's trying to hide it, and Winner Winner Chicken Dinner). Nothing is black or white, and I love stories like that. You're not quite sure about any of these boys because they're all hiding stuff and making secret plans.

The only difference with Charlie, though, is that even though the red is glaringly obvious around him...

He's still choosing the blue...

Loyalty isn't an issue for him when he's chosen whom to be loyal to.

Now, with all this said about the blue and red...

I still have no idea what's going on with these two idiots who seem to always mix red and blue...

And knowing where this show is going, I won't be able to figure it out this time either, lol.

Anyway... That's the end of the 2nd episode. And, because I've basically reached my 30-image limit (which Tumblr really needs to increase because this artist needs visual aids in my long-form posts about color!), I'm moving on to a separate post for the next (however many) episodes.

[ask-icancraft-it]

Vanilla

(( A slightly NSFW short story, which alludes to a definitely NSFW fic I wrote a while back: 'Plus One'. A somewhat drunk Felix lets some things slip about his early days in the arcade. ))

---

“Alright,” Tamora interjected, taking another swig of her beer. The Niceland New Year’s party had wrapped hours ago, and all who remained sitting among the streamers and bits of confetti were her, Ralph, and Felix. Vanellope was also present, but had fallen asleep some time ago. 

Sitting up to place her drink on the coffee table, the sergeant had a pink hue on her face as she formulated her next question. Ralph had already turned towards her on the adjacent couch, but Felix remained still, head on the armrest, looking close to joining Vanellope in dreamland.

“You two have been around for thirty-something years–”

“Thirty-three,” Fix-It muttered.

“Right. You’ve been around for thirty-something years; you’ve seen it all…Who takes the title of sexiest man in the arcade.”

“These questions are feeling more and more like we’re high schoolers at a slumber party,” Ralph chuckled. He was buzzed, but in far better shape than the couple. “I’m going to have to think…”

“Luigi,” Felix mumbled upwards to the ceiling, pulling the brim of his cap up from over his eyes. “No contest.”

“No contest— are you kidding me?” Ralph looked dead into the handyman’s sleepy eyes. “Luigi?”

“Yyyep,” Felix replied smugly with a pop. 

“Yeah, well, I guess that figures. He’s seems just about as vanilla as you.” A defiant laugh rumbled in the fixer’s chest. “Oh, Ralph…Vanilla may be my favorite flavor of cake, but not my taste in pixels.”

The wrecker opened his mouth for another retort before a tiny cushion collided with his face.

Across the way, Tamora held another pillow at the ready.

“Elaborate,” she commanded, leaning towards her husband. She was very interested in what he had to say.

“Honey, that man can touch you in ways that will make you feel like the most special person in the world, and he’ll do it all while serenading you in Italian. He is unbelievably sexy…what?”

As he spoke, Felix caught Ralph and Tamora’s wide-eyed stares.

“Well that all seems very specific,” Wreck-It smiled, wagging his eyebrows. “I think you may have a biased opinion.”

“N-no, I don’t!” Felix’s face turned bright red, realizing just how revealing his explanation was. 

“More like an informed opinion,” Tamora joined in on the ribbing. Embarrassing the handyman was a pastime she and Ralph would regularly bond over. “He take good care of your pipes, Fix-It?”

“It was a long time ago…” he admitted, delighting his companions.

“Wait…what about Daisy?” Ralph questioned. “I thought she and Luigi have been a thing since forever.”

“She was there too.”

“What?!” Ralph was aghast. “Both!? At the same time?!”

“It was the 80’s…” Felix chuckled. “Not so vanilla now, am I?”

“I could have told him that,” Tamora raised her eyebrows and took another sip of her beer. “Time’s up, Wreck-It; your answer?”

The wrecker’s face flushed as he wrung his large hands. “Zangief…”

“Oh, talk about a bias,” the sergeant cackled, knowing full and well the crush Ralph has on the Street Fighter. 

“Shut up,” the large man growled. “You asked for our opinions; he’s hot, alright?”

“He is,” Felix smiled, nodding. “You’ve got great taste, brother.”

Ralph squinted at the handyman, dubious. “Is there something else you’d like to tell us? Should I be worried?”

Felix shrugged, ending off with a playful wink as he pulled the brim of his cap back over his eyes. 

“What the fuck?” the wrecker mouthed to Calhoun as the handyman settled back into the couch cushions. What bothered him the most was that he didn’t know if the little guy was pulling his leg or not, given what he’d learned. Who was this person, and what had he done to the innocent good guy who danced the night away just hours before? 

All Tamora could offer up was a shrug of her own, a hearty chuckle escaping her lips as her husband began to snore.

[opencharacters]

Happy New Year Mr. Mouse

A short thing I prepared in honor of this occasion. I'm aware Mickey Mouse is not public domain outside of the US and that Disney can still use their trademark laws and fancy lawyers. But this means so much to me in just what I've believed about copyright for years. Disney isn't the main villain in the fight for a more robust public domain but they certainly are and were one of the big ones. It feels nice. Let us celebrate. Here is a short fic I wrote in the Mouse's honor on this day. Happy public domain day everyone!

An anthropomorphic mouse, wearing overalls and a hat arrived at the local bar. He distinctly was wearing no gloves, something unusual for this time of year given how cold it could get but most of the other bar flies didn't think much of it.

"I'm sort of part of the gang now boys, give me a frosty one to celebrate"

The bartender was a woman wearing a scarf and steampunk looking goggles resting on her head.

"Ah the king himself joining my little bar, you know what for the occasion its on the house" the woman said, pouring the mouse a beer and sliding it over to him.

"Name's Jenny" she said. "And you need no introduction. You're Mickey Mouse, right?"

"That's right ma'am"

"You know you just being in here is gonna upset some powerful people right?"

"I've served my 95 years, I deserve to be here" Mickey said, proceeding to take a long chug at his beer.

(Web Archive Link)

"I don't argue with that, in fact some of the folks around here have been counting the days. Congrats"

"Thank you"

"Seen my brother around?"

"Oswald?" Jenny asked.

"Well, yeah I guess I should've been more specific"

"Yeah he's always around somewhere. I'm sure he'd be happy to see you"

There werent many people in the bar, people could come and go but there was certain requirements for entering Jenny's Public Drinkery. The crowd that day was mostly a few regulars like Sherlock Holmes a detective type with a deerstalker hat or Winnie the Pooh, a yellow-ish brown bear distinctly lacking any red shirts in fact he had burnt all his red shirts on the first day he arrived.

People found it to be odd but it wasn't uncommon for people to destroy something that symbolized their previous cosmic shackles that tethered them to the unseen forces beyond their control. They relished in their newfound freedom.

Besides those two there was Yrina, a blonde woman wearing odd looking pink clothes and blue gloves, like a flashy looking cosmonaut. She had arrived wet and disoriented and talking about sea monsters yet didn't elaborate.

"Mickey, cheers to your freedom. Cheers to all our freedoms" Yrina said, being already on her way to being drunk despite her only having been there for an hour or so. "Never take it for granted Mickey"

She proceeded to chug a huge mug of ale and slam the tankard down on the table, demanding a refill which Jenny obliged.

"Sorry about Yrina, she's a space pirate and her manners could use a bit work" Jenny whispered to Mickey.

Changing her volume she said: "You know Mickey, we were kind of not sure how this day would go. I was thinking of throwing a party for you with all your siblings and stuff. But I guess chatting to me and these three is your welcome party. Sorry about that"

"No ma'am its fine. You've been kind. I can mingle later on and this is nice. I do know Winnie, him and I go way back" Mickey raised his glass in the direction of Winnie and nodded.

"You're very kind to be there when folks like me break free. From what I've heard it can be disorienting and overwhelming and being here now I can vouch for that.

"Yeah that's why I built this place. I wanted to be there for everyone. To give them a welcome"

"How do you have time to greet all these people?"

"I'm Jenny Everywhere, I can handle more things than you can shake a stick at"

"You certainly made me feel welcome and at ease. I think I'll sit here for a while and take it in and then try to find Oswald"

He took off his hat and threw it in the garbage can next to him.

"Happy New Year everyone" Mickey cheered, met with equal enthusiasm from everyone there.

[blowflyfag]

HEARTBREAK HOTEL

So! I originally wrote this for a friend of mine, and i dont usually focus on fem readers but i wanted to indulge her :) this is probably my... longest fic??? so get ready for a read folks. It is i wrote very early on.. so if it’s not the best i apologize. I also apologize for how much i describe the outfit and such since i did make it for a specific friend. 

THIS IS AN 18+ FIC IF YOU ARE A MINOR DO NOT LOOK AT THIS PLEASE

anyways i hope you all enjoy it!!!

Your hands tugged slightly on the skirt you were wearing, hands clenching and uncleaning around the fabric as you sat on the plush red heart shaped bed. A palpable nerve in the air… the tall guy didn’t help much either, he was practically as tall as the doorway. Dressed in a black leather vest and pants and sunglasses even though the room was already dark enough. At least you thought it was. The way he kept adjusting his glove over and over caused a small pit of dread in your stomach, he could fucking snap you like a twig probably. You looked foreword to avoid him from seeing your own prying eyes and you glanced towards the open bathroom door. The only clear gleam of normal light coming from it, breaking up the dark red lights of the room you were in and showing the small fog of cigarette smoke that wafted from the bathroom. Hearing the humming from it revealed to you what waited for you… maybe we should go back a little.

You weren’t really… into wrestling. Sure you’d see it on tv every now and then, glance at a magazine in the store or hear others chat about it but you never really thought about it too much. However when the opportunity to see a showing of Monday Night Raw live presented itself to you? Well why not see what the fuss was about. And boy did you see what the fuss was about, it was… amazing! High flying action, people fighting. Hell someone even almost hit you from the metal gate. It was.. exhilarating! You found yourself quickly becoming a fan, Wrestlers like Double J, Yokozuna, you had a soft spot for heels… They were more interesting than the good guys! But your favorite bad guy… your favorite heel. Shawn Michaels.. he was many people's heart throb and the heartbreak kid maybe had you by the heartstrings. When showings weren’t happening in your town you'd find yourself rushing home to catch Monday Night Raw, just to possibly see the HeartBreak Kid.

But how did you end up in this cheesy love hotel? Well you and your friends decided to take a spontaneous trip. Las Vegas.. while you wouldn’t normally agree to it you had Paid Time off you needed to use and hey your friend offered for the ticket. Why not… and when you learned a showing of Monday Night Raw was happening at a theater near your hotel..? Well the two of you decided to go. It would be a fun memory! So there you two were at ringside, hooting and hollering as the match. You were dressed a bit nicer than usual. Your friend had spoken beforehand about how he knew someone who would be working at the event and could possibly slip the both of you backstage after it all to meet a few of your favorites! Maybe get an autograph signed luckily if possible but best to not push you luck too much. So you were dressed in a cute white top, a pale pink skirt and your favorite pink buckled shoes, walking in them could be a nightmare but god were they cute. The match was everything you could’ve wanted and more. Doink and Dink showed up to fight some new baby face, your friend got squirted by the flower Doink had on him, The Qubecers somehow won another match against the Smoking Guns but… that seemed to be a constant with how dirty they played.. and then the best part of the night show far. The familiar choir of woman’s moaning started and you let out an excited gasp. Shawn Michaels, with his bodyguard Big Daddy Cool Diesel making their way down the walkway and to the ring. The way he walked, the way he carried himself. God it was like being shot with Cupid’s bow and he was the first person you’d laid eyes on. You couldn’t deny that Diesel as well was a physical specimen to be gawked at. The embodiment of strength it seemed at some times, he reminded you almost of a Greek statue. As Shawn was doing his. “Glorified strip tease” to prepare for the match you watched the hat be flung in your direction. Excitedly you reached up to catch it in your grasp looking over to your friend with excitement evident in your face as you clung to the hat tightly in your grasp. For the match Shawn was going up against IRS. It was quite the match. Hell even Diesel walked by you guys for a moment to throw IRS back into the ring after Shawn had kicked him out. In the end Shawn won the match, dancing around as he did when he won that had you staring at every movement in awe.

Once the match had wrapped up you were grabbing your bag and looking towards the stairs before your friend grabbed you to motion for you to go back to your seat. “Hey. Remember what I said? My guy just needs us to wait for it to clear out a bit and then he’ll grab us ok? We just gotta wait.” He whispered to you and you nodded. Still holding onto the hat that had been flung at you with a giddiness in your soul. So you two sat, talking about the exciting match you had watched, your hopes for the next one you’d catch on tv before some came towards the gate. “Hey uh.. guys.” He seemed awkward… but this had to be the guy your friend had been talking about seeing how they got up to high five the guy. 

“Kenny! My man! You hooked us up right? We’re not gonna get you fired or anything?” Your friend asked and this Kenny shook his head. 

“Nahhh. The guys love meeting fans. ‘Specially the chicks.” Kenny said as he looked to you with a half smile. You offered your own weak smile back as you got up. Dusting yourself off before following him and your friend down the ramp, in a way following the footsteps so many wrestlers you were a fan of had. 

There was a bustle and commotion in the backrooms of the arena, staff walking by hurriedly to pack up stuff and others talking loudly on flip phones about… well you didn’t even know what. You stuck close to your friend as your heels clicked against the ground. You felt an excitement boiling and bubbling in your stomach that you couldn’t deny, you were actually gonna be face to face with wrestlers you liked! Who were you even going to talk to first… should you ask questions.. would you- your thoughts were cut off by your nudging you. “Hey. You lost in your mind again or something?”

“Huh..? Yeah I’m sorry! I’m just.. really excited.” You offered with a small giggle and Kenny chuckled.

“It’s no worry! I can imagine how exciting this is. So. Who you wanna see first… wait. Let me guess.” He said with a smirk. Glancing back to you and then down to the hat in your hand. “Could it beeeee… The Heartbreak Kid?” He asked and your eyes widened a bit. 

“Oh I wouldn’t want to be a burden! I know he was just in the ring and-“ Kenny cut you off abruptly. 

“Oh trust me. He’s not gonna mind if it’s you sweetheart.” Kenny snickered before looking at your friend and smirking. “Razor Ramon?”

“What! Am I that predictable?” They asked with a snicker before looking back to you. “Hey… you gonna be ok with them on your own and stuff..? I can always stay with you before I meet Razor and-“ now it was your turn to cut someone off.

“I’ll be fine.” You gave his arm a reassuring squeeze. “Promise. I’m a big girl.” You giggled and your friend rolled his eyes. Shoving you playfully before you both continued to follow after Kenny before he stopped at a door and rapped on it a few times. 

“Hey! You got a fan out here.” Kenny yelled through the door and you raised a brow as you heard what sounded like some stumbling before the door flew open. Shawn Michaels. Shawn Fucking Michaels was less then 3 feet in front of you. God he was even more beautiful up close. He looked at your friend first. Half expecting it to be him who wanted to meet him but your friend simply shook his head, motioning to you with a slight head movement.

You froze for a moment as the spotlight was put on you. You cleared your throat and smiled wide. Telling him your name as you took his hand to shake, except he didn’t. He pulled it to his mouth to place a chaste kiss upon it.. you nerves shot and you felt yourself let out a nervous giggle out of reflex, “you.. uh. Would you like this back?” You said as you offered the hat to him that he had thrown during the set. He looked at it before smirking towards you.

“If it’d make you happy you could keep it.” He offered and you let out a small hum of excitement. Looking at him with such admiration in your eyes.

Kenny cleared his throat as he clapped his hands together. “Alright. Perfect. Since you two are getting along so great. I’m gonna get our man here to his own meetup.” He said as he patted your friend on the chest and they rolled their eyes. 

“You sure you’re gonna be fine?”

“More than fine.” You offered as you went to give your friend a playful nudge. They chuckled and nodded. 

“Alright… just. Keep me in the loop alright?” They offered as you nodded excitedly and they scoffed before turning on their heel to follow after Kenny. You watched them walk off down the hall before feeling an arm wrap around your waist to pull you into their form.

“C'mon in. Be rude to leave you waiting out here in the cold.” Shawn said in a teasing tone that had you giggling like a dumb blond as you followed him into the locker room. He shut the door behind you once you had walked in. You looked around before stopping your movement, you noticed the large man near the locker, leaned against it as he pulled down his fingerless glove. Big Daddy Cool Diesel. Of course you knew him. He was Shawn’s bodyguard… of course he’d be here too.

“Big Daddy!” Shawn started enthusiastically as he placed his hands on your shoulders. “This is our friend (y/n)! She’s a real big fan.” He emphasized real, Causing you to offer a sheepish smile and small wave. 

“It’s very nice to meet you.” You started and only received a glance from over his shades before he looked back up. Shawn rolled his eyes and gave your shoulders a small squeeze. 

“Promise he’s more fun.. especially if we get him a bit warmed up. But what is it you want sweetheart? Photo? Autograph? What can Shawn Michaels do for you?” He asked effortlessly. As if it was a routine he had done a hundred and one times before.. or he was just a charming devil. 

What.. Did you even want out of Shawn Michaels. I mean. You knew what you wanted. But you feared saying that would leave you being hauled away by security and banned from any more shows. You have a nervous smile as you shrug your shoulders. “I’m sorry I just.. I’m very excited to be here right now. It's hard to think straight.” You admitted  and Shawn chuckled slightly. “

Oh I completely understand. I would be in awe in front of the Heartbreak Kid as well.” 

Humble didn’t seem to be a word in Shawn’s dictionary. So for a while you stayed there. Absentmindedly talking about the match, other wrestlers, upcoming events that maybe you shouldn’t have been let on… but the insider knowledge did make you feel special. As the time kept ticking however Shawn eventually stretched. “Say. You got anywhere to be tonight?” He offered and you quickly shook your head.. what. It was only 11:30… and Vegas never seemed to sleep. “How about you come out with me and Diesel tonight? Make you feel real special. We’ll give you the work around.” He offered as he sprung up from his seat on the bench. Going towards the locker to slip his jacket on. 

“Are you sure it won’t be a hassle? I don’t want to be any trouble getting back to my hotel and-“

“You can stay the night with us! It won’t be a burden at all!” Shawn interrupted you as he wrapped a hand around your shoulders to pull you close causing you to giggle. What the hell… why not. When would you ever have this chance again! 

So here you were. After a night of being driven around by a taxi driver to see the lights and sights you found yourself in their hotel room… one bed. An obnoxious heart shaped bed that seemed less and less practical as you thought it over, that red wallpaper, and the smell. A smell of sex that never seemed to have fully escaped the room. Your grip tightened on your skirt as you glanced towards Diesel once again. He himself seemed a bit annoyed by Shawn’s… insistence on fixing himself up... but it had been what. 15 minutes now? But just as you thought it over Shawn came out of the bathroom with that lopsided smile that looked perfect on him. 

“So sorry to keep you waiting sweetheart.” He said with a somewhat sincere tone. Leaning close to bringing your chin up to meet his gaze before glancing at Diesel. “Diesel! Least you could’ve done was warm the lady up bud. Last thing we’d want is for a fan to be uncomfortable right?” He asked with a cocked brow and Diesel grumbled something as he turned his head to the side. 

“Is… is he gonna stay in here during… this?” You asked and Shawn let out a small hum.

“Oh Baby.” He began before smiling. 

“We’re a package deal.” He said before bringing your lips to meet his. His kiss was needy. Desperate almost as his hands went to rest on your hips to pull him closer to him. Your own hands went to reach up to cup his face. A kiss that sent electric shocks through your body. It distracted you enough that you didn’t feel the bed dip from behind you, only feeling the sensation of large hands on your thighs and lips attaching to your neck. You let out a small gasp at the new sensations allowing for Shawn to deepen the kiss with you.

You were practically sandwiched between the two. Your wildest dreams finally coming true this very night. Your hands moved to grasp Shawn’s hair. Giving it a small tug which caused a small whine from him that sent shivers down your spine. Diesel’s hands gripped your thighs a bit tighter before the grip loosened as his hand slowly trailed up to the hem of your shirt. Shawn pulled away from the kiss leaving you panting for air as you raised your arms to help Diesel get you top off. You watched as it was thrown halfway across the room practically before watching as Shawn began to shimmy off the jeans he had been wearing, making a bit of a show out of it.. like he did with everything. However your attention was dragged around as you felt a large hand on your face. Directing you to look to the side where you were met by Diesel who continued where Shawn had left off. Kissing you deeply as his hand slowly trailed down your stomach towards the hem of your skirt. You quickly went to help. Sliding the fabric down your waist to leave you in only your undergarments. Diesel moved to slide his hand inside your underwear, large hands quickly finding that sensitive little Nub that had your hips bucking foreword. 

“We’ve got a lively one huh?” Shawn teased with a wolfish smirk before sinking to his knees in front of you. “Works perfectly for me. I knew you’d warm her up just fine Diesel! Just next time.. why don’t you do it while I’m getting ready Hm? Don’t want it to be awkward for our company.” Shawn raised a brow before pulling your underwear down your leg and smiling wide at the prize presented to him. Diesel rubbing and teasing your clit, having you moan wildly into his mouth, Shawn quickly moved forward to latch onto your weeping cunt, licking eagerly which had you pulling away to cry out in pleasure. Legs shaking before Diesel set his free hand on one.

“Cmon. You can take it. You were doing so well!” His tone was almost teasing as his fingers kept circling your clit, having your stomach knot and coil. Your hands quickly went to grip the leather of Diesel’s pants and you cried out. Honestly the barrage from both of them had you cumming almost instantly, your back arching as you cried out in pleasure. Shawn pulled away from your pussy with a smile on his face. Wiping his lips before looking to Diesel who also withdrew his hand from your clit as he patted your thigh. His gaze met Shawn’s which had a playful nature to it. Holding his hand out expectantly in a fist, Diesel quickly followed suit as well.. were… were they really playing rock paper scissors? Rock beats Scissors, Diesel had won the game. Shawn rolled his eyes. “Best of Thre-“

“Shawn. You said it yourself. We’ve kept the poor girl waiting long enough.” Diesel smirked as he patted your thigh and Shawn relented. 

“Right right. How selfish of me.” He cooed as he tussled your hair before moving back towards the top of the bed. Diesel helped you shift to your stomach. Rubbing a small circle into your lower back before pulling away. Shawn himself sat expectantly. Legs spread as he looked at you with a smile. “You still got energy in you pretty girl?” He asked as he went to place a hand on your head. You nodded before moving a bit closer to take his cock in your mouth, savoring it for a moment before beginning to bob your head slowly along the length, shawn tilted his head back. Letting out a small sigh as he closed his eyes and tightened the grip on your hair. “That’s it sweetheart…. You’ve got it.” He encouraged. But you were brought out of the bubble abruptly.

You felt a heat prodding at your entrance. Big. That was the first thing that came to mind, big, hot, heavy. You glanced back to see Diesel Aligning himself. Teasing a bit with long drags against your pussy that would occasionally graze your clit causing a small whine that caused a groan from Shawn. “Diesel… whatever you’re doing don’t fuckin stop man…” Shawn said before looking to his bodyguard who smirked before finally inserting himself. Your legs shook ever so slightly as he did, back arching as you went to pull away from Shawn to let out a moan. Diesel filled you up in all the right spots, as if he was made perfectly for you. They both were. You almost were sure this was a dream. This couldn’t be possible. But Shawn quickly brought you back to the moment as he cupped your face with one hand. 

“Thought you said you had it in you.” He teased and you gulped. Whining for a moment as Diesel worked on pounding into you. You gripped the sheets tightly before you sunk your head down back to Shawn’s length to continue your earlier work, bobbing your head up and down, running your tongue along his stupid pretty cock. No wonder he was always so showy about it.. about himself. He was an enigma almost, a modern day Dionysus. You moved your hands to grip Shawn’s thighs instead, it helped you feel a bit more grounded in a sense… 

Diesel’s thrusts into you had you seeing stars, he could be so brutal with his grip around your waist… his hands were huge. But it was a good brutal. The kind of brutal you’d think back oh and go man. That was a wild night… 

You pulled away from Shawn’s length for a moment to catch your breath. Your hand going to take the place of your mouth, it was well lubed up enough at this rate, you quickly began to move your hand up and down the length. Looking up to Shawn with pretty doe like eyes. 

“A-am I doing good..?” You asked with a smile. You knew you were doing good. You placed his tip to your ginge as you kept your hand movements going, Shawn gritted his teeth slightly as his hands gripped your hair. 

“Fuck… fuck yeah you’re doing good just..” he let out a small groan, it didn’t take long before he had come undone and was spewing into your mouth. You quickly wrapped your mouth around the tip to try to catch as much as you could, hand still working to pump what was left into your mouth. Once it was over and you pulled away from him, his head slumped as he panted. “Jesus sweetheart…” he began with a smile before looking at you, his eyes softening as he watched Diesel work. Pounding into with a vigor that he had experienced himself. Shawn took his time reaching over towards a heart shaped ashtray to start a smoke for himself,  he might as well enjoy the show. Diesel had hiked one of your legs up to get deeper inside, if that was even possible but you seemed to be enjoying it with the way your eyes rolled back and hands dug into the sheets as if at any moment they’d disappear from under you. It didn’t take long before that coil in you snapped once again causing you to spiral and cry out as you came against Diesel’s length, before Diesel himself finished he pulled out abruptly to furiously rub himself to finish. He ended up spraying his load on your stomach as he panted slightly. Looking down at you before fixing himself to put himself back in his pants.

The rest of the night was a blur. To fucked out of your mind to clearly recall but you remembered bits and pieces, heart shaped bathtub, Shawn and Diesel kissing, how comfy the bed was once you were under the covers… no wonder you passed out so quickly… and when you awoke you were on your own. You looked around for a moment before rubbing your hips.. Diesel had done a number on you. On the bedside table sat a tray.. someone must’ve called room service for you before leaving… it made you feel. Nice that they had thought of that for you. Your clothes were neatly folded and set on one of the chairs with your bag, and the hat on top, and near the tray you noticed a little piece of paper.

‘Call me if you ever need some good fashion lovin~’ 

The flowy handwriting and number made you feel giddy… he left you his number. Shawn Michaels left you his number. You quickly went to put the piece of paper in your bag. Stumbling a bit to get there but once you did your phone began to ring. You stared at the number for a moment before picking up.

“Hey! I was wondering when you’d pick up!” Your friend's voice rang out and you smiled. 

“Sorry just… slept in. That’s all.”

“Slept in. Uh huh. Yeah sure I totally believe it.” They teased, causing you to giggle. 

“Oh whatever… how’d it go last night with Razoooor Ramon.” You said in your own teasing tone and you could hear the snicker from the other line. 

“Oh it went just fine. I won’t get into the nitty gritty… but where are you at? I want to make sure I don’t lose you.”

“I’m at the heartbreak hotel.” You could practically hear your friends gasp in realization at what your night had been like. You snickered, telling your friend to give you a little to get ready before you’d be ready to go…

[prince-rowan-of-the-forest]

silly soulmate au prompt: the characters can see all colors except for the one of their soulmates eyes until they meet them? (from @virgeandhis-pocket-protector)

@virgeandhis-pocket-protector hi :)

Over The Rainbow (1/4) - Patton

-----

Reds oranges and pinks almost always took centre stage in his drawings and paintings - after all, they were the only colours Roman could see, but the backgrounds were always made up of shades of grey - for him - that would be bright, vibrant colours for everyone else. They represented how he saw the world, and being honest… Roman was a little scared for it to change.

Later on, he would wonder why he worried.

He saw blue first.

----

| Ao3 | Next Chapter -> |

Fic Warnings: Nothing overarching aside from Remus being himself - any chapter-specific warnings will be in the notes.

Pairings: DLAMP, platonic creativitwins.

Notes:

This one got away from me a little and now I have a whole college/soulmate au. oops?

I've sat down and written almost 5k in one session... oops???

Anyway, this is eventual DLAMP! Each chapter we get a new soulmate added to the pile :))

I really hope you enjoy!

----

Roman couldn’t see colour. 

That was a common soulmate tell, and he knew it was a soulmate tell and not regular colourblindness because he coud see pink and red just fine. 

What was odd about Roman was just how many colours he couldn’t see. 

He’d been drilled enough by his family and friends - and even a colourblind specialist to make sure this wasn’t just regular colour blindness - to determine which colours he couldn’t see, which was… most of them.

They’d determined he must have at lest two soulmates - if both of them happened to have heterochromia - or at lesat five if they didn’t. There was always the chance for there to be more than that, considering many people had the same eye colours. Though having five was rare enough anyway. Even having two soulmates was rare enough. 

Roman didn’t know how to feel about it. Not entirely. 

He was excited to meet his soulmates - of course he wss! He was Roman, for goodness sake, he wrote romantic poems in hopes that he might recite them to his soulmates whenever he was to meet them. He read romance novel upon romance novel that included soulmates meeting in wondrous ways, he was so excited to meet them. 

Especially the ones with Violet and Yellow eyes, because those certainty weren’t common eye colours - hell, even the doctor had been surprised - by the yellow especially, since purple was at least possible if not rare. 

So yes, as Roman prepared to move states for college, he was excited to find his soulmates. 

But he had also… struggled. 

Roman was an artist. People told him he had a talent with pencils and paints. He loved putting paint down on a canvas, creating shapes and patterns with his brushes - and he’d found a way to make colourblindness almost part of his brand. 

Reds oranges and pinks almost always took centre stage in his drawings and paintings - after all, they were the only colours Roman could see, but the backgrounds were always made up of shades of grey - for him - that would be bright, vibrant colours for everyone else. They represented how he saw the world, and being honest… Roman was a little scared for it to change. 

Later on, he would wonder why he worried. 

He saw blue first. 

—

In college Roman was sharing a dorm room with his twin brother. He’d considered when applying that rooming with a stranger might be a good idea - a way to make a friend, or maybe even meet a soulmate if he was lucky - but in the end he’d backed out. He was glad Remus was coming to college with him, and while he was near certain that sharing a bedroom with his brother wasn’t going to be amazing, it would be… better, than a complete stranger. 

He’d immediately gone about applying for jobs on campus - god knows he needed the money - and that’s where he’d come across Blue, or as he now knew them, Patton. 

It was a rather sunny Saturday morning, and he’d been invited to a campus cafe for an interview after he’d submitted his application a few days ago. The place was nice - Roman had no idea if the walls were actually grey, or if they were just painted a colour he couldn’t see, but it was nicely decorated and smelled like fresh coffee and spice - as a coffee shop should. 

The person behind the counter was currently wiping down the espresso machine - the morning rush had died down by now so the shop wasn’t so busy. They had curly hair that brushed their jaw in a pale grey - Roman couldn’t know what colour it really was, but he suspected blonde from the lightness. They were turned away from him now, but Roman couldn’t help but still think they were pretty.

“Excuse me?” Roman said as he approacthed the counter, “I have a job inter- holy shit!”

“Language!” The person with sparkling blue eyes seemed to say almost on instinct, before gasping in surprise, “You’re orange!” 

“What- oh! Yes! You’re blue!” Roman said, face breaking into a bright smile as he blinked his amber eyes, “And so are the walls in here, oh my goodness!”

The barista - who’s nametag read ‘Patton’ leant across the counter, reaching for him, and Roman stepped closer to take his hands, “This is amazing! I didn’t expect to meet you here - oh! I’m Patton, um, I’m majoring in children’s education, and, uh, uh, what else? Well obviously I work in this shop-”

Roman chuckled, “Easy there - I’m sure we can get to know each other properly soon? I’m Roman, uh- do you have a napkin?”

“Yes, why?” Patton asked, passing him a napkin, on which Roman wrote down his name and phone number in sparkly red gel pen - he carried it everywhere, just in case. 

“I have a job interview I really need to get to,” Roman said, “But here, take this, and we’ll get coffee soon, yeah?”

“Absolutely! Oh I’m so excited - wait - you’re the guy here for the job interview? Oh my gosh I’m so sorry! I’ve made you late!”

Roman shook his head, “No worries, really, I’m actually quite glad about this particular distraction.” 

He winked and then grinned as he watched Patton’s face go red as they started spluttering, before shaking their hands and giggling. 

“I’ll um, I’ll be back with the manager,” Patton squeaked, before running out of a side door in about three seconds flat. Roman couldn’t help but chuckle, unable to keep the grin off of his face - he’d met the first one of his soulmates! Oh he couldn’t wait to tell Remus about this!

��

“So,” Patton said, elongating the vowel as they leant forward to look at Roman, who laughed. They’d gotten coffee as promised, but decided to take a walk through the campus instead of sitting to drink it, “Have… you met any of the others yet?”

Roman took a sip from his coffee, smiling at Patton before looking up at the bright blue sky - Roman hadn’t been able to stop staring at the sky since he’d met Patton, he’d probably painted it enough to make anyone else bored of seeing it by this point. 

“Not yet,” Roman answered with a wistful sigh, “I wonder if we share them all?”

“Id hope we do!” Patton said, nearly hopping with optimism, “I mean, I know some poly people prefer like - relationship chains, but I like it when everyone’s dating everyone, so that would be my ideal - you?”

“Oh same, I think I’d get jealous if my partners were dating people I wasn’t also dating,” Roman nodded, “So we’re still looking for… maybe four people?”

“I still can’t see green, purple, brown or yellow,” Patton said, bouncing on the balls of their feet as they walked, “Oh I can’t wait to see how pretty rainbows are! Or the grass! I’ve been told the grass and trees look lovely.”

Roman couldn’t help but smile at the other’s excitement, “Me too-! I really want to make a big painting symbolising all of us once we’ve all met - using all the colours properly.”

“You paint?” Patton gasped, grabbing Roman’s arm with one hand to stabilise themself as they almost tripped, “That’s so neat! I’m so awful at art.”

“I do!” Roman nodded, before glancing up at the sky as he got another idea… for later, “I’m sure you’re not that bad?”

“I am,” Patton chuckled, “I am that bad, thanks for trying to reassure me, though.”

Roman shook his head, “Maybe I can show you some things.”

“Maybe!” Patton grinned, “That could be fun! Oh - what’s your major?”

Immediately, Roman brightened, “I’m doing theatre, with minors in creative writing and illustration.”

“Wow!” Patton gasped, “That’s a lot! You look happy with it! Are you in the theatre club? I know my roomie Remy is part of it.”

“You’re roommates with Remy?” Roman asked, shocked, “I’m genuinely surprised you’re still sane.”

“Awee c’mon, he’s not that bad,” Patton waved a hand, “I take it that’s a yes?”

“Yeah! I’ve only been to one meeting so far though.” Roman grinned, “But Remy already seems like… he had a lot of character.”

“You can say that again,” Patton giggled, “Okay - next question…. Hmm…. thoughts on cats?”

—

“Hello, I’m-”

“Patton, the soulmate Ro’s been raving about nonstop the past two weeks to the point where I actually went outside to sleep in the dumpster, yea, I know who you are,” Roman’s twin brother interrupted Patton, his giggles counteracting the words, “Not that I wouldn't’ve done that anyway.”

“Remus!” Roman hissed, “You’re gonna scare him off!”

Remus rolled his eyes, “I’m not gonna censor myself for your fucking soulamte-”

“Language-”

“-If Patty here can’t handle me he doesn’t deserve you,” Remus continued as though Patton hadn’t even spoken, he walked over and plopped down on his messy bed, “So, have you two sucked face yet or what? Any kinky shit?”

“ Remus! ” Roman cried as Patton squeaked and covered their face to hide the dark blush, Roman did nothing to hide the equally vivid blush on his own face, “ No! ”

“Awee that sucks,” Remus huffed, “What have you two even been doing if you haven’t fucked yet? It’s been like - a month.”

Roman just sighed, “Patton, you don’t have to listen to him.”

“It’s- it’s okay,” Patton said, chuckling awkwardly, “Um, yeah, it’s uh, it’s nice to meet you, Remus.”

“Wow!” Remus grinned, “This guy really is resilient! Maybe he does like you after all, Ro!”

“Of course I like Roman!” Patton yelped, “We just - we wanna wait for a relationship to happen naturally, because being a soulmate doesn’t mean you have to rush into a relationship - and besides, we still have others to meet! I don’t want them to feel left out!”

Remus made a gagging noise before rolling his eyes at Roman, “You really had to find the sunshine one first? Not like - I dunno, someone cool?”

Roman just sighed, “Patton I’m so sorry.”

“It’s okay!” Patton giggled, winking at Roman before bounding over to sit on Roman’s bed across from Remus, “So, you wanna hear about the time I beat up a kid outside a Denny’s in highschool?”

“ Do I! ” Remus gasped, grinning and leaning forwards so far that Roman thought he might fall off of his bed - he seemingly pulled a bag of popcorn from… somewhere as Patton began to explain and Roman could already tell that they’d won Remus over with this one. 

Roman couldn’t help but sit down at his desk to listen intently too.

Apparently, the kid in question had been in Patton’s year - a junior, at the time - and had been bullying a few freshmen Patton had been decent friends with at the time. Somehow, Patton defending the kids had gone far enough that they ended up fighting the kid outside a Denny’s at night - and winning, mind you. The kid hadn’t done much bullying after that. 

they’d become something of an older brother figure to the younger teens in highschool - with the teachers not wanting to do anything about reported bullying, someone had to step in. Honestly, Roman was impressed by the dedication that Patton seemed to have for taking care of people.

“That,” Roman said once Patton had finished their story, face a flustered red, “Was…. so unexpected.”

“Not bad, though, right?” Patton asked, worried, “I mean - maybe I should’ve have gotten physical-”

“No man!” Remus interrupted, “That’s so fucking cool, dude, how the hell did you win a fight like that? You look like a breeze could knock you over!”

“Oh, well, I uh, I did a lot of sports as a kid - swimming, gymnastics, some soccer,” Patton listed, “So I got pretty strong, and my mums made sure I knew self defense just in case…”

“That is awesome ,” Roman grinned, “I’m glad our soulmates can count on us to protect them!”

“Aboslutely!” Patton nodded rapidly, “I wouldn’t let anyone hurt any of you!”

“Hear hear,” Roman nodded.

“If anyone hurts either of you I will rip their throats out,” Remus cackled, “With my teeth .”

“Glad to know you got our backs, buddy,” Patton said, giving Remus a thumbs up.

Yeah, Roman thought, t his might work out alright after all. 

---

tags: @full-of-roman-angst-trash @reptilianrapscallion420 @your-local-random-dino @cutebisexualmess @glacierruler @roseianxiety @bella-bugatti-frogetti-baguetti

| Ao3 | Next Chapter -> |

[slytherinshua]

ZANNA FIRST OF ALL CONGRATS!!! YOU DESERVE THIS AND SO SO MUCH MORE IM VERY PROUD OF YOU <333

second of all you’re in for a ride BC I ACTUALLY NEVER REQUESTED ANYTHING AND NOW ITS MY TIME TO RETURN THE FAVOUR HEHEHEHEH

okay!! first thing that came to my my mind was 22 && 24 from fluff and 18 from action with wonwoo or seungcheol (svt)!! bc i love my man nonu but also cheol is on my mind 24/7 these days… so it’s up to you (besides i don’t think you wrote something for cheol yet!! :D)

MWAH LOVE U AND HAVE FUN <33

WALK IN THE WOODS

genre. fluff. sm fluff. warnings. a lot of blushing and a kiss. pairing. seungcheol x fem!reader. wc. 616. a/n. tysm axe ilysm!! i went with cheol cause i liked him w this idea * haven't written anything for him yet like you said ❤️ like help hes so bf and i'm crying this is so cute 😭 hope you like it!!

It was a snowy day, and just standing by a door brought a small chill to your body. But, you had wanted to go on a walk in the woods since you had woken up - specifically one with your boyfriend. And once you had both eaten lunch, you put on your boots and prepared to walk in the snow regardless of the weather.

“Are you sure you don’t want to grab your coat? Won’t you be cold?” He asked, grabbing his own coat and putting it on. You shook your head, thinking you would be fine in just your sweater.

“My coat would be too hot, I’m fine in just this.” You reasoned, stepping out the door with Seungcheol following behind you. You grabbed his hand, striding along the path to the woods beside your house happily. You looked down at your boots and Seungcheol’s, matching up your steps so that they were in time with his. It was these little things with him that made you smile the most. 

You had been walking for about 5 minutes when you shivered slightly, and it didn’t go unnoticed by your boyfriend. He didn’t say anything, only telling himself in his head ‘I knew she would be cold’. But when you shivered again not 2 minutes later, he fought back a smile and turned to you.

“Are you cold?”

“No.” You shook your head, knowing he wouldn’t fall for it. It had been a bit colder than you had expected, but you had said you would just wear your sweater so confidently at the door that you would be embarrassed to admit you were cold now.

“Sweetheart, your hand is freezing.” He laughed, holding up your still intertwined hands for you to see how red your hand was compared to his. 

You sighed, “Fine, you win. I guess I’m a little cold…”

“Here.” He took his hand back from yours for a second to take his coat off, leaving it colder than it was before. He placed his coat on your shoulders lovingly, booping your red nose while he was at it. “You’re like Rudolph.” He giggled, and that only made your face turn redder from the shyness. 

He offered his hand back to you, placing the intertwined hands in your (his) coat pocket to keep them warmer. You swung your arm back and forth softly, looking away from Cheol and at the scenic woods around you. 

While your attention was towards the trees, your boyfriend’s attention was fully on you. Specifically, how cute you looked with his puffy winter coat on. He couldn’t help blushing from it - you were just too adorable for him to handle, and his heart was beating faster from the sight already.

You looked back at him, sparkling eyes and soft smile displayed on your face and he felt like he was going to melt right into the snow. You tilted your head slightly, a smile growing as you looked at his cute pink cheeks which you assumed were from the cold.

He looked away from you and exhaled, breath fogging up from the cold, “You wearing my clothes should be illegal. You look too cute in them.” He admitted softly, glancing back at you with a shy smile. 

“Really?” You stepped forward a bit, and his cheeks turned even redder. You stared into his eyes - and if anybody were to look at your face, they would be able to tell that you were hopelessly in love. 

“Don’t look at me like that… it makes me want to kiss you.” He whispered.

“What’s stopping you then?” You dared, and he barely wasted a second, closing his eyes and connecting his lips with yours.

↳ svt taglist: @kangtaehyunzzz,, @yeonjuns-bluehair,, @syrxiee2,, @ddenoudepression

[aelyxmagnus]

S+N=PL: A tinfoil read of the pink letter

Recently, this line in Varamyr’s prologue in ADWD was brought to my attention:

One by one they fell behind or forged ahead, making for their old villages, or the Milkwater, or Hardhome, or a lonely death in the woods. Varamyr did not know and could not care. I should have taken one of them when I had the chance. One of the twins, or the big man with the scarred face, or the youth with the red hair.

Who are these people Varamyr could have taken? Why would George give us descriptions of those people? Why have Varamyr remember these people specifically? Why have Varamyr remember anything about the people when he’s fucking starving and malnourished and delusional?

Because they’re going to be important later.

While I have some ideas on who “The twins” and “The youth with the red hair” are, in this post I’m going to be focusing on “the big man with the scarred face”.

A big man with a scarred face, now, who could that be?

Sandor motherfucking Clegane of course!

I can already hear you saying “But he’s at the quiet Isle! He can’t be in the north!”, but as is shown in this revolutionary new timeline by @jozor-johai , our timeline of a lot of the events, especially those in the north, is wrong, so it is possible Sandor took a ship to the north soon after Brienne left (or maybe during Brienne’s stay since the last time she sees him is when she has lunch in the septry). Cat’s skiff got from White Harbor to KL in a week or so, so it is completely possible Sandor went North and reached there a few months after the battle on the wall.

Ok, you say, He might be in the north, but what could that mean for the plot?

Why, because it means he sent the pink letter, of course.

The new timeline shows that Jon’s assassination took place a full month before Theon and Jeyne escape, so none of the suspects, other than maybe Stannis could have any reason to send the letter.

So the pink letter:

Bastard, Your false king is dead, bastard. He and all his host were smashed in seven days of battle. I have his magic sword. Tell his red whore. Your false king's friends are dead. Their heads upon the walls of Winterfell. Come see them, bastard. Your false king lied, and so did you. You told the world you burned the King-Beyond-the-Wall. Instead you sent him to Winterfell to steal my bride from me. I will have my bride back. If you want Mance Rayder back, come and get him. I have him in a cage for all the north to see, proof of your lies. The cage is cold, but I have made him a warm cloak from the skins of the six whores who came with him to Winterfell. I want my bride back. I want the false king's queen. I want his daughter and his red witch. I want this wildling princess. I want his little prince, the wildling babe. And I want my Reek. Send them to me, bastard, and I will not trouble you or your black crows. Keep them from me, and I will cut out your bastard's heart and eat it. Ramsay Bolton, Trueborn Lord of Winterfell

Why send the letter? To bring Jon south of course and hopefully draw Ramsay away, the original spearwife plan was originally to rescue Jeyne when the armies were outside battling, but they had to abandon that plan when no army came after a month and do the next best thing.

One of the first things you notice on your first read of the letter is the repetition of Bastard, and since it makes no sense for Ramsay to write it, it must be some other character who wrote it, and who do we know in the series who loves to curse? Sandor. He might have changed a lot on the quiet isle but cursing a hard habit to drop.

Sandor probably really does think of Stannis as a false king with no claim, since it’s unlikely he knew about the twincest considering he spends most of his time in KL around Joffrey or being a regular Lannister guard. He also probably became more religious at the quiet isle and genuinely despises Stannis for turning to R’hllor.

So how does he know about the spearwives? Because he’s in winterfell of course. My guess would be he went to Eastwatch after his original ship crashed north of the wall and managed to smuggle himself on a ship and go to White Harbor, where he went into Wyman’s service, maybe he even went and specifically told Wyman about his mission to rescue Arya, and since most people in the North haven’t seen the hound before, it’s unlikely they would know who he was, or even think about it, considering the rumors that he’s around Saltpans. Only the Freys might know him, being from farther south, but they probably wouldn’t pay attention to a random Manderly guard.

Why would the spearwives let Sandor know who they are? Because Mance recognized him from his previous visit to Winterfell. This would also explain why grrm retconned Mance into winterfell in asos.

Why would Mance trust Sandor? He’d probably do what he did with Theon and have the spearwives bring him and interrogate Sandor, Mance is a pretty good judge of character

As for ‘your false king’s friends are dead’, Sandor from what he knows of Stannis thinks that Stannis has no friends, so he’s just having a jape, something he does continuously through the letter.

Sandor has also become far more religious at the quiet isle, so he thinks of all other religions (except the old gods) as false and sorcerous. His experience with the BwB also put his opinion of red priests down, making him call Mel a red witch.

How did Sandor send the letter? Probably with Wyman’s help, or maybe there’s a dead maester who’s gone missing in all the chaos at winterfell. As for the signature pink wax, the quiet isle does have some trade, so the most likely scenario some ship carrying sealing waxes for trade came and Sandor asked the elder brother to buy him the pink one because it reminded him of the girlish stuff Sansa likes, along with kinda resembling the color of the weirwood (remember that the first time Sandor saved Sansa was when she almost fell on the serpentine steps coming back from the godswood.). In fact, since none of ‘Ramsay’s’ letters have a seal, it’s actually been Sandor, with Wyman and Mance sending the letters.

But why? He obviously came to winterfell hearing of Arya’s marriage and to save her, but it must have been clear during the wedding and after that the girl was not Arya, but someone else, namely Jeyne Poole, Sansa’s close friend who was taken away from her.

Sandor clearly thinks of himself as Sansa’s ‘protector’, and his time at the quiet isle has probably made him take that role even more seriously, so when he sees that Sansa’s close friend has been married off to a raving lunatic who’ll ruin her, he’d immediately think of Sansa and decide to save Jeyne, since he doesn’t know the spearwives or Mance well, he’d definitely not tell them and jeopardize the rescue.

As for the line, ‘the skins of the six whores’, I think Sandor’s increasing religiosity has made him increasingly take a line against alcoholism, which is probably pretty common in wildling culture, so he made them give him their wineskins and turned that into a cloak.

But why hasn’t Theon seen him, you ask? Well, actually, he has:

Outside the snow was coming down so heavily that Theon could not see more than three feet ahead of him. He found himself alone in a white wilderness, walls of snow looming up to either side of him chest high. When he raised his head, the snowflakes brushed his cheeks like cold soft kisses. He could hear the sound of music from the hall behind him. A soft song now, and sad. For a moment he felt almost at peace.

Farther on, he came upon a man striding in the opposite direction, a hooded cloak flapping behind him. When they found themselves face-to-face their eyes met briefly. The man put a hand on his dagger. "Theon Turncloak. Theon Kinslayer."

"I'm not. I never … I was ironborn.""False is all you were. How is it you still breathe?"

"The gods are not done with me," Theon answered, wondering if this could be the killer, the night walker who had stuffed Yellow Dick's cock into his mouth and pushed Roger Ryswell's groom off the battlements. Oddly, he was not afraid.

He pulled the glove from his left hand. "Lord Ramsay is not done with me."The man looked, and laughed. "I leave you to him, then." -ADWD, The Ghost in Winterfell

‘False is all you ever were.’ We know Sandor’s dislike of lordlings and knights, thinking them false fakers who break vows easily, and he must’ve seen a lot of Theon while watching Joff in the yard and seen his shallowness.

Sandor’s parallel for Theon’s situation with the Starks is being saved by the Elder Brother, who has become his brother in all but biology to him, and he saw how good Theon had it with the Starks, so he thinks of Theon as a kinslayer.

There is also a moment of sympathy when he sees what has been done to Theon, seeing a bit of what he did to himself and turned himself into due to his hatred of Gregor.

Since Sandor came to Winterfell as a Manderly guard, it’s safe to assume he’s outside winterfell with the rest of the Manderly host, which might complicate Wyman’s defection to Stannis, because even if Stannis believes that he wasn’t involved in Saltpans (which is a pretty hard sell, especially since Wyman also has to convince Stannis that he didn’t kill Davos.), Sandor still deserted on the battle of the blackwater, and Stannis is not going to let desertion pass with no punishment, this is the dude who cut off Davos’ fingers after all. So Wyman will probably have Sandor mysteriously disappear and make it look like he deserted a few days before the defection. Most likely, Sandor will go to the wall to check what the fuck is going on and why Jon hasn’t come yet, which might mean he’ll be the one who reminds (or informs) Mel that she can resurrect people.

Tl;dr: Sandor sent the pink letter, and might be at the wall.

[stupidspidey]

AJR - Living Room

if you told me in 2013 that this was the absolute pinnacle of music and that it would get no better than this, chances are i would’ve told you “that’s nice, leave me alone creep” and went to go kick the shit out of my brother at Mario on the DS. Now if you told me now that these guys ended up being my favourite band, i’d probably give you the same response but i’d go play a Spider-Man game instead. Regardless, Living Room by AJR is just… not good, by any sense of the word realistically, don’t get me wrong it’s got its merits but holy fuck, it’s really hard to listen to. Now, i don’t want to be too unfair about this, believe it or not sitting here for a good 5 minute read yelling about how bad something is is REALLY undesirable in a review, and it’s even more undesirable since my girlfriend refuses to sleep with me because of it. (jk rose ily) So, i’m gonna take their advice from one of their next albums that came after this and well, skip to The Good Part, which unfortunately should only take me like, 20 lines, maximum, before i start either repeating myself or talking about how a line in “The World is a Marble Heart” is was reused as a backing vocal in “I Won’t” like, 10 years later.

The Good

My GOD, do these guys know how to write a decent line or few. Sure there’s a few “Thirsty, Thirsty, Thursdays!” in there but, every one of those is definitely made up for by the honestly-adorable Infinity or the surprisingly-hopeful My Calling, each lyric will either strike you as cheesy in a really cute way, or inspiring in a really dumb way, the album could honestly be mistaken as written about someone with how directed and loving each line feels from the start to the end and briefly sidestepping around at least 49.2% of each song. Big White Bed especially, but as i wrote that down all i could think to describe the song was “I love you… BITCH. I ain’t ever gonna stop loving you… BITCH.” from a vine like 10-or-so years ago. So, really, pretty appropriate for their timing on the albums release realistically. A really specific praise for the album but, i think the art itself is really pretty? something about it feels so real. Like, if you made an album with two of your brothers and basically pro-tools, a mic and a big idea (yeah, that’s a quote from one of the songs, Big Idea.) would you not just make the album art you all sat on the comfy family sofa in the middle of butt-fuck nowhere with your band name splattered on the wall in a nice deep red? I know i would if i could fit all 5 of my brothers onto one tiny-ass couch. Now unfortunately i can only realistically think of these two points for the positive part but, i will say this: Every track on this album, has thought behind it. It sometimes comes across as them just lobbing the entire processing power of a Windows 7 computer running pro-tools at you, but if you listen to the audio-commentary edition of the album (because, for some reason they made that?) it really is easy to tell the three of them had passion for the thing, especially seen in Jack’s (the J in AJR) enthusiasm about finally making it out of slummin’ it in the streets while his two way-fucking-taller brothers tap danced and sang, outside of his appearance in Pink Panther 2 and Sesame Street of course. (seriously, i’m deadass, look it up, he even has an iMDB page.) Now, unfortunately, on that point, i can’t realistically stay on the positives forever on this without ending up on some TikTok calling me a brainrotted liberal or some slur that hasn’t been unsealed since some crusty fucking 4channer woke up from his food comatose over a reddit girl with fat tits so, with that point.

The Bad

Ok right so, you know how i mentioned this was considered some sort of principle of music back then in 2013? Well guess what, motherfucker. I wasn’t even joking, the way people view Bruno Mars now is the way people viewed Living Room in 2013, though it was hard not to when their brain cells rubbed together and they decided the best way to promote their album was to tag every artist under the sun on gods green-motherfucking-earth and tell them to listen to it. Even then, the only one who listened really was Sia, and realistically what the fuck have you actually seen Sia do in the past like 5 years? This is a real question seriously please for the love of GOD tell me i have no idea past *Chandelier*. Anyway, enough of throwing Sia some strays (i’m sorry ma’am i’m sure there’s a grammy somewhere i didn’t bother googling), back onto Twenty-One Pilo— Coldplay— I mean, AJR. The album had passion behind it, don’t get me wrong here, but it is completely misplaced. The only way i can describe this is that, if this was the latest release around the time of E.T. for the Atari 2600? Music probably wouldn’t have survived past that either. Though realistically it was probably one of the better albums of that era since by then every other song was the most bassy-pile of “please dance to this” you’d ever seen, but i’m sure there’s someone still out there hitting the dab to fuckin’ The World is a Marble Heart, surely. The album itself had some pretty… interesting, approaches, but really you can only get around 30 seconds into the first song before that fucker starts yodelling? why the fuck is he yodelling? Regardless, no matter how many times you make a sequel to Turning Out or how many times you make some good shit like The DJ is Crying for Help, to those guys at TikTok? you’ll allwwaayyss be the guys who made Thirsty. You could get a treaty and a vulcan salute from half of space, but all those motherfuckers will still only know you for Thirsty. Personally? i’d be so fucking mad. I mean, you look to your left and Kanye has just dropped Yeezus, and what do you have to compete against that? a new national holiday celebrated exclusively by kids who get bullied at school, Thirsty Thursday, if i were them i wouldn’t have even made it to The Click without some sort of apology statement.

The Ending

Now, if i’m being completely real here. I can’t entirely slander Living Room, it’s got ideas, it’s got (marble) heart, and most importantly… It let Neotheater exist so… some good out of the bad right? Sure, for anyone else, unless you’re subconsciously subscribed to every single opinion on r/Music like some sort of absorption sponge. And just… in future, for anyone reading this, Include yodelling in your song and i will fucking SLICE you, not for poor mixing choices, not even for poor taste, but for reminding me that i sat here for an hour, and reviewed an album. Worst part? one out of five baby, i’m not down until i hear the fat lady sing, i’ve still gotta drop my useless thoughts for The Click, Neotheater, OK ORCHESTRA and *The Maybe Man. So, i’m gonna go out with a BANG! and by that? i mean get gunned down by the mexican cartel for even daring to include a good section in this slice of piss.

4/10 - Not enough yodelling really.

[seancamerons]

Hi, Brimi! What specific passion projects are you working on right now?

hey, good question here's a list!

(list is under the cut for answers)

starting with my writing. i started working on a story called faking It, a long fic, a few small short drabbles or shortfics, advancing older passion fic projects and requests from prompts which are usually short except an ambitious go of a story about fake dating and trauma, very teen movie esque or that was my intentions to play with.

the one i've been a busy bee with in this holiday season with others on the back burner or tinkering at, this is my like baby right now in terms of story. second, i'm doing holiday cards and holiday shopping while watching Christmas movies, eating Christmas cookies and writing this big longfic as some holiday hallmark vibe, home for the holidays heartwarming and fluffiest with some dark degrassi vibes and there you have, where are you now? loosely based on the song by britney spears, where emma is a star of britney, beyonce and taylor and the other pop girlies that is, in this universe. so like the female drake, but pop, upbeat girly anthems and pink pink pink, but her life is far from happy. the title comes from a song of the same album, albiet a deep cut a song that to me, i interpret fit too as if "where are you now?" is a story about someone she's much in love with, but for whatever reason there's nods to this in the story so it's a fitting title to me, because it harps about the grief behind a long love or loved one, but someone they can't shake they're living but they're also lost and they just want to know where they are, so they can feel closure by distance. boom.

it wasn't initally this much thought out, here's an inside story like I'm some episode of MTV cribs and stuff), like where i tell you all about how it came to be but I'll give you a brief synopsis.

taking it back to 2004, when i wrote my rough and i mean ROUGH idea. i used to think lyrics in songs were stories, beyond the music, behind the veneer of entertainment and i crafted and molded the characters with a general story of how they are in adulthood and what led them to the lives they live combined with the choices they made.

a difference with canon is craig and manning, the hosts of this holiday visit, and they all live together like full house the Jeremia-manning-santos household is a very chaotic but loving place to decvibe it. they're happy, frugal, average Canadian homebodies. they both have jobs, drive an escalade and craig has a vintage car in candy apple red with white interiors he keeps under lock and key a stuble nod to Ferris Bueller an 80's film, they all never really flew the coop but joey who plays a prominent grandfather to craig and manny's baby, who is now in 2023, an attractive mashup, a dark cloud sour puss who's been through some difficult times, grappling with grief and depression and headed for a breakdown and a fall from grace, a loss of innocence and a crisis of faith. stuck between a rock and hard place, craig and manny's daughter is unreachable, rebelling and internally screaming, but trying and failing to be 'perfect' for her mother and father, fighting them at every turn. it's my first go at a deeply flawed character who is blunt and honest. who has been through a lot in her life, despite having a loving family, but across the board. she's not popular, looks younger than she is, a late bloomer, innocent and smart, but doesn't apply herself or think much for herself. she is easily influenced by others and spouts out political commentary. She is average academically, nonremarkable, painfully realistic, or an attempt at a portrayal of someone like someone i know.

needless to say, i'm excited. it's something I'm committed too after having some writers block this year, i also was busy this fall and hard at work on even more passion projects. this is something i do before bed, to unwind. i work all day, and then if i have time i do edit and proofread. I'm not an expert or anything, i do the best i can and write what i feel or what compels or comes to me. i could type for HOURS and it doesn't phase me. i know i could use assistance knowing whats relevant to mention, but i think it's part of me and my charm to wordy, but does the job, natural speech trying to be a non partial narration, usually past tense and future stense or present is checked but third person with asides of course descriptive and stuff but that's the HARDEST PART is showing and not telling all the time.

to achieve that i do write montages or asides to achieve or speech or dialogue between characters or heavily imply through tones or describing but i try to make the believability more than canon because this is something i came up with while i wrote on the show BASED account and i toy with things that happen later. so for instance, craig and manny had a baby, but what are they happy now that she's older, no because they are passing ships in the night. unhappy but in a domestic partnership where they coexist but do their own thing, are more like roommates and less lovey-dovey on most occasions. I'm getting off track, but that's that story and I've been dying to talk about it since starting it in October and now I'm reaching the end of it and I'm actually going to miss this story that is a long time coming, almost 12 or 13 years ago i brainchilded this and only now getting to it. i think it's better than my rough draft a lot of changes were made and embellehsed and built upon.

i moved and relocated in mid-october, i've been slowly organizing and its been hard to make time but it's a pleasure to write. it really is. it feeds my need for semma to be happy, so in turn I'm happy and I'm itching to talk about it. my poor semma shipper boyfriend, he loves them, but i think it's because he knows i love it but he does really love them. so that's passion project one.

passion three, is the others such as faking it i mentioned before, is a fake au, where i was initially going with for the emma and jay summer romantic drama i wrote mostly during the pandemic being bored and even creating accompanying art work i vow to see through to my older projects and finish them out. i mean i have no excuse or whatever i should stop starting NEW fics but i am who I am.

passion 4 has nothing at all to do with writing and everything to do with graphic design my second love i love and design things, iykyk but i also like making passion projects like cd covers, alternative movie posters, fliers and online fandom graphics in various styles.

passion projects for example, i'm currently want to make myself a online store not like redbubble but for printables and art related stuff and where i can track commsions for people for paid art. i wanna monetize my art and design skills but its been awhile since college and i feel confident to try again with more gusto. so keep an eye out. my tagged posts are like where that is.

i make a lot of occasion cards in greetings and idk how to launch anything so I'm in the process of the grueling educating research to get my project off the ground and talk to others who are into the same things. i don't want a fandom specific store, multi fandom and interest store. maybe a few show related (another passion) or film alternatives.

cleaning and taking pride in myself has been a game changer, organizational furniture and decorating for both life and for holidayskeep me focused and excited for the day ahead and organization keeps things easy in the morning. so that's a difference, i prioritize and carve out time on sundays or during the week sometimes for maybe an hour to sift through and organize my items and keep things clean.

some ongoing personal resolutions and hopes to achieve or work on long term year round, such as bucket listed for in the new year list of 10 goals i hope to achieve.

continued weight loss goals from last year, making progress with, and managing health and wellness

2. hand drawing/lettering practices to improve

3. coloring more to give me something to do

4. quit smoking, again in 2024! start the holidays (potentially) smoke-free (ambitious, i hope i can!)

5. budget better/manage money and learn the difference of wants and needs, stop treatin' myself so much, because my budgeting needs work!

6. eat healthier

7. design more projects and try to generate interest and exposure in art-based community

8. spend time with friends and family, make time for people and alow to live in the moment

9. build an online presence/website/shop (see 7)

10. continue to focus when it doubt, on mental health self-care practices healthy communication, make good choices in trusting with care✨💌

[xoteajays]

forgotten snapshots

ship:  chishiya shuntaro x oc word count:  ~8 700 words ao3:  link. 

Chishiya and Haru go through a lot in the borderlands. It’s a shame they don’t remember any of it when they awake in the real world … but the feelings stay.

[ a short-ish series of scenes specifically between Chishiya and Haru (oc) across both seasons. I could’ve added more between Haru and the other characters but this is longer than I planned as it is. ]

* haru’s king of hearts game is briefly mentioned but not expanded on because i wrote a whole other fic on that. i’ll post it another time or you can find it on my ao3 just don’t read the second chapter.

** reblogs, likes, and comments appreciated!!

She’s interesting from the start.

The first time Chishiya sees her, she’s being hauled into the executive’s meeting room, held up against Aguni’s side. Her hair’s falling in her face, her expression is pained and exhausted, and she’s stumbling on her feet. Her hair is silvery, obviously bleached, but it must have been a while since it was retouched if the darker regrowth blending into the highlighted parts is anything to go by.

The militant leader is obviously protective of her, his eyes intense when he knocks into the room. He’d avoided the meetings most days - even with Hatter trying to persuade him - but it seemed he didn’t care about any of it now.

“Danma,” He says sharply, still at the doorway. It’s the first time Chishiya’s heard Hatter’s real name used.

“Aguni, how nice of you to finally joi-“ Hatter cuts off there, frozen on his half-stepped turn. His eyes fall on the girl, a softening tone of recognition crossing his features. “Haru.”

Thrown back into motion, Hatter crosses the room in quick long strides, gathering her face up in his hands. Her own hands fumble up to settle comfortably around his wrists and Chishiya notes the redness ringing her wrists. He’s unsurprised that she must have been cuffed somehow. The militants did have their cruel ways of bringing people in.

He can’t hear all of what they’re saying, but he gets most. Hatter asks what’s wrong with her, Aguni answers (some militant had gotten punchy with her when she’d defended another recruit, Aguni had dealt with him).

A few short minutes later, Chishiya watches her hand dig into her jacket pocket, coming back out with a duo of cards. He can only see half of the giddy grin that crosses Hatter’s face before he’s pressing that giddiness into a kiss against the girl’s - Haru’s - bang-covered forehead. Hatter takes the cards, turning back to the small group of executives.

“Ace of Space, Three of Diamonds,” he says, grinning and giving a small shake of the cards he holds up.

Aguni, still standing there and holding Haru steady, bristles under the comment but says nothing. His anger is palatable, but Hatter doesn’t seem to notice. Wordless, he walks Haru out of the room.

The next time he sees her, it’s in the halls. She’s bikini-donning under the rules of The Beach, and he notices the purple of a fist-sized bruise high on her soft gut. Besides that, he can see the smooth pinkness of a rather large burn scar over her elbow and forearm, peeking out from her haori sleeve as she adjusts it while she walks along.

Ever the attentive one, he watches a black-and-blue militant flinch away and keep his distance from her, and he sees the accompanying bruising over Aguni’s knuckles.

There’s a flickering of over-protection in the leader’s expression as Haru gets closer. The militants stand a little more at attention, their gazes turn away from her, like dogs being told ‘no’ about a dinner they were eyeing. Aguni asks if she’s okay as she passes. She nods in response. Her expression is amused, seemingly pleased by the way the beaten militant hurries away from her.

It’s been a week or so since she arrived.

Her hair’s purple now.

It’s improperly dyed; the lilac-y mixed-coverage of a home dye job.

He wonders where she got the toner from, people didn’t often leave the beach for their own wants, only on orders from Hatter. Then he reconsiders.

To the untrained eye, Hatter’s affection for Haru could come off perverse, but Chishiya could see closer. It was more like a father-daughter relationship, as if she were Hatter’s do-no-wrong child that he’d always defend the actions of.

People had started calling her the ‘Beach Princess’ because of her connection with Hatter and Aguni and the way she seemed to be able to get away with whatever she wanted.

Hatter let her pick one of the better rooms at the hotel, he didn’t force her out to play the games. The militants kept their distance from her under what most assumed were Aguni’s direct orders, but perhaps they just feared what Aguni would do to them if she was injured by their hands.

Even Niragi backs off her. He antagonises her, like he does everyone else, but she doesn’t catch the rifle-whipping any other Beach-goer would’ve gotten for the disrespect. He just glowers down his nose at her and she stares back, it goes on like that until one backs off.

Haru tends to stick to herself, Chishiya finds.

She doesn’t talk to many people, though she’s not unfriendly. She relaxes by herself, snacking and dozing in the more public spaces, but doesn’t participate in the drinking and smoking and partying of the other beachers. Some people approach her, but she often seems to just turn them away.

He asks Kuina about her. She’s the more personable one between the two, Chishiya has little doubt they could be quick friends. It doesn’t take her long to report back. Kuina thinks she’s nice, funny if not a little blunt, that she always seemed tired despite the fact that she seemed to do very little, let alone anything exhaustive. In short, Kuina likes her.

It correlates with what he’s already discovered about her, but he’s still curious. There’s more to her than meets the eye, he’s sure of it. It’s in her eyes, they’re a kind of dark ocean, unexplored beyond the surface. He’s willing to take the plunge in her.

She finds him before he can approach her.

Somehow, she manages to sneak up on him, slumping onto the balcony railing beside him so close that their arms brush. He’d been distracted by a group of recruits that had gathered in what they assumed was a private part of the courtyard. Chishiya can see them plainly though, and is slightly irritated that he hadn’t thought to rig the place up with hand-held radios so he could listen in.

When he feels the warmth of her arm against his, he blinks in muted surprise. He hadn’t heard her walking up. Her expression is relaxed, her posture casual. Neither say anything for a while.

“This place is a lot nicer than my actual apartment,” she muses laxly, “Almost makes me not want to get back to the real world.” Her gaze flickers sideways, meeting his. “Almost.”

He says nothing, watching her curiously. Her gaze turns away again.

“We haven’t formally met. I’m Haru. You’re Chishiya?��

Her hand is offer sideways to him, gaze still away. He glances at her hand, before taking and shaking it. His hand gets shoved back in his pocket after dropping her’s, the warmth still on his fingers; her own goes back to join her other hand, fiddling with the ring on her forefinger.

“Scheming or people watching?” She asks, breaking the silence again.

“What?” He asks with a slight curious squint. She makes a vague motion of her hands to the people below.

“Are you scheming something or do you just like being on the outside looking in? You’re up in place like this a lot.” Her eyes dart back to him, there’s a knowing kind of amusement dancing in her dark irises. “I’ve seen you.”

So he hadn’t been as sneaky as he’d thought - or perhaps she was just as attentive as him. From the look in her eyes, he’s guessing the latter.

Chishiya doesn’t get involved with the Beach residents.

At the end of the day, he’s only there to see if Hatter’s plan works out and steal away those cards before anyone else got a chance to use them. While he awaited that time though, he took interest in watching the Beach-goers, like ants in a formicarium.

For a girl who appeared to like sleep so much, Haru was up late tonight.

He watches, curious, as she sneaks off down a quiet hallway. He’s seen more than his fair share of people partying, so he postures he’s not missing much in following after her. Besides, he was more interested in her anyway.

She heads up to the roof, making quick work in unlocking the door and stepping out it onto the rooftop. There’s a short flickering of fear in his chest as he watches her head to the roof’s edge. She wouldn’t be the first person to off themselves in this weird world, but he’s hoping she won’t. She didn’t seem the type.

He almost lunges out the door towards he to stop her when, instead of stepping off the roof, she sits down a mere foot from it’s edge.

Stepping out himself, he makes a point of closing the door loudly. She glances over her shoulder at him, then turns her gaze back out towards the horizon. It’s late, the sun has long since dipped down and the sky is more dark blue than afternoon orange. He walks to her side, but doesn’t sit down. His hands are in his pockets, his lean casual. Her elbows are dropped laxly on her crossed legs, knuckles propping up her chin.

“Do the mountains look weird to you?” She asks, finally breaking the silence. He pauses, following her gaze out toward the distant range. There’s still orange rising up from behind them, lighting the mountain-line. He’s never paid much attention to them until now, his thoughts had been elsewhere.

“What do you mean?” He queries back. She waves a hand out towards the mountains.

“Like there’s too many? That’s Mount Hiei’s peak, right? But it looks … wrong.”

“Must be something to do with this world. Things aren’t exactly normal here.”

“This isn’t overgrown plants or expired food though, it’s a whole mountain range. That has to mean we’re really not in the real world, right? Mountains don’t just change overnight.”

“You should worry more about getting back to our world than whatever’s going on with the mountains here.”

“If Dan- If Hatter’s plan doesn’t work, what then? Do we just keep playing these games? Food will run out quickly at this rate, and before that happens, people will get violent when they realise everything’s running low.”

He goes quiet. She does too, though only for a moment.

“We’ll all die here if we don’t figure something out.”

Despite how she often skirts around the game send-off, there’s still the danger of her visa running out. She can’t avoid them forever. It’s how Haru ends up at the Five of Spades game with Chishiya, Aguni, and a militant Chishiya didn’t care to learn the name of.

She comes up to join him on the top floor. He waves passed her at Aguni, who just stares back at him with a familiar annoyed expression. For whatever reason, he was often irritated by the blonde.

Chishiya hadn’t bothered to try and figure out the reason why.

Haru steps around him to lean at his side, closer to the dead-end side of the floor. She yawns into the back of her hand, lips against her knuckles. Her gaze flickers over the lower floors, then she turns and sits, back leaning against the balcony wall.

“Not interested in watching?” He asks.

“Kinda obvious, isn’t it?” She muses back. He hums, curious. “Well these trackers, they hafta ‘catch’ us, but they also gotta stop us from pressing the button and winning the game, right? So they’ll defend whichever room that button is in. Just have to keep an eye on whatever room they’re keeping people away from.”

His brows rise, impressed, glancing down at her. He’s been thinking the same thing, that he’d be able to catch one of the trackers consistently checking on the wanted door.

Haru draws her arms onto her pulled-up knees, taking in a deep breath and leaning the side of her head onto her propped forearm. Amusement twitches on his features. Was she really going to sleep now? Here?

The gunfire starts and she barely flinches. Chishiya catches the sight of the slightest tense of her shoulders before she relaxes and he looks back to where the horse-headed trackers were starting the chase. Wearing masks like that, no doubt their vision was compromised and it was likely he could go unseen up here. If they came up the stairs though, he’d have to get out of here. Did Haru have a plan for that?

Luckily, the trackers don’t get closer to the top floor, obviously distracted by the other players running about. Chishiya watches, amused, as an athletic girl leaps from one floor to another, effortlessly avoiding the tracker, who sends a round of gunfire after her.

As the game starts to slow with so many players dead, Chishiya’s gaze is drawn to a specific door. It’s riddled with bullet holes, a more focused spread than any other room.

That’s the one then.

Chishiya pushes off the balcony wall, tucking his hands into his pockets. Haru lifts her head when he moves, rubbing her knuckle against her eye.

“Spotted it?” She asks, voice thick with tire. He nods. She doesn’t move to stand though. Her arms stay relaxed on her knees.

“Are you coming?” He asks. Haru huffs a short laugh.

“Do you need help pressing a button?”

“Guess not,” he replies, turning towards the stairs, “Don’t get shot, I don’t want Aguni to blame me for not protecting you.”

She just laughs again, pressing her knuckles to her mouth to stifle the sound.

Most people didn’t use the inside pool.

The party was happening all outside, around the outdoor pool and the bar and the stereo system someone had set up. Kuina was far more the type to mingle out there, Chishiya was usually busying himself with his plan. He allows himself the night off from plotting when Haru bumps into him, towel hanging off her arm. She wasn’t going in the direction of the main pool. With a smile, she invites him along with her.

The lap pool is dimly lit and cast in blue, the most light coming in through the large windows. He could turn the lights on, but Haru doesn’t seem to care. She shucks her shorts off, dumping them aside on a pool chair, followed by her haori and towel. She toes her shoes and socks off and jumps into the pool. He doesn’t follow her lead.

Popping back up out of the water, she brushes her hair from her face. She looks peaceful with her eyes closed and her head leaned back, lilac hair floating around her. It’s like she could melt, disappearing in the enduring peace the water brought.

He glances towards her discarded shorts and haori, catching sight of a glint of metal. His head tilts as he crouches, pulling the metal further out into the dim light. A pocket knife? Where had she managed to get a higonokami - let alone keep it hidden for so long at the Beach?

“You know, the Beach has rules about residents carrying weapons,” he says, holding the knife up and flipping the blade out. She looks over at him, smiling over the pool’s edge.

“Oh no, are you gonna tell on me, Chishiya?” She coos teasingly, crossing her arms up onto the side of the pool.

“I don’t think it’d matter if I did. Aguni would probably just retroactively make you a militant.” He says as he turns the knife, watching the soft light glint off the blade. Her favour for knives, it’s a new little tidbit for him to note about Haru. It’s unexpected.

He flips the knife closed, tucking it back under her haori, better hidden than she’d left it. He wouldn’t tell on her, but he couldn’t say the same for anybody else that might come in and see it. Looking back to her, she’s still watching him, chin leaning on her arms.

“Don’t you swim?” Her head tilt accompanies the teasing look in her eyes. “Chishiya, do you not know how?”

“I know how,” he replies back smoothly. She pushes away from the pool’s edge, drifting in the water. Her eyes never leave him.

“Then come in.”

It’s sounds like a challenge.

Haru’s not an executive, not really - or rather, not actively.

It’s no secret amongst the rest of them that they thought Haru’s inclusion was just because of her closeness with Hatter. He, apparently, likes her commentary and ideas, though she rarely gives either. Half the time, she looked close to falling asleep at the table, like a student in a boring class. She, like Aguni, seemingly didn’t believe Hatter’s idea about the cards, but she still didn’t speak out against it.

One afternoon, Hatter tells Chishiya to go collect her from her room for the meeting and, playing his dutiful beach-executive role, he does.

He knocks on her door before tucking his hand back in his pocket. He hears movement inside, but it’s still a minute or so before the door opens.

Passed her obviously recently-woken figure, he can see the bed’s been pushed up against the far wall by the window. It’s the walls that draw most of his attention though.

Flowers. Plucked ones, most with long stems. Some fresher, others growing limp. They’re all sticky-taped and stickered up on the walls. He recognises a few from around the city that he’d barely paid attention to between games, others from the Beach’s decor or ones that had grown in the hotel gardens. She must have been collecting them.

“Chishiya?” Her tired voice cuts in and he turns his gaze back to her. She stares confused at him, awaiting an explanation for being awoken despite the fact that it was already midday.

“Hatter wants you at the meeting,” he answers plainly. She sighs, twisting at her waist to grab a discarded haori and yank it on. She thumbs the button of her shorts back through it’s hole, tugging them back into place over her hips.

“Let’s get this over with then,” she says, stepping out into the hallway and closing the door behind her. He glances a moment longer at the door and the flower-covered walls it hid, then turns to follow after her.

Hatter’s dead.

Chishiya didn’t expect it. Didn’t even consider it an option. It messes up his plan a little bit, but he’s already re-plotting away while standing there in the meeting room. From the look of it, it wasn’t even a game that has gotten him. There’s no laser mark that he can see. Just the bullet hole.

There wasn’t a lot of guns around this world, except for the one’s the militants carried around, and Hatter was always heavily protected. Chishiya’s gaze flickers to the members in the room, all carrying their own weapons. Which one could it have been? He really wouldn’t have put it passed Niragi, especially now that he’s flaunting around, trying to get them to vote for Aguni to be the new head of the Beach.

Aguni, who looks barely there. His gaze is basically blank, focused in only on Hatter. He’s not even directing Niragi, doesn’t give him the time of day. He hasn’t said anything this whole time actually.

Chishiya’s focus turns and falls on Haru. His lips curve into the slightest of frowns. There’s lines of tears down her cheeks. Her eyes and nose are red. From the look of her twitching jaw and slightly shaking shoulders, she’s barely holding back sobs.

Niragi parades around the room, gun swinging, seemingly unaffected by Hatter’s death and unaware of both Aguni and Haru’s quiet pain; ignorant to even the way Haru flinches when he jams the butt of his gun in Hatter’s face. Niragi hauls over to Haru’s side, demanding her vote. He leans over her, tongue waggling.

Chishiya watches Haru’s gaze. Her eyes flicker to everyone else in the room, settling for a moment on Aguni. When no one moves to say anything in defence of her, she sighs through her nose.

Her expression goes through a number of quick changes; silence sadness first, then a flashing moment of indignation, then something oddly saccharine. Her gaze turns directly to Niragi.

“Ey, Niragi. Stick your tongue out again,” she says, sweet and smooth.

Niragi blinks, just as surprised as everyone else in the room who turn to stare at them both, Hatter momentarily forgotten. Niragi’s brows crease together in consideration and confusion, then sickeningly relax. Chishiya’s jaw tightens, his eyes narrow, annoyed.

“Niragi,” she coos, all charm with her soft gaze and her head tilting slightly, looking him directly in the eye.

A smile grows on Niragi’s face and slowly his tongue slides back out of his mouth. Her gaze flickers between his eyes and his tongue piercing. She shifts slightly closer to him. Her hands sets on his chest.

Then, quick as a flash, her mouth darts forward towards his tongue.

That sickeningly pleased look on Niragi’s face turns suddenly to realisation. He barely manages a short noise of confusion before he’s suddenly howling in pain, shoved away from the short girl.

Haru has blood on her face.

The thought crosses the surrounding members minds at the same time: That … couldn’t possibly have just happened, right?

Sticking out of her mouth on the line of her bottom lip, Chishiya can see the flash of a titanium piercing.

Last Boss is the first one to actually move. He jolts towards Haru, katana pointing at her. Haru looks at him and spits the piecing at him. It bounces off his forehead, leaving a bloody mark. Niragi is still howling in pain, grabbing at his mouth.

“You want my vote? How’s that for a vote? You’re insane! Fuck off! What’s wrong with you people?! Hatter’s dead!” Haru shouts, tears flurrying back to her eyes.

It’s the most energy Chishiya’s ever seen out of her, her arms flailing wide, her shaky hands fumbling over her tear-and-blood marred face. She storms out of the room - the other executives and militants step quickly out of her way - and slams the door shut behind her.

Niragi shouts after her, spitting blood.

He’s got a plan to set in motion.

It’s not ready yet. That fact, beyond the irritation, gives him a chance to seek out Haru. She’s closed herself off since Hatter’ death, hiding away in her room. He’s not sure if it’s her dealing with the loss or avoiding whatever retribution Niragi is plotting up. He’d seen the angry fire in Niragi’s eyes. She wouldn’t get away with it this time, that much was obvious.

He stops at her door, knocking on it. Silence. Not even the sound of her moving inside.

“It’s Chishiya,” he assures.

That gets a reply. He hears multiple locks slip out of place, door pulling open a fraction. Haru peers out at him, flickering passed him as best she could without opening the door further. He glances either way for her.

“It’s just me,” he says.

“Lock the door,” she says, her voice a soft weepy croak.

Slowly, Haru opens the door to let him in, turning heel to head back to her bed. He follows in, closing and locking the door behind him. From the look of her, she’d been crying. Her hair’s a bit of a mess, her eyes are red.

She notes his staring and looks away to wipe her face. He turns to look at the walls while she regains her composure. The rest of the rooms are lacklustre, they lacked the character and charm Haru’s room had. The flowers are a large part of that and are still there, taped up on the walls. A few have fallen off and were left to wilt on the ground. He wonders if that’s a recent development. With how she’d meticulously stuck them all up, it doesn’t seem like her to have just left them to peel away.

“Danma was the first person to not think it was silly that I wanted to be a flower arranger,” she says softly, her own gaze looking at the remaining blossoms on the wall. “My parents … I think they wanted me to be a botanist or something when they realised how much I liked flowers, they thought I was just being funny when I told them the truth; but Danma didn’t laugh when I told him once that I wanted to open a flower shop.”

“You were close,” Chishiya says, reaching out a hand to re-stick down a piece of tape that was peeling. It’s strange to hear her use him name when nobody ever did at the Beach.

“He was like a father to me … after my parents died.” Tears prickle back to her eyes and she looks down to her hands with a short whimper. “Now that he’s dead here, will I ever see him again? Even if we get back to the real world? Other than Danma and Aguni, I don’t have anyone else. If Aguni dies too, I’ll be alone again.”

His eyes soften slightly: “Haru …”

She draws her knees up to her chest, wrapping her arms tight around them. Her eyes squeeze shut tight. A tremble ripples through her body.

“I just want it to be done now. I want to go home,” she chokes out, voice muffled by how she shoves her face into her legs.

The last game, somehow it’s only fitting that it happens at the Beach.

There’s no chance of peace, no way that anybody was going to be thinking clearly about the answer to ‘who’s the witch?’, especially not when Niragi takes the first shot. The rest of the militants follow his lead in quick succession. The residents go wild, a crushing stampede running in all directions.

In the panicked rush, the trio are separated.

Kuina he trusts to protect herself. It’s Haru he’s worried about.

And when he finds her, he knows he was right to be worried.

There’s a shakiness in her eyes, wide and panicked like a deer in headlights. She’d been sneaking around, ducking in and out of unlocked rooms on the far opposite side of her own room. He takes her arms, pushing her back into the room she’d moved to escape. The sound of gunfire is getting steadily closer. They’d have to move soon.

“They’re killing everyone.” Haru’s voice is small and trembling. She rakes her hands through her hair, pacing the small room. “They’re looking for me. They’ll kill me.”

She’s not wrong. Haru hadn’t exactly endeared herself to the militants, especially not with Aguni’s looming threat defending any disrespect she’d shoot their way and her recent actions towards Niragi. But now, with Hatter dead and Aguni seemingly indifferent to everything else going on, Haru’s walking around with a target on her back and it’s open season.

“Haru,” he starts. She doesn’t seem to hear him, just keeps walking back and forth down the small path besides the ends of the beds, wringing her hands. He reaches out and grabs her wrist, stopping her. She shoots him that wide-eyed look, her fingers shakily tensing. “You know where the security room is, right?”

She nods shortly.

“Go there. Lock and barricade the door. I’ll come get you later.”

“They’ll see me,” she replies thinly.

“They’re heading up the floors and mainly using the courtyard to get out to the bonfire. Stay to the back of the hotel and stay low. Stay away from the elevators. Have you got your knife?” She nods but still looks worried. He squeezes her arm, thumb rubbing over the fragile skin of her inner wrist. “You’ll be fine.”

Her jaw sets tight, head bobbing in a quick jerky nod.

He moves back towards the exit, pulling her along with him. He leans against the door to listen. The gunfire is still far enough off. Looking back at her, he meets her eye. She still looks worried, but hardens her features under his look.

They split up in the hallway. He’d been planned on hunting down Niragi anyway - the guy had always pissed him off - but now he had a secondary reason to. If Niragi had his way, none of them would survive the night - Haru included - if that’s what it took to find the witch. As much as he wanted that Ten of Hearts card, Chishiya wasn’t going to let Haru be part of the price.

Haru shows up with Kuina later.

The Beach is almost entirely engulfed in flames. There’s more dead than there is living. Chishiya plucks up the card from the table. This game hadn’t gone as expected, but it was done now. He has the full deck, excluding the face cards.

Glancing over his shoulder, he notes Haru’s expression. She looks sick, arms wrapped tight around herself. One of her hand is clasped over her burn scar. Her shoulders were twitching, trembling. The flames lit up the fear apparent in her dark eyes, her gaze turning this way and that to the surrounding fire.

Aguni … there was a chance he was dead. Chishiya hadn’t seen him. Haru had been upset enough over Hatter’s death, he couldn’t imagine what she was feeling now. At least she was alive, and she didn’t seem injured either. It was good enough for him, even if not for her.

“With this, we’ve got everything except the face cards,” he says, slotting the card into the deck and sliding it back into his pocket.

“Think we need ‘em?” Kuina asks.

“We’re all still here, aren’t we?”

“C-can we just get out of here first?” Haru cuts in shakily, shrinking in on herself.

“Yeah, this place is going down,” Kuina adds, then pauses, “Where are we gonna go though?”

Chishiya pulls a piece of paper from his pocket, holding it towards the taller. Kuina takes the scrap and stares at it, confused, turning the scribble towards him.

“What’s this?”

“A subway map,” Chishiya replies smoothly, “I think we’ll find some answers at that point marked there.”

The King of Spades is proving himself to be a problem.

At least, Kuina had escaped in a car with Ann and the others. Chishiya and Haru were left on their own now, grenade blast ringing in their ears, barely muffling gunfire as they ran off. Haru grabs his hand, yanking him into the closest building.

She jams the door shut, flicking the lock and grabbing the bell by the door to stop it’s jangling. Letting out a short breath of relief, she steps backwards from the door, knocking his shoulder in the process. He steadies her, his hand on her elbow. Momentarily safe, she turns to look around the building they’d rushed into.

It was a clothing store. From the looks of it, the clothes are mildly dusty on their racks and tables, presumably due to the strangely-quick passing of time in this world.

Chishiya’s and Haru’s own clothes were dirty from ash and rubble. Her knee was bleeding from where she’d tripped earlier, narrowly escaping a bullet the King of Spades had aimed her way.

It was a decent enough place to lie low and plot out a plan of action, and the change of clothes wasn’t a bad idea either. He heads off to men’s clothes side and Haru limps off in the opposite direction.

They’re both quiet as they pick out new clothes and redress. He hears the tearing of fabric and glances over to see her ripping up a shirt to use as a bandage for her scraped knee. She tucks the loose end of the fabric through the wrapped part and tugs on a pair of socks before getting up to keep looking around.

“Do you think this King guy can follow us into some other face card’s game?” Haru calls over to him a few minutes later. He turns to look at her, the glances away quickly to instead fiddle with the laces of his shoe.

She’s not fully dressed, donning only a bra and baggy pants with a belt loose in the loops, still swiping dust off a cropped black shirt. He’d seen her in a bikini, but this was somehow more intimate. The smooth skin of her back, the slope of her waist to her hips, the slight sun-freckling over her shoulders and biceps. He can even spot the tattoo above her burn-scarred elbow. She turns slightly, pulling the shirt over her head, then hums awaiting his answer.

“I don’t think so,” he replies finally, “It’d probable be safest to find one.”

“Think I saw one of those blimps not too far away,” She says as she flicks her hair out of the neckline of the shirt, then she frowns, “I think it was a Heart though, but it looked to be the closest.”

“Guess we don’t have much of a choice,” he replies with a sigh.

“Guess not,” she hums back, brow quirking as she sits across from him to pull her boots back on and tie the laces.

The Jack of Hearts is turning out to be an interesting game.

Chishiya and Haru split up at the start, telling each other their symbols in private. At the end of the first round, Haru smiles coyly at him, fingertip running over his shoulder as she peers around him, the pair alone in the dining area.

“So you trust me, right?” She says. He glances sideways at her.

“Out of everyone else here? Yes.”

“Ouch,” she pouts, mock insulted, “You’re a diamond.”

Patting his shoulder and pushing away from him, she turns, pulling her hair out of the way of her own collar. He pushes a few stray strands out of the way of the pixelated screen.

“Do you trust me?” He asks back.

“Out of everyone here?” She mocks.

“Heart.”

She smiles at him as she strolls passed, the overhead voice calling for them to enter a cell.

Where Chishiya partners up with someone, Haru doesn’t. It draws the attention of the other players. Most are quick to accuse her of being the Jack. Some - like Urumi - try to lie about her symbols under the guise of niceness.

Chishiya doesn’t think Urumi is the Jack. She’s manipulative clearly, but she seemed too obvious to be the Jack. She ends up dead soon enough, untrusted by those she’d surrounded herself with.

Sitting at one table, Chishiya chews a biscuit, eyeing the few remaining players. Haru sits at a different table, head on her arms, faking sleep. He knows she’s watching through her lashes, keeping an eye out just like he is.

Few of them trust each other anymore. They’ll probably be dead too by the next round. He watches them leave, distrusting of each other, likely to choose a symbol different than the ones they were told.

He stands, walking over to Haru, brushing her lilac hair back from her neck so he could see the symbol on her collar. His hand rests high on her spine. She glances up at him from the corner of her eye.

“Spade,” he says.

Sitting up, she stretches her arms out, loosening the tire from her body. She stands, he turns, she reaches up to tap on the circular screen on the collar as she reads it off.

“Club.”

He doesn’t necessarily trust Banda or Yaba, but Haru insists she can convince them that their partners are lying. He does want to talk to the two other remaining players, just to be sure. The Jack, it has to be Matsushita or Kotoko. If he can get a chance to talk to them, he’ll be able to figure it out.

She follows after the other pair, leaning up against the wall outside the toilets and listening as they talked. Amusement crosses her features. Seemed like she didn’t have to do a lot of work here at all.

“You’re doing my job for me,” she muses as they step out of the bathroom.

The two stare at her, rightfully cautious. She turns her gaze to them.

“What are you talking about?” Yaba says, staring down his nose at her. She pushes off the wall, laxly.

“Your partners, one of them in the Jack and the other is working with the Jack.” She doesn’t know which is which. She wouldn’t put it passed Kotoko for her whole passive submissive thing to be an act. Matsushita simply gave her the creeps. Then again, so did Banda and Yaba. “There’s six of us left. It’s no doubt the last round. The Jack will make their move and they’ll no doubt betray both their partners, all while convincing their secret partner to lie as well.”

“How do we know you’re not the Jack?” Banda asks, “You’ve survived this long with no help.”

Haru smiles: “I’ve had help.”

She doesn’t explain further than that. She doesn’t feel the need to. Neither look convinced.

“Turn around,” she continues. They continue to stare. “You’ve told each other your symbols, right? Let me confirm, I’ll be honest. Promise. Then see what your so-called ‘trusted partners’ tell you. If they’re also truthful with you, then no harm done, you survive either way. If you believe what your partners tell you and they’re lying, …” she trails off, shrugging, “then you die.”

They share a look between them, then slowly turn. Haru pushes to her toes, looking at each symbols and telling them truthfully. She turns heel, glancing over her shoulder at them.

“Good luck,” she chimes.

By the time she gets back to the main room, it’s too late to meet up with Chishiya. The voice sounds off, calling them to enter a room. She steps into one, watching the door close and lock. There’s no choice but to guess. It’s a 25 percent chance.

Well, it’s not the first time she’s depended on her luck for the win.

When her head doesn’t get blown off, she breathes a sigh of relief, scratching at her neck by the collar. She was getting sick of the thing. Outside her door, she hears the hysteric maniacal laughter echo around before it’s cut off by a door creaking open. Chishiya’s voice breaks through next.

A relieved smile grows on her face.

So he’d survived too.

Standing in the hallway, Chishiya smirks at Matsushita’s stunned expression. For a moment, his gaze flickers to the door he’d seen Haru enter. He’d heard the explosion. There’s no saying it was Kotoko. Maybe she’d turned tail and believed Yaba instead. He hadn’t got to tell Haru her own symbol, she could’ve had less of a chance to guess correctly than he’d had.

He continues his spiel with Matsushita, gaze still partly watching the door. She had to be alive. Mentally, he was almost begging for her to walk out.

Banda and Yaba start to walk up. Matsushita is growing irritated, disbelieving. From the side, the door opens and Chishiya could’ve sighed in relief. Haru leans against the doorway, amused, stepping out to walk up to Chishiya’s side.

“So Matsushita is the Jack, huh?” Her gaze shifts passed him to Yaba and Banda, head tilting, “And you two survived. I told you I was honest, didn’t I?”

“What makes you so sure it’s me? The Jack of Hearts could easily be any of you,” Matsushita sputters out. “You don’t have any proof.”

Chishiya and Haru share a smile.

Chishiya speaks up: “You sure about that?”

Matsushita whips around, confusion flaring in his one visible eye. Chishiya continues, the pair walking towards him.

“Think about it. Why did you survive this round if they suspected you were the Jack? Why didn’t Banda lie and tell you the wrong symbol? The reason you’re still alive is because you’re the Jack. These guys decided to keep you alive because they wanna get information out of you.”

Realisation dawns on Matsushita’s face, the expression quickly turning to fear as Banda and Yaba approached from behind him. It’s intimidating, Haru must admit, especially if Chishiya was right about Banda.

The robotic voice speaks again: “Round 14, start.”

Chishiya and Haru leave the pair to their torturing. Haru has no interest in sticking around to see what they do to him. The panicked noises when they throw Matsushita in the cell are enough to send a shiver down her spine. She’s hoping to never see Yaba or Banda again.

Round 14 comes and goes.

Haru sees the slight flash of blood as she’s entering a cell. She passes easily with Chishiya telling her her symbol, and her telling him his own. The two walk out of the prison side by side. She flinches slightly at the sound of the blimp explodes.

She rubs her neck as they get some distance from the prison. The feeling of that collar hasn’t left yet. It makes her itchy. Chishiya looks away from the burning blimp, tucking his hands into his jacket pockets as they walk. He glances sideways at Haru.

“That 13th round, we didn’t get to meet - how did you survive?” He asks with curious lilt. She glances at him, brows screwing.

“Huh? Oh. Well, I guessed,” she replies. He blinks, surprised.

“ … guessed?”

Haru smiles: “I really am lucky, you know?”

It shouldn’t have happened like this.

She doesn’t know how it got so hectic so quickly. One moment she was standing across from Arisu, listening to Chishiya. Now she was hunched over Chishiya, trying to stop the bleeding from two bullet wounds.

How does Niragi keeps coming back? She’s trying to understand it. He looks terrible, she doesn’t know how he’s still walking around. He’d been set on fire, fallen off the Beach’s roof. How’d he even escape the burning hotel? Was Aguni alive too?

She doesn’t have time to think about it, not when her hands are covered in Chishiya’s blood. It’s sticky and wet and horribly warm. She’s shaking. Is that gunfire? Arisu’s hand is on her elbow trying to pull her with him.

“It’s the King of Spades,” Arisu says, tone half pleading as she shakes his grip off.

“I’m not leaving him. Just get out of here,” she snaps at him.

“Haru -“ Arisu starts.

“Just go!”

She doesn’t have to look at him to know there’s a conflicted look on his face, but Usagi drags him away. Haru shifts, crouches up onto her feet. That gunfire is getting closer, she can hear people shouting, running footsteps. She needs to move Chishiya, they’re too out in the open here.

Chishiya can barely manage to his feet and Haru tugs him over behind a car. It’s good enough cover, they just need to be out of view. He stumbles into Haru, who in turn thumps against the car’s side, dropping back to the ground. She hugs Chishiya close to her chest, he can probably feel her rabbit-thumping heart against his back. Her arms wrap around him, his hand finds the crook of her elbow. She freezes up, eyes closed, listening to their surroundings. She can’t focus.

The gunfire seems further off. She can’t place where the King is. Shifting Chishiya aside to lean against the car, Haru twists to face the door, mere inches below the window. She takes a deep breath in, then lets it out slowly. She has to check how close the King of Spades is, in case they need to move. Her hands steady against the door, slowly sliding up to the window’s edge. Pushing up on her crouched toes, she peers through the window.

A second later, a bullet whistles through the glass, shattering it, exploding glass over her.

She ducks back down, splitting pain in her forehead. Blood slides down her forehead, gathering in her eyebrow and dripping into her eye. Shakily, she reaches a hand up, flinching at both the pain in her head and the prick of pain in her fingertip. There’s a shard of glass in her forehead. A sickening thought twists in her head that if had been a few inches down, she would’ve caught it in her eye. Carefully, she pulls it out, whimpering. More blood drips down her face, a red tear down her cheek.

The gunfire starts up again, the King apparently distracted by other panicked players.

“Haru?” Chishiya murmurs, breaking her from her stupor of staring at the glass shard in her palm. He’s staring concerned at her.

“I’m fine,” she says quickly, dropping the shard and kneeling back at his side, hands going back to try and stem the bleeding. He groans quietly and she winces. “Sorry.”

She doesn’t know how long it goes on until there’s suddenly an explosion. Haru shields Chishiya with her own body, expecting debris to rain over them from whatever that explosion had been. She can smell smoke. When everything settles and her ears stop ringing, she moves back to look around. She can’t figure out the reason the building had blown up. There’s even more rubble everywhere.

Moments later, the pair watch the King of Spades blimp go up in flames.

“There’s only one game left,” Chishiya says, voice quiet but matter-of-fact. Haru nods, wordless.

The Queen of Hearts. She can’t imagine it’ll be an easy game. She doesn’t even want to think what it might be, not when she’d experienced the King of Hearts herself. She has no plans on being the one going up there to play the Queen as well, not when Chishiya was injured down here.

Eventually, Arisu and Usagi go stumbling passed them, leaning on each other. None of them are looking too good. Arisu, dust covered and scraped up. Usagi, bleeding heavily and limping on her cut-up legs. Chishiya, shot up and pale-faced. Haru, bleeding from her head wound and her face tear-streaked.

For a moment, they glance back at Haru and Chishiya, both still propped against the broken-down car. Haru fixes them with a serious look, one that says ‘go finish this’.

It can’t possibly take long … or so she thinks.

The sun has started to go down and Usagi and Arisu haven’t come back. The Queen’s blimp is still high in the sky. Haru is tense and grumbling under her breath. If it wasn’t enough that the pair were apparently taking their damn time with the game, Niragi wasn’t that far away from her and Chishiya. Haru can see him out of the corner of her eye. Somehow, he’s still alive. Weak obviously, but alive. She ignores him in favour of continuing to tend to Chishiya.

She’s slowed the bleeding from both bullet wounds, but he’s horribly pale. Despite the calm expression he wore, she can see the tire that would be more at home on her own face. The pallor makes dark circles stand out under his eyes.

“Do you think they lost?” Chishiya asks, gaze turning to Haru. She pauses in padding his injury.

“Give them the benefit of the doubt. Maybe it’s just a tough game. It’s a Heart, after all,” she replies. He sighs, breath rattling. Haru’s shoulders tense slightly; if her fingers tremble, she tries not to notice.

“It’s been a while.”

“Couple hours, yeah.” She pauses, closes her fingers nervously in the fabric of his jacket sleeve, “Are you doing okay?”

He chuckles, but it’s cut off but a flash of pain across his visage. Her jaw tightens, brow creasing in concern.

“For someone with two bullet wounds … I could be worse,” he murmurs, reaching his hand up to swipe away the partly-dried blood that had dripped down onto her cheek with the back of his forefinger. “Are you okay?”

She hadn’t even bothered cleaning herself up. In fact, in the adrenaline, she’d forgotten about it. The pain of it was only hitting her now. Even the most minute movement of her face sent a ripple of pain through her forehead, like all the worse headaches she’d ever had combined. She dabs at the edge of the cut with her fingertips.

“I’m fine.”

She turns, gravel crunching under her, and leans up against the car again. Her head drops back against the sun-warmed metal. She sighs, eyes closing.

“I’m tired,” she admits.

“You’re always tired.”

She laughs and elbows him lightly in the arm. Slumping down to his level, she leans her bicep against his, gaze turning up to the top of the building where the Queen’s blimp floated. Her hand moves, sliding into his, unbothered by the blood on both their skin.

“They’ll win, right?” She says, voice uncertain.

“They’ll have to. Otherwise you’ll have to go up there. I think you’re the only one left who could.”

“In that case … God, I hope they win.��

It’s another few hours before anything happens.

Haru is fighting against her exhaustion to keep her eyes open. The sun had long since gone out. In the dimness of night and the modicum of peace with the King of Spades now dead, it’s hard to not just fall asleep. She knows she needs to stay awake though, to keep an eye on Chishiya. They think they’ll see the flash of red lasers if Arisu and Usagi had lost.

Worry had been building in her gut. She doesn’t want to have to abandon Chishiya to play the Queen of Hearts game, but knows he can’t walk and she can’t possibly drag him up with her. She’s been putting off going.

Suddenly, there’s lights.

No. Fireworks, actually.

In the night sky, they’re beautiful.

Chishiya and Haru share a look. That had to be a good sign, right? His hand squeezes her’s and she breathes a slow sigh of relief. It’s done. It has to be done now. They can go back their world now, can’t they?

Then, a loud robotic voice begins to speak.

“All surviving players will be presented with two choices. Players must now all decide whether to accept permanent residency in this country, or decline it. Once again, players must now decide whether to accept permanent residency, or decline it.”

Silence returns, only broken by the far-off sounds of fireworks going off. A choice? Permanent residence here? What would that even mean? Haru looks at Chishiya, waiting for whatever answer he might give. His brow is creased in consideration.

“I want … to turn it down, I think,” Chishiya says. His gaze turns to her.  She can feel tears well in her eyes and blinks them away. She nods sharply, ignoring the thrum of pain through her head at the movement.

“I want to go home,” she says shakily, then turns her gaze skyward, to address that disembodied robotic voice, “I decline!”

Chishiya drags in a breath, then calls out: “What about you, Niragi?”

Haru blinks in surprise at his question. She turns to look at Niragi; he’s splayed out on the ground against a car of his own, surrounded by his own blood and his breathing’s a low death rattle. His own gaze is skyward, turning briefly to look at Chishiya and Haru. He seems surprised by Chishiya’s question too, but he just huffs.

“I decline,” he answers just loud enough to hear.

Finally, they could go home. Haru sighs softly, eyes closing, leaning her head against Chishiya’s. He leans back into her. It was finally over.

“Will you two hush? Some of us are trying to sleep.”

Chishiya looks across the room. A girl was lying in the opposite bed, silvery haired, there’s a stark white bandage covering some wound on her forehead is barely visible passed her bangs. Her eyes are dark and tired as she rubs at one with her knuckles.

“All this talk about ‘good’ and ‘bad’; the world’s all grey anyway, not black and white. Good, bad, we’ve all got both in us? You wanna be good, do good and stop doing whatever bad shit you were doing. Do the good to make up for the bad,” she drawls out, voice notably exasperated over being woken up.

“Lucky me, getting roomed up with such hot guys, shame you’re both so dramatic,” she continues as she rolls onto her side, mumbling it just loud enough that Chishiya could hear.

Her eyes flickers towards him, briefly meeting his eye, the curve of her smile was made all the more obvious by her dimples. Had she intended for him to hear?

He smirks slightly back at her with an amused huff, watching her eyes close as she relaxes to go back to sleep, her breaths evening out impressively quick.

[the-thing-inside-your-closet]

I wrote a prelude to what happened to Danny

Roughly one year earlier…

The night sky was lit up in a canopy of colour, mainly greens and reds, as anti-ghost guns and heavy artillery were fired in all directions. The onslaught of noise and harsh light from the GIW’s ray guns made Danny’s already aching head spin.

Another explosion sounded from somewhere close by.

Danny’s brain felt like it was pulsating against his skull where he’d been thrown through a wall earlier in the night. Back when his only worry had been getting Johnny 13 and Kitty back to the Ghost Zone to hash out their relationship problems somewhere that wasn’t quite so public.

And his chest still burned and throbbed from the blasts sent his way by one of the GIW agents. He’d only let himself get distracted for a moment, just one split second where he had searched for Sam and Tucker to make sure they were still unharmed. And then the next thing he knew he was dodging and weaving through the air, all the while bleeding profusely, as GIW agents fired shot after shot at him. They never relented as they hurled threats and promises of his dissection and subsequent destruction should they get their hands on him.

Eventually they managed to take refuge in a nearby building. And when finally given room to breathe, Sam had hastily wrapped the blast wound with the torn off end of the dress her parents had managed to force her into earlier in the day.

“Fucking galas,” Sam had complained.

Now where the fabric was once a pale, sparkling pastel pink, was stained in a glowing ectoplasm green with flecks of dark crimson dotting throughout like splatters of paint.

But, as Sam had been hastily patching Danny up, Tucker had let out a pained sound as a ghost shield was seen encompassing the building where they were currently hiding.

“Quick see if you can hack into the GIW’s system and disable it,” Sam had ordered while she finishing wrapping the wound.

Tucker had gotten into their system in record time, but when he went to deactivate the ghost shield he blanched. The shield holding them, Phantom specifically, hostage wasn’t connected to their regular system.

Danny saw the panicked look on Tucker’s face and knew.

“I’ll distract them,” Danny had said as he stared past his friends and at the wall in front of him. He tried to stand, wobbling as he did and had to use the wall for support.

“What?! Dude we can’t let you do that!” Tucker sounded pained at the idea.

Sam grabbed Danny by his shoulders, positioning herself in front of him. “Danny, I know we’ve been able to evade the guys in white before. But they’ve got more agents now ever since they started getting outside funding. Their aim has improved, their weapons are even more dangerous! Don’t forget what they did to Ember…”

Danny swallowed the lump in his throat. He remember Ember’s screams, and the way her hair seemed to flicker in and out of existence and dulled in its colour. They’d managed to get her back to the zone in time, but it took a long time, too long, for her to recover from that. And Danny had taken more of a beating than he had been ready for getting her away from them.

Danny searched his mind for a way out, for a way to escape, but found none. With the ghost shield still up and running there was no way he was going to make it out. Not unless he outed himself as Phantom to the GIW. But Sam and Tucker, they could make it. They could leave with no issue. And he told them as such!

But they weren’t running.

Why weren’t they running?

“We are not leaving you to face them alone.” Sam said with such conviction that Danny couldn’t formulate the words to argue.

A hand landed gently on his shoulder as Tucker smiled at him, “yeah dude. We’re a team. Always. Your fight is our fight. No matter what.”

Swallowing the lump in his throat and blinking back his tears Danny could only nod along to his friends words. He hoped the GIW would ignore them because they weren’t ghosts. He could distract the GIW long enough for one of them to deactivate the shield at least, and then they’d be able to make a break for it.

But they were surrounded. The enemy closing in from all sides.

Danny wasn’t sure what was about to happen, but he knew, that regardless of the outcome, his friends would make it out safely. He make sure of it. Even if it cost him everything. He would protect them.

Fungus

Ellie couldn’t stand Nightwing.

With his cheerful disposition, optimistic view, and witty puns. She couldn’t stand how he was kind to her when he found her crying in an alley way one night.

How he let her cling to him and cry so hard she passed out. And was still there when she woke back up again.

She couldn’t stand his natural ability to get her to let her walls down. Walls that had been built up after what happened to Danny.

Danny…

Nightwing reminded her so much of Danny…

No! No.

Nightwing was nothing like Danny!

He was insufferable while Danny was fun!

Nightwing was bossy while Danny cared about her safety!

And yeah sometimes Nightwing looked at her like she was worth helping just like Danny did.

And yeah sometimes he was fun to be around. At least to brother him like how she’d pester Danny to get a rise out of him.

But he wasn’t Danny. So it was different!

Ellie couldn’t stand Nightwing. But she could admit that, maybe…just maybe, he was starting to grown on her. Like a fungus.

[smol-grey-tea]

Secret Ending Three - Chapter Four: Options

Been ages since I've done any writing. Finally sat down to get some done.

I did some research into Korean culture for this chapter. The stuff that Lance says about school looks to be true, from what the internet has told me.

It's funny. My teddy bear's hand in mine, I'm sitting here at Banjul. A cafe. Places famous for the clutter and mess of food. Facing me is my silver haired doll, looking down at the papers he's placed on the table. The surface is clear of crumbs and completely spotless, now covered in notebooks and forms, all ordered neatly beside each other. It's all colour coded and even the pens sit next to each other in their black-blue-red order.

"Now, I've written up, in detail, what each option for us entails. Facts are written in black, opinions are written in blue. Pros on the left, cons on the right. In this folder is all the information you need about the academy, while this folder has information about jobs or other opportunities. Here is a pad for your own notes. Any questions..? Yes, Red?" "When can I go to the bathroom?" "You should have gone during lunch." "But I didn't need to go then!" "Fine," Lance relented with a tired sigh. I think if this were my first impression of school, I'd rather just stay home.

"It looks like a lot..." he says beside me, fidgeting with his sleeves as he takes all the paperwork in front of him in. "I'll definitely be in the same class as you guys though, right?" "Oh, of course, I'll make sure of it," I reply. "In my class, there'll be you, Lance, Yeonho, Soi and Shinbi. I'm the health commissioner, meaning that Mr Yujin gets to boss me around; Soi's the class president, so she kind of represents the class and is in charge when there's no teacher, and Shinbi's the vice president... You remember Soi and Shinbi, right?" "How could I forget that noisy blonde girl who wants to be a model?" "Oh, Soi's not the model, Shinbi is. She's on loads of magazines, but her dream job is to be a full time model for this one company... Hmm, I can't remember the name of it right now, but I know it's a big one." "Yeah... I can't blame you for not knowing, it sounds really boring. Standing around, posing in different outfits. I've done enough of that." "Well, maybe it's boring to you," I considered, sipping the last of my tea. "I just know she really enjoys it... Oh, and I also really like the clothing."

"Well, alright then... But do I have to become a class commissioner or a health president too? It sounds demanding" "You don't have to have any particular role in the school, no," Lance explained, for once refusing the chance to correct someone's poor wording. "But you can if you want to. Unfortunately, those specific roles are already taken, but you can take up similar roles in clubs."

Lance flipped through the academy folder and found the section he wrote on clubs. I don't think there'll be a day that the beautiful and professional way he organises everything doesn't amaze me. There lies, first of all, a contents page, listing all the different clubs in the school. The next few pages go into more detail about what each club is about, who founded them, and other things like where it's held and when.

"I, personally, am a member of the student government. This means that I handle matters relating to the school and making sure that everything runs smoothly, like ensuring that other clubs are being appropriate and not breaking any rules in their activities." "... By cross dressing?"

I watch Lance's pale face cloud pink and smile to myself, watching his eyes find anything to focus on other than us... Heheh... I had no idea something like that might come out of my bear's mouth.

"... What?" Red, who'd returned from the bathroom, asked. "Cross dressing? What do you mean?" "Um..." I struggled to find words without almost bursting out laughing. But Lance cleared his throat, reorganising the papers. "That is none of your concern... Let us change the subject if we're done with this topic." "But-"

"School doesn't just consist of club activities and friends though. You will attend classes every day, including maths, science, Korean, moral education, social studies, practical arts, physical education, music, fine arts, and foreign languages." "Right..." says my bear, head in his hands. "Classes are fifty minutes long with a ten minute break in between and seven classes a day, beginning at eight forty in the morning, ending usually at about four thirty in the afternoon." "Uh huh..." "You will be provided with notebooks for each class and will be expected to make sufficient notes during so that you will be able to pass all the exa-."

"When can I go to the bathroom?" "... Well, the teacher will usually let you go to the bathroom if you ask-" "It's over that way, isn't it?" "Oh... You meant right now."

He stood up and walked in the direction he saw Red walking in earlier, before finally finding his way and disappearing from sight. Lance watched him silently, probably wanting to object, but instead turned his attention back to his notes with a sigh.

"Where do you think the nearest stationery shop might be? We could take him there afterwards and see if he'd like a particular set." "Oh, that's a good idea. I'm not too familiar with this area though. Maybe I'll look it up."

I opened my smartphone and flicked past the background of the seven of us to find a search engine. The clever map on my phone highlights a bunch of different shops, one that's about a ten minute walk away. I never knew before that the internet would let me see a street view of the place from my phone, as if I were there myself. There are a couple of people around and even a dog. On the left is a cute looking candy store, and on the right...

...an estate agent...

... Right. Some of the dolls might have to move. We'll probably have to use one of these.

I wonder... It wouldn't hurt to take a look, right?

The website lists properties that are near and far, small and big, cheap and expensive. It looks like there are a few properties with two bedrooms not that far from our house actually. Might some of us have to move into a place like this?

Just out of curiosity though... Just because they're pretty to look at, some of these four bedroom houses look nice. This one has two bathrooms and even has a pretty cherry tree in the back garden.

"Did you find one?" Lance's cold voice snaps me out of my trance. "Huh..? Uh, yeah. This one looks good." "..." "..." "... That's a house." "... Huh." "No stationery shops around?" "... Oh! Yeah, uh... I found one near here, yeah." "Okay, then let's go there after. But..." "Hm?"

"I'm worried." "Why?" "Hasn't he been in the bathroom for a while now?" "Oh... Come to think of it, yeah." I must have spent longer than I thought on that letting website. "Do you think he's alright?" "I don't know... Would you go and check on him?" "Yeah, I should. I'll be right back."

Through a small hallway decorated with elegant instruments and antique cutlery was just one bathroom. The red colouring above the door handle showed it was definitely occupied, and it's thankfully quiet today, so there's no queue.

I hesitantly knock. "Hey, it's me. You've been a while, are you okay?" There's a shuffle before the door becomes unlocked... Does this mean I should come in?

I'm met with the view of my bear sitting in the corner of the room, huddled into a small ball... It looks quite sad.

"I want to go home," he mumbled, barely audible. "Oh my god... Are you okay? Are you alright? You're not hurt, are you?" I close the door behind me and he simply shakes his head as I cradle him in my arms.

"This isn't gonna work, I'm not good at anything. How am I supposed to go to school? I've only ever watched you at school, I've never actually been there myself. And even if it wasn't so hard, it's always so crowded. If you struggle with school and you've been doing it for years, how awful am I gonna be at it? That silver head thinks it's so easy. At least those dolls were made with the idea of going about society. I was just made to be cuddly and stay home. How am I gonna do this..."

"What? No way! I'm so sorry we made you feel that way, but I promise it's not that bad. And besides, you don't have to get straight As if it's too difficult. We can just take it slowly." "You really think so? You don't remember how that guy used to lecture you every single day and study with you for hours? How many questions you got wrong? You don't remember what he said about Yeonho being bad at maths?" "I..." "Even if it doesn't matter what the teachers think, he'll still be there when I go home. At least in the near future. I can't do it at school or at home and I'll just be bringing everyone else down with them trying to support me. It's not gonna work. Should we just give up?"

"Hey... I know how you feel. School is difficult for me too. But you can't give up when you haven't even started yet. And you don't have to be good at everything. We don't have to worry about exams anyway when we have more important stuff to worry about right now." "But Lance..." "Just... Listen. He's not gonna hurt you. He can be harsh sometimes and definitely a bit intimidating, especially when it comes to school, but he just really likes to stick to the rules. He'll understand if you're not breaking the rules just because you can. You're struggling. It's... Hmm."

Maybe I should have noticed sooner the way that he was getting so overwhelmed by what Lance was saying. And all the papers as well. Even how clean the table was. Lance sure can be a bit overbearing at times... But he doesn't mean it.

"I think it's something that we should just talk to Lance about. He's definitely the expert, right? He's even a discipline guide, so it's his job to help." "Really..?" "Yeah. Even if he can't help, it's best to be straight forward about it anyway. This is your future we're discussing here. We shouldn't just get all the facts straight about the academy, we should get the facts straight about you and how you feel too. Come on. Let's go and speak to Lance now, yeah?" "I..." I looked into his face and held my hand out to him. "Okay. Let's go." His hand is soft and warm in mine.

We didn't have to walk too far to find him though. As soon as we opened the bathroom door, there he stood in the hallway. I'd chastise him for eavesdropping, but I think this is an exception.

"Um..." He clears his throat again, hands visibly fidgeting behind his back. "So... I didn't... Well... I understand if you no longer wish to go to the academy. It's not something that's easy." I stroked the hand in mine with my thumb supportively. "Uh... It might be okay if I try going to the academy... It's just... What if I fail..."

"That's okay. I understand that I might have overwhelmed you with information and may have emphasised the negative aspects too much. I know that I've been quite insensitive towards other people in the past, but I'm working on changing that now." Lance bows his head sincerely towards us both. The ice is melting in his heart...

"I will do everything in my power to help you acclimate to the academy and will ensure that you always stay on top of classes and have enough time off if it becomes too overwhelming. I will personally give you a tour of the school on the first day and give you the highest of quality study sessions, according to your own schedule and preferences."

He straightens himself up and smooths down his clothes and my attention is once again drawn to his tidiness. His clothes had been recently ironed and even his fingernails were trimmed neatly in the same shape and size as each other.

"But I'm not saying this just to impress the owner. We are in competition, after all." I keep almost forgetting... "So I've had to start considering what my life might entail if I am not the one to win. I would like to pursue the position of student government president.

"A big aspect of being the student government president is impartiality and strict adherence to the rules. But I have learned, through Eri's help, the importance of emotions and patience. I know now that another big aspect of being the student government president is trying to understand other people's perspectives and why they might not be following the rules or meeting the highest standards."

Lance looks into his eyes, determined. I don't know how my bear's feeling, but I feel really happy that Lance is saying something so kind and thoughtful. I remember how his nickname, Ice Prince, didn't just come from his looks, but from his past attitude towards people. I'd almost forgotten that Lance hasn't always been so thoughtful. He was getting ahead of himself earlier, talking about the academy without thinking, but it was him who said he was worried. Worried about someone else...

"If you ever find yourself in a problem relating to the academy, you can always come to me. I do not mind and I can always make time to help people in need. That is my vow," he said with a final bow. "I...greatly appreciate it," my bear said, bowing back in reply.

I can't help but smile at this scene. We return to our seats and the rest of the day at Banjul goes much more smoothly. All in all, a good day. I hope I never forget these happy memories together.

[lunaekalenda]

WARNINGS: dark content. yandere, stalking, obsessive behavior, obsession, suggestive thoughts and sexual thoughts, fake sympathy. minors don't interact

a/n: editing in windows for the first time in years, i deleted all the drabble so re-wrote it from memory -more or less-. i want you all to play 14 days with you cause i wanna scream of how good it is.

He sees you from his place. Entering the supermarket, pretty as you are, with the little list you took notes into this same morning. As soon as you pass by his side, he takes a step ahead, casually colliding with you.

What a coincidental and beautiful encounter.

"O-oh, I wasn't expecting you to be here…" He was lying again.

Of course he was expecting you here, specifically, knowing that you would be here is the main reason why he came. His voice takes you by surprise as his cheeks get red, covering them with the beige sleeves of his soft cardigan, as he bites his lip under the fabric. You're looking so good… As always. It doesn't matter what you do. You always look so perfect for him. "I'm sorry, angel, I didn't mean to scare you…" As soon as you identificate him, you breath, calmly.

"Hey, Ren!" So sweet, how you smile at him. He hopes he's the only one able to see that smile. With your hand pressed against your chest, trying to calm down your heart, you talk. "What a surprise to find you here!"

He doesn't know if you're too innocent or too dumb, but it's incredible how you're unable to think about this casual encounters - that happen, at least, once every two days- as something premeditated. Still, he's not gonna tell you. It would make trash the fairytale of falling in love.

With him, of course. There's no way you can fall in love with someone that's not him.

He takes the sleeves away of his face, pink hair falling in his eyes as he smiles softly towards you. "What are you doing here?" he asks.

As if he doesn't know.

"Just needed some milk." you say, walking slowly. Milk, pads and a plastic bottle for the gym. You're starting tomorrow. At 7 a.m. He booked the same class as you.

Another magnificient and totally casual encounter.

He walks behind you while you give him little chat -about how high prices are.- every time you turn around, you see the shy, quiet boy that follows you blushed. But, as soon as your gaze is again far from him, he smiles devilishly, tongue licking his lips at the beautiful sight of your ass, shaking in front of him. He would prefer to be taking advantage of time between his sheets than there, making you moan his name and remember his fingers deep inside you if you ever dared to fuck another one.

What a dumb thought, you wouldn't. You have him, why would you search another one?

"And why are you here?" you ask, smiling at him, so quietly he wantss to treasure that smile. Cover it. Make it his. He randomly takes some cheese.

"Cheese, ham... I'm gonna make sandwiches for dinner." You laugh, checking the different milk bottles, the prices and the brands. Why do you take such a long time to decide? He already knows you'll end buying the first one. Is expensive in comparison, but the one you like the most. As he thought, you take that one with a sigh.

How can you look so beautiful even now, shopping groceries? People at the supermarket should feel amazed, no, honored, to have you here. They shouldn't pass without looking. Or maybe they should? HE should be the only one to see you.

He wants to be yours and to make you his. To mark every single inch of your skin, in places where neither clothes or hair can cover them. To make your body remember his, his caresses, his kisses, his hugs, his moans, his fingers. To be the only thing on your thoughts. To be filled with him and only him. To have him on your mind all day.

Him. Him. Him. Him. Him. Him. Him. Him. Him. Him. Him.

He wants to make sure you're drunk of him, so addicted you won't ever leave. And, if you leave... Then, accept the consequences of your actions, angel.

[ginervacade]

Stand Tall Ramble

Ok so Stand Tall gives me BIG emotions.

( the colors are significant in some places, ( but you could understand the post without them. I think it’s obvious where they’re significant, but most of the time the purple is just to show that it’s lyrics. Every so often purple just means Julie specifically, blue for Luke, pink for Alex and red for Reggie, but if you’re not sure assume purple means lyrics)

The first thing that always gets me is Julie going on alone, still teary, voice a little shaky for a measure or two but she still goes out and pours her whole heart onto that stage.

Don’t blink. No, I don’t wanna miss it

Everything has just happened so fast. She lost her mom, she lost her passion for music for a while and then all of a sudden there’s three new important and confusing people in her life. Her friendships have changed, her crushes have changed, her whole world has flipped on its head. Suddenly her music is back too.

One thing and it’s back to the beginning.

Just as quickly as she gets the boys she’s thinks she’s lost them

Cause everything is rushing in fast

Keep going on never look back

And it’s one, two, three, four times

She wrote this song with the boys. This line is showing how important each member of the band is to everyone else. I would have looked to each of the boys as I counted if I were singing this song and it had gone as planned.

That I’ll try for one more night

Light a fire in my eyes

This is a decision to keep going, keep fighting. With or without the boys. FOR the boys.

I’m goin’ out of my mind.

Too much has happened at once

Whatever happens even if I’m the last standing

Ima stand tall

Ima stand tall

There’s a switch in her voice here, a sudden power. She is the last standing now, but she’s not going to let anything stop her. She knows the boys wouldn’t have let her and neither would her mom.

Whatever happens even when everything’s down

Ima stand tall

Ima stand tall

I gotta keep on dreaming

Cause I gotta catch that feeling

As someone who has sang and played music my entire life I can tell you that there is an emotion and a physical feeling that I can not possibly describe to you that comes with preforming.

Whatever happens even if I’m the last standing

Ima stand tall

Ima stand tall

There the feeling really hits her when she gets the reaction. She realizes that maybe she can do this.

And then Alex appears…

There’s a look in Alex’s eyes of, “ we would not have left you again.” A little smile of “ I’ve got you, just keep going”

Julie’s eyes LIGHT UP with pure unbridled hope. The tears come back in an instant because she could have done it alone, but she doesn’t have to.

And then Reggie appears too, she doesn’t have time to really react but she actually giggles a little, and the tears get bigger. Reg gives her this little smirk and he nods like, “ you’ve got it, we’ve got you. Just sing”

Right now I’m loving every minute

This song was written before but this line has a whole different feeling now than it was intended to. Originally this was, I’ve found my people, I’m back, they’re back and we’re going to take over the world. Now it’s a big feeling of, WE CAN DO THIS.

Hands down

Can’t let myself forget it, no

There a subtle defiance in that no

Cause everything is rushing in fast

Keep holding on never look back

And it’s one, two, three

Julie looks to Alex and Reggie here as Luke flickers and there’s fear in everyone’s eyes but still blinding hope in Julie’s

Four times

And we linger on Luke flickering

That I’ll try for one more night

Julie is not giving up on him.

Light a fire in my eyes

I’m goin out of my mind

Luke makes it here and it’s perfect and the look in everyone’s eyes is enough to send me into a fresh wave of tears

Whatever happens

Even if I'm the last standing

I'ma stand tall

I'ma stand tall

Whatever happens

Even when everything's down

I'ma stand tall

I'ma stand tall

I gotta keep on dreaming

'Cause I gotta catch that feeling

Whatever happens even if I’m the last standing

Ima stand tall

Ima stand tall

But now it’s back to it’s original meaning

There’s not a last standing this time

Like I’m glowing in the dark

And they all really are

I keep on going when it’s all falling apart

Yeah I know it with all my heart

Self explanatory

The oos make me giggle so much, it’s adorable and Reggie and Julie’s friendship could be a whole other giant post. Plus musically it gets me all jittery because it’s just so good.

Never look back

Alex’s chorus means a lot to me because he just stand up and does it without a second thought and I love the idea that this is him finally listening to Reggie the beginning “ can you just own your awesomeness for once?”

Reg takes his moment and there’s something about his power note there with the stand tall building with everyone there that really gets me worked up

Whatever happens

Even if I'm the last standing

I'ma stand tall

I'ma stand tall

Whatever happens

Even when everything's down

I'ma stand tall

I'ma stand tall

I gotta keep on dreaming

'Cause I gotta catch that feeling

And the final chorus with just everyone’s voices means a lot because they don’t need their instruments to be the band. They’re just themselves in that moment and its so powerful

Whatever happens

Even if I'm the last standing

I'ma stand tall

I'ma stand tall

Everyone’s faces as they’re taking in what they’ve just done is so wonderful and the way they all look at each other is so sweet

Alex grabbing Luke’s hand HURTS

Because there are so many ways it could be: 1. They’re celebrating, this is a Luke we did it

2. The way Luke doesn’t hesitate to take it tells me he may have done this before and this is simply Alex showing his excitement ( I could give a whole rant about these two too)

3. Anxiety

4. Adrenaline

5. ( you’re getting a ramble on fear responses wether you want it or not) but Alex’s automatic fear response almost every time we see him scared ( which is often) is to reach for Luke

And the two most heartbreaking options

6. Alex isn’t sure Luke is stable enough not to flicker before they can poof out after bows so he’s trying to tether him

7. Alex isn’t sure HE is stable enough not to flicker before they can poof out after bows so he’s trying to tether himself

And then the bows and the boys disappear like they always do and Julie knows it’s different but she’s still glowing with the excitement and power of their performance that she’s blissfully oblivious to what it really meant for the boys this time and I SOB THROUGH STAND TALL JUST AS HARD AS UNSAID EMILY EVERY SINGLE TIME for these reason.

[messers-moony]

Secret Boyfriend | R.B

Paring: Regulus Black X Lupin!Fem!Reader

Summary: Keeping secrets seem to run in the Lupin family but one of the two twins has a bigger secret than the other can imagine. 

Pitter-patter could be heard inside the Gryffindor Common room. The Scotland weather never really seemed to make up its mind during the period between winter and spring. Nevertheless, it brought a calming atmosphere to the red and gold common room. The five Marauders sat in front of the fireplace, speaking to one another. Remus, Y/n, and Sirius sitting together on a couch. James on an armchair, and Peter sitting on the ground in front of the sofa. 

“So, Little Lupin.“ James drawled, “When are you getting a boyfriend?” 

Remus chuckled, quickly putting an arm around his twin sister, “Hopefully, never.” 

“Maybe I already have a boyfriend, and you lot just don’t know.” Y/n snipped as she elbowed her brother in the ribs slightly, “Oh, come on, paws!” James exclaimed teasingly. 

Paws was Y/n’s Marauder name. Her animagus was a Siamese cat, which resembled her personality quite well if you asked Remus. Y/n was quick-witted, independent, intuitive, curious, and affectionate when comfortable. She and Sirius were known to flirt all the time but recently - meaning a couple of months - they hadn’t done it at all. Perhaps Y/n was actually avoiding his flirtatious remarks. Nevertheless, Y/n’s animagus was a direct correlation with her personality. 

“Yeah, paws, you’ve been neglecting me recently. I’m not too happy with it either.” Sirius added with a fake pout, “Oh hush it, you two. Leave my sister alone. She’s got no hidden boyfriend.” Remus defended, looking at his sister. 

“Right, Y/n?” Remus coughed, and she jumped out of her daydream, “Mhm! Of course.” 

Conversation went on as usual. They began discussing new pranks, but Y/n’s jumper pocket felt heavier than usual, knowing what’s inside. It was a cream-colored envelope with the Black family crest as a seal. Y/n knew more than anyone that Sirius wouldn’t be happy to see the familiar logo, but this wasn’t from his parents. It was from his little brother, and Y/n was anxious to give it to him. So when James, Remus, and Peter went upstairs, Y/n pulled him aside before he could leave. 

“Padfoot, wait.” Y/n called, and he turned back, “What's up, paws?” Sirius queried, turning to face her. 

She sighed and pulled the envelope from her pocket, “Please, read this. It isn’t what you think it is despite the seal.” Y/n stated, handing him the parchment. 

“Where did you get this?” Sirius asked as he opened the packaging, “Regulus.” Y/n’s answer was firmer than expected. 

Nonetheless, the letter inside seemed essential to his fellow Marauder, so he opened it. Inside he was met with his little brother's prominent handwriting. The black ink treaded so seamlessly across the brown paper. Y/n remembered watching him write it at his desk, desperately trying to collect his thoughts while his hand shook relentlessly. She couldn’t do anything but sit from his bed and watch. Regulus needed to do this alone. 

After reading, Sirius slid the letter back inside its packaging, “Well, it’s his fault.” 

“Actually, it isn’t.” Y/n quipped, “Listen, Sirius, Regulus is trying. He really is.” 

“You would know this how?”

“Because we’ve been friends for a long time.” 

“Oh really?” Sirius questioned sarcastically, crossing his arms, “Since when did you and Reggie become so close?” 

“He began tutoring me in third year for Potions.” Y/n answered, “You couldn’t have asked Remus?”

“No. “ Y/n shook her head, “Slughorn wanted Regulus specifically.” 

“Well then. Full moon tomorrow, hope you’re prepared.” Sirius chirped as he began walking up the steps to his dorm, “I’m always prepared.” Y/n replied to essentially no one. 

She sighed. It was apparent Sirius didn’t want to believe what Regulus had written. It would’ve been hard on anyone. But Regulus wanted it to come from him instead of Sirius finding out. Since Y/n’s third year - Regulus’ second year - she felt attracted to him. He always made time for her. It wasn’t until their fourth year when she realized it. In her fifth year, they made it official. Regulus Black and Y/n Lupin were a couple but hidden beneath an invisibility cloak. 

Seventh year wasn’t easy. The upcoming war, her brother's lycanthropy, N.E.W.T.S, and Regulus getting the dark mark. Nothing seemed to be working in her favor. Books didn’t even seem to please her anymore. Her eyes wandered while she began to daydream about anything rather than reality itself. People began to notice how lost the girl appeared. 

Especially her brother. 

Study sessions with her weren’t the same. Some days her eyes would appear glossier than usual as if someone put a coating of lip gloss over them. Maybe they were rimmed with a pastel pink seeming tired and unhappy. The tremors in her hands were hard to ignore as she wrote with her quill. If there’s one thing Remus Lupin was good at, it was being observant; however, there wasn’t time, and he didn’t have the patience to deal with this right now. The full moon approaching meant that Remus’ patience tolerance was down to about none. 

There was one thing that brought her clarity. Regulus Black. The Gryffindor common room was always a warm and welcoming atmosphere. In contrast, the Slytherin common room was cold and damp, but it brought her comfort because of the person inside. Y/n padded quietly inside of his prefect hallway, which was beside the Slytherin common. She walked into his bedroom, which was dark. 

No candles lit. Just dark. Regulus always felt comfort in the dark, but it wasn’t dark because of that. It was dark because he was absent. Y/n peered over to his desk, where letters sat from his mother and some cousins. Andromeda seemed to try and reach him, but the letter looked unopened. There was one that caught her eye. It was Remus’ handwriting, and it was from him. It was also opened. Y/n knew she couldn’t stay all night. The full moon was due to rise in just two hours. 

Picking up the parchment, she began to read:

“ To Regulus Black, 

You need to step up. I get it. Sirius has been disowned, but he tries to make an effort. Can’t you see that? Sirius really needs you, and I know that you miss him too. This whole stubborn game of not wanting to talk to each other has gone on long enough. 

I know what it’s like to argue with a sibling, and it isn’t pleasant. Suck it up, swallow your pride and talk to Sirius. You don’t have to ultimately make up, but please, he’s trying. 

From, Remus Lupin. “

Y/n swallowed down her anger. Who was Remus to get involved in their affairs? If Sirius and Regulus didn’t want to interact, that was their problem, not his. It infuriated her. But she didn’t have time to babble around. Y/n pointed her wand at her and became a cat. Perks of her animagus being allowed at Hogwarts, she could roam around freely without suspicion. Quickly she sprinted down to the Whomping Willow, where she was met with her three Marauders in human form. Y/n transformed back. 

“Where were you! I was worried sick!” Remus scolded, “Nowhere, but we need to talk later.” Y/n answered. 

They got Remus in the shack and changed into their animagus forms. A stag, a rat, a dog, and a cat. The dog and the cat had the most interaction with the werewolf. Sometimes the dog and werewolf would cuddle up beside each other, whereas the cat would sleep on its own along with the other two animals. The following day Y/n and Sirius lugged Remus up to the hospital wing. Y/n sat beside him the entire time while the other three went off. Sirius and James were off to Quidditch practice. Peter was off to see his girlfriend in Hufflepuff. 

Y/n tapped aimlessly on Remus’ hand, “M- Morning.”

“Morning, Moony.” Y/n greeted, “How are you feeling?” 

“Phenomenal.”

“Sorry.”

“What did we need to talk about?” Remus questioned, and Y/n tilted her head, “You said we needed to talk before going to the shack.”

“Yes, I did. Um- uh- did you send Regulus a letter by any chance?” Y/n stammered, “I did. Why?” 

“I saw it.” Y/n replied shortly, “You saw it?” Remus repeated incredulously. 

She nodded, “How did you see it?” 

“Regulus and I are friends. Sometimes we hang out in his dorm.” The words seemed like nothing as they rolled off her tongue, “You hang out in the Slytherin dorms? Is that why you always know the password so we can do pranks?” 

“Of course.” Y/n chuckled, “I use my privilege to its advantage.”

Remus began to get up but grimaced, causing Y/n to jump up to help him. Gently she eased him to a sitting position. A new scratch on his cheek and multiple on his arms. It’s evident that the cat and the dog had to stop him. The thin scratches on his arms were a cat's nails. The thicker scratch on his cheek was a dog's nails. Remus looked down at his arms. 

“I’m sorry.” Y/n muttered, “Not your fault, paws. Who was it this time?” Remus asked. 

“Prongs. Apparently, you wanted Prongs.” Y/n answered, and he kissed the top of her head, “Thank you for stopping me.” 

“Anything for my brother.” 

“Just like anything for our Moony?”

Y/n laughed, “Yeah.”

Paws began to tap on his hand again, until a voice echoed through the hospital wing, “Y/n?” 

“Y/n?” The voice called again, and Remus quirked his eyebrow at his sheepish sister, “Y/n!” 

Suddenly a black-haired, grey-eyed, pale figure was beside her. He didn’t realize what he was doing until he had already kissed the top of her head worriedly. Y/n turned pink at the affection and the embarrassment of it happening in front of her brother. Remus coughed, and the male stood straight. 

“Regulus, what a surprise.” Remus retorted, “Didn’t think you’d ever visit me in the infirmary.”

“Remus, please-“ 

“I wouldn’t.” Regulus snapped, “Then why are you here?” Remus inquired. 

Regulus’ hand was playing aimlessly with the ends of Y/n’s hair, “Moony….” Y/n began at a whisper, “Regulus is my boyfriend.”

“This-“ Remus pointed at them both with a laughing smile, “Is funny.”

“Nice prank, paws, but it isn’t going to work.”

Y/n sighed, “It isn’t a prank, Rem.” 

“We’ve been together for about two years now.” She confessed, and Regulus stiffened, “Friends, my ass.” Remus scoffed bitterly. 

“Remus, please-“ Y/n began, “No, please just leave. We can talk about this later when I’m in the right frame of mind. Because if you don’t leave, now I might throw a punch.” Remus replied. 

She sighed and reluctantly left with Regulus trailing behind her. Y/n didn’t want to cry. It was pitiful. Regulus never had a good relationship with Sirius since Hogwarts, yet he didn’t seem to care. Thankfully, after building the Marauders Map, she knew every little crevice and hiding spot. Pulling back a tapestry, she sat down on the cement floor. Regulus doing the same beside her. Hesitantly he pulled his arm around her shoulders, pulling her into his chest. 

“This is pitiful.” Y/n chuckled bitterly, “I’m sorry, Reggie.”

“It isn’t pitiful. You and Remus have a close relationship. It’s okay to be sad about him telling you off.” Regulus replied, placing his chin on the top of her head, “Sirius and I are different. Don’t compare you and Remus with us.”

Y/n nuzzled into his chest, “I saw the letter Remus sent you.”

“I- I saw the way he spoke to you, and I’m sorry.” Y/n stated, “I hope he comes around.” 

“I do too, love.” Regulus kissed the top of her head, “ I do too.”

It was quiet for a moment until two figures pulled back the tapestry, “Oi! Get off, little Lupin!” James exclaimed, and Y/n sighed, “Sirius, James, please just leave.”

“What are you doing with my mate's little sister, Regulus?” Sirius interrogated, “Comforting her. She needs me.” Regulus retorted, tightening his grip on her shoulder. 

Y/n stood up and pulled Regulus with her, “Come on. We four need to talk.” 

The four of them walked into a broom closet. It was a quiet walk. Eerily quiet. It brought shivers down Y/n’s spine at how silent the walk was. The tension was so thick you couldn’t cut it with a knife. The pressure felt like sludge. It was thick and mush. But when Y/n opened the door, the lot of them walked inside. James and Sirius stared expectantly. 

“Regulus and I have been dating since my fifth year.” Y/n began, and Regulus intertwined their hands. 

“Little Lupin!” Sirius exclaimed, “You weren’t lying when you said you had a secret boyfriend!”

“You scandalous little thing!”

“I can’t believe this.” James stated after running his hand through his hair, “How did Remus take it?”

“Not very well.” Y/n replied, “He kicked me out of the hospital wing when Regulus showed up. “

“He’s- He’s not in the right mindset, though. He’ll come to. I know he will. He has to.”

Sirius’ eyes softened, “Moony will come around. It might just take him a minute.” 

“Regulus.” James called, and grey eyes stared at him, “Y/n is a Marauder.”

“I know that.” Regulus interrupted, “She is my little sister as much as she is Remus’” James continued. 

“And mine!” Sirius added, smiling brightly, “Y/n is our little sister. The lot of us depend on her. We can’t, and we won’t have her heartbroken.” James explained sternly, suddenly looking a lot like Mrs. Potter. 

Regulus’ cheeks flushed with pink, “I love her, I really do. I don’t plan on breaking her heart anytime soon.” 

“You’re gonna be my sister-in-law!” Sirius squealed, hugging Y/n forcefully, almost knocking her over, “Oh, little Lupin.” He cooed. 

“You’re all grown up!” 

They laughed, and Sirius kissed her forehead, “Take care of him, will you?” He whispered so only she could hear, “Of course.” Y/n smiled. 

“Alright, alright, I’d like my girlfriend back,” Regulus replied, taking her away from Sirius’ arms. 

Sirius gulped, “How’s mum going to take this, Reggie?” 

“I don’t care.” Regulus retorted, “Mums gonna have to deal with it.” 

The smile on Sirius’ face was brighter than the sun, “Oh, Reggie!” He wailed, pulling Regulus into a tight hug. 

The two brothers smiled as they hugged each other. Regulus sleeve slipped up, and James stepped back, pulling out his wand. The two Black brothers pulled apart, and that’s when Sirius saw it. The dark mark on his brother's sleeve. Y/n stiffened as Sirius lifted his sleeve up further to see it clearly. 

“Reggie…” 

“Sirius, please, I didn’t want it.” Regulus pleaded, “She- They- Please.”

James watched intently at them. Sirius’ eyes had filled with tears as he embraced his younger brother. For the first time in a long time, Regulus felt protected in his brother's arms. James walked closer and joined them. Hugging both Black brothers as close as he could. James Potter, the man who never stops giving. They pulled apart, and James took Reggie into his own arms. 

“You need anything, you come to me, okay?” James informed sternly, and Regulus nodded, “Ye- Yeah.”

“Remus and Y/n always come for the holidays. You won’t be alone.” James stated smiling, “My parents already have one Black; they won’t mind another.” 

The Black brother smiled, “Thank you….”

The days went on, and Regulus still avoided the Marauders altogether. Remus glared at him from the Gryffindor table in the Great Hall. Deep emerald green eyes were flashing at the grey ones that sat at the Slytherin table. Until Y/n jabbed him in the ribs, taking his attention away from the younger Black brother. 

“Remus.” Y/n scolded, “Stop it.”

“I think you’re too hard on him, Moony.” James began, “He loves your sister. Maybe talk to him.” 

“No.” Remus snapped, “You guys can accept this, but I can’t.” 

They didn’t push any further. Y/n and Remus had been distant from each other. It was weird to watch the twins who were typically attached at the hip to be so - abroad. Regulus didn’t like that he was now the cause of their fussing. After all, they were the reason Sirius and him were on speaking terms now. So Regulus and Sirius made a plan. It involved them being locked in a broom closet, and so it happened—one night after dinner. 

Remus was shoved into a cupboard, not by his own liking either, “Come on, Sirius! This isn’t funny. I have prefect duties to do!”

“Actually, someone else has taken them over.” Regulus informed, and Remus whipped around, “What are you two doing here?”

“Remus, explain it to me.” Regulus began, “Why you don’t approve of me with your sister.”

“Because! You’re a bloody death eater! You probably forced her to be with you.” Remus exclaimed. 

Y/n scoffed, “A pureblood forcing himself with a half-breed? Doesn’t seem likely.” 

Remus ran his hand through his hair, “Okay, he’s still a death eater!”

“I was forced!” Regulus exclaimed, “They strapped me to a chair and embedded the mark into my forearm. You don’t think I wasn’t thinking of her the entire time?! I was scared out of my mind!”

“The entire time, all I could think about was ‘How is Y/n gonna take this.’” Regulus admitted, “My heart aches for her. I didn’t want her to be scared.”

Remus’ green eyes turned soft, “Does she accept you? Does she love you? Do you love her?”

“Yes, Remus. I love him for who he is. James offered him a place to stay at the Potters.” Y/n replied, “And yes, I love her.” 

Tears filled her eyes, “Remus, please. I don’t want to lose either of you.”

Remus held out his arms, and she walked right into them. He placed one hand on the back of her head and one on the small of her waist. Holding her close to his heart, rubbing his thumb through her hair. Regulus’ grey eyes stared at the two siblings before him. Remus’ heart softened at his crying sister. He never wanted to hurt her, ever. 

“Paws.” Remus began as he pulled away slightly, “Does he make you happy?”

Y/n sniffled and nodded; Remus wiped her cheeks, “Okay.”

“Does he know you, for you?” 

“Mhm.”

Remus turned to Regulus as Y/n parted with him, “Where’s paws favorite place to be scratched?”

Regulus chuckled, “Behind her ears.”

“Take care of my little sister.” Remus pleaded, “Please, Regulus.” 

“Of course. I wouldn’t expect any different.” Regulus answered. 

Remus walked forward and put out his hand. Hesitantly Regulus shook his hand. Grey eyes met green ones. Remus couldn’t help the smile that placed itself on his face. Without hesitation, he pulled Regulus into a tight hug.

“Take care of my sister, and I’ll take care of you.”

“Always.”