#here's your starter sorry it took me so long been busy and plotting!

[wilsonfisk-thekingpin]

The black SUV rolled across the black gravel of the road approaching the secure building up ahead. The sounds of the city had faded hours ago. Where they were, there was nothing for miles. The sound of the tires overturning stones could be heard over the hum of the engine and the silence in the vehicle itself.

A glance out the window revealed pale blue skies and the sun shining overheard. It was a moderate autumn day, not too cold and not too hot, but somewhere perfectly in the middle.

The truck slowed to a stop as it approached the gate. The driver presented his ID, as well as those of the others in the truck. Inside of the vehicle was Wilson Fisk, a few bodyguards, and his assistant. After their cards were scanned, they were permitted to pass through to the building. They rolled to another stop in front of the double doors in the driveway. There were a few green bushes around the building, each perfectly manicured, a green trashcan off to the side where a few flies had convened. Aside from that there was a parking garage where the SUV would undoubtedly be taken once it was unloaded.

"We'll be back in about an hour, be on standby." Wilson's voice finally cut through the silence as he gave his instruction to the driver. His security team moved out of the truck, doing a once over of the area as Wilson stepped out onto the sidewalk.

They were at a Roxxon research facility just a few miles outside of the city. Wilson had recently began business with the company again after years of going dark on them. This was an opportunistic business decision. One that would benefit him if he gave resources to it's development. Deals had been made, ideas shared (some stolen and improved), and money exchanged. Now, after months of funding and working he was here to see the fruits of such labor.

@misterjameswesley @madame-gao @leland-owlsley @theee-enchantress @policedepartment-ny @verygoodlawyer @ whoever wants to join feel free to do so! Fair warning, this one's going to be very immoral.

[roger-that-cap]

meet me in the gardens

summary: being the widow of a decently wealthy lord and sitting on a large plot of land automatically meant that you were a candidate for the program that you couldn’t say no to; the hosting. you had to sponsor a knight and keep them in your home for an entire year, which was troublesome enough on its own. but you never expected your knight to be a woman, and you certainly didn’t expect to have a full on illegal love affair with her, either.

knight!natasha x lady!reader

sort of royalty au (there’s social hierarchy and a king and queen and knights and commoners and all that so- yeah it’s a royalty au nvm lmao)

warnings: this is fluff, angst, uh, basically everything but smut and serious angst.

word count: 2.5k, starting off short before we get into this 

part one!

also, to the very few people who look for fics up here- i promise i’m alive, sorry for being m.i.a! work and school are bodying me right now 

A lot could change within a year.

In a year, one was expected to grow wiser and older, and for you, because you were a woman, prettier. And because you did all three of those things in one year, you were herded off like cattle from your small farm, where the old pig you would soon be forced to call “husband” had seen you in the first place, and carted away to his large estate. You were supposed to be his wife, bear his children, and love him unconditionally even though you knew nothing about him, and he was supposed to do not even half of that for you. He had chosen you purely because your father had an abundance of wheat and animals, and he thought you were nice looking. He would surely never go hungry if he had the owner of a relatively large farm’s daughter with him.

Regardless of his reasoning for wanting to make you his wife, it ended up happening. You cried yourself to sleep the night before, and when you were done consummating the horrid marriage, you cried after he fell asleep, unable to shut your own eyes. That was how you spent your first night at the female counterpart to your lord husband, and as Lady Mirellis.

The marriage was loveless. The only thing you got out of it was a nice roof over your head and some silky clothing that made you feel like you were betraying who you really were. He was a brute and a pig, and he hardly ever spoke to you other than to tell you to get on your back, your knees, or something else as equally vile. You were the lady of his large manor, considered a small castle, but that was all you were. You made friends with the staff around, and that made things just the tiniest bit better. He was still cruel and crude, still insanely aggravating, and getting more and more angry with each month that you weren’t carrying his child.

And then, all of a sudden, he grew ill. And, within a month after he fell ill, he died. And then you were a single woman who had a large estate to her name, and a growing line of suitors who wanted nothing more than to have their last names attached to the great patch of land. You were the lady of the house without a lord, still young and still capable of marriage. After a large fuss over whether or not a young woman from your background was fit to take over, you had inherited everything.

So, yes, a lot could change in a year. And you decided that the changes that took place in that year were ones that you could barely handle.

§§

You knew exactly what the letter with the King’s Seal on it was when it was put into your hand, and you very easily guessed the contents of it.

You supposed that you should have seen it coming. Miraculously, your late husband and lord had gotten out of the Hosting, which could have been seen as treasonous or dishonorable if he had been any less careful. You grew up on a farm, and you had no idea how to go about denying or questioning royal decree, so you weren’t going to. You were going to have to Host, for the first time in your life.

Your family was never important enough to have to do it, so you had no experience with it, other than knowing that a high up lord of a small castle, or big estate, whatever one wanted to call it, was in charge of having a knight in their home while the knight completed his year long training. The training was said to come from within, and the job of the knight was to be a good, honorable guest, and to come back to the castle after their year expired as a new and improved person.

But it was rare that they truly soul searched, you had heard. Mainly because they were ninety nine percent male and thought with their penises more than their brains and hearts. The Hosting was a knight’s last stop before true knighthood, more or less a time that humbled young knights. It was a test of the true intentions of a knight, the true desires of a man who wished for glory and authority.

“For you, Milady.” You grimaced inwardly at the title, the title that you used to have to call the lady that you used to bring barrels of hay to on Sunday mornings. You nodded at the young boy, a smile on your face. He was new, and it was clear that this was his first task that involved him to speak to a “higher up” person.

You patted his head. “Thank you,” you said, and his eyes widened comically before he laughed and ran away, obviously shocked by the way you spoke to him back.

It wasn’t against the law, but it was frowned upon for nobles to speak to servants more than necessary. A noble person was not required to have manners or ask kindly for things, and when they did, it was certainly an out of the ordinary experience. You knew that well enough.

You broke the red seal and took in a deep breath, going to sit at your late husband’s desk (that you of course inherited, as you inherited everything the man had) and finding your name in perfect and Royal handwriting.

Lady Mirellis,

As you know, the time for the selection of The Hosting has come. Your house was not a host during the previous Hosting, therefore, you will be required to sponsor a knight this year. Out of respect for your late husband and all he has done for me, I will choose a knight for you, a knight that I trust. You will be safe with my choice, and the year will flow smoothly. Once again, I am sorry for your loss.

Please expect your knight within the fortnight, Lady Mirellis.

With respect, King Anthony Stark.

§§

Two weeks later, your keep was buzzing. You hated hosting things, even if they were short dinners. And you knew that you were going to hate hosting a person for an entire year. A brand new knight who was full of himself, no less.

King Anthony had given you what he thought was going to be an easy charge for a reason. New knights were known for being rowdy, disgusting, perverted, and authoritative when they shouldn’t have been. No lady should ever have to deal with the crude words or behavior of a man—certainly not. And with you and your poor husband gone, that meant that no one was there to help you.

You appreciated the kindness, but it was obvious that every man thought that women were only an extension of their husbands. If you weren’t able to handle the loud voices and taunting shouts of men and boys, you would have melted or turned to dust by the time you were thirteen years old. If you had survived a man who carted you off and away from your family like you were cattle, you could handle a boy who was staying under your roof.

Nonetheless, your people were busy, and so were you. They were making accommodations to the largest guest room, because it was to be someone’s for an entire year. They were cleaning things that you never thought would be cleaned, washing random sheets and hanging them to dry. And you? You were making the welcoming package.

You had never made one before, but you were trying your hardest. It was more or less a care package to make the knight feel comfortable. It was a starter kit, so that they wouldn’t have to ask for much or seem unfit for knighthood, because it was all about pride. So help anyone above, you wouldn’t be dealing with a knight with a bruised ego.

“Men,” you scoffed out, rolling your eyes as you fluffed the silk pillowcase and folded the top of the woven basket over, closing in everything and tying the top with a bow. 

“Y/N,” a woman’s voice called out, and you turned to it with a gentle smile.

Of course it was Wanda. Her and her brother were always by your side, ever since you had arrived at the keep. Pietro was the messenger boy for Lord Mirellis, because he was so fast on his feet. He delivered a message meant to go hundreds of leagues away and came back within days, when it would take others weeks. You liked Pietro a lot. He was a funny man, cheeky, but he knew his boundaries with people, whether they were lowborn or highborn. He had the same amount of respect for everything, and you admired that about him.

Wanda however, was your favorite person in the castle. She was the first kind face that you saw when you walked into the keep. She was the first person to actually ask you if you wanted help being dressed or brushing your hair. She was able to see that you needed help with your corset before you even asked. There were so many trivial things that Wanda did for you that made you so loyal to the friendship you shared, but there was one thing you were sure to never forget.

She had been the one to help you out of bed after a rough consummation night. She was also the only woman who had offered you even a sliver of sympathy, and for that, she was your greatest ally, and on a deeper level, a true friend. 

You had barely even seen her for more than five minutes before you woke up in bed by yourself the morning after that horrid night, crying silent tears and feeling sore between your legs. A knock sounded on the door, and instead of her turning away and apologizing for coming in on such an improper moment, she shut the door and asked you if you needed help, without any fear of being scolded. Wanda Maximoff was different. That’s why you liked her so much.

She was standing beside you as you waited, even though waiting for a knight was somewhat improper. You were supposed to wait inside and have them knock on your castle door, and you were to welcome them inside and have a warm dinner ready. That was how it was always supposed to go, but you decided not to do that.

You were standing outside, like the lady you had been forced to become. Your chin was slightly lifted and your hands were at your sides, even though you were desperate to fiddle with your thumbs. You took in a deep breath as you heard the sound of a carriage coming, horses and the chatter of men getting louder with each passing moment.

You would be a liar if you said that you weren’t scared to have a man in your house that you didn’t know. Not only would he be a man, but he would be a man that knew how to do things that most didn’t, such as how to properly wield a sword. You were a woman alone, a widow to a lord, and people had tried things with you before, ever since your husband had died. Most of the time, those things ended up with their hands being cut off as the legal and unyielding punishment for their attempted crimes.

“No one here is going to let a stupid knight hurt you, you know.” Pietro had come out of nowhere, chest puffed out as he looked to his sister for a moment, and then back at you. “Wanda is practically with you every second of every day, and I’m never too far.” It was true. There were guards around, as well, but you were still scared.

“If you don’t like it this year, you can always say no next year.” Wanda offered, but you whined under your breath when you remembered that this was no visit. The man would be living with you for an entire year. “And King Anthony said he would be giving you a man he trusted to sleep under your roof. I trust his word.” 

“As do I,” you said quickly, ringing out your hands one last time before the carriage got closer. “I’ll be fine, you two. Thank you.” And they knew just how grateful you were for them.

The carriage was being pulled by two white horses, both looking around carelessly and cluelessly as the coachman pulled them to a stop. “Lady Mirellis,” he said, looking you up and down, clearly judging you for not yielding to tradition. “It is very kind of you to meet us outside.”

“I thought it may be easier to begin the tour early,” you said, remembering at the last moment to school your voice into sounding ladylike. The stark difference between your public voice and the one that you spoke to Wanda and Pietro with always made Wanda smile a bit, and you knew that you would have laughed if you were looking at her. “I don’t want to give my new guest too large of a culture shock. I am not quite sure if he would appreciate being hoarded inside a place he hasn’t seen before.”

The coachman gave you an odd look, almost like he wasn’t understanding what you were saying. Or maybe, why you were saying it. But, he knew that because of your status, your word outweighed his, and he would do as you said. Your heart was beating nearly out of your chest as you watched him climb out of his chair and walk around, and you saw his hand wrap around the handle of the white and gold carriage.

There was a flash of brilliant red. That was all you saw at first, and then you saw shiny armor, glinting in the sun. Your eyes trailed up from the shoes that you knew were crafted specifically for knights, up to the legs and then to the breastplate, which you noticed was curved outwards. Your brows furrowed as your eyes got stuck in that place, and you willed yourself to believe that it was a trick of the eyes. There was a pinch on your arm, and you realized that you had been staring without speaking for much too long. In your embarrassment, your eyes flickered up to meet the man’s, and then, you nearly choked.

The knight was no man at all.

*****

so this is a series! this idea has been cooking up in my head for a while now, and i figured it was finally time to go through with it! i’m really excited about this one, and i’ve already got most of it planned out. i hope you guys liked this!

also- if you would like to be tagged, you are free to ask! (bold of me to assume that any of y’all want a notif for this bye 😭) please interact with this if you liked it, it makes me so happy and motivated to hear from you guys!

[youranxiousnerd]

Spring Break Thoughts

bc i want to get stuck in an airport and break into first class

spoilers below

EJ DOING THE INTRO

the most...profound intro?

“maybe it’s really about other people” looks at gina

i have jumped on the portwell train

when i first saw they were doing zoom backgrounds i was not on board, but they’ve grown on me carlos’ sucks

miss jenn and the zoom backgrounds

NI NI HEL LO

nini didn’t you get cut?

you know miss jenn they could get together out side of school (at least the kids who are here)

olivia is so pretty

aww carlos called miss jenn his madrina

HA I KNEW IT OF COURSE CARLOS INVITED SEB

seblos tension, ill get to that later

they’re so passive aggressive guys i love it

ASH AND EJ

CASWELL COUSINS YESSS

“You guys are watching like, old, old movies”

“This is why we’re soulmates” the redyln goal has been reached bye

this...this is the only line they get?

miss jenn has obviously not gotten the memo

three weeks and you havent blocked act two

“not it”

of course sebby is the last one to leave

“bye” awww miss jenn

GINA THAT LITTLE GIG YESSSS

just one complement after another ej

AHHHH EJ WITH PAINTED NAILS YESSSSS

he looks so good ej should do it more often

ej fell hard guys

jack in the background doing tik toks i cant

gina and signs

RICKY IN A BLANKET

ugh its lynne

i dont care enough to spell her name right

“just being a burrito here”

bitter ricky, i feel ya

“I’m sorry to hear that’s it over” *smiles*

nini you should have just posted a video

ope empty notebook

awww ej’s insta

gina and jack

thats it

“she changed her name” nina is literally her real name 

the leg pull away

ricky and bedding is my new favorite ship besides therapy

“Your boy Jack”

when i first saw the promo for this nini scene i was worried it was gonna be another solo (shes had like 16)

I SPY WITH MY LITTLE EYE A RAINBOW HEART

my gay heart is bursting

nina really said “rainbows are awesome” this episode

and the necklace is off

guys i love improv scenes

it was so goood

soooo howie and kourt just get no closure after that killer song last week? no nothing? 

BAHAHAHA KOURTNEY BREAKING UP

i love kourtney

sofia is so pretty

okay i dont ship jack and gina but they’re fun together, little chaos demons

THE DUKE SWEATSHIRT AHHHH

“my friends, like, my castmates, they think it sucks what you did on opening night”

good talk, long overdo. nothing is solved by any means but little steps

the therapy line omfg 

“HI, CUPCAKE”

“I’ll meet you in the pool” there is an ocean right behind you

 “Don’t ask me”

“Ashlyn, Big Red, Miss. Jenn, Carlos”

the way seb’s face just DROPS when he mentions carlos

“Are you guys fighting” big red looked so happy omfg

“That would imply that we’re speaking”

“Who has time to talk when you’re busy posting selfies with random guys in a cabana”

guys i had to pause for five minutes because i was dying

jealous seb... where did you come from?

ALRIGHT IT IS TIME TO TALK ABOUT SEBLOS!!!!

first off, it seems the writers love to make major seblos things happen off screen. examples include there pinning and officially getting together

where... where did all this tension come from? it has been light the past two episodes then bam, everything they say to each other is bitter. since when is seb jealous? the writers have so many other conflicts to talk about and they choose jealous seb? off all thing?!?! im honestly kind of disappointed because there are so many other things to talk about from previous episodes and instead they choose this?!?!?! hopefully this isn’t the only thing that is addressed next week, it cant be. they better talk about the constant “no seb” because its an issue. 

moral of the story is i hope the fight next episode isn’t about seb being jealous bc there is so much more to talk about

i am loving passive aggressive seb like i hope that doesn’t go away when their conflict is resolved bc it’s awesome

HERE are my thoughts on the zoom call

okay seb’s line about doing public makes sense with the full episode

everyone on the call is just like “wtf happened to my otp”

EJJJJ

EJJJJ I LOVE YOU

THE BEST EJ SCENE 

“Hi Nini!” ejjjj

you have to watch the scene twice, one to watch nini and ashlyn and another for ej

EJ AND THE PUPPET THATS IT IM DONE

sassy gina i love her

guys i just love everybody

ASHLYN AND NINI I MISSED THIS DUO GAHHHHHH THEY’RE ADORABLE

ej is a child i love it

ricky i feel you with the songwriting

look at big red being best friend of the year now give him a plot line

i am under the impression jack recorded gina 

SHIT THE CANDLE TO LAMP TRANSITION YESSSSS

i love transitions and that was it

matt is ripped

julia lester showed up this season. queen shit 

she is perfect

YES BIG RED AND KOURTNEY DANCING I WANT MOREEEE

i am so confused with seb’s gloves

that has been bugging me for two days 

carlos has more style then a hawaiian shirt and khakis

im in heaven the harmonies are soooo good

they are amazing they sound so good

you can hear all there voices

julia popped off

aint seen nothin is really good, i wasn’t sure about it at first but its grown. they sound so damn good the talent they hold. not the best song but its fun

the video actually looks better than i thought it would

“Wow” me too richard

jack is fun, i’d be okay if he comes back. he is a little chaos demon.

i like how the writers didn’t make them romantic (for once), hopefully gina got his number bc i would

i want to be stuck at an airport with jack

“let you go” is genius. so far the best original song this season. josh has been killing it lately. this is the ballad ricky deserves. lyrical genius. he sounds sooo good.

the one time i agree with lynne

EJ YOU CAMEEEEEE

OMFG THEY’RE ADORABLE

PORTWELLLLLLL BABY WHOOOP

HE IS GONNA TREAT YOU SO GOOD GINA 

HE BROUGHT YOU FOOD AND TOOK YOUR BAG 

GAHHHHHH 

nOoOoOoOo thats it?!?! i cannot wait a week i refuse

i normally don’t talk about promos but episode 10 (im a sucker for sleepover episodes) is my most anticipated episode so we gonna do it. 

for starters ricky has a guitar, so he might sing?

AWW THE SETS THEY ARE SO PRETTY

ooo lily is back?

blueprint?

ashlyn and ricky where have you been?!?!

seb and the girls yesss

since in a heartbeat is next episode seb probably leaves? i hope it is a private moment

oh please talk about your other issues pleaseee

“why did i never hear about this?” nina no, it was an accident alright?

gina and nini haven’t interacted this season and the first thing they do is fight.

lets hope there “beef” doesn’t take the a slot 

maybe another seblos kiss?

did you know i love seblos

i have stocked up my tears for next week

[tangledstarlight]

“Can I pet your dog?”

 “Do I know you?”

Willex please!

this took me so long because i got distracted looking up pictures of bernese mountain & australian shepherd mix puppies because they’re so dang cute!!! and is also the dog i picture reggie having, because i think it’s very funny for him to find a tiny puppy and for her to grow into this huge dog y’know? (here’s the first prompt where pep was mentioned i love her) but ok thank you for this prompt because it was really fun and cute to write!! i hope you like it!! 

5. “can i pet your dog?” “do i know you?”

sentence starters

Alex had never really considered himself a dog person. Or a cat person. He didn’t really think he was a pet person at all. Maybe a goldfish if he had to pick but even then he’d be constantly worrying if the fish had the right water or the right food or was in a big enough tank. Hm. Maybe he wasn’t a fish person either. And it wasn’t that he didn’t like animals. Because he did. He loved getting to hang out with his friends' pets. But having one that was sorely his responsibility? No thank you, he could barely look after himself.

And yet, when Reggie had found a three month old Pep on the side of the road and brought her home, all wide eyed and shivering, Alex had found himself the proud uncle to a dog. And it was fine. Mostly. Things might have been even better if the tiny puppy Reggie had found hadn’t grown into a big dog who had a favourite place on the sofa and would kick you out of her seat. 

But it was fine. He didn’t mind. His main responsibility was to just give the lots of hugs and pets whenever Reggie wasn’t around. Which honestly, Alex didn’t mind doing. Pep was more than happy to sit on his feet while he tried to get some life admin done. 

But then there were days like today when Reggie had something come up and Julie and Luke were at work and that left the mid-afternoon walk up to him. If Pep seemed to mind she didn’t let on, just waited patiently for Alex to get the hint about going to the dog park down the street and oh so kindly only nearly pulled him over once. 

He knows there’s a fenced in section towards the back where Reggie normally takes her and lets her run around, but Alex is a little apprehensive about her coming back when he calls so he makes an executive decision to just walk around the path a few times. He’ll just tell Reggie she might need an extra ten minutes during her even walk. 

They’re stood by a lamp post –– because Pep must stop and smell every lamp post for the latest in dog news apparently, like it might have changed since the last one ten steps away –– when Alex here’s something clatter to the pavement behind him. Glancing over his shoulder all he sees is a skateboard rolling slowly towards him and the owner looking over at him and –– fuck. He was really fucking attractive and–– and walking towards him. 

Alex feels his eyes widen a fraction, fingers gripping Pep’s lead tightening as the stranger stops a few feet away and smiles at him. Wide and bright, teeth on display and reaching his eyes. 

“Can I pet your dog?”

It takes Alex a moment to make his head communicate with his mouth and even then all he manages to get out is a slightly strangled, “Huh?”

The man blinks, smile softening a hint and, if Alex’s mind was actually working correctly he’d swear the guy gave him a once over. But it clearly wasn’t working right because there was no way the guy with the brightest smile Alex had ever seen was checking him out. 

“Can I pet your dog?” he says again, eyes darting down to Pep who has also noticed the stranger, tail thumping against the back of Alex’s leg as she lunges forward, apparently not waiting for anyone's answer to the question. 

The stranger kneels down as Pep shoves her nose straight into his face, tongue swiping across his cheek in a way that makes the man actually fucking giggle. Jesus christ. Alex didn’t even know he had a thing for guys giggling until right this very second. His fingers thread through the dogs fur, patting and scratching in all the places that Alex knows Pep likes best and –– he frowns, head tilting a little to the side. 

 “Do I know you?” he blurts out before he can stop himself. And well, it’s too late now because the stranger is gazing up at him with amusement in his eyes and a smile on his lips. 

“No,” he shakes his head and Alex watches as a strand of hair that's worked it’s way loose out of his bun falls across his face, “But you’re one of Reggie’s roommates right? I wanna say...Alex?” 

Alex thinks he might have bluescreened for a second there because he could swear the very attractive stranger literally on his knees in front of him knows his name and that Reggie has been hiding him. 

“You know Reggie?” It’s the only thing he can focus on. 

“Yup. Pep chased me on my skateboard a couple of weeks ago and he insisted on apologising with an ice cream and I guess we’re sort of friends now?” The stranger shrugs at him and seems about to say something else when Pep pushes her the side of her face into his hands in a silent demand for more attention that he’s apparently happy to give. 

Which is probably good, because Alex needs a moment to let his thoughts sort themselves out and not land immediately on wanting to curse Reggie for being able to make friends with just about anyone on the damn planet. 

“Pep likes you,” Alex says, trying to sound casual and not like he was worried the silence had stretched on too long between them. 

“I’m pretty sure it’s just because I always let her finish my ice cream off. Isn’t that right Miss Pep? Half an ice cream for me, half for you,” he holds Pep’s head in his hands as he says it, eyes comically wide and fingers tapping under her chin. Pep lets out a small bark in response and the stranger's eyes light up. 

Alex is too busy zeroing in on the fact apparently everytime they bump into each other they go for ice cream now. No wonder Pep is excited to see him.

“Well, you’ve got her excited for ice cream now,” he mutters, though he can’t help but feel a little bit fond of the way her tail thumps against his leg as the whole backend of her shakes. 

“Shit, sorry. We uh don’t have to do that. It’s cool,” the stranger says as he stands up with a small frown twisting his lips and a final pat to Pep’s head that makes her whine a little. 

And well, if anyone asks he can just say he didn’t want to disappoint poor Pep when the next words leave his mouth, “No, no we should uh. We should get ice cream. It’s cool.” 

“Yeah?” His eyes light up as a smile slowly starts to spread across his face again. 

“Yeah,” he gives a shrug that he hopes comes across as nonchalant and watches as the man steps on the end of his skateboard so it’s easier to pick up, though it doesn’t totally stop the way his crop top rides up a little. Alex wets his dry lips and drags his eyes away from exposed flashes of skin about to bright eyes. “I’m uh Alex, by the way.” 

“I know,” the stranger laughs and Alex almost swears because right. Of course he does. Apparently Reggie tells everyone his whole life story and that includes him. “I’m Willie.” 

“Hi,” Alex replies, almost immediately feeling stupid for it and can feel heart already rushing to his cheeks. He’d probably have tried to run away if he didn’t think Pep would plot against him and run in the opposite direction to him. 

But then Willie is smiling at him again, head dipping in a slight nod before tilting to the side, eyebrows wigging, “Hey. Wanna get ice cream with me?” 

And well, Alex can’t say no to that. It’s for Pep after all. Maybe he could be a pet person if he meant getting ice cream with cute guys.

[cheemers-writing-archive]

Nothing Else Like It: Chapter 7

It was another peaceful boat ride, and Jotaro yet again had the task of telling Yorokobi that they were about to arrive at their destination. This time, however, he couldn’t pretend to push her off of the boat, because they were below deck, and he didn’t want to anyway. He knew what would happen if he provoked Yorokobi.

Not that he would have a chance to come up with anything else to mess with her, anyway. Her and Kakyoin were chatting happily together, and anything he tried to do would be spotted before he could carry it out.

“Hey, you two,” Jotaro walked up to them, “we’re gonna be in India pretty soon. Get your stuff ready.”

Yorokobi gave Jotaro a nod before going back to talking. Really, the only thing that changed between the two of them was Yorokobi addressed Kakyoin as Noriaki now.

“Okay, if you get left on the boat, I won’t be sorry,” Jotaro said.

“He’s right,” Kakyoin sighed. “We should get going.”

“Okay, okay,” Yorokobi replied. “Then let’s go, Noriaki.”

Kakyoin had a light blush as they walked down to the dock.

The moment the crew left the boat, they were bombarded with a large crowd.

“No, thank you!” Joseph yelled. “I don’t want any medicine!”

“Get your grubby hands off of my luggage!” Polnareff exclaimed.

“Thank you for your kindness, but we already have a hotel ready,” Avdol said.

Yorokobi found herself standing by Jotaro, and the two of them had lots of little kids surrounding them.

“If you don’t give us a tip, you won’t go to Heaven,” one of the kids said.

Yorokobi looked at these children, with their big eyes staring up at her, and couldn’t help but feel a little sympathetic when she noticed their torn up clothing.

“Don’t give in, Yorokobi,” Jotaro warned. “They want you to feel bad.”

“But what if they aren’t faking this?” Yorokobi asked. “I can’t just let them go hungry.” she reached into her pockets, but realized something very quickly.

“Jojo?”

“Yeah?”

“My wallet was stolen.”

Jotaro chuckled. “Good luck finding a way to give those brats money, because I’m not doing it for you.”

When Jotaro looked back at his sister, she shared the same expression as the kids around them. While she looked down at the children, trying to communicate that she was sorry, Jotaro sighed.

“You owe me one.”

Yorokobi turned to Jotaro with a wide smile as he took some money from his wallet and tossed it down.

“Thank you, mister!” one of the kids said before they all rushed off.

Jotaro met eyes with Yorokobi again, who was still smiling.

“That definitely wasn’t worth it,” he grumbled, hiding his face behind his hat. “Next time you want to give in to those little brats, don’t expect me to help.”

“Sure, sure,” Yorokobi chuckled. She looked around to see if she could find anyone else from their group, when she saw a waving hand. Avdol’s hand.

“Hey, everyone’s waiting for us.” She yanked Jotaro’s sleeve, and the two walked to the rest of the group.

Once they were finally out of the large crowds, the six of them took a breather at a restaurant.

“Man, talk about culture shock,” Joseph sighed.

“You really have to watch your back, or you can lose all of your money in an instant,” Kakyoin added.

“Or you could lose it from your sister’s pitiful little face pouting at you,” Jotaro muttered.

“I was not pouting at you!” Yorokobi frowned. “I was pouting in general because I didn’t have anything to give to those kids.”

Jotaro made a tch sound. “Well, you would have been pouting all day.”

“Don’t complain. Like you said, I ‘owe you one’.” Yorokobi finished her sentence with a bad impression of her brother.

“I don’t sound like that.”

“Do too.”

“Both of you, stop fighting,” Joseph said. “Our menus are here.”

Yorokobi stuck her tongue out at Jotaro and pulled her lower eyelid down before turning to her menu. Before she could open her mouth to order, Polnareff slammed open the bathroom door.

“A Stand!” he shouted. “Where’s the user? Where?” After he scanned the room, he ran outside. Confused, the rest of them followed suit.

“Where are you going?” Joseph asked.

“The Stand user who uses mirrors attacked me!” Polnareff replied. “The one Jotaro heard about, the man with two right hands, who killed my sister. I’m going to look for him and take his life!”

“Wait, Polnareff, calm down,” Yorokobi said. “Think this through.”

“Calm down?” he shouted. “Calm down?! The man I’ve plotted revenge against for years is right here, waiting for me, and you’re telling me to calm down? If someone killed Jotaro and they were waltzing about on the street, would you not go after them immediately?”

Yorokobi didn’t pay much attention to what happened afterward. She was too busy in her head trying to think of what Polnareff should do. Sure, an indescribable amount of anger would definitely overwhelm her if Jotaro was killed, and she would absolutely go after that guy, but at the same time, Polnareff wasn’t in his right state. But she wouldn’t be either. It was a complicated question, and in the end, she decided that Polnareff was old enough to make his own decisions. Of course, by the time she zoned back in to reality, Polnareff had left, and everyone seemed really disheartened.

“On a completely unrelated note,” Yorokobi said, “I’m going to go on a small walk.”

“Oh, not alone, you’re not,” Joseph replied.

“Why not?” Yorokobi asked. “I can defend myself against anyone I need to!”

“Not against a Stand user,” Joseph scolded. “You won against the guy at sea because you were very lucky. Luck may play a part in our Joestar blood, but don’t bet your life on it.”

“I’ll go,” Kakyoin said. Yorokobi gave him a slight smile until Jotaro shoved him out of the way.

“I know you two want to be around each other all the time now, but I have some important things to talk about with Yorokobi,” he replied. Kakyoin nodded.

“Hey!” Yorokobi exclaimed. Jotaro yanked her back, and the two started walking.

“What do you have against me and Noriaki walking together, jackass?” Yorokobi snapped.

“Nothing,” Jotaro replied. “It’s just that if the Stand user following us attacks, I’d rather you watch me die than Kakyoin.”

Yorokobi tilted her head.

“I’ve felt someone’s presence following our group ever since we arrived in India,” Jotaro continued. “Kakyoin’s Stand isn’t great for upfront combat, so it makes sense that I should keep the only non-Stand user of our group safe.”

Yorokobi grunted, but continued walking in silence. Jotaro was right, after all, she felt the presence, too. After the two had been walking for a couple of minutes, Jotaro suddenly stopped. He pulled Yorokobi behind his back, and summoned Star Platinum.

“Come on out,” he said. “If you wanted to avoid conflict with me, then you wouldn’t have followed Yorokobi and I out here.”

A man slowly appeared from an alley. He had light brown hair, tan skin, and a confident look in his eye.

“Well, you found me,” he shrugged. “But that won’t stop me from winning the battle.”

The enemy’s Stand sent a fist straight toward Jotaro’s stomach, but Star Platinum blocked it. At least, it should have. The Stand’s fist not only phased through Star, but extended to phase through both Jotaro and Yorokobi’s stomachs. When the fist pulled back, both had fainted and were laying on the floor. The man looked down at the two, then walked off.

“They’re in for quite the surprise when they wake up,” he muttered to himself.

***

When she finally came to, Yorokobi grunted and attempted to lift herself off the ground. Although she knew that the Stand’s attack hit her, she felt no pain or injury. That was usually a bad sign. Now she needed to know what really happened to her.

“Jojo, are you okay?” she asked. Oh, no. For starters, her voice was insanely low. Lifting herself off the ground, she noticed how far away the earth was from her eyes. She also noticed her shadow shape. It looked far different than it usually did, for some reason. It didn’t help that there was something that looked like the rim of a cap blocking some of her vision. From what she could see, it looked a little like…

“I’m fine,” Jotaro winced. He did a double-take. Since when did his voice get so high-pitched? As he got up, he brushed off some dirt that clung to his clothes. Except… these weren’t his clothes. The clothes on him weren’t even his style, let alone the clothes he wore every single day. In fact, this body shape wasn’t his, either. This shape looked a lot more like…

No.

The two siblings immediately started examining the body they were in, patting themselves, turning in weird ways to see more of themselves, and grabbing pieces of clothing. Jotaro grabbed long strands of hair, and Yorokobi grabbed a chain attached to a black school uniform.

“Jojo?” Yorokobi said.

“What?” Jotaro replied.

“I’m scared to look at you.”

“Well, we’ll have to face it eventually, if we want to repair this. We turn around on the count of three.”

“Okay.”

“One,” Jotaro said. He let out his final moments of panic.

“Two,” Yorokobi continued. She squinted her eyes shut.

“Three!” they both shouted at once. The moment the two turned around, all of their fears were confirmed. Jotaro looked up at his body, while Yorokobi looked down at hers.

Jotaro and Yorokobi had swapped bodies.

The two stared at each other for a moment longer, until Yorokobi screamed.

“My God, Yorokobi,” Jotaro went to pull down the brim of his hat, but instantly realized the problem with that and put his hands in his pockets. So the rumors were true, girl’s pockets really were that shallow. “Stop making a scene. You’re attracting unwanted attention.”

“Stop making a scene?” Yorokobi griped. “What part of this isn’t clicking with you? I’m you! You’re me! Do you not see the problem?”

“I see the problem crystal clear, but unlike you, I’m making sure that you don’t look like a fool in public,” Jotaro huffed.

Yorokobi balled her hands, teeth grinding together, until she noticed something that most people wouldn’t.

“You’re sweating.”

“What?”

“You’re just as freaked out about this as me,” Yorokobi said. “You just don’t want to admit it. But I can see you sweating. You always sweat when you’re in a really stressful situation.”

Now it was Jotaro’s turn to ball his fists, but it went away much quickly. “At least I’m not screaming about it.”

“You want to.”

“Shut up. Screaming won’t fix anything. Finding the Stand user and beating the living daylight out of him will.” Jotaro jerked his head forward. “Let’s go. I’m not letting you out of my sight.”

“As if I couldn’t throw you to the other side of the city,” Yorokobi muttered, then said at a normal volume, “Where are we going?”

“To find the user or one of our friends. Whichever one comes first.”

“Okay,” Yorokobi shrugged. When she finally took a step, she cringed. Jotaro groaned.

“What’s wrong now?”

“Your… I…” Yorokobi tried to say, “I’ve never felt something in between my thighs before.”

Jotaro clenched his teeth together as a light blush dusted his cheeks. He once again went to grab his hat, but quickly changed it to look like he was stretching his arm. “Good grief.”

While the two of them were walking, Jotaro spoke again. “Hey, there’s some cigarettes in my coat pocket. Can you get one out for me?”

“Are you kidding?” Yorokobi said. “Do you know what’s in those things? I’m not letting you inhale literal smoke in my body.”

“As if some measly smoke is more dangerous than being held underwater, getting heat stroke, traveling from Japan to Egypt with enemies constantly on our tail so we can go fight a vampire, and other things.”

“The fact that you can’t wait until we’re back in our normal bodies means you’re addicted.”

“I never said I couldn’t wait.”

“Then wait,” was the last thing Yorokobi said before the two of them went silent again. Neither wanted to talk very much since their new voices threw them off each time they opened their mouths.

After a while, Jotaro sighed. “Fine, if you won’t hand me a cigarette, I’ll get one myself.” He suddenly lunged at Yorokobi and reached into his coat pocket to get his packet.

“Hey, back off!” Yorokobi yelled. She attempted to pry Jotaro off of her, which, surprisingly, ended in success. With much less effort than she was used to, she elbowed Jotaro off and he rolled a little as he fell to the ground.

Yorokobi looked down at her hands, then back at Jotaro, laughing. “Guess who’s the stronger one now?” she taunted.

“If you try anything, I’ll pay it back ten times as hard when we’re back in our own bodies,” Jotaro threatened through gritted teeth.

“I know, I know,” Yorokobi rolled her eyes. It was true, she knew Jotaro would hit back, but something about the fact that she was the stronger one now made her heart override her head, and she gently nudged Jotaro with her shoulder. Of course, it put a lot more force on her brother than she was used to.

“Oops,” she grinned.

Jotaro glared at Yorokobi, and nudged her back. To his dismay, it did next to nothing. He let out a little grunt, and tried again, but harder. Still nothing.

“Is that all you got?” Yorokobi taunted. Now, both of them had stopped in the street, Yorokobi waiting for Jotaro’s next move.

Jotaro hmphed, then faced forward. “We don’t need to waste time, we need to find the enemy,” he said, and continued walking.

Yorokobi grumbled. “I’m not letting you go down without a fight,” she argued. “It’s a disgrace to everything I stand for, and right now, you’re me.” She shoved Jotaro’s head, and he growled as he went to shove Yorokobi back. However, his head was suddenly caught in front of a huge hand that pushed him back and made him tumble to the ground yet again.

“Good,” Yorokobi nodded. “I was afraid you weren’t gonna play the part there.” However, as Yorokobi started walking again, she tripped and fell. Behind her, Jotaro laughed.

“Oops,” he grinned.

Yorokobi gritted her teeth, but let that sneer turn into a smile. “Touché,” she muttered.

After a little more walking around, Yorokobi spoke again. “So, what do we do for bathroom breaks?”

“I’ve just been holding it,” Jotaro shrugged.

“Yeah, but I can’t hold it any longer,” Yorokobi replied.

Jotaro groaned. “Okay, fine, we’ll find a restroom. Just don’t make it awkward.”

“I’m more worried about you.” Yorokobi gave Jotaro a half-smile, but it didn’t get rid of the tension in the air.

Once the two found a restroom, they stared at the sign of the door they were about to enter. They gulped, then turned their heads to each other.

“Good luck,” Yorokobi said.

“This is a bathroom break, no need to act like we’re going to war,” Jotaro replied. “But good luck to you, too.”

Both doors opened and closed, and in a few minutes, they opened again. The siblings both had a war-torn expression and a very heavy blush.

“Never again,” they said to each other.

After getting through the terrifying experience she just had, Yorokobi started thinking about their whole situation. She was starting to get used to Jotaro’s body, and she kind of liked it a little bit. She liked the wind hitting her neck, the build of the physique, and even the low voice. She started to think that she liked it better than her body.

“You know, Jojo,” Yorokobi said, “if we don’t ever find that Stand user who swapped our bodies, it wouldn’t be so bad, would it?”

“Are you kidding?” Jotaro replied. “I’d rather die than stay in this body for the rest of my life.”

“Y-yeah,” Yorokobi laughed. “Me too.” She looked down at the ground and stuffed her hands in her pockets.

“Luckily, we won’t need to worry about that, because I just saw the Stand user,” Jotaro pointed over at the man that the two saw that morning. The man gasped, then ran in the other direction. However, he didn’t go long before running into Joseph, Kakyoin, and Polnareff, then falling to the ground.

“Star Platinum!” Jotaro called out. He ran over to the man and pummeled him until he was only punching the ground. Finally taking a look, he saw his own clothes back on his body, and he sighed with relief.

Yorokobi stood back, watching Jotaro beat up the guy, until she was suddenly right in front of the rest of the group. She patted down her body, then shouted back at Jotaro, “It worked!”

“Yeah, I noticed,” Jotaro said as he rolled his eyes.

The others stood with open mouths, trying to understand what happened. The group exchanged their stories, along with the sad news of Avdol’s death, to catch everyone up.

“I’m just glad that I’m in my own body again,” Jotaro sighed. “Right, Yorokobi?”

“Huh?” Yorokobi snapped out of her thoughts and quietly answered, “Oh, yeah, I’m glad I’m back in my body, too.”

That was a lie. Right now, she was trying to hold in all of the feelings she had. She was sad about Avdol, but she was even more sad about being in her own body again, which only made her feel guilty about what she was sad about. It didn’t even help when Joseph pulled her and Jotaro aside to tell them that Avdol was alive.

Why is this bothering me? She thought to herself. I’ve never hated my body before. Why is this happening now? As the five of them all went to sleep for the night, Yorokobi stayed awake, pondering. In the end, she told herself that it would go away soon, and let her medicine drift her off to sleep.

[somethinginthethunder]

dumb with love [joe mazzello x reader]

I loST THE FIRST VERSION OF THIS SO I’M SORRY THIS IS LATE. Also, I’m back!! I’m so sorry for that really long hiatus. 

I hope this is good. I haven’t written for Joe in such a long time, so he might be a little out of character, and my writing is just really bad and rusty :’)

Hope you enjoy, though! Feel free to drop a like or reblog, idk. 

Also!! I obviously don’t know where Joe lives, so don’t attack me for saying he lives in an apartment. This is for the sake of the fic!!

Plot: a misplaced letter sparks what seems to be a friendship (?) between you and the boy next door.

Word Count: 2,800

Warnings: none, except I haven’t reread this or edited (sorry).

---

“Hades, time to go inside,” you mumbled, tugging on the leash lightly.

The goofy schipperke made its way back to you, allowing slack on the leash that held him to you. His nose rubbed against your hand, signalling he was ready to move.

You clutched the coat against you. It was cold for some reason. You had just gotten back from work, and decided to take Hades out for a bit of a long walk.

When you returned to the apartment building, you had decided to check you mail. You knew there wouldn’t be much, but it wouldn’t hurt to check, obviously.

To your surprise, there was more than usual in your mail box. You pulled a small package out and let Hades hold on to it, collecting the rest for yourself. As you walked to your room via elevator, you decided to check through while you weren’t doing anything else.

And, curiously, as you were exiting onto your floor, there seemed to be one letter out of place. It was not addressed to you, but to a certain Joe Mazzello, your neighbor.

Now, you lived at the end of the hall, and Mazzello lived right next to you. Across from you was the cleaning closet. Had you seen your neighbors very much? No, admittedly. Perhaps you had seen him once or twice.

Of course, you weren’t going to keep the mail from him, so, as anyone would, a return would be in order. But, for now, you were going to drop your mail and Hades off.

Oddly, the universe seemed to want to put your plans off a little.

Right next to you you could hear the click of a lock. Turning your head, you realized someone had left the apartment next to you. He was a young man, with auburn hair and hazel eyes. His hair was a little messy, but his aura was casual and friendly. Was he Joe? Most likely.

“Oh,” you said. Oh??? OH? Outstanding conversation starter, [y/n].

“Oh?” the stranger echoed, just realizing your presence next to him.

You cleared your throat, a bit embarrassed. 

“Sorry, but are you Joe Mazzello?” you asked.

For some reason, that made him break out into a smile. “Yeah, that’s me!”

Relief washed over you for a moment. “Great! Sorry- does that sound weird? It’s just- I think I got one of your letters by mistake,” you said, stumbling over your words. If you could only choose one moment in your life to facepalm, it would be right at that moment.

“Really? That’s pretty weird,” he, Joe, commented, taking the letter that was presented to him by you.

“Yeah,” you agreed.

This left you in a quiet, awkward position. Neither of you knew how to comfortably continue the conversation. Thankfully, Hades didn’t seem to care, as he got impatient. Whining, he pawed at the door to be let in, dropping the package he was tired of holding.

“Ah, I should probably go. Enjoy your mail,” you coughed, opening your door for your furry friend.

“Definitely. Thanks for returning it!” Joe grinned, finishing locking his door.

“No problem.”

And that seemed like the end of the conversation. Until-

“Wait,” he suddenly said. 

You turned back to face him, your hands lingering on the door and entry way. “What’s up?”

“I didn’t get your name,” he murmured, now standing to face you completely.

Something about that gave you a bit of a light and friendly feeling. Almost comfortable, despite being strangers.

“I’m [y/n] [l/n],” you said, reflecting his smile.

“Cool, cool,” he responded. “I’ll see you around then, [y/n],” he beamed.

You hoped that statement to be true when you bid farewell to each other and parted ways.

You just didn’t expect it to be so soon afterward. 

The cafe was quiet and peaceful. You were responding to a client’s email on your phone, sipping your drink. In your mind, you had decided to leave and return home in maybe ten minutes. But, once again, the universe seemed to foil your plans again.

“[y/n]?”

The sound of his voice, and your name, of course, made your head shoot up suddenly in its direction. There he was, clad in a dark shirt, jacket, and jeans. In his hand was a cup of what looked like coffee, his other hand stuffed into his pocket.

Shutting off your phone, you suppressed an unusually large smile. He was just your neighbor, no need for a smile so big. 

“Joe! Hey, take a seat if you want!” you greeted back. He took the seat across from you gratefully.

The conversation that followed lasted, what? Ten minutes? Thirty minutes? No, it was more like an hour, which was strange for someone like you. You had decided to talk about some mundane things, like the weather and how your guys’ day was. Turned out he had just come back from a meeting. And that had pulled in the topic of jobs.

“What do you do?” he asked, genuinely curious.

“I’m a photographer, actually. What about you?” 

“Ooh, I’m an actor.”

Oh, now that really started the conversation. As time passed, you became even more comfortable with each other. He was an actor? Now, how was that not supposed to be interesting? 

“Wait, really? Was that what the meeting was for, then?” you asked, a little shocked by his modest answer. He seemed proud, that wasn’t a lie, but in no way was he boasting.

“Yeah! I got to meet all my co-stars, so that was pretty fun,” he answered. “What about you? You said you were sending emails?”

“Yeah, kind of boring, but it was just for an appointment I had just finished. I need to get them all done since I’m going away for a couple of weeks.”

“For what?” 

“Just visiting family. Kind of like a reunion,” you replied. In reality, you grandmother was sick, but you didn’t feel like it was too important of a detail. Besides, the pity you get from just that statement was a little tiring.

“I bet your dog, Hades, right? Will have a fun time somewhere new, then!” he beamed.

In return, you gave him a bit of a sad smile. “He would, wouldn’t he? But he’s not coming. Travelling stresses him out, so I’d rather not move him unless it was necessary,” you clicked your tongue. “In fact, I still have to find him a dog sitter. Everyone I know is busy so-”

“I’ll watch him!’ he offered immediately.

That made you pause for a moment. “Are you sure? I mean, he’s no trouble at all, but still-”

“Yeah, I’m sure,” he said, a confident sound in his voice. “We haven’t started filming yet, and the project is still new for us. Besides, he sounds like a pretty fun dog to be around.”

You laughed at that statement. “Yeah, he is. I’m leaving in a few days, but if you change your mind, you can tell me. I can really just hire some random dog sitter near me or something.”

“Nonsense, it’ll be fine!” he reassured you, drawing out the “fine” as if it had a million letters in it.. At that moment, he took a quick look at the time. “Look, i’ll give you my number and we can talk about it, okay?” he offered.

The thought of giving him your number made you feel as if you heart had been filled with clouds. How strange, as you had only met a few weeks before.

“I- okay, sounds good. Thank you again! And here,” you held out your phone to him with an open contact, to which he exchanged his number with you.

And only moments after that, though he insisted he really did not want to end this conversation, he decided it was time for him to head out. The cafe closed early that day, and he had to drop by a friend’s house that day to pick something up. However much you didn’t want to admit it, you wished you could talk with him more, but you also had things to do as well, such as pack, plan, and give attention to Hades.

With that, you bid farewell again and parted ways. 

While texting, he made conversation easy, and made everything seem comfortable to you. Now, you had started developing some type of feelings, but there was no way they were real, right? Must’ve been just a little crush that would wear off in about a week or two when you’re away. 

You had talked about the details with taking care of Hades, and when the day came to leave, you unfortunately had to say goodbye to your lovely little boy.

“Bye, sweetheart. I’ll be home before you know it,” you cooed, scratching his head as Joe held the door open to bring his stuff in. It was early in the morning for everyone. He was wearing a plain white shirt and what looked like old shorts, looking as though he had just woken up, which he probably did. Your flight was early, but he insisted he was fine with the hours.

Standing up, you looked up at the boy next door once again.

“You sure you’ve gotten everything?” you asked, slightly worried.

“Don’t worry about it, [y/n]. We’ll have fun, okay? Now, you have some too. I’ll send you pictures even,” he reassured you, a lazy smile on his face. He did that a lot, didn’t he? Smile like there was no problem in the world? It was almost like a domestic sight.

“Thanks, Joe. Really, I’ll pay you right when I get home and-”

“Woah, woah, woah. Who said anything about paying?” he snorted. “This is a favor. Now go, you’re gonna miss your flight!”

Taking one last look, you gave him a quick smile, and a kiss to Hades’ forehead before leaving onto the elevator. 

While you were away in [y/s], Joe had kept his word. Everyday he had texted you goofy pictures of him and Hades, whether it be with him looking over the counter longingly at a piece of meat Joe was eating, or him bounding across the park with Joe’s cheerful commentary in the background. 

And, to make it even better, Joe had started talking to you outside of the topic of Hades. He would strike up conversation every now and then (and even you would, too), or start asking about your day after sending a video of you goof of a dog trying to play hide and seek with Joe. 

It was nice, making you feel like he really did care about knowing you, besides talking about your dog and polite conversations. Eventually, a week in, the conversations became anything. Whatever you felt like talking about, you talked about it. Like why Pringles cans were shaped the way they were, why the letter w isn’t ‘double-v’ instead. It made you excited to come back home besides seeing your pup again.

While sitting with your grandmother in the hospital room, you had gotten a message from Joe. As she was still asleep, you decided to open it. It was a simple video, with Hades rolling around the house, to which Joe described as “trying to get his wiggle-waggles out”. 

A small laugh left your lips as you watched, responding to Joe within only a few seconds.

Because you were so invested in the conversation, you were surprised to hear your grandmother speak up from her supposed slumber.

“You’ve got a boyfriend now? Why does nobody tell me anything,” she murmured under her breath.

You turned your head to look at her, not realizing your phone screen was visible to the woman’s eyes.

“He’s not my boyfriend. We met only a few weeks ago, grandma. He’s dog-sitting Hades for me,” you explained. How absurd it was for someone to assume you were in a romantic relationship just because he was a guy. However, you’d admit you wouldn’t mind a little romance. But this isn’t what we’re talking about right now.

“Oh, really? Hum. A good connection you have, then, from what I can see.”

“You were reading my messages?”

“I may have terrible hearing, but my reading can go to your screen, young lady. If you’ve known each other for only a few weeks, then it seems like you guys clicked very well,” she murmured. “Besides, seems like a friendly guy. You don’t come by those too often, huh? Especially in my time.”

You smiled fondly at the moment, squeezing the woman’s hand gently. “Ah, I think they’re easier to find now, ma, I think you’d be glad to know. But you can’t really tell that just from seeing one of our conversations,” you commented.

“Or can I?” she asked mischeviously, her face morphing into a sly smile. Her eyes crinkled at the edges, voice filled with humor.

…

Could she? She couldn’t, right?

When you returned home, it was like a weight had been pulled off your chest. You couldn’t believe your flight was done, lugging your suitcases and bags across the sidewalk to your apartment building. Oddly, there stood two familiar figures. Hades and Joe.

“Welcome home!” he said, jogging down the steps with your excited companion. He grabbed a suitcase and bag from your hold. “Decided i’d help you with your stuff,” he explained, his eyes squinting against the bright rays of the sun.

“Aw, that’s really sweet, Joe. Thanks, you really didn’t have to!” you laughed.

“Don’t mention it!” he said teasingly, walking up the steps with you. 

Seeing him again had awoken something in you. It made your heart feel high and your intelligence feel low. Something your grandma would say ‘dumb with love’. 

You had thought these feelings would go away when you spent time away from him in another state, but you happened to be wrong. You didn’t know whether to be annoyed or glad of this fact.

Finally, after a short conversation about how your trip went, you had arrived at your guys’ floor. Joe took another extra step in help and decided to help you put your things inside your room. It was as if he was finding every excuse to hang out with you as much as he could.

When you finished with the moving, and the conversation seemed to come to an end, you took out a neat wad of cash. 

“What’s this for?” he asked, before realizing. “Oh. Oh, no. Are you crazy? I’m not taking that. As I said, it’s a favor.”

“Fine, then take this as a favor,” you challenged sassily. 

“You wish, princess,” he joked, laughed at the situation. Before you could process the little nickname, he had pulled out a letter and held it out to you. “Also, I think this is for you,” he said.

What a coincidence. Another misplaced letter, just like the way you two had begun to know each other.

“Really? Weird. Thanks, by the way,” you chuckled, taking the letter from him.

For a fleeting moment, he seemed nervous. How did you pick that feeling up? You weren’t sure. But there was something there between the two of you. This silence wasn’t awkward like the ones before, but nice, actually.

“Well, I should probably head to work. I’ll see you around?” he asked, as if trying to reflect what had happened weeks before.

“Definitely. I’ll look forward to it,” you responded, glee evident in his face when you agreed.

And that was the end of the conversation for that time, with him leaving for work and your heading inside to unpack and catch up on clients. 

Later that night, you had realized you hadn’t opened up the misplaced letter Joe had returned to you, yet. Upon further inspection, you realized that… it wasn’t even a proper letter. All it had was your name on it and gibberish as the return address. How strange.

Opening the letter, it read:

Dear [y/n],

This might be embarrassing to say after only knowing each other for a short amount of time, but I really enjoy being around you. 

I know I won’t let you pay me for taking care of Hades, but maybe you could let me take you out on a date and we can call it even instead of cash? I’ll pay, don’t worry. 

No pressure!

Signed,

Joe

P.S., please let me dog-sit Hades more often- I (really) love him. He’s a good dance partner. And no, I’m not joking.

Enclosed in the envelope were several pictures of Hades playing with Joe and early morning pics that he hadn’t sent to you before. It was like a little bonus, and on the back he had written little notes describing the moment. It was sweet, really.

And so, in response to his letter, it only seemed appropriate that you would respond in the same way, right? 

Taking out a paper and pen, you began to write:

Dear Joe Mazzello,

--

Haha don’t hate me, please :)

I didn’t want to write more because I felt that would be too long, but I don’t know if you guys would even want a part two or to make this a series (which would take some time). Let me know your thoughts!

[musepirations]

sorry for yet another cryptic rant on main but there is something that has been bugging me for over a week now and it keeps being brought to my attention over and over again so i just... have to air out some dirty laundry for a second. 

we had to make the hard decision to close our group a week and a half ago. fair enough, every group comes to an end even though it is hard after a group has run for so many months. and you have tried so hard as admins, for so many months ( especially during the global pandemic which affected everyone ), to create a safe space and a room for distraction. we have tried so hard to keep the group active and the members involved and enthusiastic and excited. we reached out, asked for opinions and suggestions with the sole purpose of making the group better and for keeping the group thriving. even though not everyone always took kindly to that, especially when it came to activity and asking to do a bit of self-reflection on the half a dozen roles some had and virtually no time to roleplay them. but we tried to make it work, always. we offered tools to enhance plotting with everyone when it was pointed out that plotting ( or lack thereof ) was the issue. very few made use of it. out of twenty members only a good handful reacted to plotting calls or replied to starters, which always included the three admins. i think everyone would agree that such a thing is disappointing to see, to say the least - to receive complaints about ‘ i have no plots ‘ but seeing very little effort made to actually plot. you have to realise there is only so much an admin can DO FOR YOU. we offered tools. we have written numerous messages to point out the importance of plotting and interacting with everyone. we have pressed on inclusiveness over and over again. but we cannot do the plotting for you. don’t blame us for it then. it isn’t fair. don’t tell us you cannot talk to us ‘ because we are admins ‘. numerous people from our group did come to us afterwards to appreciate how approachable we were as admins. don’t tell us you cannot talk to us and it is pointless talking to us because ( quoted ! ) ‘ WE CANT TALK TO YOU ALL BECAUSE YOU LITERALLY DONT GIVE A FUCK ‘. as admins who tried so hard to keep the group running and who have always valued our members’ opinions and only ever did or said anything to make sure our group was the best it could be, that everyone felt included and the group wouldn’t die... it hurts a whole lot to be told that. especially in a one way conversation where you were only talking about yourself and were not hearing anything else that was said or asked. to be insulted and talked to in a very passive aggressive and accusing manner two weeks in a row, causing me and the other admins so much stress because we did care so deeply, was the final straw. especially since the root of the problem was a clique everyone was aware of ( mind you ) - a clique you were all part of. and then to blame the admins for ‘ bubble roleplaying ‘ while the admins were the only people making an effort to plot with everyone who posted plotting or starter calls, and the admins got almost no replies to their own plotting calls or starters... that was very rich. there is a difference between purposely favoring and only writing with certain muns ( bubble roleplaying ) and roleplaying with certain muns more frequently because no one else is doing your replies / wanting to plot with you. do not throw that in my face when you were the one sitting on my reply, you were the one to not react to my plotting calls or replied to my starters and i was the one who always sent the last message in a conversation because you never replied again. don’t manipulate me and guilt trip me into believing i was still the problem ( which you knew would get to me, because it is who i am - you know i care deeply and you abused that to make me feel bad about myself ). maybe there is equal blame. i will be the first person to admit that i am far from perfect. but then there is still EQUAL blame. not just you pointing a finger at me. don’t guilt trip me by bringing up a mistake i made in the past and profoundly apologised for to the person i wronged back then and actually talked it through with them - it was none of your business to begin with. my friendship with them was strained, i admit, and i am not too proud to take blame for that at all. not at all. but you made me lose a friend i loved dearly with your meddling. i still do not know what the cause was of everything you said and the drama you started ( maybe you all just wanted a way out of our group, so you could start your own with all of our members but us admins ; because just leaving when everything was so shit apparently, was too easy, right ? an opinion not a lot of members did seem to share with you, by the way ) - all i know is that it caused a group to close and the members who did still love it were punished. and you and your friends, who were at the roots of a lot of tension even though you refuse to see your own blame in anything, did not say a word. not a thank you for all the months. not even a goodbye to the other members if you care so very little for us admins to acknowledge what we did do right. nothing. radio silence.

BUT HERE COMES THE GOOD STUFF ! y’all started your own group ! and fair enough, it had been in the works for a long time, by one of you. fair enough, you asked your closest friends from our group ( your clique, ey ) to help out admin. fair enough, fair enough, fair enough. but to post only one thing in our groupchat an hour after we announced closing, and it being a double promo to your own group which DROPPED the same night we closed and you asked A SHOUTOUT FOR  from me ( which i gave you, because after all i still wish you all the best, i do - even though i do not agree with a lot of things you did and do ) the morning after we closed our group... that feels very disrespectful to me. and that isn’t all, is it ? because your group only consists of OUR MEMBERS ! members who i know ( from numerous sources ) you have all messaged privately to ask them to join your group. you even asked one of my co-admins. you asked everyone but me and my other co-admin. you just take our members, plop them back down into your own group to continue where you left off with them, right ? but you exclude me and my co-admin. all of you ignore me on discord since then. you ignore me on instagram, when i compliment a picture of yours because i still care about you. and in the meantime, you are just luring all of our members into your new group. do you have any idea how EXTREMELY UPSETTING that is ? to know you are deliberately being left out of something ? even by people you considered your friends ? i don’t care that you created a new group, all four of you - we made a new group as well which we are super proud of and excited for. you do you, always. and i wish you the best with it. but when you go around messaging all of our members - members you probably did not have anything to do with when our group was still running because they weren’t your best friends - to have them join your group so you can pick up where we left off... but you are excluding me ? that hurts me deeply. because no one likes to be left out. and no ones likes to feel like trash and feel uncared for. no one likes to feel that the blame is all on them after trying so hard to do good for everyone. which was always the goal in our group. it hurts, and i hope you know it. and i hope you’re not proud of it. i wish all of you and your group the best. i just wish it wasn’t build on the months of work we put into our group to make it a solid family. only to cast us out like we are dirt. after treating us like dirt, some of you at least. shame on you. 

[writerforfun]

Underwing Challenge Day 6 + Day 7

6. What does your portfolio look like? Talk about as many other WIPs as you’d like here.

I have to be honest here, I never understood portfolio. I mean u understand what it is and its purpose but I never understood how to make it for myself.

But either way I guess I do have certain things I worked on.

Starting of with Collection.

1. Collection: Story 1: Mirror Defect: (DONE) (Sorry no cover)

Not all is as it seems.

Not all can be explained and even when the truth is out not everything will make sense.

"I just lost my brother, I can't lose her."

What can you do when you lose trust in those around you? When grief holds you too close?

When lies are hidden all around you?

When nothing is real?

Can you trust your own eyes? When all goes wrong who can you trust?

"Experitment 1034, you are next"

Is anything real? Are you real?

**Warning: character death, graphic description of the deceased character.**

I SUCK AT SUMMARIES.

The story was originally done to scare my uncle. I was going to send him this other story, which R.L. Stine wibe to it but sadly I lost it.

So here we are. Now this story features Mark, who despite all that has occurred, is trying to fix his broken family, even if it means destrying himself but is this family real?

You can check it out here

2. So, A Deal?: (DONE)

Met with death she has no choice but to let death consume her.

"No, I can't leave like this! Not like this."

There is no other way, or is there? But is she ready?

"What do you want? Does your soul not fill with rage, anger and despair? Pushing you to the core of vengeance? Don't you feel like a ghost? Dreading you will disappear? You know you are nothing but a ghost, and eventually, you will have to fade."

"I have seen the face of affliction brought by my reality, I'm tortured by the future of things that cannot be, haunted by visions of yesterday."

Her sin is great, but her desire greater. Will she survive the burn?

This was something I did for my school wrok once. Although it is quite different than the original work. I'm quite happy with the last chapter. I honestly just posted it out as a test to see if others would like it.

It took quite an effort and I enjoyed doing the last bit of it. I really want to make a sequal to it, get it going, but not really sure if this is going to go well.

You can check it out here.

3. Solar Elements: (DONE)

Avatar: The last Airbender inspired.

A lot can happen during a lifetime, faultless rotating to flaws, heroes into villains, a lifetime of destruction smiling in your wakes.

A lot can be lost in a lifetime.

"Wolf is going overboard,"

"We do not have time to wait."

"Surrender now and we shall show you all mercy."

"No, we will never yield to you"

"Then so be it."

"You are not prohibited to address better yet conduct such disgrace." "We are still alive!"

"Love you, Son"

A lot can happen during a lifetime, faultless rotating to flaws, heroes into villains, a lifetime of destruction smiling in your wakes.

"And so she has finally awoken."

I had done this for a story contest once, sadly I was unable to win. But I have to behonest, if I had I would have been so annoyed, it was awful, so awful. I won't talk much on it, as I still don't like this too much.

This feature elemtnal magic and time twist you can say, where a character, reborn must choose to either repeat history or change it completely.

4. Pirates tale: (WIPs)

Had this in for a while, been working on it but didn't have a plot till now.

The ship has no name, no crew, nothing. But if you see it, it's already too late.

Legend says they're ghost, some say they are cursed, others....... others don't live to tell the tale.

It was inspired by a prompt I saw once. Hoping to make these pirates cured to be vampires, hidden from all and only visible at night. They are insearch of their first crew captain, the one who must break the cures. Problem is, Captian dies 30 years ago.

Guess, his hidden daughter must be placed instead.

This is dumb, so dumb, but hey, I'll work on it.

5. The Basement: (WIPs)

Another school work.

This one feartures students sneaking into their school's basement. Each with their own story on why the basement is forbbiden.

If only they had listened and not followed through, then maybe they would not have encountered, the hidden dark past of the school.

This has a gay couple, lol I actaully send it to my teacher but I don't think she noticed :(. It needs alot of work though, so this may take a while.

6. To find the Truth: (WIPs)

This one seems to be liked a lot by you guys. Many seem intrigued.

In the dystopian future, when the world government collapsed, when humans fell and the virus took hold, out rose a series of mutants. Their genes mutated by the virus released when a power plant went nuclear.

These mutants, blessed with powers beyond their control, have taken leadership. Smart, strong, powerful and undefeatable. They hold power over the weak like you and me. But I won't let them stop me. I won't let them come in the way.

They are sloppy, weak and useless. The world is filled with criminals, danger and people in need. This world needs justice, it needs help and they won't help, so I will.

"They'll take you away. They take people like them away"

"I won't let them"

I worked up a lot on this in the past few day and have actually most of the plot down. Well the main chracter's backstory at least, even how the virus started and why these mutants have taken over.

I just need to start it out and get it going. I have done that and I was thinking of adding bits and pieces on how the world is after every sub-story, like telling the tale as the story progress.

Was also hoping to give this story, a big reveal as to who these mutants are and how they came to be, why they take other's like them and how they find other's like them.

7. To Sacrifice or To Live? (WIPs)

Still working up on the name here, but the story goes like this.

Two wedding decades a part, each holding nothing but tale forgotten.

An evil entity hanting them both. A power over both familes, readdy to demolish them whole this time.

Will the scarifice work?

Ok, before you turn away, here me out here.

Two weddings, one in the 1900s and the other in 2000s. Both familes trapped in a curse long active, each must work to find a way to break the curse. One failed, made it worse, will the new bride make it? Or will she suffer worse?

8. Collection: Haunting Memories (WIPs)

Jenny doesn't know how she did it but she did. She didn't mean to. She really didn't. But Nina is dead now and it's her fault. She did it.

It's her fault.

Then why do they blame Jake? Jake is sweet, kind and caring. Sure he was the one with the blade, covered in blood and coming to kill Jenny next but it wasn't Jake. Because she saw.

Saw him kill her. Push the blade through Nina, watching as the girl fell. Her blood turning the ground crimson. She saw as the life left Nina's eyes. As the killer slumped to the ground, the control over him wearing off.

Jenny knows because she killed Nina. Then why does no one believe her? And why do her memories differ from Jake's?

“I am telling you what happened.”

“All you are doing is wasting our time.”

“Then be patient, this is all I have. Please just hear me out.”

“We are busy people here. We don’t have time for stupid tales, girl”

“This is not a stupid tale. If you could just listen.”

“We are listening. Listening to you for the past 10 minutes, all you have done so far is tell us useless things. We have things to do.”

“Everything I mention is important. One thing missed and you won’t understand. Please. I need your help.”

“You have 10-”

“15”

“Fine 15 minutes.”

This I hope to work and get done by at least in the next month. It need a lot of work and must be quite slow yet fast paced. I need to make the plot a bit more than just what I have written.

8. Trick? No, I'll take the Treat (WIPs)

Halloween themed. Done quite long ago.

What will you do when your Halloween turns into a nightmare?

I have nothing much on it at the moment, but will update this soon.

7. What kind of partnership are you looking for in this event? Friendship? Somebody to bounce ideas off of? Something else? What sorts of people are you hoping to meet and adopt?

Honeslty, I did a lot of research in the past few days and boy do I ned a lot of work done.

For starters, I need someone who can actually tell me how my work is going, just how kuch of an effort I have out in and how it seems to others.

I need harsh, quite harsh feed back so I know what I am doing wrong, what I should improve with and what interests the reader about the book.

I also say wish to meet and know other writers here. Would love to meet them and get to know them.

[imaginesmai]

Peter Parker - See the light (7)

Is it a bit shorter? Yes. Is it a bit more sentimental? Of course. Be prepared! If you know the film, this goes a little bit different, becuase Peter deserves some love!

Small sneak peek 

First part

Second part

Third part

Fourth part

Fifth part

Sixth part 

Plot: after all this years, you’re finally going to fulfill your dream. Having Peter by your side is surely the best way to do it.

You had some expectations for the kingdom, but that didn’t help your jaw form dropping when you finally caught sight of it. You were completely speechless. You didn’t bother to pick up your hair as you bounced as quickly as you could across the stone bridge and towards the kingdom. The sun beamed down, and distantly, you could hear the sounds of music drifting through the air.

Peter, who had been holding your hand the whole trip there, let his smile drop. He wasn’t fond of the city, where all of his dreams and hopes had been crushed. Still, he let himself be pulled along by you.

When you entered the kingdom limits, you were immediately surrounded by people. The city seemed to be throwing some magnificent festival. A child ran by you, and you watched as he knelt in front of a huge mural on a wall close by. A man and a woman were depicted in the painting – both standing tall and regal. Both also incredibly beautiful.

In the woman’s arms, was a tiny baby. She had long, curly hair, big bright eyes and looked happy; with a piece of jewellery on her head that looked far too big. The kid placed a small flower in front of the mural.

“For the lost princess” he mumbled.

You were about to go over and ask what he was doing, when a particularly hard tug on your scalp made you lose Peter’s grip and reel back, yelping. Looking back, you saw people stepping all over your hair, and soon you lost Peter trying to avoid all that tugging. The boy immediately lunged forward and started picking it all up, his arms quickly filling.

Peter looked around for a split of second before smiling. He moved your hair and you walked with him, rubbing the back of your head painfully.

“Hey kids!” Peter called out, catching the attention of a group of small girls. He didn’t say anything, just showed them his hands full of hair. He raised his brows, and the girls shouted in excitement.

Soon enough, you were sitting on the cobblestone while five girls ran around you, braiding your hair and lessening the weight. Peter sat besides you all the time, talking about everything and nothing. He told you about the memories he had there, facts about some places and explained some things you still didn’t understand.

When you were finished, you span around. Your hair was collected in one big braid, formed with smaller ones that had pretty flowers and ornaments in between. It almost reached the floor, but it wasn’t long enough for people to step on it. Peter babbled all the way while he payed the girls and tried to tell you how pretty you were. After some embarrassing tries, he gave up.

“I could show you what this festival is really about” Peter offered you his arm, blushing. “Y-you’re, well, you… you’re already the prettiest girl here. W-would be, uh, a shame if I d-didn’t show you o-off?”

That time, Pascal wasn’t close to stick his tongue on his ear, and Maximus was busy trying to watch out for crime. To Peter, you had always had some kind of special beauty; but there, morning sun just shinning for you and curious big eyes looking up to him, you looked ravishing.

Maybe, it was his chance to kiss you. He had never been too good with women, apart from the girl he had dated back then; MJ, threatening and self-sufficient. Peter had been the one guidable in that relationship; but now, he knew you knew nothing about them. Kissing you felt suddenly wrong, taking that from you, your first kiss.

So, swallowing down the urge of pressing his lips against yours, he took your hand back and starter walking towards the group of people who were dancing.

For the next hours, you danced. Peter taught you the main steps to the popular dance, and was by your side the whole time; holding you closer, spinning you around, laughing with you when you stepped on him. The sun slowly came down, as you learned more about the city. Peter bought you a small flag from a traditional post, and let you try every food you found on your way.

Maximus and Pascal appeared long into the day, when you were hanging from Peter’s arm. To end the night, the boy had decided to surprise you. You were laughing with him when suddenly you stopped. The sun was setting and you were in front of the water.

“What is this, Pete?” you asked.

“Best day of your life. Thought I might give you something to remember your birthday.”

Peter gestured to a rowboat tied close by. Maximus huffed behind you, and Pascal frowned. Together, you climbed inside the boat and watched as Peter showed you how it moved. The animals emitted some noises.

“Here, fetch” Peter said with a grin. He threw an apple onto the dock, landing at the horse’s feet. When it didn’t make a move to eat it, Peter continued. “If you’re worried  about if being stolen, don’t be!”

Maximus still glared at Peter, but ate it anyway.

“Besides” Peter said, leaning in so only you could hear him. “He already ate all the stolen ones”

You laughed, and Peter smiled. It was silent for a while, only interrupted by your occasional offer to take the paddles. He used that time to think that, if there was a thing that he could do until he died, it would be spending every minute and second by your side. The girl that had managed to steal his broken heart and fix it.

When Peter stopped the boat, it was dark. The moon and the starts were being reflected on the water, and the lights of the kingdom could be seen in the distance; besides that, you were barely able to see his face. You had your doubts about the final ‘surprise’, and were a bit nervous about not being able to see the flying lanterns because of it. Yet you trusted Peter, and if by any chance you lost the opportunity to see them, but got to watch him talk excitedly for another hour, it was okay. You weren’t going to ask for a better birthday present.

“I – uh, it’s a bit soon” Peter scratched the back of his neck. “I’m sorry, I didn’t really measure the time. I thought –“

“It’s okay” you leaned forward and took his hand in yours. “We can wait”

“Mh” Peter didn’t say anything else, but stared at your hands.

In comparison, yours were much more soft, and perfect. His were full of scars – at least one of them – and bruises. You watched him fight with his mind for a while.

“I had fun today. A lot” you smiled, even if he wasn’t looking at you. “The dancing was – wow, I didn’t know something so wonderful existed. I want to repeat that again.”

Peter’s head rose up at your words, and he looked surprised. Against what you thought, Peter hadn’t forget about the deal; you watching the flying lanterns, and him getting his crown back. But, against what your mother thought, it wasn’t his only intention. Everytime he thought about you, he thought about the possibility of staying. Of actually staying with you for the long run.

He could see how much your mother had hurt you over the years, and secretly hated the idea of you going back to the tower. Peter wondered that, maybe, if he could keep you away with the money he got from the crown. Selling it would be difficult, but worthy if it gave him the chance of having a future with you.

His interests, his dreams, had changed; he no longer wanted the sunny island with loads of money. In his opinion, a crazy chameleon and a girl with magic hair was enough, wherever that was.

You took his silence as something negative, so you frowned and your shoulders slumped.

“Not that I could” you looked down. “Mother will be worried, and tonight are the flying lanterns. So tomorrow morning I –“

“You could stay with me” Peter blurted out. He worried not being enough for you, but a future with your mother could only be worse. He shifted towards you. “I know – I don’t have much, but it’s better than being locked in a tower”

You blinked surprised at his confession, and gaped. The world seemed more illuminated, or maybe it was just your eyes being used to the dark. But you could see every detail on Peter’s face; from his little, almost invisible, mole under his left eye, to the way his thin brows couldn’t stay neat. He had his jaw clenched hard, lips pressed in a thin line. And his brown eyes, burning with hope and determination, were boring into you.

Peter didn’t let you talk.

“Don’t answer me now” he rushed, and brought his hand to his lips. He was blushing, yet held a confidence that made you blush. “Just – think about it”

You were going to ask him how were you supposed to sit in an unmoving boat, with him and no other distraction, and say nothing about it. But soon, the first two lanterns appeared floating through the air, and your breath caught in your throat.

You knew what came next.

The air is suddenly flooded with hundreds upon hundreds of lights, all of them much bigger and brighter from the ones you saw from your window. The world glowed, and you felt content. Happy, because it was everything you had hoped for; just as you thought so, you turned to look at Peter.

He was already looking at you with a half-smile, and two lanterns of his own. The boy moved so that you could also fit on his side of the boat, and you sat beside him. Your shoulders brushed and his warmth evolved you.

“For you” Peter said softly, and gave you one. It had beautiful and elaborated purple draws, only matching the beauty of the moment and Peter turned his head and talked close to you. “Sometimes – you know, uh, sometimes you h-have to let go. Freedom is about letting go, Y/N”

Everything that had been built for years, locked on the tower and dreaming of the lanterns, broke up that night. Maybe it was because of his words, because of the encouragement and the possibility of taking your on decision of them. Your fingers un-curled around the bottom of the lantern when Peter leaned forward, tilting his head so that your noses didn’t touch, but your lips did.

The lantern wasn’t being held down anymore, as your fingers lost strength when Peter kissed you. And Peter’s one flew away, because he used his hands to cup your cheek and search for your own. Both of the lights became one of the flying mass that commemorated the missing princess. To them, might had been only another year of flying lanterns.

To you, was letting go of the weight that had chained you to the tower for years. The pain, the fear, it all melted away as Peter pulled you close, and crashed his lips with yours once more.

Want to know more about me? Here is my Masterlist! Feedback is always appreciated!!

Tom Holland and Peter Parker Taglist

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Peter Parker Tangled

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[alwayschoosechocolate]

The 18-hour meet cute

Plot: You miss your connecting flight in Singapore and are left to wait 18-hours for the next one. With only one hotel-room left, you’re asked to share it with a complete stranger.

Characters: Kim Seokjin, Y/N

Genre: Fluff, I don’t know how to define it, but there are definitely no warnings here. Safe read for everyone!

Word count: 5700

A/N: So @seokjinnieismine asked if I could write something with Jin, based on this headline 

and it immediately made me think of this video from LADbible https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BYCETjh4eMc I have not been able to think about anything else since! It was supposed to be way shorter than this, but I got carried away. Enjoy! 

My masterlist can be found here

 “I’m sorry, what now?”, you asked the lady behind the counter in disbelief. Surely there must have been some translation error, because this couldn’t be true.

“There is only one hotel room left, Mrs. Y/L/N,” she repeated apologetically. “I’m terribly sorry, but because of the weather, several flights have been cancelled or postponed. There is nothing, I can do.”

Turning around to face to man to your right, you couldn’t help the disbelieving laugh slip your lips. He sheepishly shrugged his shoulders with a shy smile, before turning to the hotel manager again.

“And there is no other room? Only the one with the double bed?”

“That’s correct, sir,” the manager confirmed. “Again, I am terribly sorry. I can offer you some vouchers and free passes for you to use in the airport while you wait?” With a smile, she held out a collection of entry tickets and vouchers.  

“There is no need for that,” the man spoke at the same time as you reached out for the tickets, making you turn to him with a sour look. He simply sent you a sweet smile back before turning to the manager again. “Thank you, but there is really no need.”

“I don’t know, what kind of riches you’re swimming in,” you huffed out in annoyance, before snatching the papers from the hotel manager. “But I can’t afford 18 hours here without the vouchers.”

Simple shaking his head at you, he busied himself getting checked in, handing over his passport.

“Alright, Mrs. Y/l/n, Mr. Kim. Here is your key. I hope you can make the most of your stay here, despite the circumstances.”

Sending her a reassuring smile, you thanked her for all her help. After all, she wasn’t to blame for this entire mess.

The walk to the room was quiet and awkward. How the hell, were you supposed to sleep in the same bed as a complete stranger? What if he was a rapist? Or a pervert? Or what if he didn’t shower and smelled really bad? Oh god, what if he snored? Sneaking a look at him out the corner of your eye, you found him focused on finding the right room. He was quite handsome, you supposed. Soft features, sweet eyes, plump lips. And he was tall and well built. But he was still a stranger, you reminded yourself. And no matter how handsome he was, you still felt uneasy having to sleep in the same room as him.

“Ah, here we are,” he exclaimed, reaching the room and unlocking it with the keycard, which you had only been given one of. Hotel-rules or something.

Walking in behind him and hearing the door close, the room was plunged into a deafening silence, both of you standing still in the middle of the room, eyes locked on the bed in the middle of the room.

“Well,” he coughed awkwardly to break the silence. “You can take the bed. I’ll just sleep on the floor.” Depositing his stuff on a chair in the corner of the room, he went to strip the bed of one of the duvets, only to leave the bed naked with the two pillows. Of course, it had to be a king size duvet as well.

Looking up at you with a confused and apologetic look, you couldn’t help but snort out a loud laugh.

“My god, this is like the plot to the worst romance movie ever made,” you groaned with an eye roll. “As long as you keep your hands to yourself, we can share the bed, yeah?”

“As long as you’re comfortable with it?” His eyes were unsure, searching yours for a clue about your thoughts on the entire thing.

You simply shrugged your shoulders and went to find your sketch book from your backpack along with your wallet. To be honest, you weren’t picky about this stuff, but boundaries had to be set.

“I still haven’t gotten your name,” he asked hesitantly, making you laugh.

“You’re right. I’m Y/N,” you answered with an amused tone. It hadn’t even crossed your mind to ask for his name.

“My name is Jin. Despite the circumstances, it’s really nice to meet you.” His eyes were twinkling and for the first time, he looked amused by the situation as well, making you feel more relaxed.

“Yeah, this really is a mess,” you laughed, making him chuckle as well. “What do we do about the keycard?”

Picking up the card off the table, Jin inspected it for a few seconds, before handing it over to you with a smug smile.

“You take it. I trust you to make wise decisions,” he laughed. “You can do whatever you want. I can make myself busy for a few hours. Maybe we could do dinner together though?”

Though the question was hesitant, his eyes seemed eager for you to accept his proposal.

“I was gonna ask you the same thing,” you giggled, making his eyes light up. “I mean, 18 hours is long time to spend together without actually getting to know each other.” He simply nodded at your words with a soft grin, leaving it to you to pick a time to meet up.

“Well, how about we meet in front of the hotel at” – you checked the time on your watch – “7?”

“Sure, sounds good.”

That being settled, you made your awkward departure, which involved a half wave as you almost walked into the door, that you struggled to open because of all the locks, before you finally made your way to the hallway.

“You’re such a clutz,” you mumbled to yourself, as you rested your head on the wall opposite the door for a few seconds to digest the entire situation. Taking deep breaths, you mentally worked through what was going to happen. It was 3pm now. So you could walk around for a few hours, maybe draw a bit. Then dinner with Jin at 7pm. Just thinking about it made you huff out a laugh, at how absurd it all was. That would maybe take like an hour. Two if you had a lot to talk about. That would make it 9pm, and still leave 12 hours. What the hell were you supposed to do for 12 hours? Shaking your head to clear the overthinking from your mind, you pushed yourself off the wall and opened your eyes, being met with Jins curious eyes peering back at you.

“Are you okay?”, he asked, concern present in his voice.

Shit, how hadn’t you heard the door? How long had he been standing there?

“Yeah, no worries.” You pushed out a strained laugh. “I’m just a bit tired. I’m gonna go now.”

Cursing at yourself mentally, you threw him a quick smile, before taking off in what could only be called a sprint to get away from him.  

-

Wandering around the airport, you were in awe at how big it was, and how much it had to offer. There were playgrounds, labyrinths, every food choice you could think off, art pieces, outdoor terraces, gardens and even an outdoor pool. After having walked around a bit, you stumbled across a sign pointing to a sunflower garden. Curiosity taking over, you followed the signs and sure enough, there - in the middle of an airport – a sunflower garden with a small pathway between the flowers to walk on and small benches to rest on. Almost squealing in joy, you started looking through the garden for the prettiest flower to sketch. Finally finding the perfect one, you made yourself comfortable on a bench and placed your notepad on your knees. Putting pen to paper, the rustling and bustling of the airport disappeared around you as the flower took shape on your sketchbook.

When you pulled back from your second drawing a few hours later to inspect it from a distance, you smiled happily at your work.

“That’s beautiful.”

Looking up to the source of the voice, you were met with Jins impressed smile.

“I didn’t know, you were an artist?”

“And I didn’t know, you needed two coffees?”, you retorted with a laugh, gesturing to the two to-go cups in his hands.

“Well, you can never have too many coffees,” he winked, as he handed you one. “No, I bought one for you. Didn’t know what you liked, so I just bought an americano, but I have milk and sugar with me.” He pulled out the packets from his pocket, and you accepted one of the small milk containers.

“So you were just walking around the airport with two coffees looking for me?”, you teased, as you took the first sip of the coffee.

“Ehm.” He rubbed the back of his neck blushingly. “Actually, I walked past you about 10 minutes ago, but you didn’t see me, so I went to buy us a coffee to have an icebreaker,” he admitted with a nervous laugh.

“I think, we’re way past icebreakers, Jin.”

As your laugh resounded in the garden, he visibly relaxed. After seeing you look so distressed in the hallway, he had felt awful, thinking that you felt that uncomfortable about sharing a room with him. So he had spent the last two hours looking everywhere for you. He had almost given up, when he caught sight of your figure on the bench in the garden. Seeing you sketching, he had stayed put for a few minutes, just observing how your brows furrowed in concentration as your hands transported the beautifully vibrant flowers to the page in front of you. Finally deciding to walk up and talk to you, he was nervous, which he was very well aware of was stupid, but nevertheless he chose to buy the coffees as a conversation starter.

“Yeah, you might be right,” he chuckled, taking a sip of his coffee before looking down on your drawing again. “But that really is beautiful.”

You sent him an appreciative smile, looking down on your page again to hide your blushing cheeks.

“Thank you, but I’m not really an artist. It’s just a hobby.”

“Oh, you’re an artist all right,” he stated, brushing off your comment and making you roll your eyes in return.

“I’m really not. I picked it up when I was in rough part of my life, and it helped me through some tough times,” you shrugged, almost regretting that you revealed that to a complete stranger. Oh well, after tomorrow you would never see him again.

“Ah, the troubled soul of an artist,” he mused dramatically with a teasing smile, causing you to give him light shove as you laughed.

“What about you? What do you do?”

“Nothing interesting,” he answered, trying to dodge the question. “I work for a big corporation, but honestly I’m not even sure, what it is we do.”

As you laughed at his response, he felt himself grow more comfortable and confident with you.

“And they make us wear these stiff suits, which are quite honestly so uncomfortable,” he whined, squirming in his seat, delighting in drawing yet another laugh from you.

“Wait. I think, I have a solution for that!”, you exclaimed, reaching into your bag for the vouchers you got at the hotel. “Look!”

You handed him a voucher which would give you 30% off in a selected list of clothing stores at the airport. Looking up at you with quirked eyebrow, you simply beamed proudly at him.

-

When he walked out of the store an hour later, it was with you following suit, clutching your stomach in laughter, tears springing from your eyes.

“What?”, Jin asked, as he turned around to face you with a sassy pop of his hip. “I look fucking fabulous, and you know it.” Running his hands through his hair, he gave a catwalk worthy display of his new outfit, which was galaxies away from his stuffy suit. Neon green shoes with red laces, skintight black jeans, and an oversized pink hoodie with a giant panda head on the front.

“You’re definitely gonna catch a few eyes, that’s for sure,” you giggled, wiping tears from your eyes.

Eating dinner at one of the restaurants took you close to three hours, as you spent most of the time making up stories about the people surrounding you, leaving both of you close to tears in laughter.

“Aw,” you pouted at him. “We’ve waited so long to eat, that our pizzas have gotten cold.”

“Now, that won’t do!”, he giggled, waving over the waiter. “We would like a new pizza, my good man. And another bottle of wine, please.”

“Jin! We can’t afford that!”, you scolded him, although it didn’t have much effect with your alcohol rosy cheeks and drunken giggle.

“Speak for yourself, love,” he grinned shamelessly, making you blush at the nickname. “I’m loaded.”

“Oh, we’re getting cocky now, are we?”, you laughed at his demeanor. “Well, in that case I would like a cosmopolitan as well,” you told the waiter, when he put down the new wine bottle.

“A cosmopolitan?”, Jin smirked with a quirked eyebrow. “How cliché.”

“I’ve always wanted to try one,” you shrugged with a giggle, making Jin laugh as well.

“And where else would be better to try it, than here in the Changi airport, stuck with a complete stranger?”

“Exactly!”

Working through the drinks, you talked about this and that, never venturing into personal subjects. It seemed like a mutual agreement, that personal stuff was off the table. Instead you talked about which countries you had visited, which books you had read recently, which movies you liked and a lot of joking about each other as the stereotypical artist and the rich businessman, who had to share a bed in an airport hotel. The clichés were all over the place.

“The only thing, that would make it more stereotypical would be if I was married as well, and then we ended up falling in love after one night together,” Jin laughed, making you furrow your eyebrows in confusion.

“What do you mean ‘married as well’?”

Jin cocked his head at your expression, the drunken giggle slowly fading from his face.

“Well, you checked in as Mrs. Y/L/N. Not Miss,” he clarified, making you snort out a laugh.

“Yeah, but I’m not married,” you gasped between laughs. “I just wasn’t sure what to think of you, and men tend to respect women more, if they’re married. I’m very much single,” you stated with a sly smile at his confused expression.

“That’s…” he trailed off with furrowed eyebrows and a slight pout to his lips, making you contain a giggle. “I don’t know what to say,” he stated with a drunken chuckle. “But I’m glad you feel comfortable enough to tell me now.”

“Well, you did pay for dinner and wore that god-awful sweater just to make me laugh,” you winked at him, laughing in triumph, when you saw his cheeks turn pink. “Ha! I knew it!”

Unable to do anything but smile fondly at your celebration of revealing his secret, he settled for shrugging his shoulders with a laugh.

When the waiter came to tell you that they were closing in a few minutes, you looked at each other across the table, before breaking out in laughter again.

“What now?”, you asked him with twinkling eyes, definitely not ready to go to bed yet.

“Well, I have an idea,” he laughed, pulling out his wallet to pay for dinner, waving off your complaints. “Come on!”, he exclaimed, grabbing your hand and pulling you out of the restaurant.

-

“Tada!”

Proudly pointing towards the room filled with arcade games, he grinned at you with sparkling eyes. You couldn’t help but laugh for the 1000th time that night. How that well dressed businessman ended up being the biggest kid by heart was mystery to you, but you definitely weren’t complaining.

You spent the next hour running around, besting each other in the different games, until you were thrown out by the security for being drunk around the kids using the machines. As you tried to apologize to the guard, Jin dragged out of the arcade hall and into the movie theater right next to it. Throwing an arm over your shoulders, he steered you towards the popcorn and soda machines.

“Aren’t we supposed to pay for this?”, you giggled in a whisper, when he simply started pouring soda into cups, and handing them to you.

“Where did your sense of adventure go, miss artist?”, he winked at you, as he filled a box with popcorns, before pushing you in front of him into the movie theater, giving a nod to the man at the entrance and slipping him a bill without you noticing.

“I can’t believe, we just did that,” you giggled with excited eyes, oblivious to the fact, that you actually hadn’t done anything wrong.

“You’re a criminal now, love,” Jin smirked, pulling you down into the seat next to him. “Better stick with me, so I can bail you out, when you get arrested.”

Mock laughing at his words, you threw a handful of popcorn at him, making him widen his eyes in surprise and whine about how you were ruining his hoodie with the butter.

-

Stumbling into your room a few hours later, both of you giggling like teenagers, Jin put down the beers and snacks he had bought on the bed.

“If we’re doing a sleepover, I need to wear my pajamas,” he shrieked loudly, making you shush him a bit with a giggle. “I need to be comfortable!”

“Then change into your pajamas,” you giggled. “You don’t need to tell the entire hotel, Jin.”

Shrugging off his hoodie, he walked to his bag to get his pajamas out. Stumbling a bit in his tipsy state, he started laughing at himself as he struggled to find what he was looking for. Finally, he pulled out a pink striped pajama, making you fall over in giggles on the bed.

“You really do like pink,” you laughed with tears in your eyes.

“Well, excuse you,” he huffed in feigned annoyance. “It is a great color and it really makes my eyes pop.”

Walking into the bathroom to change, he left you alone on the bed. Blinking a few times to clear your vision, you suddenly realized that you were way more drunk, that you had thought. Stumbling towards your own bag, you remembered that you didn’t have anything to sleep in with you. All you had was a pair of shorts, a dress and an extra pair of underwear. Shimmying out of your pants, you quickly put on the shorts, before looking around the room for something to wear on your chest, eyes falling on Jins hoodie. He wouldn’t mind that, would he? In your buzzed state, you decided to just do it, quickly discarding your shirt, and pulling the hoodie over your head and moving back to the bed, grabbing a beer on the way.

“What do you…” Jin started, when he walked back out in the pink pajamas, trailing off when he saw you wearing his sweatshirt. “What are you wearing?”

“Your hoodie,” you answered with a soft smile, holding up one of your sweater paws. “I hope you don’t mind, but I don’t have anything else to sleep in.”

You were practically drowning in fabric, and it made you look so much smaller than you were. Combined with your bare legs and rosy cheeks, you looked like a cuddle dream to Jin, making him blush a bit at how domesticated his thoughts were.

“No, it’s fine,” he chuckled. “You look cute.”

Handing him a beer, you patted the space next to you to get him to join you on the bed.

It only took you 10 minutes to start singing along to songs blasting from your phone’s really lousy speaker. As you failed to hit a specifically high note, Jin snorted out a laugh at your attempt.

“I really hope, you’re not a singer,” he teased with sparkling eyes, making you shrug your shoulders. “Oh, come on! Just tell me, please. Do you work with art in any way?”

“Can’t tell you,” you giggled, touching your nose with your index finger. “Spoilers,” you added in a sing song voice.

Two beers later, you were both very much both drunk and sleepy. Having opted for a more comfortable position, Jin was now lying in bed with his head in your lap, and your hands combing through the strands, while your phone played some music in background.

“You know, when I heard, that I had to wait 18 hours for the next plane, this was not, what I imagined happening,” he chuckled sleepily, humming at the feeling of your hands in his hair.

“Yeah, me neither,” you hummed. “I thought, I would have to stay away from you and awkwardly stay awake, so you wouldn’t try anything with me while I was sleeping,” you laughed, making Jin huff in annoyance.

“Excuse me, but I am proper gentleman. I would never try anything against your will,” he stated, crossing his arms to underline his point, which only looked ridiculous with his pink pajamas and overall soft look.

Rolling your eyes at his words, you ruffled his hair with a laugh.

“I know that now.”

Smiling confidently at your answer, he closed his eyes and let out a satisfied sigh.

“Can I ask you a personal question?” Your hands kept combing his hair, despite him tensing up at your question.

“Hmm. Sure, but I might not answer it,” he answered, popping a piece of chocolate into his mouth.

“Does your father own the company, you work at?”, you asked softly. You didn’t want him to think you were judging him, but there had been several hints to his position in the company, and his blatant annoyance and indifference at the company made it seem like, he wasn’t there by choice.

Letting out a deep sigh, Jin looked up at you from his position in your lap.

“Is it really that obvious?”, he asked you with pleading eyes, begging you to disagree with him.

“Not obvious, no,” you smiled with a head shake, seeing him relax at your answer. “But you don’t seem like you enjoy working there?”

He huffed out a sarcastic laugh.

“I know,” he groaned, hiding his face behind his hands. “It’s the only cliché worse than this whole mess. The boss’ son doesn’t want any part of the company.”

“What do you want to do?”

“I want to get into politics,” he stated, confidence evident in his voice as he sat up from his position. “I have seen how much the bigger companies can get away with and how fucked up some of it is, and I want to change that.”

“Then why don’t you? And don’t tell me it’s because of your father,” you warned, seeing him already opening his mouth to retort. “Give me one thing that’s holding you back, that isn’t your father.”

Seeing him struggle to find an answer, you walked over to get the both of you a new beer from the fridge. Jin accepted the beer wordlessly, still lost in thought at your question.

“I can’t,” he stated, as he turned to your reclined position with a shocked face 10 minutes later. “There is no other reason.” Taking another swig of beer, he stared out into room in realization. “He is the sole reason I’m not doing it.”

Seeing his frightened features at the realization, you realized you had to soften the blow a bit.

“Look, I’m not saying, that means you have to change anything. But maybe give it some thought. All I can say, is that’s it’s a lot more freeing living your own life, instead of someone else’s,” you shrugged, as you leaned back against the headboard.

“Whose life were you living?”, he asked you hesitantly, feeling like he was allowed at least one personal question, since you had opened his bag of personal baggage.

“My grandmas,” you stated, voice having gone completely flat. “She was denied a long education because of marriage and was really pushing me to do one. So I did.”

“And?”

“And nothing,” you sighed. “I finished my degree, got a job I was miserable with, worked there for two years before quitting. My grandma doesn’t speak to me anymore. Says I’m wasting opportunities she was never given.”

Not really knowing what to say, Jin opted for opening his arms to give you a hug. Your first instinct was to move away, but come to think of it, a hug would be nice, and he probably needed on as well.

Shuffling into his arms, you felt them wrap around you, enclosing you in a warm pink embrace. For a few minutes you were both silent, before you started giggling.

“What?”, he smiled softly against your hair.

“Your hoodie smells like butter,” you laughed, making him swat your arm.

“I told you it would stain,” he pouted, before erupting in a chuckle as well.

“Can I ask you something?”, you whispered against his chest, feeling his heartbeat awfully close.

“You don’t have to ask me that every time,” he chuckled. “What is it?”

“Do you want to have sex tonight?”

Your tone wasn’t flirty or insinuating. You might as well have been asking about the time of day or the weather. But the question still made Jin a bit flustered.

“Eh. Ah. I don’t know.” He cursed himself for stammering before he continued. “I wouldn’t mind it, but it’s not something that has to happen,” he ended hesitantly, unsure about what kind of answer you were looking for.

“Okay.”

Your lack of explanation left Jin confused and very unsure about, what would happen next, as he tried to keep his hold on you relaxed and calm. But he couldn’t help his curiosity.

“Do you?”

“Not really,” you hummed, snuggling closer in his embrace. “But you are really nice to cuddle with, so I wouldn’t mind some cuddling.”

“I can do that,” he chuckled at your soft state, seeing you mold yourself to fit his body, and he tried his best to make sure you were comfortable.

“It’s not because you’re not pretty,” you mumbled drowsily. “Because you are fucking beautiful. But I like this memory as it is – playful, honest, happy.”

He laughed silently at your honest sleepy words, as he pulled the duvet over the both of you.

“I know, what you mean. There is no need to add sexy to that list,” he hummed, as he placed a featherlight kiss to your hair.

“Exactly.”

Turning off the lights, Jin pulled you closer to him and drifted off to sleep with the sound of your laugh reverberating in his head.

-

The next morning things were a tad awkward. The alcohol had worn off, and despite the comfortableness you both had felt towards each other it was hard to shed that feeling of being strangers. It hadn’t even been 24 hours since you had met.

Getting ready to leave the hotel, you worked around each other to get ready, taking turns in the shower, packing up your stuff and finally leaving the room. As you checked out, you assured the hotel manager that it had been a nice stay, and that you had made the best of it. Which was true, although not the extent that she was insinuation with a wink to you, after giving Jin a hungry look. Feeling a bit annoyed on his behalf, you quickly dragged him out of the reception with a final goodbye to the woman.

“We still have an hour, before they start boarding,” Jin smiled at you, unaware of what had happened at the reception desk. “Do you wanna do breakfast somewhere?”

“I’m really not much of a morning person, but if you’re okay with sitting with me in silence, while I drink my coffee, then sure,” you answered curtly, adding a short smile to make up for your tone.

“Sure, let’s get you some coffee.” Seemingly not affected by your tone, he started walking towards one of the cafés of the airport, all the while humming a song. Like some grumpy shadow, you trailed behind him, trying not to snap at the people bumping into you. Easily finding you a table, Jin asked you to wait there while he got the food and coffee. To tired to even question how he would figure out what to get you, you sat down at the table and stared out at the people passing by the café.

“Here is your coffee,” Jin said handing you the cup. “And here is some food.”

As he placed the chocolate croissant at the table in front of you, your face split into the first genuine smile of the day and you sent him what could only be described as heart eyes, making him chuckle.

“Yeah, I thought this would cheer you up.”

Settling himself across from you, he dug into his yoghurt as he watched you gobble down the croissant with a blissful smile on your face. When you took the first sip of your coffee, you realized that he had remembered that you liked it with milk, making you blush a bit at his consideration. Sending him a thankful smile, he just winked at you.

“Thank you. Not just for the food, but for everything,” you told him, as you were standing in line for boarding. You were not seated together, and you didn’t know if you would see him again. “I had a really good time.”

Smiling at your words, he pulled you into a side hug.

“Me too, but you don’t have to say goodbye yet. I was planning on giving you a proper goodbye hug, when we land in Seoul.”

Enjoying the comforting feeling of his embrace, you closed your eyes for second taking in the smell of his cologne, before the line started moving again.

“I would like that,” you smiled at him, before stepping forward to have your boarding pass scanned.

“Just in case I miss you in Seoul,” Jin stammered, as he joined you in the queue leading into the aircraft. “Could I have your number?”

“I don’t know, Jin,” you spoke hesitantly. “Maybe it’s best to just keep this memory as it is?”

You were hoping he would see it the same way, but the disappointment in his eyes told you differently, making you winch.

“Maybe you’re right. But I haven’t met anyone in a long time, that I was this comfortable with,” he told you in a sincere voice. “I would love to stay in touch with you, in any form you feel like would work.”

He gave you a soft smile, making your stomach flip in response, and as you tried to convince yourself that letting it stay as a memory would be for the best, he leaned down to press a soft kiss to your cheek, before giving you a soft push down the aisle of the plane, where the queue had long moved on from the two of you. Still in a daze by his words and his kiss, you didn’t even realize, that he had reached his seat and sat down, before you turned around to speak to him, only to find an older woman in his place.

“If you’re looking for the handsome gentleman, he sat down in row 12,” she told you with a sweet voice. “I checked for you.”

Stammering out a thank you, you blushingly made your way to your own seat and burrowed yourself against the window and quickly popping in your in-ears. You only had 6 hours to figure out, what you were gonna do.

-

Searching through the crowd at the baggage carousel, Jin suddenly realized, that he actually didn’t know if you had any baggage to pick up. Despite his height advantage, he still hadn’t been able to find you in the crowd. The minutes ticked by, and the crowd thinned out, but still there was no sign of you. His own luggage had been circling the conveyor belt several times by now, as if assisting him in his search for you. When it had had its second solo round, Jin let out a deep sigh, admitting defeat as he walked to pick up it up. Walking through customs and passport checks, he tried seeing it as a good thing. Now the memory would be able stand on its own, almost like a magical fairytale of a time long lost. It was a nice ending, he nodded to himself. Although he wouldn’t have minded being part of your epilogue.

Shuffling through the arrival’s hall, he felt someone tap him on the shoulder, making him turn around and meet your soft features, which were spread in a soft smile.

“Here, I thought you might want this,” you spoke softly, handing him a folded piece of paper.

Accepting it, he just looked at you with a dumbfounded look, which only intensified when you stretched up to place a soft kiss on his lips, before turning around and walking away with a soft wave.

Still completely dumbfounded by your actions, it took him a few seconds to realized what happened, and when it did, he hurriedly placed the paper in his pocket, before running after you, only stopping when he reached the taxis. Once again, he found himself searching for you without any luck. You were already gone. Letting out an annoyed huff at your actions, he cursed himself for not running after you immediately. Pacing the pavement, he mused over what to do, when one of the taxis honked at him. Realizing you had left him with no possible actions, he let out a defeated sigh, as he got in the cab and told the driver his address.

Leaning back in the leather seat, he reached into his pocket for the piece of paper, you had given him. As he opened it, he was met with the drawing he had seen you make of one of the sunflowers. Smiling softy at memory of how he found you sketching, his eyes traced the pencil strokes on the paper. As he turned it over, he found a phone-number scribbled down in the corner and your handwriting underneath.

I would love to keep in contact. In any way you want. - Your airport artist

[imhereforbvcky]

Vivid - Part 4

Masterlist  -  Series Masterpage

Summary: Have you ever met someone who completely embodies a color? Not an aura, not synesthesia. Just… They walk into the room and when you spot them, you think to yourself, “Wow. That is a walking hurricane.” When Clint Barton serendipitously meets a free-spirited stranger, he sees red. Chapter: After dropping in on Clint unexpectedly, you are the one left surprised. 

Word Count: 2641

A/N: I’m not even going to pretend I didn’t go for the low-hanging fruit of plot points here. Sorry, not that sorry. I grew tired of belaboring series for the sake of ingenuity. It’s fanfiction, not a pulitzer novel. I want to enjoy writing it sometimes.

1:30am was early. Or was it late, technically if you hadn’t slept yet? Too late for most people, at any rate. But not for you, and not for Clint.

It had been that kind of week and you’d celebrated its conclusion with that kind of night. Which had led you giggling and bumbling into the bodega. And that excursion, of course, then led to thinking of Clint so fondly that you decided to drop by his place.

At 1:30 in the morning.

Totally normal.

“Clint!” Your voice clanged through the open windows of his apartment where he had slung himself over the couch with a two year old bag of frozen peas against his cheek.

He bolted upright, waiting as if he’d dreamt it, as if it had been some phantom of the concussion he was now sporting. Natasha stood in the kitchen, stuffing spinach into the blender but perked an eyebrow at him. He ignored her with great effort.

“Clint, buzz me in!” you called again and this time he crawled to the window and peeked just over the sill, fingertips clinging to the peeling wood. “My hands are full!”

He could see now that it was true. You balanced an enormous pizza box on one forearm and squished a tub of ice cream and a 2-litre of coke in the other.

“Shut the fuck up!” a neighbor hollered and Clint cringed, ducking back below the window.

“You shut the fuck up!” You snapped back.

Clint chuckled from his spot with his back to the wall, knees curled to his chest with the streetlight’s orange glow shooting just over him like a failed search-light.

This was one of the things he liked about you, though it scared him: you were trouble, red hot emotion constantly bubbling just below the surface. Sure, you laughed quickly, but you also cried at Finding Nemo, and angered to boiling at the very first offense. His neighbor experienced the full force of it tonight.

“It’s 1:30 in the morning! Go home!”

“Yeah, I’m aware, Greg. Thanks for the time check!” you shouted back. “Clint! Pizza – burning! Ice cream – freezing!”

“This is bullshit,” the neighbor grumbled. “I’m callin’ the cops!”

“You do that! You fuckin’ do that!”

Natasha snorted from the kitchen. “Are you gonna get that or?”

“When they get here, I’ll make sure to mention those neat little five-leaf plants you’ve got in your bathroom window! They’re so green!” You continued your tirade until you heard the sharp buzz of the door unlocking. “And the smell, boy I think a skunk might’ve walked by…!”

“Fuck you!”

“Nice chat, Greg!” you hollered as you tugged the door open with your elbow.

Inside Natasha stood at the intercom with a wicked grin on her lips. Clint buried his face in his hands, elbows on his knees.

“Why did you do that? Ow!” he complained at the pressure of his own hands on his bruised cheekbone.

“Because you didn’t,” she shrugged, propping the door open by the deadbolt. “Were you just going to let your girl get arrested? That is her right? Your secret person?”

“She’s not a secret. She’s also not… my girl.”

“If it’s not a secret why were you hiding?”

“Because it’s almost 2am and you’re here! What do you think she’ll make of that?” he snapped.

Natasha scowled at him. “That I’m your friend. Who’s keeping an eye on you after you got pistol-whipped by a Hulk-sized alien on an assignment.”

Before Clint could complain further you were pushing through the door.

“Okay, I got pepperoni because I’m cheap and let’s be honest; it’s the best.”

He’d jumped to his feet to help you, taking the pizza as you shifted the ice cream and coke out of your arms.

“Pepperoni’s my favorite.” He smiled something soft and warm.

Spending time with Clint always felt like no time at all. Like you were exactly where you needed to be and time didn’t matter. Every last thing felt comfortable and content and you didn’t worry about a damn thing. The buzzing fire in your veins settled to a cool shiver. Your favorite place in the city was standing right there under the relaxed  calm of his smile.

“Yeah, I know,” you grinned, finally turning your eyes up to him. The smile dropped as quickly as it came. “Holy shit! Your face!”

“I mean, I know I’m no Steve Rogers, but that’s a little harsh,” he joked.

“It’s a very good face, except for the grapefruit sized bruise,” you cooed, holding his chin and turning his head side with exaggerated scrutiny. “What the hell happened?!”

Finally, your fingers slid over the sides of his neck until they rested on his shoulder. It was just a light touch, just a flutter, just enough to excite a shiver up his neck and over his scalp. Goosebumps prickled across his skin as the only evidence.

“Jerk snuck up on me,” he hedged. This wasn’t a conversation he wanted to have, so he shrugged and tipped his head, leaning slightly into your lingering touch. “I’ve had worse.”

“You need some ice.”

Despite all his wishing, you released him. Your fingertips still tingled with the scratch of his stubble as you’d moved over his skin.

The second you turned for the kitchen, your racing heart stopped completely.

“I… h-hi,” you managed, eyes wide and frozen on Natasha.

She waved her fingers in a fluid sweep and pulsed the blender on the smoothie she’d been graciously waiting to finish making.

“Did uh…” you murmured, turning to Clint while he lifted to his cheek the pack of frozen peas Natasha had tossed at him not ten minutes earlier. “Did you know there’s an Avenger in your kitchen?”

He chuckled, glancing to Natasha whose brow pinched together slightly for the briefest moment.

“Uh, yeah. Yeah, she’s keeping an eye on the…” he pointed to his cheek, to the violent purple bruise blossoming across his skin like the purple-black petals of a superstition iris.

“Uh-huh. Uh-huh,” you answered, eyes back on Natasha, in total awe. You’d seen her on CNN for fuck’s sake. She exposed HYDRA. And told Capitol Hill to fuck off. And not even the deepest halls of the US government knew what else.

Yet here she stood in your friend’s kitchen. At two in the morning.

“She and I… we go way back…” Clint started and stopped. How the hell was he supposed to explain his relationship with Nat? It was well beyond friendship, closer than family. There was so much love, but not the same kind of stomach flipping, tongue glued to your teeth, tripping over your feet sort of love that clawed up from somewhere long forgotten whenever you breezed into the room, all red and alive and gleaming. Either relationship was well beyond words to Clint. Certainly beyond his word bank.

“Oh,” you nodded. Then a moment later, “Oh!”

Natasha caught your assumption immediately and turned to Clint with a sharp look. He was too busy trying to find words that would never suffice to stop the freight train that had just jumped the tracks in your mind.

“I… you guys are…” you stammered, walking backward toward the door and pointing between them. “I just didn’t think you had a um… Well not that you couldn’t,” you laughed anxiously. “I mean, you’re funny and so kind and you’ve got those arms there, and shit,” you slammed an open palm on your forehead. “I’m just uh… I’m gonna go.”

By the time you’d finished rambling you had backed your way to the door with a thumb pointing over your shoulder. Without another fumbled word, you spun on the spot and slipped out.

“Damn it. Damn it. Damn it.” Clint complained. With each curse, his forehead thunked against the counter top

“Probably not good for the concussion, Barton,” Natasha chuckled

“That’s alright. A coma would be better right about now anyway.”

There was a light knock before you peeked back inside. Clint perked up and breathed your name, relieved beyond words to see your face again, when he’d thought he’d blown it, lost it already and entirely.

“I’m just gonna…” you took three long strides to the kitchen and swiped the tub of ice cream off the counter before scampering back out with even more haste.

Natasha burst into laughter. Chest full, and dimples deeply carved with mirth. Clint slid to the floor with a groan.

“So are you gonna stop her or do I have to do everything?”

“Stop her how? Say what?”

“Well for starters tell her you’re an Avenger. We’re teammates and frie—“

“She knows who I am,” he grumbled, reaching overhead for the pizza box.

“She knows Clint Barton, the idiot who drinks coffee all night long and eats way too much pizza. The guy who’s always there at two a.m., who makes her laugh, and who apparently has nice arms,” she chuckled.

“Shut up,” he argued with a grin slowly dragging over his face.

“She absolutely does not know what you do for a living.” She handed him the smoothie and he scowled at it.

“I saw her at a promotional fundraiser,” he argued. “She had to know. It’s the only reason I was there.”

“Clint. You were SHIELD first: a spy. Your identity was protected. Then the battle of New York, you mostly kept to rooftops; the media didn’t exactly get any close-ups. You don’t do the press meetings. Unless someone’s looking for Hawkeye especially… you can get away with being a little bit anonymous.”

“Shit,” he mumbled through a bite of pizza. “She said something about there being Avengers at the fundraiser, I thought she was joking! And she totally froze when she recognized you… She has no idea, does she?”

Natasha offered a sympathetic look and a shrug.

“This is embarrassing. How have I never talked about work?”

“I think it’s nice,” she curled up on the floor next to him, stealing a sip of the smoothie. “She just likes you. And you have something outside of the job. It’s good. You need that. We all do.”

He nodded, scooping up another slice of pizza. “I need to tell her though.”

“Obviously.”

“How does she not see it?”

“That you’re Hawkeye or that you’re head over heels?”

He scowled at her and pushed his glass back into her hands. “This smoothie’s gross.”

A week and a half later and Clint had not told you a thing. Instead, he crouched on the edge of the rooftop, peering down at the row of warehouses. Some of them were abandoned. The rest had simply gone still for the night.

Steady fingers spread like a claw over the concrete. Lightly booted feet curled into sharp demi-pointe. If he weren’t in dark leather and neoprene, strapped over and over with sleek pointed weapons and exactly one SHIELD issue handgun, he might’ve looked like a dancer. Clint was always light on his feet, tall and strong in a way that made him agile and lithe.

“Something’s not right,” he worried aloud, clear blue eyes flashing on the small group of giggling twenty-somethings that teetered into the building he was meant to be watching. Abandoned warehouse, one door east and two south of his position.

“Ya think?” Bucky grumbled, watching through the scope of his rifle as the last of them disappeared behind the heavy steel door. The distant ker-thunk of its closing echoed up to his ears a moment later and his finger twitched over the safety. He knew it was in place. Bucky knew his guns like they were permanently attached to his body, but he checked it just in case.

These did not look like the villains they were after.

“That’s the sixth group of idiots in band tees to go in since we got up here.” Clint relaxed by a hair now that there was nothing and no one to see down below. His heels met concrete once more, and he squared his body over his knees. He still looked ready to leap, but less like he was mid-lunge, less like a swooping predator. “It’s supposed to be empty.”

Empty except for the group dealers the Avengers had tracked down. The ones who serviced illegally salvaged alien weaponry out of the abandoned warehouse one building east and two south of Clint’s current perch. The club they intended to lasso tonight in the building that was now teeming with bystanders.

“Only question now…” Bucky dragged the cross-hairs of his scope onto a new group headed toward the building. “Is whether it’s just bad intel, or a set up.”

Clint sighed and turned his attention to the small group as well. A couple of women. They seemed happy. One of them passed something small to another and hopped forward, a small dance in every step. Clint hadn’t noticed he was smiling. It was small and involuntary, the tiniest curve of his lips. The woman threw her head back and held a bottle to her lips, no doubt singing into it. Clint caught a glimmer of color when they passed under a street light and froze.

Red.

“No, no, no, no, no,” he murmured, rapid-fire. This time, crouching further even than before, his fingers curled around the thick ledge of the wall and his feet remained beneath him, arched up on pads, ready to leap.

“What?” Bucky pulled away from his scope, scanning the area for danger, for whatever had Clint so literally on edge. “What do you see?” Eye back on the scope, he saw nothing unusual about the group. So he swept the door, the windows, the roof of the building. Empty. “Clint!”

“Not here,” his voice was a breathless plea. “She shouldn’t be here.”

“Who?!”

Clint looked frantic, fingers gripping and regripping the rough ledge like every fresh hold bolstered him in place, reminded him that he was part of a team and he needed to hold his position.

“Barton!” Bucky barked again. “Who?”

“The one with the coke bottle!”

“Yeah?” Bucky settled on her through the scope, red bottle, red cap inches from equally red lips. Same band tee as everyone else. To Bucky, a harmless, unremarkable civilian. “I’m not seeing it, man. This is a live mission, Clint! If you see something off, you’ve gotta tell me. Who the hell is she?”

“She’s—she’s… I don’t know… We--I…”

Agitated by his partner’s distress, Bucky followed the woman, kept her tightly within his cross-hairs and with a gentle practiced finger snapped the safety off.

“She’s a friend. A… She’s my person.”

“Are you fucking kidding me, Barton?!” Bucky clicked the safety back in place and glared at his partner, his friend. He was ready to fire on a civilian because Clint couldn’t form a sentence when he laid eyes on a goddamn crush.

“I’ve got action on the southwest corner,” Sam’s voice crackled over the comlink. “Definitely packing.”

Bucky, still glaring at Clint, saw his eyes go wide and the decision flash firm in his jaw. Bucky only managed two words after that.

“Clint, don’t—!“

But Clint had already launched himself over the edge of the building.

It wasn’t a long drop. The buildings weren’t skyscrapers, just a couple of stories high, just enough for a few forklifts to create monuments to forgotten consumerism out of crates and pallets.

His landing was loud anyway. Clint rolled onto the empty roof of a delivery truck with the deep bellow of reverberating aluminum. The noise was thunderous, almost matching Bucky’s anger, but Clint kept rolling, right down the windshield until he found his feet on the hood and leapt forward onto crumbling pavement. Then he ran.

“The hell was that?” Natasha worried in Bucky’s earpiece.

“Barton’s lost his goddamn mind over a girl,” he grumbled in answer. “He’s on the ground now. I’ll cover.”

Chapter 5 >>

[ftauriellas]

            chicago’s  very  own  auriella  yates  has  been  spotted  on  madison  avenue  driving  a  porsche  718  spyder  ,  welcome  !  your  resemblance  to  jasmine  tookes  is  unreal  .  according  to  tmz  ,  you  just  had  your  twenty - fifth  birthday  bash  .  your  chance  of  surviving  new  york  is  uncertain  because  you’re  guileful  ,  but  being  unadulterated  might  help  you  .  i  think  being  a  virgo  explains  that  .  three  things  that  would  paint  a  better  picture  of  you  would  be  the  lingering  scent  of  her  perfume  on  crisp  white  sheets  ,  the  soft  touch  of  short  satin  dresses  against  her  thighs  ,  and  the  soft  glistening  of  diamonds  during  golden  hour  .

            hi  again  ,  kitty  gorls  !  it’s  jin  showing  up  on  your  dash  for  the  last  time  with  my  sweet  peach  miss  auriella  yates  .  she’s  a  rendition  of  a  hailey  b  .  chara  that  i  have  ,  so  she’s  quite  the  mess  ,  but  as  lovable  as  ever  !  as  you’ve  probably  figured  ,  i  didn’t  have  much  muse  for  guiliana  anymore  so  i  decided  it  was  best  to  let  her  go  and  bring  someone  else  (  also  ,  i’m  really  sorry  about  not  fulfilling  that  starter  call  .  please  don’t  hate  me  🥺  )  .  my  muse  is  soaring  for  auriella  so  be  prepared  for  me  to  slide  into  your  dm’s  for  plotting  up  a  storm  !  that  being  said  ,  here’s  another  long  one  !

basic  information  .

FULL  NAME  :  auriella  kaia  yates  .

NICKNAME(S)  :  auri  ,  mostly  .

BIRTHDATE  +  AGE  :  september  9th  ,  1997  +  22  .

ZODIAC  :  virgo  .

HOMETOWN  :  chicago  ,  il  .

GENDER  :  cis  female  .

NATIONALITY  :  american  .

ETHNICITY  :  african  american  ,  brazilian  ,  west  indian  , barbadian  ,  and  european  .

HEIGHT  :  5′5″  .

LABEL(S)  :  the  harlequin  ,  the  trust  fund  baby  ,  the  vainglorious  ,  the  coquette  ,  and  the  sovereign  .

ROMANTIC  ORIENTATION  :  biromantic  .

SEXUAL  ORIENTATION  :  bisexual  .

LANGUAGE(S)  SPOKEN  :  english  and  learned  basic  french  in  high  school  .

OCCUPATION  :  socialite  ,  makeup  artist  ,  and  businesswoman  .

POSITIVES  :  impulsive  ,  alluring  ,  unadulterated  ,  facetious  ,  and  melodious  .

NEGATIVES  :  complaintive  ,  acquisitive  ,  guileful  ,  starry - eyed  ,  and  bellicose  .

biography  .

            auriella  yates  is  the  sixth  child  of  eight  ,  born  to  simone  and  joshua  yates  in  the  windy  city  of  chicago  ,  illinois  .  she  has  three  older  brothers  (  chance  ,  charles  ,  and  clark  )  ,  two  older  sisters  (  adriana  and  amelia  )  ,  and  a  younger  brother  and  sister  (  calvin  and  aurora  )  .  patrick  and  simone  for  some  reason  found  joy  in  naming  their  sons  with  c  names  and  their  daughters  with  a  names  ,  but  it  works  for  them  nonetheless  .  the  family  could  afford  such  a  grandiose  lifestyle  in  chicago  thanks  to  simone’s  lifestyle  and  wellness  brand  called  honey  &  lemon  (  goop  ,  who  ?  )  that  has  since  expanded  from  a  newsletter  to e - commerce  ,  pop - up  shops  ,  a  magazine  ,  and  a  podcast  .  patrick  ,  on  the  other  hands  ,  is  a  famous  vegetarian  chef  that  has  launched  three  cookbooks  while  also  having  his  own  cooking  series  on  the  food  network  along  with  a  cookware  partnership  at  target  .  together  ,  they  own  a  vegetarian  restaurant  in  downtown  chicago  called  lemongrass  .

            growing  up  ,  since  auriella  had  so  many  siblings  ,  she  never  had  an  uneventful  day  .  their  parents  strongly  believed  in  their  children  playing  outside  instead  of  being  stuck  in  front  of  the  television  all  day  ,  so  they  often  took  advantage  of  their  large  backyard  when  they  lived  in  the  suburbs  of  chicago  .  they  were  the  parents  who  let  their  rowdy  bunch  ruin  their  perfect  grass  because  they  wanted  to  play  in  the  mud  .  their  parents  may  have  afforded  them  luxuries  that  others  didn’t  have  and  while  their  parents  had  been  busy  people  ,  patrick  and  simone  refused  for  their  children  to  be  raised  by  nannies  .  they  were  heavily  involved  with  everything  that  their  children  did  ,  ranging  from  their  pre - school  graduations  to  their  high  school  proms  .

            auriella  had  always  been  a  rather  outgoing  girl  throughout  high  school  ,  and  she  knew  she  was  cute  so  she  started  an  instagram  page  when  she  was  about  thirteen  or  so  .  originally  ,  her  pictures  were  just  cringey  dirty  mirror  pics  and  photos  with  her  friends  ,  but  as  she  explored  the  app  more  and  more  ,  she  discovered  makeup  and  her  love  for  it  !  so  ,  despite  the  terrible  youtube - tutorial  makeup  that  she  tried  to  recreate  ,  auriella  never  gave  up  on  her  ability  to  do  better  .  as  she  moved  through  high  school  ,  her  makeup  skills  got  better  and  better  ,  so  once  she  graduated  ,  auriella  knew  what  she  wanted  to  do  in  life  !

            she  went  on  to  attend  make  up  first  in  chicago  ,  and  obtained  certificates  in  basic  makeup  i  +  ii  ,  media  makeup  ,  and  media: runway  ,  editorial  ,  and  fashion  .  once  she  was  finished  with  her  schooling  ,  auriella  went  on  to  grow  her  brand  and  get  her  name  out  there  .  she  used  instagram  a  majority  of  the  time  ,  and  thanks  to  that  and  word  of  mouth  ,  she  grew  a  significant  following  and  went  on  to  have  a  few  celebrities  under  her  belt  .  thanks  to  the  help  of  her  parents  ,  auriella  decided  that  she  wanted  to  get  into  the  makeup  business  entirely  ,  and  decided  to  stick  her  foot  into  makeup  production  .

            the  brand  originally  only  focused  on  her  favorite  thing  :  eyeshadow  palettes  !  the  palettes  were  originally  rather  small  ,  consisting  of  four  to  six  colors  as  they  perfected  the  formula  .  she  eventually  began  to  receive  rave  reviews  and  decided  that  it  was  time  to  expand  into  everything  else  :  mascaras  ,  lip  products  ,  foundations  ,  blushes  ,  highlighters  and  everything  else  under  the  sun  .  from  there  ,  kaia  beauty  is  now  being  sold  in  sephora  ,  ulta  ,  and  on  kaiabeauty.com  !  she  had  the  second  largest  foundation  drop  (  following  fenty  beauty  because  we  stan  miss  rihanna  in  this  house  )  .  

            that  being  said  ,  running  her  own  business  is  one  that  auriella  is  still  getting  used  to  despite  it  being  two  years  since  the  launch  .  she’s  thankful  for  the  expansion  of  her  brand  and  she’s  still  working  out  of  her  townhouse  because  she  hasn’t  found  the  perfect  space  for  a  headquarters  just  yet  !  it’s  one  of  her  biggest  dreams  at  the  moment  and  she  wants  to  expand  kaia  beauty  into  skincare  but  the  end  of  the  year  .  

personality  .

the  label  she  mostly  identifies  with  would  definitely  be  the  harlequin  .  she  can  be  really  loud  and  playful  at  times  ,  and  she  can  easily  get  called  out  for  not  taking  things  seriously  .  

at  the  same  time  ,  though  ,  she  can  be  pretty  sexual  in  her  speech  .  she  has  no  problem  with  people  looking  at  her  differently  for  doing  so  .  she  really  lets  a  lot  of  things  roll  off  of  her  shoulders  ,  but  she’d  be  a liar  if  she  said  that  some  things  didn’t  get  to  her  .

auriella  can  be  really  full  of  herself  and  simple  compliments  can  typically  leads  to  her  going  on  and  on  about  herself  ,  so  please  feel  free  to  shut  her  up  at  any  given  time  !  much  like  anyone  her  age  ,  she  can  be  found  prowling  around  on  instagram  or  twitter  and  can  never  go  shopping  without  taking  at  least  three  to  seven  mirror  selfies  .

headcanons  .

she  lives  in  a  beautiful  townhouse  on  west  fourth  street   and  she’s  really  proud  to  say  it  because  she  bought  it  with  her  own  money  !  she  likes  to  be  different  so  she  really  hates  range  rovers  and  instead  drives  an  audi  q5  !  sounds  kinda  dumb  since  she  lives  in  nyc  ,  but  she  likes  it  because  it  gives  her  freedom  to  go  where  she  wants  when  she  wants  to  .

she  never  leaves  the  house  without  a  purse  and  never  without  a  pair  of  earrings  on  (  she  thinks  she’s  ugly  without  them  ) .  she’s  obsessed  with  all  things  cartier  and  she  loves  to  accessorize  ,  but  not  to  much  .  she  keeps  scrunchies  in  her  purse  at  all  times  ,  so  if  you  need  one  just  ask  !

when  it  comes  to  her  style  ,  i  draw  a  lot  of  inspiration  from  instagram  if  i’m  being  honest  .  she  wears  a  lot  of  denim  shorts  ,  oversized  tees  ,  cropped  sweaters  ,  bodysuits  ,  chunky  sneakers  ...  honestly  ,  the  whole  nine  yards  .  for  some  examples  click  x  ,  x  ,  x  ,  x  ,  x  ,  and  x  .

she’s  been  vegetarian  since  she  was  a  kid  because  that’s  all  her  dad  ever  cooked  !  sometimes  the  scent  of  meat  makes  her  sick  and  sometimes  she  fakes  it  so  people  will  leave  her  alone  .  she’s  definitely  the  one  who  shows  up  to  the  function  with  her  fake  burgers  ,  but  you  know  she  has  a  bottle  of  vodka  along  with  it  .

finds  joy  in  doing  the  little  things  ?  she’s  not  the  greatest  at  art  but  really  enjoys  buying  a  canvas  and  trying  her  best  to  recreate  or  create  something  !  probably  gets  a  lot  of  art  ideas  from  tik  tok  (  those  kids  are  seriously  talented  )  and  really  likes  to  do  her  makeup  even  when  she  has  no  place  to  go  .  she  loves  laying  on  her  couch  and  doing  nothing  (  and  sometimes  she  might  be  kinda  naked  when  she  does  it  )  .

secret  .

okay  so  ,  auriella’s  secret  is  that  an  ‘  anonymous  ’  source  leaked  her  nudes  to  the  press  ,  but  her  parents  paid  off  publications  from  releasing  them  .  that  was  mostly  done  because  she  was  about  17 / 18  in  those  pictures  but  of  course  they’re  not  age  on  them  so  there’s  that  !  the  source  of  course  wasn’t  that  anonymous  and  it  turned  out  to  be  an  ex  (  which  is  really  gross  so  this  won’t  be  a  wanted  connection  )  ,  but  she’s  not  ashamed  of  them  by  any  means  !

[diotm]

Plotted Starter with + @disastrousjest​

Suzi Q was shuffling about in early dawn throughout Air Supplena’s complex. Doing her daily chores & tidying up the area for her Master, Lisa Lisa. This included dusting, moping, laundry duties, sweeping, preparing meals & many more. Suzi never complained about her job duties for she truly just loves being a part of Lisa’s daily routine -- Suzi would do anything to make sure she was pleased with the current state of her island, since she’d be gone for sometime. The only people who were still at Supplena was Joseph & Messina. Joseph, who was still recovering from the dire & tragic, yet victorious battle with the pillar men. Unfortunately, two dear lives had been lost that day -- a lost that will linger for years to come.  Hands were tightly clasped on laundry handles as she did her rounds, cerulean optics becoming distracted as she passed by those giant windows -- just from the sheer beauty. Breath-taking visuals of a warm breeze that tickled the tops of the water, birds chirping happily -- the distant smells of Rome seeping in through the crevices & invading her nostrils. “ Oh -- !! “ She yelped, again catching herself dazing off, with a quick shake of her head & inhale in she continued her duties. Small blond tresses bounced as she walked, eyes containing nothing but genuine happiness. 

Red heels clacked away on the wooden floor, a low & sweet hum vibrating off the walls. Suzi loved to sing, sometimes catching herself off guard when she begins to hum a song, just a muscle memory when her hands were busy at work. Her first stop with folded linens were Lisa’s chamber. Placing the basket down she opened the door, in doing so a warm gust of breeze caressed her features, she must have forgotten to close the doors before she left. A chuckle leaves pink lips as she bends down & recollects the sheets, slipping through as her back held the heavy door open. While in her chambers Suzi changed her sheets, cleaned, dusted & reorganized her make-up container & clothes. “ Perfetto~ -- !!” She responded delightedly -- a grin complimenting her features & so she moved onto the next mess that called her.  The next room that was on her list was... Caesar’s -- it’s been some time since she’s walked into that room. Every time she would find herself in that there the air would turn still, heart-beat the loudest sound that existed in that room. Silent cries stained her cheeks & clogged up her throat, red invading the whites of her eyes, & puffiness under her eyes. She’d known Caesar since he arrived here to train with Lisa, they were all a family... so the death of Caesar had hit her tremendously. Soft palm laid flat against his door, gnawing at her bottom lip she stood their silently, right arm holding the basket with his linens. There were no clear reason why she continued to change his linens, it’s not like they were going to soil. Although, it felt as if he were still here.... just away from some time.  Suzi inhaled deeply, closing her eyes as she pressed open the door -- his smell, his pictures & his overall choices of room designs still reeked of presence, but they were left with no possibility of the owner coming to retrieve them. Fluttering her lashes open a melancholy smile curls at the end of her lips as a salty substance trails down her skin, but she continued to do her job without fail. Soft to the touch finger tips graze upon his dresser, as she moved & dusted around his items, making sure they all returned to the original position (as if nothing ever disturbed them.) “ Caesar... spero tu stia bene.” ( Caesar, I hope you are well.) She muttered in Italian as her eyes fall upon a group photo of the four -- they were quite the bunch, but she knows he wouldn’t want it any other way.  Once she finished with his room she grabbed the empty basket & took a long look at his vacant chamber before exiting, gentle to the touch she was. Finally out & about in the halls of the complex she felt as if she could breathe again, as if a hand that grasped around her heart was lifted. Suzi gingerly wiped away her tears, before not too shortly bringing her head up & putting on that sunshine of a smile. “ oh-kay-- !!” Words were laced with a sadness but coated it with a happier tone, being sad was something she knew Caesar wouldn’t want -- so, she smiled & once again, continued with her duties.  “Linens down, Dusting down, scrubbing down.... hm -- oh, silly me! how could i forget about Joseph -- !!” She giggled to herself. Suzi had been helping him recover with meals, basic needs & movement therapy with that new hand of his, but his mental was a completely different recovery than just hand-feeding him soup. This would take years, & even years aren’t enough to heal a wound to the heart. Nonetheless, Suzi continues to see growth from the young Joestar. She wonder’s when he’ll learn to use his wings again... & ultimately leave her. It was nice having Joseph around, easy on the eyes too. This complex was huge & often become cold when Lisa wasn’t around, so having any company brightened her day.  Suzi, on her way to Joseph’s room to see if he needed anything was lost in her thoughts again. Bright hues stuck to the floor, watching every step she made, hands clasped together behind her back before she knew it the tip of her nose bumped up to something. Head bopping backwards she cups her nose, making an inaudible sound. “ Messina -- Mi scusi! spiacente --!!” (excuse me, sorry!) but it wasn’t who she thought it was at all! Eyes nearly brightened 10 fold as does her cheeks when she realized it was Joseph. “ o-oh! Jojo -- !! Well, someone’s looking good-today --!! is your hand treating you better --?” She asked, Italian accent prominent around her vocalization as the hands that cupped her nose now intertwined at the tips in front of her as she gave the man a beaming smile. 

[roseskiesandbutterflies]

Killer Queen: Chapter 8 - Scandal

Summary: Life is easy when things go your way. I know this from experience. I also know that that can disappear in an instant and that you have to be able to rely on your friends. Luckily my name is Arabella Ruth White and I’m the fifth marauder. But I want to show you the girl behind the mask. It takes a lot of work to be this fabulous, darling.

A/N: If I got any information about Diwali incorrect, please let me know so I can change it. I'm not Hindu and all of my research was done online and I dread to think how reliable that actually is. Also, happy late Diwali since it wasn't that long ago. That's a lie but let me have this, please.

Drunk Ruth is the funniest thing I've written in a while also more writers need to try writing drunk narrators for their stories because some wack shit comes out of that. Bonus points if alcohol is not featured in the scene at all. Double bonus points if you're writing in the third person. Extra double bonus points if the narrator almost reveals important events that haven't happened yet (could be used as a plot device). The drunkenness was definitely not inspired by the amount of Echo Falls I had last night.

Me?? Including my feminist shit in my stories?? More likely than you think. Please don't start arguing over abortion in the comments though, please. Thank you kindly. I just felt the need to yeet in my opinions about it after all the shit that happened in the USA. 

Sorry for not updating for about six months. It is a bit ridiculous, I know, but oh well. Half-term ended up being a lot busier than anticipated and I had a lot of writer's block and procrastination when I finally got around to writing this. And I did my research and Diwali actually fell on Sirius's birthday in 1975. You would not believe how happy I was about that. If you caught the Brooklyn Nine-Nine reference I love you. The title for this chapter came from Queen's 1989 album, The Miracle. 

Word Count: 3.2k+ (hopefully that makes up for the delay)

Inspiration: You Can’t Make Me Love You by -FromEden- on Wattpad, All The Young Dudes by MsKingBean89 on AO3, The Boy Who Killed God by @sirius-black-killed-god 

Warning(s): talk of pregnancy and abortion, underage drinking (although it’s in the UK so it’s fine lmao), swearing

Tag List: @bhmay @briarrose26 @bijoukitty

Ask to be on my tag list! Let me know if it’s for a specific fandom(s). The full list is in my bio. Also let me know if you’re on my tag list already but you only want to be on it for a specific fandom(s) I won’t be offended if you ask as long as you’re polite about it tehe.

Never before had Diwali fell on and around Sirius's birthday. James had joked about it many a time in the past but the look on his face when he discovered the date of the next new moon in Astronomy was one of surprise and amusement. This meant Sirius's usual birthday celebrations - a.k.a. a ridiculous party - would have to be slightly altered. Not that the birthday boy minded an awful lot. He was rather fond of the traditions involved and his face lit up like the diyas themselves. The day before had been spent creating Rangoli patterns on the floor of their room, Kingsley thankfully not minding as it was part of James's culture. Also, as it had been a Hogsmede weekend, we spent the majority of the day following James around so he could buy new things for the Hindu new year. And also to get Sirius's birthday presents when he was too distracted by the games in Zonko's. 

James's parents had sent a huge box fall of diyas, all varying in colour and size, that had required four owls to carry. Along with it was a lovely heartfelt letter to all of us, reminding to stay safe and revise and all that, but to also have fun with whatever we were getting up to. James definitely teared up at one point but he remained in denial. Silly billy.

Now, after knowing James for a good four years, my knowledge of Hinduism was rather extensive, if I do say so myself. So according to James, Diwali lasts for five days with different festivities on each day. This year, it had started on Halloween so as soon as we returned from our epic prank, we quickly set up with the help of a spell or two and then let James do his thing. The same pattern repeated until now, which was the fourth day of the celebrations and James's favourite day, in his not-so-humble opinion.

Last night had been spent by setting off as many fireworks as we could possibly do, using the fact that it was Diwali to our advantage. They couldn't exactly tell us off for celebrating a festival, right? 

Today was the first day of the Hindu New Year so, of course, we had stayed up last night to welcome it properly. This meant we were all a little tired, especially since we woke up a little earlier too.

The night to come appeared to be rather busy so, while Peter went to get some breakfast for us all, we set up the new diyas, cleared the ones that had burned out last night and fixed the slightly smudged rangoli patterns. Once James had declared everything good enough for tonight - which, as you can imagine, took quite some time - we headed down for our first lesson of the day.

Fucking Herbology.

Sirius did, on many occasions throughout that lesson claim that since it was his birthday, he legally didn't have to be there because he was "Sirius McFucking Black and no man can tell me what to do from this day forward".

Unfortunately for him, Professor Sprout was no man and in fact a very angry woman who "will still give you detention Mr Black if you continue with that language in my classroom".

Suddenly, a petite, barn owl flew in the classroom with a letter in its beak. This could only mean one thing: an escape route. I rapidly tapped on the arms of the boys, not once taking my eyes off of the owl, "Teacher owl, teacher owl, teacher owl, teacher owl."

They all snapped their heads up to look at said owl, who was now perched on Sprout's desk. The teacher took the note - the owl took its leave - and she read it carefully, squinting. A look of both gratitude and distaste made its way onto her face. Definitely for one of us, then. The boys seemed to think the same as I was met with excitement and intrigued looks when I turned to them.

"White!" Sprout's voice boomed throughout the greenhouse, holding up the letter. Groans of disappointment rippled throughout the class and people started going back to their work. She handed me the letter and I opened it without haste.

Dear Miss White,

Please go to my office right away. This is a matter of urgency. You are not in trouble but this does, however, concern your family.

Sincerely,

Professor Dumbledore.

P.S. I have been rather fond of chocolate frogs lately.

Now, unsurprisingly, I had received enough of these notes in the past to know that the whole chocolate frog thing was just a hint for the password. Not very subtle but oh well. The matter at hand was obviously what the fuck this was about. I wasn't in trouble for starters which was, quite frankly, weird. A million possibilities ran through my mind as to what this could be about. It involved my family and was serious. Did someone die? Merlin forbid it but at the current state of the wizarding world, I couldn't help but consider it. It was certainly a possibility, as much as I wished it wasn't.

"What does it say then?" James asked in an extremely disheartened tone.

"I need to go and see ye olde Dumbledore. Doesn't say why," I started packing up my stuff to leave.

"Someone's in trouble!" Sirius said in a sing-song voice that made me want to punch him in the face.

"No, it clearly says I'm not in trouble, you dickhead!" I yelled as I smugly strolled out of the greenhouse.

"Bitch!"

"Twat!"

"Prick!"

"Wanker!" I ran out as quickly as I could after that, leaving Sirius to get into trouble with Sprout. That was my birthday present for him. I practically sprinted to Dumbledore's office, every cell in my body bursting with curiosity. Once I arrived, I pretty much fell into his office from pure exhaustion. Exercise and I were not on good terms. I picked myself up from my mostly ungraceful entrance to see two people already sitting opposite the headteacher. 

"Ah, Arabella, glad to see you received my note. Take a seat," Dumbledore greeted me and gestured to the chair closest to me. I cautiously took it and only then did I get to finally see who I had the pleasure of having this meeting with. None other than the Head Girl and Boy. Or otherwise known as my cousin and her boyfriend. Melanie and Filip. The golden students of Hogwarts. Everybody idolised them and for good reason. Seemingly perfect, they were the Athena and Apollo of our school. Smart but not bookworms. Kind but not pushovers. Beautiful but not vain. So it was no surprise to anyone when the titles they held were bestowed upon them. I, for one, did not believe in soulmates but Melanie and Filip came pretty damn close. Melanie was the daughter of my mother's twin sister. Two years older than me although I think I had corrupted her more than she had me. The type of cousin that you only saw once in a blue moon but when you did, all hell broke loose and you had the time of your lives. I knew very little of Filip but his reputation of being an all-around nice guy preceded him for miles. Their presence was some form of comfort to me because I couldn't possibly be in trouble if they were here too.

"May I ask what this is about?" I looked around the room for it had fallen silent. Melanie uncharacteristically refused to look at anything other than her lap. Filip was gazing off into the distance as if he was a model. Dumbledore was just being Dumbledore so no changes there, not that I expected any.

"Melanie, would you like to explain?" the headmaster asked to which the girl in question frantically shook her head.

"I can't," her voice, no louder than a whisper, broke halfway through. My heart instantly dropped, this couldn't possibly be good. She was usually so strong, so independent. I didn't recall ever seeing her cry so this must be a big deal. Filip grasped her hand and squeezed it tightly.

"Filip?" Dumbledore tried a different strategy. 

Clearly struggling with his words, he ended up just murmuring, "Melanie's pregnant."

And so it seemed that even the finest china you had ever seen could be chipped. Misfortune would always be lurking somewhere in the shadows, ready to strike at any given moment. Nobody was ever safe from it, not even the few angels who walked among us. Out of all of my friends, Melanie would be one of the last I would suspect of being pregnant. This list of friends included my male friends so that was saying something. 

But at the same time, who was I to judge her? It wasn't as if I was a virgin either. That ship sailed a long time ago. She was allowed to do whatever (and whoever, if you know what I mean) she wanted. Providing she wanted this to happen. Not the baby but the cause of it. Some people can be absolute twats sometimes but if the father was indeed Filip, surely that wasn't the case.

Regardless of how it occurred, they now had to work out what they were going to do about it. Would they be expelled? Arrested? They were both 17 and therefore adults in the wizarding world. They would be fine, right?

"Ari?" Melanie spoke up, audibly calmer than before and much more like the Melanie I knew and loved, "Say something please."

Only then did I realise that my rather extensive thought track meant that I had not yet said anything. "Sorry, I just- what are you planning to do about it?" That was my top priority for I needed to know how to support her. I couldn't care less about her decision but I did care about her.

"Wait, you're not mad?" relief visibly flooded every cell in her body like a waterfall. I hated that she had been expecting anger and disgust when I would never be like that towards her, even if I wanted to.

"Darling, of course, I'm not mad! These things happen, OK? I just need to know what you want to do about it."

She bit her lip and exchanged a quick glance with Filip, who had been gradually relaxing since I had first spoken, "We're not sure just yet if I'm honest. I was wondering what you had to say on the matter?"

"I will support you no matter what," I answered truthfully, "You want to have the baby? You have the baby! I will be that aunt who corrupts it as much as possible and you know it. But if you're not ready then just abort it! No one will hate you if you do, it's just a fetus the size of a grain of rice for crying out loud! It's entirely up to you, my dear."

"Well said," Melanie smiled slightly. Dumbledore cleared his throat and we all turned to him.

"Just as Arabella kindly put it, you do indeed have the choice. The baby won't be due until August and, seeing as you will no longer be at Hogwarts by then and will both be 18, you hold the right to keep it."

A long, rather awkward silence ensued, which was understandable given the situation. Melanie's glazed eyes told me she was deep in thought but a small, impatient part of me just wanted to break her from her trance, shake her up and down and yell at her to make a decision. I told myself to shut the fuck up because this was a huge decision to make and could potentially affect the rest of her life. Regardless of her choice, this would become something that would certainly loom over everything for a while at least. Besides, it was easy for me to tell her to hurry up because I wasn't going to be the one to raise the damn child. Or children. Twins were common in our family. Luke and Rhea for example. And my mum and Melanie's mum too.

"I'm going to keep it," Melanie whispered. I almost missed it due to the voices inside my head. I still didn't believe it.

"Really?" I asked, sounding a lot more incredulous than I intended.

"Yeah, I, sorry, we," she squeezed Filip's hand back, "We always knew we would have kids after Hogwarts, so why not get a head start?"

I had to admit she made a valid point and, if the look on Filip's face was anything to go by, this baby would grow up having two loving parents. Though, I couldn't ignore my instincts screaming at me to stop her, to tell her that this was a bad idea, to tell her that this wasn't going to go according to plan because nothing ever does. Even while I watched Dumbledore promise to hide the pregnancy. Even while I watched their faces of glee at the realisation that they were going to be parents. Even while I said my goodbyes and left the office. Even then I stayed silent. Because who was I to try and control my cousin's body?

*********

The second lessons ended for the day, Minnie collected James so she could take him to the Mandir in Edinburgh, as worship and seeing family was an important part of Diwali. He wouldn't be back until after dinner so we spent the time 'studying' to get Remus off of our backs and then set up for the party later on. Without Sirius looking of course. Although I must say getting him to bugger off for a while was easier than expected and may or may not have involved an extreme game of fetch. Let's just say that Snivellus wasn't all that pleased to find me lobbing his beloved textbook down the stairs.

All of the stairs.

Personally, I found it hilarious but Lily had a slight difference of opinion. Even when I tried to defend myself and call it my other birthday present to Sirius.

Regardless, it got one of my crackhead friends out of my hair for a while. We managed to hang banners from the ceiling, enchant a disco ball to whizz around like a not-as-dangerous bludger and cast a spell that meant glitter would just hover in the air to give the common room a glitzy feel to it.

Perfect for Sirius's sixteenth birthday. Although that concept alone was a little hard to comprehend. The fact that he had the mental age of a six-year-old was seriously convincing me that his birth certificate was wrong. That would explain a lot except he was still a fucking tall bastard. Although seen as I was only five feet one, everyone was tall compared to me. Apart from Alice, the fucking midget. She may or may not be only half an inch shorter than me but that half an inch made all the difference ('That half an inch made all the difference': title of Marlene's sex tape). 

Moving on, the party itself started at around 9 so as to give everyone enough time to get ready. In that time, I managed to throw on a silver glittery jumpsuit with flowy legs and matching heels, do my hair and makeup and put on my accessories; all of which take longer than you first expect. An animated look was painted onto Sirius's face when we gave him permission to open his eyes and see what we had definitely put effort into creating for him. 'Permission' seems like a strong word until you learn that we had to hex his eyes shut to prevent premature peeking. We know him too well.

We had David Bowie records blasting from my poor record player all night, and while I tried to sneak in a couple of Queen ones every now and then, James just reprimanded me, saying that "it should be up to the birthday boy" and that "I would get my turn in a few weeks anyway". To which I did what I do best and sulked next to the drinks table by myself, thinking of ways to piss James off that I would almost certainly forget by the time I was sober. I was coming up with ways to fuck up the wanker's beloved broom while having a few gulps of what I believed was firewhiskey, when Remus approached me, tension oozing from every part of him. He grabbed the rest of my drink, downed it all in one go without a trace of a grimace, before turning to me and huffing deeply.

"What's up, buttercup?" Okay, so I might not have been entirely sober enough to deal with can-and-will-kill-you-if-you-do-so-much-as-breathe Remus but I'd be damned if I didn't give it a good go. Besides he wouldn't dare murder me. He loves me but he's bloody terrified at the same time, the same goes for pretty much everyone now I think about it. 

Okay back to the issue at hand. Remus just gave me one of those looks that pierces your soul so sharply that you have to look down to make sure you haven't just been stabbed. Once I got past that armour of I-know-your-entire-life-story-and-I-would-sell-it-for-half-a-pizza-and-a-milkshake, I found a look of such hopelessness that I found myself unwillingly sobering up slightly, "Darling, what's going on?" I leaned in, knowing full well that he was going to be as quiet as possible with his reply. God, I know too much about these crackheads.

Of course, I was right with this assumption as he mumbled, "I got into a fight with Idania," he looked at me with a sorrow that I wasn't used to seeing in any of my friends, let alone at a party.

But I could only see red because I don't care you the fuck you are if you hurt any of my friends then you better fucking pray for your life. Jaw visibly clenched, voice dangerously quiet, "Where is she?" My temper was inches away from bubbling over when he didn't respond, "Where the fuck is she, Remus?"

I made to move, tunnel vision without even knowing what happened, but he grabbed my arm first, an iron grip from years of stopping me from launching punches at certain people, "No, Ruth. I wouldn't let you even if I knew where she was." He stared at me in a way that was scarily reminiscent of McGonagall and I knew I couldn't just leave him like that.

"What happened then?" I was trying my hardest to calm down and decided that my best shot was to drink some more.

"She saw some of my scars and asked where I got them from and I wouldn't say and it just escalated from there. What was I supposed to say? There's nothing you can say in that situation that won't worry her," he sighed and gulped another drink down.

I furrowed my brows, concentrating on thinking of a solution, though nothing came to mind. He had a point after all, what do you say when that happens? It all comes down to violence in one way or another and you can never not stress someone out with a cause of pain. "She'll come round if she's worth keeping."

A tiny flicker of hope danced in his eyes, minuscule but still there, "I hope to Merlin you're right."

"Honey, same," I pushed a cup of something into his hand and grabbed one for myself," But for now, we can get pissed off our asses and worry about this tomorrow. Sound good?"

"Oh fuck yes."

[squiishiichaos]

How I Would Revise KH3

I’ve seen quite a few of these going around since the game was released, and I thought of waiting to release it, but  since it’s already written--these are just some ideas from one writer to the fandom of changes I, personally, would’ve made in order to make KH3 more epic than it turned out to be. 

Please Note: SPOILERS UNDER THE CUT

1.  I’m sure a lot of people took issue with the teasing Sora took early on from his friends, not to mention the scolding he got from Yen Sid, but it actually sets up nice for scenes later on, explains the Odd Behavior of the Organization toward Sora in this game, and really could’ve been used for some great character and relationship development. 

Because after being almost Norted in 3Ds, I believe our Golden Boy would likely have some issues he needs to work through.  Beyond getting back all of his main character super powers and becoming the next New True Keyblade Master, he almost became one of the Organization.   That has to be a hit for someone who has spent the last 9 games practically the poster boy for Guardian of Light. 

Having him feel self-doubt and evolving that for the fights later on in the game would have made him feel less flat as a protagonist. 

Especially when we have Marluxia and Larxene showing up everywhere, basically ignoring him like a flea, and telling him, “we’re not here for you.”  After all the threat he’s posed to them--after knowing he’s part of the many lights gathering for their clash at the final battle--you’d imagine that they’d be more inclined to engage him and give him a better reason to fight than, “oh, these princesses here may be made of Light, we’re not really sure and we’re kinda just seeing how it goes down.”

Have Sora feel the impact of those interactions.  Like, “I’m not even worth their time,” level impact. Hell, have a scene in the gummi ship post world, calling up Kairi on his new phone, saying, “Hey!” And have her immediately dropping the smile she got, putting on a face and asking, “Sora, what’s wrong?”  When he tries to say, “I’m fine!” and dismiss it, have her tell him he’s not.  Say, “you wouldn’t be calling me if you were.”   

Have Sora try to call Riku and not be able to get ahold of him.  Just dialing and dialing and dialing, and him feeling neglected and abandoned.  Have Kairi speak to Riku on the phone, because it just so happens to be during one of their breaks in the Dark Realm, and her discussing Sora’s odd behavior.  Make them care, damn you!

*AHEM* Moving on...

2. Riku & Mickey save Aqua early on.  Like, I’m talking Prologue level, KHII.9 early on. 

In the realm of darkness, when they run into the Demon tide, after Riku escapes because of his Replica and Mickey gets trounced, have Aqua appear as the master of those Heartless. 

Since Mickey is hurt, Riku fights in his place and gets walloped after a short playable fight where you get her to half-lifebar and it ends.

As Aqua goes to finish him off--because new keyblades are hard--Mickey shouts out, “Aqua, don’t!  Think of your friends!”

As Aqua gives her monologue about being abandoned and forgotten and alone, have him go, “No one’s forgotten you!  Ven and Terra still need you!” 

“Need me?  Where were they when I needed them?!  Where were you?!  You don’t know what this pain I feel is like--to be forgotten and dismissed--none of you do!” 

Then have Riku chime in, “I do.”  As he stands up and readies his keyblade for another battle, have him stare her down and say, “I once gave up everyone I cared about for Darkness, and I struggle every day to keep it at bay.  But in every darkness, there’s an even stronger light. If you won’t fight the darkness yourself, then I’ll fight it for you!” 

After you finish the initial battle, instead of immediately getting back her light, the duo subdues her and they bring her back to the realm of light. 

Have a Futaba (obligatory Persona 5 reference, sorry) moment for Aqua.  Let her ascent back to Light mean something!

At first, she feels like she failed Ventus and Terra.   Nothing anyone says can help that.  And they all are trying to get ahold of Sora, but he’s busy and he needs to be there!   When he finally answers his phone in the gummiship, Riku tells him the good news and he hops back to the Tower. 

When he arrives, Ven’s heart reacts to Aqua and she immediately reacts.  But Mickey, Axel and Kairi don’t know.  They’re still riding on the moment Aqua smiled for the first time because she found out that Kairi was okay!  That she’d done something right!  Maybe she wasn’t a failure?

But then Sora walks in, and she does not trust him.  He looks like Vanitas and that face haunts her.  After all that darkness, she can’t see him--she only sees those glowing yellow eyes and that sardonic smirk, and it takes all of them holding her back to keep her from casting anything more than a measly couple of low level spells at him before they all tell her it’s okay!  That it’s Sora, the key to Ventus’s awakening.

And Aqua goes up to him, and they’re both apprehensive, but eventually she takes a nice long look, sees through the mirage and smiles, tearfully, at him. 

They agree to go help Ventus while Mickey and Riku stay behind to help train Kairi and Axel.

****Before we continue, I need to make a minor addendum here.  

No Hyperbolic Time Island bullshit for Kairi and Axel.  

They are on the fucking ropes to get ready for this shit.  Thrown into the literal fucking fire, training day in and day out every second of every day to get ready for the throw down they’re now part of.  

Every previous cutscene of them is more emotional because they’re exhausted, slouching against a rock, a wall, a chair, a fucking bed!  They don’t even know what time it is, but they’re sitting there, chatting away and crying because this is the hardest they have worked in ages, and they don’t know if they can do it anymore.  Merlin is merciless.  Yen Sid is biting.  They are on a crunch and there is no time for playing around!  

****Make those scenes so much better for everyone.  They were wonderful, their interactions, but make them real, fuckers!  This is a warzone, and this isn’t DBZ!

*AHEM*

3.  Aqua awakens Ventus. 

After her and Sora find Ven, they begin a ritual of waking, but Vanitas feels Ventus’s heart pulsating inside Sora and he attacks.  Sora tells Aqua to keep reaching for the connection while he holds him off. 

Obviously, Sora gets his ass kicked.  Absolutely destroyed. 

Aqua steps in to protect Sora/Ven, and kicks the ever loving shit of Vanitas, but then he fakes his defeat and sneaks up on them as they rush to finish the waking. 

As Vanitas goes to strike Aqua, the last vestige of Ven inside Sora commands the teen around and gives him one deciding blow before his heart exits Sora and leaves for its home.  Vanitas--knowing he’s finished here--leaves, promising them the fight of their lives come their next meeting. 

Ventus awakens and him and Aqua share a cute scene where Aqua tells him she’s sorry for being late and failing to protect him.  Ventus is just like, “Aqua...it’s alright.  You saved me, and now, we can find Terra together!”

Sora breaks the mood when he swoops in, and Ventus goes apeshit (because it was his heart reacting, not his actual conscious >.>)!  Fucking pulls out his keyblade, ready to put down Vanitas for the last time, but Aqua is like, whoa, it’s just Sora!  He’s been keeping you safe in his heart this whole time!

And Sora, confused, is like...the fuck?

So, Aqua suggests he go back alone and they’ll follow along soon enough.

4.  Back at the tower, Riku asks Sora how it went, and Sora recounts his near death experience at the hands of Ventus while Riku is like, Darkness plays tricks on people, as does sleep.  Give them time, they’ll pull through. 

5. Now, with 2 out of 3 found, Roxas and Namine (and Xion) still missing, it is crunch time, people!   So, I had a few playable options I thought up.

First off: Yen Sid’s tower becomes a hub world.  If you leave the hub, you can fly off as Sora to do the Disney worlds and restore balance and peace while he continues to level up his Main Character Plot Armor Powers.

Second Choice:  You can choose to bring Riku or Mickey with you on these missions, but they’re just kinda there as links.  Like, the Sora, Donald and Goofy screen time should not be revoked, so they’re kind of just finisher commands that show up randomly while the 2 of them are doing recon on the Organization. 

Third Choice: You can play as Kairi and Axel and spend ludicrous hours trying to beat Aqua and Ventus while running for your goddamn life at Yen Sid’s tower.   Legitimately, I’m talking, Beginning of Birth By Sleep and KH1 style battles.  You get a potion or something if you win, and you can kick ass as everyone’s 2 favorite Redheads.  *BONUS* Kairi finally gets to be a badass.

6. Once all the remaining Disney worlds are complete, we get to the FINAL PART: 

7. PREPARATION TIME, BABY!

For starters, Nomura, show them, ya know, actually preparing!

Ven and Aqua, sweating, clearly having just finished sparring or practicing magic and shit, talk about Terra and have their Wayfinder Moment.  I liked their dialogue choices here, so, keep those the same, just make it feel more excited and build the anticipation!

Axel sits on his tower, his new clothes beside him as he contemplates the fact he’s almost earned them.  Saix shows up and that all happens, with Axel calling his keyblade on him, and Saix being like, “Yeah, okay, save it for the morning, when you’re at your best.”  With a sidelong look at the suitcase he’s clearly ignoring. 

Donald and Goofy practice together, and the King arrives to commend them on all their hard work.  To be honest, I don’t even remember if there’s a scene between the three of them here, and if there is, cool!  If not, then, shit, put one in.  

Now.  The big shit. 

The Destiny Trio.

We cut to them all sparring on the shores of Destiny Islands.  Kairi has learned a thing or two from Aqua, but she also packs a real punch.  Riku utilizes his dark flare and other like abilities to enhance their light and build resistance to such attacks--teach them how to prepare.   Sora is his normal badass self, dodging, attacking, and being a good sport.   Mind you, this probably all devolves at some point into a fucking hysterical mess when Kairi drenches the boys with Waterza (which she just learned, the badass), and Sora tackles her into the Ocean as payback while Riku tries really, really hard not to die of laughter. 

After they’ve recovered, Riku excuses himself to sit on the beach so he can have his little chat with Repliku while Kairi and Sora go over to the tree and talk.   

When Kairi grabs the Paopu fruit, it’s just one--because it says share a paopu fruit, not two, you dipshits--and Sora was about to reach for it, too.  The two share a smile as they’re like, “This way, no matter what happens tomorrow, we’ll always have each other.”  

They share it, and then Riku--who is a fucking ninja, apparently--shows up and places a hand on both of their shoulders like, “It’s about fucking time.”   Sora and Kairi share a impish little smile and together, they hold up the shared Paopu to him.  He’s at first taken aback, but he softly smiles and the SCENE ENDS!

8. In the Keyblade Graveyard (I swear I’m almost done), here are the changes I’d make.

First off, when everyone is attacked and whisked off and Sora finally gets that moment where the self-doubt reaches its final form, have him, I dunno, react to losing his friends before Kairi!  Like, calling out names and reaching for them and growing increasingly terrified!   Especially after he just watched all his friends get wrecked by Terranort. 

I would completely erase the Final World Bullshit, because it felt like they just put it in there as a way to explain the fact Sora’s story was coming to an end and Kairi heart stuff when they didn’t know how else to do it, and that just felt sad.  BUT IF I MUST KEEP IT TO MAKE YOU HAPPY, then I propose that you don’t talk to Namine in the land of the Dead.  You instead talk to Chirithy and Strelitzia or whoever the fuck the other chick was, and then you gather yourself together and Sora tells Chirithy, “my friends are calling me back!  I have to go help them!”  While Digimon’s Kairi is like, “yeah, cool, but if you die again, ain’t no one coming up here to save you, dude, so don’t be fucking stupid.”

Since Riku has natural resistance to Darkness (thanks to his backstory) and Kairi is apparently God in this game, Sora only saves Donald and Goofy while they save Ventus, Aqua, Axel and Mickey separately.   Then, together, the whole group goes back to the graveyard, and instead of going through fucking time travel paradoxes that make no goddamn sense, Nomura, the characters regroup and are like, “okay, now, it’s time for the final showdown!”

9. The Gauntlet of Endless Cutscenes

Riku beats up fake Riku himself without Sora, but Sora shows up in the end to help hold off Xigbar while Repliku tears fake Riku apart for the whole Namine scene.  Sora is like, “you good, bro?” and Riku’s like, “Sure, gonna go kill Ansem,” and they part ways. 

Aqua and Ventus beat up Terranort themselves.  They are the ones who release his soul back to his body as Sora arrives to provide backup against Vanitas.   Terra, Ven and Aqua fight Vanitas while they tell Sora to go assist the others. 

Axel and Kairi fight together--for real, though.

Give these 2 badass Redheads the chance to kick some serious ass against Xion and Saix.

Sora arrives and they’re both worn out because they’re new to this and keyblades are hard, so he wards off Xion until Saix does his thing, then the rest is PRETTY MUCH THE SAME, except Kairi doesn’t get kidnapped. 

Because Roxas, Xion, and Sora stop that shit in their tracks (because I want Kairi to be the Touched by Fire badass she always deserved to be, dammit), but when they fail, Kairi swings at him and Xemnas does his teleportation bullshit and knocks her out because, goddammit, she did her best!

Xion and Roxas tell Sora to go while they beat down Saix, and then there’s the Sea Salt trio’s reunion. 

Sora goes to Riku and Mickey (I skipped him because Mickey needs no one’s help, and I would assume Sora went there first to help him and he was like, “the fuck?  I don’t need you!  Go assist everyone else, ya dunce!”), and when he tells them that Xemnas took Kairi, Riku chastises him for his sloppiness. 

Together, they defeat Ansem, Xemnas and Young Xehanort, after which, when Xehanort pulls out Kairi, we get a blast to the past of BBS while the 3 of them try to get her back without delay.  But, Xehanort uses his newly forged no name keys to hold them off while he imbues Kairi with a piece of himself for the final showdown (Because I think DarkKairi is the only way you can kill her and it be okay.  Also, they did hint at the whole princesses of light choose the light bullshit in the Disney worlds, so fuck it, if Nomura can’t keep his canon right, fuck you, I don’t have to keep it right, either, so there.)

This leads to Sora refusing to fight another of his friends, because he has done enough of that in this revised version, and dammit, he can’t do it again!  So, Riku does it for him, because he won’t let anyone else he cares about fall to the darkness. 

But he gets his ass handed to him.  Sora, seeing this, has to fight.  Like the Brother My Brother scene from Pokemon the First Movie (may it rest in peace).  

After the ensuing melee forges the final key--because who the fuck needs Xehanort, am I right?--Xehanort (hah) goes to put an end to Riku and Sora, but Kairi steps in and protects them, sacrificing herself in the process.   

Devastated, Sora goes after Xehanort while Riku stays behind with the other warriors to stop Kingdom Hearts. 

Shit pans out as seen, and after the final battle, Sora mourns Kairi and says he’s gonna go find her.  Shit pans out as seen and Riku still tells them to let him go, but he also leaves him with a snarky, “and if you get lost again, I’ll just pull you out like I always do,” roll of the eyes and everything. 

BRO HUGS FOR EVERYONE!

10.  Okay, so the Ending. 

Everything is the same, except that Kairi and Sora both disappear as Riku leaves the others behind on the beach to go see them.  Leaning against the branch they sat on, he picks up a fallen paopu, looks off into the distance and there’s a glimmer in his eye before the screen

Cuts

To 

Black

ROLL CREDITS!

[babineni]

no consolation/no accusation

Reupload of a thing I wrote some time ago, but I realized that my interpretations were skewed - or at least different then - and I wanted to do some re-writing/re-editing. Here’s the result.

Switch the face of the +5/-5 card, the totals are 18-20. Damn it.

Atton was at his usual spot on the Ebon Hawk that stood completely still. All systems were offline and the view outside was boring – the pilot couldn’t see or hear anything that could hold his attention for long. So he kept playing pazaak in his head, and he kept losing to one imaginary opponent after the other. Too much has happened in a very short time and Atton didn’t feel caught up with everything – especially not with the fact that he was now a Jedi.

The scoundrel’s thoughts kept drifting back to that moment in the Refugee Sector: the moment when the Exile accepted him as her student. Atton was surprised when she did so, even though he didn’t know what to expect at all. At that point he was mostly acting on instinct. And he broke Illa’s heart in the process.

Atton knew what he said was unfair. However, he would have done anything to make Illa stop, at first. To make her stop asking, to make her stop reminding him of a life he wished he never chose. The Exile just listened. In retrospect, Atton could tell, she was used to words like those. And yet her defiance got under his skin in a way he didn’t expect.

The totals are 10-20.

That was all it took to breach the defenses the pilot has built around his past. The words kept pouring out of him, he laid everything bare, and still, Illa wasn’t scared of him. She merely looked sad, as if she was grieving for the lives he had taken… and then she agreed to train him.

Add the 3-6 card, the totals are -4-15. This makes no sense.

Atton couldn’t wrap his head around the Exile’s decision. She was hurt and unforgiving, and still…

The totals are 20-22.

He has won. He got what he wanted. Although he wasn’t sure about the last bit.

Footsteps echoed in the corridor leading to the cockpit. Atton could tell they belonged to Illa. He could recognize her steps anywhere – she always walked as if she was used to higher gravity. The pilot turned to greet her.

‘Good to see you’re back. Where to?’

The Exile flashed a kind smile at the pilot as she approached the panels on the wall. ‘We’ll need to make a quick trip to Telos. I think, I may have just solved their fuel problem,’ she left the panel and took the co-pilot’s seat. ‘At least for now.’

‘You also met that Jedi Master, right? You’ve been busy,’ Atton started the ship’s engines.

‘Says the guy, who just fought half of Nar Shaddaa and pulled off a daring rescue,’ Illa teased the pilot to his surprise.

‘What can I say? I got bored waiting for you in the cantina.’

The Exile chuckled at the reply. Soon they left Nar Shaddaa’s atmosphere, and as Atton plotted their course, he also prepared himself for a new game.

‘You seem a lot calmer than you were earlier,’ the scoundrel tried to sound as casual as possible. The faint smile disappeared from Illa’s lips, and for a few moments, she merely focused on the stars turning into blinding stripes in the darkness, as the Ebon Hawk reached lightspeed. Suddenly she looked exhausted.

‘I’ve had some time to think on Goto’s yacht, and… you have given me a lot to think about,’ Illa turned back to Atton. Even with the blue lights dancing on her face, there was something warm about her. Something calming. Something mesmerizing.

The totals are 16-19. Maybe the next round…

‘And? What’s on your mind? Trust me, I can take it,’ Atton tried to reassure her with his usual cockiness.

‘Oh, I don’t doubt that, it’s just…’ the Exile sighed. ‘Look, I don’t think I’m the right person to judge, but… when you said you don’t want my forgiveness… I think you had the right idea. I don’t think it’s possible to forgive what you’ve done.’

The totals are 20-19. Two more games.

‘Good to know we agree on that,’ Atton stood up from his chair, and took a few steps away from Illa, rubbing a sore spot at the back of his neck. She knew crime and guilt. Her generosity might have been unconditional, but she didn’t extend that to forgiveness. He respected and admired her for it, but at the same time he wondered what else she might have denied from him. He wanted her to look at who he was and accept who he became. Even though he didn’t know who that person was either. He asked for a lot and what he offered in turn might not have been worth it.

‘Atton? Are you listening to me?’ Illa’s voice broke the pilot’s line of thought.

‘Huh? Sorry, I was…’ Atton turned around only to find her standing within arm’s reach. ‘What were you saying?’

‘I said that… you were right about some other things as well,’ the Exile crossed her arms and looked at a spot on the floor. ‘For example, that you… you’ve never reached my body count. But now I also know that I’ve destroyed more lives than I thought… in more ways than I thought…’

Switch the face of the +2/-2 card, the totals are 19-18.

‘Let me stop you right there,’ Atton could guess where this line of reasoning was headed, and he didn’t like it one bit. The thought of Illa taking responsibility for his life angered him. He refused to be seen as her victim, to be another casualty of war, to become yet another ghost that would haunt her. ‘I chose to follow Revan, and I did that of my own free will. I’m not going to shift the blame to anyone, especially not to you.’

‘But…’

‘You didn’t make me do anything,’ the pilot snapped, ‘so get that out of your head.’

Illa gave him a disapproving look as an answer.

‘I knew you’d be an awfully disagreeable Padawan.’

‘Then why did you agree to train me?’ the scoundrel put his hands on his hips as he asked, jokingly, despite how much he needed the answer.

Illa shrugged. ‘I believe in second chances. I would’ve gone crazy long ago if I didn’t.’

‘That’s a pretty big leap of faith, if you ask me.’

‘Hmmm… not really, it’s only fair,’ she mused. ‘You didn’t believe me when I told you I didn’t go back to the Jedi to be punished. Truth is, I went back to prove myself. I had to explain why I left and I needed to know if it was still what I believed. I got the answers I needed then, and even though I doubt myself from time to time, at least I have something to fall back on to now. I want you to have this too,’ the faint smile reappeared on the Exile’s face. ‘Besides, you will do fine, I think.'

Atton let out a bitter laugh. ‘I don’t know about that,’ he said, prompting Illa to step closer to him and place a hand on his shoulder.

‘Look, I wish I could tell you how to deal with your past, but I have no idea how to do that either. However, if you do me a favor, I could try and help you figure out your future.’

The scoundrel wasn’t sure if the Exile was speaking to him or herself. He couldn’t help but both love and hate her understanding nature.

‘What would be the favor?’

‘Well, don’t die, for starters, and… have a little faith in yourself.’

Add a +2 card, the totals are 20-20.

Atton grabbed Illa by the waist and pulled her in for an embrace. The Exile let out a surprised gasp, but returned the hug a second later, enveloping the pilot in her soft, bright glow. She once said, the glow meant peace within, and as he held her, Atton could almost feel it. He didn’t know if he could do as she asked, but if he was willing to believe in anything, it was her. He could only hope it was enough.