#hers accidentally. so he listened to it and thought she was pretty decent

[totallyseiso]

One of the coworkers I actually likes turned out to be a Taylor Swift fan. Another coworker dared him to try and convince me her new album was good.

About 5 minutes into the discussion he ended it with "I don't want to talk to you about Taylor Swift anymore"

[just-jordie-things]

clean little secret - itadori yuji

word count: 7.4k warnings: none! summary: yuji and (y/n) are keeping a secret from the others... yuji loves to be pampered by her. more info: tooth rotting fluff, crushing, friends to lovers

for stef <3 ___

Itadori Yuji wasn’t one for keeping secrets.  For one, he believed they often caused more harm than good.  So unless it was a surprise party, he had no interest in them.  Even if Nobara swore it was a particularly juicy piece of information, Yuji had no problem covering his ears with his hands and walking in the other direction.  And for two, well, he just wasn’t that great at keeping them, and after a few accidental slips, he’d decided to keep himself secret free.

Of course, the dirty little secret he had of his own didn’t count.  But it wasn’t like any harm could come of it… he was pretty sure… so long as (y/l/n) (y/n) didn’t let it slip either.

“So whaddya say?” Nobara’s unusually chipper voice drew Itadori back to the present conversation with the tell-tale hum of a boy that hadn’t listened to a thing she’d said.

Megumi briefly rolls his eyes, (y/n) lets out a short giggle that she quickly stifles behind her hand, and Nobara places her hands on her hips as she turns towards the pink haired sorcerer with a frown.

“Do you want to go see that movie tonight or not?” She asks him pointedly, as if she hadn’t spent the last few minutes coming up with a whole plan for picking up snacks and sneaking them into the theater.

“Oh!” Realization dawns on Yuji in the form of a bright grin, but Nobara’s hope is quickly deflated when he shakes his head.  “No, I can’t, sorry” 

Before the redhead could strangle him for getting her hopes up with his stupid smile, Megumi’s backing out too, and her attention is quickly swiveled towards (y/n), who had suspiciously kept her expression behind her hand.

“Sorry, Nobara,” She lowers her hand to reveal her frown.  “I can’t tonight either.  But maybe this weekend?” She tries to compromise, but it appears Nobara was already defeated by the sting of a triple rejection.

“Fine, whatever, this weekend,” She mumbles, hoping a pouty lip would be the final straw to convince her friends.  When no one moves, her expression returns to its usual resting bitch face and she turns to leave.  “But if the groupchat is as dead as your energy later, then I’m going with Maki instead!” She hollers.

That was close, Yuji thought to himself as the group dispersed and he hurriedly made his way down the hall.  Luckily this time, Nobara didn’t shake him down to interrogate him into telling her what better things he could have to do for the evening.  God, that could’ve gotten embarrassing.

After a quick stop by his dorm to change out of his uniform, Yuji made sure the halls were clear before he booked it across the building, moving as fast as he could while keeping his steps as quiet as possible, before he slid to a stop in front of her door.

With two quick but rhythmic knocks, her door slid open, and (y/n) peeked out, eyeing both directions of the hall around Yuji to make sure no one was around to see her let him in.

“You’re sure no one followed you?” She whispers, finally meeting his eyes.

Yuji shook his head confidently.  Her lips broke into a grin so wide that the corners of her eyes crinkled.

“Well then get in here already!” She says with hushed excitement, grabbing him by the front of his tee shirt and pulling him inside, closing the door behind him in one swift movement.

Yuji seats himself at the end of her bed while she grabs her phone off her desk, scrolling through an abundance of spotify playlists before settling on just the right one.

“I’m so glad we’re finally doing this” She tells him, effectively turning his cheeks pink.

“Yeah, me too” He agrees, hoping his nerves aren’t too obvious in his voice.

“I’ve been dying to show you what I just got for christmas” She adds, practically skipping into the bathroom to retrieve a decently sized plastic basket full of products Yuji can’t even recognize.  She has to carry it over to him with both hands, and he knows he should probably be intimidated by what they’re about to do, but he doesn’t.

As (y/n) drags him into her tiny bathroom to set up the array of items, she lists off each one as she shows him.  Hydrating mask, lip mask, eyelash serum, somehow it all sounds relaxing and terrifying all at once, but he trusts her, so he nods along to each one.  She seems delighted enough just to show off her little collection of products, so Yuji’s determined to match her excitement.

Truthfully, Yuji had never touched anything like this.  Sometimes he moisturized his hands when they got dry in the colder seasons, but he wouldn’t say he knew a thing about skincare.  And yet, one afternoon while walking with (y/n) from one class to another, he found himself getting carried away telling her how he was trying to take better care of himself and he wanted to establish a proper skincare routine.  Before he knew it he was agreeing to being pampered by her- on the condition that it remained secret.

Now remember, one of Yuji’s very few rules of life included the simple act of not keeping secrets.  But that day he’d agreed to her condition without a moment of hesitation.  He could understand why she didn’t want the others knowing that she was going to give him special treatment, seeing as Nobara had been begging to give everyone makeovers since she’d arrived at Jujutsu Technical College.

While he’s not disappointed in his plan for the afternoon, Yuji does feel incredibly out of place in her bathroom.  The dorms were small enough, and the bathrooms barely had room for one person to move around comfortably.  But (y/n) doesn’t seem crowded at all as she rummages through the couple of drawers next to him.

With a grin she retrieves what she’d been looking for- two fluffy headbands held proudly in her hand.

“I got one for you too,” She tells him, bashfully avoiding his eyes as she extends one out to him.  “You’ll want to keep your hair back, the mask can get really sticky” 

Yuji examines the soft baby pink material as if he’d never seen a headband before.  He’s pretty sure he knows how to use it, but just in case, he watches as (y/n) slides hers on first.  It’s not until he sees the ears on top that he checks his again, delighting in the matching cat ears before he pulls it around his neck and puts it on.

“Thanks!” He beams at both of their reflections in her mirror.  He wishes he could take a picture of them, just to have a picture of the two of them wearing the matching accessory, but he knows he can’t risk the others seeing, so for now he settles on memorizing the image.

“You’re welcome,” (y/n) bites the inside of her cheek to keep her grin from getting too goofy, and quickly redirects their attention to the first item on the agenda.  “You’ve really never done a face mask before?” 

“Nope,” Yuji shakes his head, leaning into the counter as he waits for her direction.  “Is it going to hurt?” 

“No!” (y/n) giggles, before beckoning him to hold his hand out as she uncapped the product.  “It’ll feel nice, here, put a little on,” She instructs, squeezing a dollop of green onto his fingers.  She laughs again at his reaction to the color, but he doesn’t question her as he right away rubs it onto his nose.

He had the right idea, but from the way he messily spread it over the bridge of his nose, she could tell he was going to struggle with the application.

“No no, you’re getting it everywh- oh my god don’t put it in your nose!” She squeals as she smacks his hand away, quickly stepping into his space and taking over.

Honestly, Yuji wasn’t trying to get her to do it for him, but as soon as she gently grabs his jaw in one hand while the other is carefully swiping the excess cream off of the tip of his nose, he decides right then and there to surrender.

“I didn’t know, I’ve never done it” He whines, a bit more dramatically than necessary.

“It shows,” She laughs quietly before reaching for the product again to pump more onto her own fingers.  “I can just do it for you, if you want?” She offers.

Yuji smiles and nods gratefully, his heart doing a victory dance in his chest.

“Only if you don’t mind” He tells her, already sitting himself down on her toilet seat so she didn’t have to reach up to his face.  (y/n) fights the urge to roll her eyes at his swiftness in letting her take over.

“I don’t mind,” She shrugs, getting to work applying a generous amount of lime green mask to his cheeks first.  “It’s relaxing to me, actually” 

“Really?” 

“Mhm,” She nodded along, focused on keeping the application even.  “I would’ve loved having a sibling or a cousin or something to do this stuff with,” She tells him.  “I know Nobara would… but… she’s so intense about it sometimes,” She admits, and Yuji hums in agreement.  Nobara was the most passionate person he’d ever met, and it was her greatest strength, but it did freak him out from time to time.  “Not like us” 

The murmured comment sits on his mind longer than it should have.  Not like us, she’d said, filling his insides with the fuzzy, familiar feeling of having something with her that the others didn’t.  This was all his, and she’d said so herself.  They couldn’t possibly understand them the way they understood each other.  

Not like us.  Not like us.  Not like us.

Yuji closes his eyes when her careful fingers spread the mask up the bridge of his nose before she gets started on covering his forehead.

“You do this stuff all the time though?” He asks when there’s too long of pause since he’d last heard her voice.

Not that he could forget what it sounded like, no never, most of Yuji’s day was spent waiting for her to speak, just so he could listen.  Whether she was arguing with Gojo about a ridiculous lesson plan or going on about a conspiracy theory just to get their lunch table riled up, if (y/n) was talking, Yuji had his mouth shut and his ears wide open.  He liked hearing the things she had to say, he liked the way she said them.

And he was learning now that he especially liked when he was the only one she was speaking to, and that if she was standing close, her voice came out in soft murmurs, cautious of the short space between them, and gentle on his ears as it barely echoed off the ceramic tiled walls.

“Maybe not all the time,” She hums thoughtfully.  “But I do it when I can, I try to keep up with it anyways” 

“Well it feels really nice” Yuji mumbled, almost getting sleepy as he grew used to the feeling of her warm fingers spreading the cooling cream on his skin.  (y/n) giggles again, breathy and amused as she watches his shoulders droop downwards.

“Don’t fall asleep on the toilet, Yuji,” She scolds him, but it’s hardly threatening when it’s between strings of giggles as he lazily opens his eyes to look at her.  “You’ll make a mess if you fall and hit your head on the counter” 

“I’d clean it up” He mumbles back in defeat.

“What if you were concussed?” 

“... I’d clean it up later” 

She laughs at his antics just as she’s making her final touches near his temple, spreading the green cream just so, making sure none of it would get stuck to his eyebrow.  With an affirmative nod of her head she steps back to assess her work.  

As sticky, creamy, and unfamiliar as the mask feels, Yuji’s currently grateful that it’s there to cover the way his face heats up under her direct gaze.  He’s always thought that she’s had the softest eyes- doe-like, and sweet, and easy to gaze into- but with every ounce of her attention directly on his face, Yuji starts to sweat a little bit.

His intentions of becoming closer friends through a night of pampering was starting to backfire, and instead the little crush he’d been hiding was now festering.  Bubbling and smoking just under the thinly veiled surface of his restraint.

“You’re all set,” She beams at him, which he easily returns.  “Try not to touch it while I do mine, okay? It’s gotta sit for a while” 

Yuji drops his hand just as he’s about to swipe off a generous streak of cream from his cheek, smiling innocently as (y/n) gives him a warning look before she turns towards her mirror to apply her own mask.

“Serious question, if I eat it, while I throw up?” 

(y/n) pauses mid-smear on her cheek, turning back to Yuji and sweeping her eyes over him to assess if he was actually serious about eating face cream.  He did know it wasn’t guacamole… right? She didn’t need to tell him that… right?

“If you eat it, I’ll be plucking your eyebrows after mine” She settles on a friendly threat.  

Yuji’s lips pinch and she gets back to work on her mask, certain she’d done the trick to keep him sitting still.

“Well that sounds horrifying,” He mumbles.  “But I’m in” 

(y/n) scoffs out of amusement, still focused on her reflection.

“You want me to pluck your eyebrows?” 

“If you’re doing it, then sure,” Yuji shrugs, not thinking twice about agreeing to it.  “It wouldn’t be a complete spa night otherwise” He adds with a grin that she can see from the corner of her eye.

“Well, if you really want…” She mumbles, doubling down her focus on applying her mask.

A part of her had been hoping he wasn’t agreeing to all this pampering just to please her, she hoped he wasn’t dreading the night going forward.  But if he hated it… he wouldn’t be signing himself up for eyebrow plucking… right?

It only takes a few more minutes for her to complete her own mask- she was much faster at applying it to her own face, Yuji noticed.

He also noticed that somehow, she made a face of lime green paste look good.  Which just wasn’t fair.

When Yuji tries to pinpoint when exactly these feelings for her began, his mind becomes a blurry haze of every moment he’s ever shared with her- and honestly, it could have sparked from any one of them.  It tricks him into thinking maybe he’d just… always had feelings for her.

It’s easy being around her, Yuji finds- even though sometimes she leans close enough to show him a video on her phone and it nearly sends him into cardiac arrest- there’s nothing but ease and relaxation in his muscles when she’s around him.  He doesn’t worry about saying the wrong thing- even if she giggles and shakes her head at some of his questions- he basks in her delight until it becomes his own.

Twenty minutes flies by when they’re laughing at memes or talking about the last week of training, and soon they’re scrubbing off the green mask that feels a little crustier than it had when they put it in.

Yuji groans into the bottom of the sink for the ump-teenth time as he scrubs viciously at a part of his jaw where the hardened cream refused to wash off.  (y/n) can’t help but stifle a laugh into the warm washcloth she’s using to pat her face dry, but she can’t leave him hanging, so she politely taps his shoulder to get the boy to give up on washing it off with his hands.

“Let me help” She offers, shoulders still shaking just slightly with her amusement.  

Yuji pouts with frustration when he stands up from the sink, water dripping down his face and all over his shirt, it really is a miracle he didn’t manage to clean up the last of the mask seeing as he got water everywhere in his attempts.

The pout melts away as soon as (y/n’s) stepping closer and gently wiping her washcloth against the resilient speck of green, making it look easy as it glides away under the soft cloth.  She gets it right away, but the tips of her fingers on her free hand still hover over his chin, ready to stabilize his head if he would’ve required another, rougher swipe of the cloth.

“Did ya get it?” Yuji asks hesitantly, unable to read the expression on her face.

But she’s smiling and stepping back in a moment’s notice.

“Yep!” There’s a short, tight sounding laugh that follows.  It’s not like her usual laughter, it sticks out like a sore thumb for someone as attentive as Yuji to pick up on, and he does, but he doesn’t say anything.  “Here, I have a dry washcloth for you” She’s quick to hand him the towel, and even quicker to stop him when he roughly drags the fabric over his face.

Yuji doesn’t catch half the things she’s saying when she snatches the pink cloth from his hands and tells him to sit his ass down before he destroys his pores.  He doesn’t think twice before jokingly asking her what pores are, which sends her on another lecture.  It’s hard to focus on what she’s explaining when she’s so delicately patting his face and neck dry of every last waterdrop.  He’s too busy fighting the urge to close his eyes and melt under the featherlight touch of her palm against his shoulder to give too much of a crap about pores.

Surprisingly, he’s never fallen asleep on the toilet before, but he thinks he could if he sat here and let her pamper him all night.

“... Yuji? Did you hear anything I just said?” 

It takes a few blinks for his vision to focus on her again- her brow is raised and her hands are on her hips now, she’d definitely caught him zoning out.  He hopes playing dumb does the trick.

“Of course,” He nods confidently.  “Pores swell when they’re wet and that’s bad” 

She giggles and rolls her eyes, so he knows his educated guess wasn’t as educated as he thought, but if he got her to laugh he’d take the slight tinge of embarrassment for the greater good of bringing her joy.

God, it was like every minute spent with her only left him craving more.

“Sure,” She drawls out the word in disbelief, but she doesn’t scold him for not paying attention.  It would prove to be too difficult when he’s looking at her with the brightest eyes she’s ever seen.  She would’ve believed he was hanging onto every word had he not opened his mouth.  “So, what next?” 

Yuji peeks at the remaining tubes and bottles on the counter.  He has no clue what he’s looking at of course, and this is obvious when his helpless expression turns back towards her.  To make it easier, (y/n) scoops up two smaller bottles, offering them both for him to choose from.

“Which is which?” He asks, hooking his finger under his chin as he studies each product with skeptical eyes.

“One is for your eyelashes, and the other is for your lips,” (y/n) explains, tilting each towards him as she does.  “We can do both, or neither, up to you” 

“Will it hurt if it gets in my eyes?” He asks, eyes noticeably widened, and she chuckles as she shakes her head.

“Not at all, it’s super easy,” She assures.  “I can show you, if you want?” 

Yuji nods, and that’s how he finds himself standing just a few inches away from her as she leans into the mirror with the small applicator brush in her fingers.  She could remind him that she’s using the mirror for a reason, and he didn’t need to stand so close… but honestly, he smelled nice, and she wasn’t uncomfortable with his close proximity.  In fact, it was actually sort of comforting.

“See?” She hums, brushing the applicator through her lashes over one eye a couple times to make sure all of the serum was evenly spread, before leaning back from the mirror and turning towards him.  “Super easy.  Like mascara” 

“I’ve never told anyone this… but…” Yuji lets out a heavy sigh, and her brows pinch together as she awaits his confession.  “... I’ve never worn mascara” 

“Yuji,” She whines with a roll of her eyes, letting out her own sigh, although hers was filled with humored frustration.  “Shut up,” She finishes weakly when he’s grinning at his own jest.  “Here, do you want to try?” 

“Alright” He takes the tube out of her hand and experimentally pulls the applicator out.  

His curiosity is almost adorable as he holds it close to study it, even though there’s not much to see.  It’s just a little blue bruh with a clear liquid coated over it.  This stuff really makes your lashes grow? He looks back to (y/n), studying her just as closely, until her face starts to turn rosy and she’s looking at him expectantly.  He supposes her eyelashes do look long and pretty… but didn’t they always look like that? Could this stuff really be so good it manages to make an angel like her look prettier?

She has to clear her throat to relieve the nervous tension settling over her the longer he stares at her like this.

“Uh- um, Yuji?” 

“Yeah?” His response seems genuine enough, and (y/n’s) eyes flicker between his and the eyelash serum.  “Oh!” And just as genuine as before, he realizes that her prompts are because he’s been standing and staring for too long.  “My bad,” He apologizes sheepishly, before scooting close to her, the brush extended towards the eye that she hadn’t applied the magic pretty serum to yet.

When she realizes what he’s about to do, her eyes widen and she finds herself grabbing his wrist to halt him on instinct.

“Wait, what are you-?” 

“I thought you wanted me to do the other one?” He answers her question before she could even finish asking it, and she blinks wildly at him.  Had she not been clear? “Do you not want me to?” Yuji asks, already lowering his hand.

“No, it’s- I don’t…” Her head is shaking as she tries to find a way to explain that she’d offered him the product for himself, but she’s backtracking rather quickly as she slowly loosens her hold before pulling her hand away altogether.  “You… you can, if you want” 

She tells him quietly.  It feels like a silly thing to ask him to do, especially when she’s just demonstrated how to use the product moments prior, but now that the offer was on the table, she also wasn’t interested in turning it down.

“Okay,” His smile softens as he tilts the brush towards her face again.  “I promise not to poke your eye out” 

With a giggle she has to focus to keep her gaze tilted up at the ceiling so he can follow through on his promise.  It’s more difficult than she’s ever thought before, keeping her eyes wide open and focused on anything but the boy in front of her.  Yuji takes great care in steadily swiping the brush up through her lashes, working slowly from the outside in.  With how long it takes him, her eye should be watering, but somehow it stays dry, and she doesn’t blink over the applicator.

“You do this every day?” Yuji mumbled, re-steadying the small brush in his fingers as he got closer to the inner part of her eye.  

(y/n) hardly manages a soft hum of affirmation.  She can feel his free hand ghosting under her jaw, as though to keep her in position, however her head is perfectly still and his hold is unnecessary.  Still, his palm waits there.  She’s never felt such a buzz of nervous energy from a lack of a touch.

Yuji finishes up with a smile before popping the brush back into the tube.  He looks like he wants to say something, so she finds herself waiting in silence while she blinks until her eyes feel normal again, but that winds them both up in a minute of no words being exchanged.

This time, it’s not uncomfortable.

“Your turn?” (y/n) offers softly, reaching for the serum in his hand.  Yuji nods, lets her take it, and blinks his eyes excessively to make sure he wouldn’t feel the need to while she was doing her thing.  “You should sit again” She prompts with a gentle push to his shoulder.  It was too awkward of a reach, and would be much easier if he lowered as much of his height as possible.

“Right” He mumbles, backing up to sit down on the toilet seat once more.  He does his best to keep his eyes focused upwards, and wide open, to make it as easy as possible for her.  But what he isn’t expecting is to feel her knees pressing against his as she gets closer, and on instinct he spreads his legs a little wider so she could easily slide into the space.  

He has to keep his grip on his own knees, pressing his fingers into the material of his pants to keep from reaching out to her.  The urge to hold onto her waist- the back of her thighs- pull her closer- is so strong that he gulps.

“Are you nervous having someone get this close to your eyes?” (y/n) mumbles, noticing the shift in his energy.  Yuji swallows again before speaking.

“No- no, it’s alright, go ahead” His voice is as gentle as it is sure, so (y/n) nods back at him, and makes sure the brush is coated with a decent amount of serum before she gets to work.

He knows he’s supposed to keep his gaze upwards, but with her standing so close, leaning in so close, it was hard to keep his eyes from shifting away from the boring tiled ceiling to the much more intriguing sight before him.

“Stay still,” (y/n) murmurs under her breath.  She’s so damn close to him he can feel her cool breath against his cheek.  He manages to follow the instruction for a few more seconds, but soon enough the tips of her fingers are pressed under his chin and she’s clicking her tongue in reprimand.

His own fingers flex against his knees, his grip tightening, much like the invisible force around his heart.

Yuji wishes he could close his eyes until it was over, but that would be counterproductive.  That said, (y/n) finishes one eye quicker than he had done for her, and she’s sliding a little to the right in order to do the other one.

“You think Sukuna would like a little special treatment, too?” She teases quietly, her thumb affectionately swiping over the marking under his eye.  Yuji barely gets to revel in the feeling before the mark is opening up and a vermillion eye is glaring up at her.

“Try it brat and you won’t have hands to do your silly little makeovers” 

She giggles at the threat.  Sukuna may have intimidated her in the past, but it’s hard to feel fear while doing some self care.  Yuji still rolls his eyes and smacks his hand against his own face as punishment.  Unfortunately it’s not only a punishment for the curse living inside of him, and he winces a bit from the harsh smack.

“I’ll take that as a no thank you” (y/n) hums as she finishes up with his other eye, smiling faintly at her work before stepping back.  Yuji gives her a sheepish smile, before batting his eyelashes theatrically.  It does the trick in getting her to laugh.

“Well he’s missing out,” He says, the implication behind the surface level of his words making him bashful, and he finds himself averting his gaze.  “I feel prettier already” 

It draws another laugh out of her, sharp and surprised, and she continues to giggle behind smiling, sealed lips as she carefully slides the lash serum back into it’s perfect spot in her organizer.

If she were braver, it would’ve been easy to tell him that he didn’t need any sort of serums or masks to be pretty.  But just the thought makes her face feel warm, and she has a feeling that even if she tried to say such a thing, she’d butcher the words with a stutter.

So instead, she uncaps the small set of tweezers in her organizer, and turns her focus to the bathroom mirror in order to get to work on her eyebrows.  Yuji watches curiously as she begins to pluck tiny, near invisible hairs off of her face, all without a twitch or flinch.

She’s so focused on working with her reflection that he’s able to stare at her as freely as he wants, and it only takes a minute or two for him to get lost in a sea of mushy thoughts that get his heartbeat going.  Before he knows it he’s practically melting.

“You still want me to do yours?” 

“Hm?” His eyes shift around a bit before they land on hers, already watching him, waiting for a proper answer.  

“Your eyebrows,” (y/n) clarifies, raising the tweezers and pinching them for emphasis.  “I’m done.  So, if you still wanted, I can do yours” 

“Oh, right, yeah,” He breaks into a smile that’s so characteristically him it’s hard not to smile back.  “Is it going to hurt?” 

“It really shouldn’t,” She chuckles, considering he’s gone through worse pain than a little tweezing would provide.  Losing a hand comes to mind, but she doesn’t voice it.  “But I can stop if it becomes too uncomfortable” 

Yuji nods in understanding, and straightens up his posture, ready to brave through whatever this eyebrow plucking would bring.  He squares his jaw, clenches his fists, and prepares himself for the worst.  (y/n) presses her lips together tightly to keep her laughter from spilling out, but the stifled giggle is still audible.

“C’mon, this is a bad angle for me to do this,” She beckons him to follow her out of the small bathroom, trying to ignore how cutely he wore the expression of confusion.

Maybe it was the forced proximity getting to her head, but it was starting to feel like the little crush she’d been harboring for her friend was becoming too much to bear.  She was a jujutsu sorcerer damnit, she shouldn’t be reduced to fits of blushing and giggling she was stronger than that, wasn’t she? 

“Alrighty” Yuji follows her into the larger space of her bedroom without a second thought.

Maybe it wasn’t a question of her strength, but his.  (y/n) wondered to herself what it was about the sheer delight that overcame her whenever he was around that seemed unavoidable.  Was it her feelings for him that made her insides feel weak, or was it simply Itadori Yuji himself that was so delightful she couldn’t help the way she felt and behaved?

Or maybe she was trying too hard to find a way to excuse the butterflies only he could release in her tummy.

She’s careful with the tweezers in her hand as she climbs onto her bed, sliding into the very middle of it before patting the space in front of her to invite Yuji to do the same.

Now, Yuji wasn’t some kind of private, conservative guy.  He’d been in beds other than his own.  Megumi’s and Nobara’s had been made available to him countless times.  Whether it was a study session or a movie night, he never felt uncomfortable when being allowed into someone else’s bed.  Hell, he often made himself right at home in their sheets.  He even got a smack on the head from Nobara once for getting too cuddly with one of her plushies! 

So why now did he feel some reluctance in following (y/n’s) silent command?

“You’re allowed in the bed, Yuji,” As if reading her thoughts, she provides some comfort with the offer.  There’s even a little smile on her face, as if she wanted to tease him for hesitating.  “Trust me, it’ll be way more comfortable to do this here than keeping you sat on the toilet” 

It seems to do the trick, because he sets his knee on the mattress as he crawls on, and sits criss-cross directly in front of her.  It’s the first time he’s been in her bed, he realizes, so maybe that would explain his nerves.

(y/n’s) got a skeptical look on her face, her eyes wandering over his face as she maneuvers around, trying to find the right way to bend her legs, until eventually she huffs and turns to grab one of her pillows from the headboard.

“Just lay down, I’ll do ‘em that way,” She decides, placing the pillow just in front of her criss-crossed legs.  She gives it a pat the same way she’d patted the bed, prompting him to rest his head.  “It’d be easier than destroying my posture” She explains.

Yuji nodded his head, and started to turn around so he could lay back, but his movements are agonizingly slow.  He’s still unsure about being in her space, it seems, but she’s not sure how else to make him feel comfortable.  So when he finally lays his head down on her pillow and looks up at her, awaiting further instruction, she smiles comfortingly.

“Alright, just relax your face, I’ll try not to take too long,”

Yuji shuts his eyes and lets out a small breath, trying to do his best to relax as she’d asked him.  But it’s hard when she leans in closer and the sweet smell of her shampoo invaded his nose.  The tip of her finger merely grazes over his left eyebrow, but the sensation is electric.  He has to fight the shiver that nearly shoots down his spine.

“And just tell me if it stings too much” She adds in a murmur, before he feels the first pluck of the tweezers.

“I think I can thug it out, (y/n),” He teases, once he’s actually felt the sensation of the plucking and realizes it’s not that bad at all.  “I’m tough, you know”

(y/n) giggles, quiet and sweet, as she continues on with her work.  She shapes the top of his brow with no complaint or lag.  He figures she must be pretty used to doing this, if she’s able to speed right through the process.

“Oh yeah,” She hums, cautious of her volume when her face is hovering right over his.  She’s appreciative that Yuji’s kept his eyes closed for this process, because she doesn’t think she could bear having him staring up at her when she’s this close.  “The toughest” She finishes in a whisper.

Yuji’s shoulders shake when he chuckles, and she pauses with the tweezer for a moment when his brows move along with his smile.

“Are you patronizing me?” He asks, peeking an eye open, only to be met with her free palm covering his eyes as she leans back in to continue working on his eyebrows.

“I would never,” She assures in the same tone, laughing quietly to herself when Yuji’s mouth drops into an offended gape.  “Now hush, you’re making it hard to focus” 

Her tone was playfully scolding, but it’s an empty threat.

“Am I that distracting?”

“Incredibly,” (y/n) huffs, and it’s meant to be teasing, but there’s just a little too much truth to her tone.  “You talk too much” She throws the excuse out there quickly, hoping he wouldn’t pick up on the shift in her tone.

Yuji shrugs his shoulders, and with how close she is to him, she’s able to watch his lips curl into a cute smile.  She can’t help but mirror it, even if he can’t see.

“Can’t help it.  I like talkin’ to you” 

Now she’s certain that she’ll keep her hand over his eyes, because there’s no way she’s going to risk him seeing the way her face heats up with color.  If she put a thermometer in her mouth, it’d malfunction, she’s sure.

Yuji’s heart may have been going haywire, but there’s not an ounce of uncertainty in his words.  He means it, and she knows it.

There’s a pause, the both of them remaining silent while she freezes in her ministrations.  She squeezes the tweezers together a few times as she lets the comment really settle in her mind.

“I like talking to you too,” 

It really shouldn’t be a difficult thing to say.  For one, because it’s the truth.  And for a second thing, because there’s nothing strange about friends getting along with one another.  But for some reason, she holds her breath after she says it, and her heart is pounding in her ears.

“Today’s been a lot of fun, actually” It takes some effort to talk through the lump in her throat, but she feels the need to tell him anyway.

His smile turns into a grin, and (y/n) has to go back to working on his eyebrows in order to distract herself from it.

“It has,” Yuji agrees.  “It’s very relaxing.  I want to do this all the time now” 

“I’m not sure you’re ready for that,” (y/n) muses.  “You did try to eat the mask” She reminds.

“Guess I’ll just have to keep on getting your help then,” Yuji replies, his tone lighting with hope.  (y/n) scoffs to herself.  “What?” He asks innocently.  “I thought you liked pampering me?” 

“I thought I told you you were talking too much” She chides, moving onto the space between his brows.  Without thinking, she brought her other hand upwards so she could use her thumb to gently brush away the stray hairs from his face.

His eyes are on hers in a moment’s notice, his grin returning.

“I thought you liked talking to me” He said. She has half a mind to smack her hand over his face again- because as predicted, she’s rendered speechless when she’s leaning so close and he’s looking right at her.  But the larger problem now is that she’s completely frozen, staring back at him with wide eyes, like he’d just caught her doing something she wasn’t supposed to be.

“I do,” She mumbles, barely conscious of her own voice.  She was too distracted, her eyes shifting between his brown ones.  “You have a little hazel in your eyes” Again, she finds herself speaking without caution, or much awareness at all.

His eyes crinkle at the corners as he smiles up at her, amused by her quiet commentary.  He longs to hear more, to tell her to keep talking, but he worries that he’ll ruin the atmosphere, and startle her into covering his face again.

“I always thought you had the prettiest eyes” He said it as quietly as he could.  As he thought she might, she did startle.  Her eyes go wide and her- now perfectly shaped- brows draw together in a slight knot.

A beat passes before she’s able to reply.

And even then, it's only a barely there, “...really?” 

“Yeah, really,” Yuji answers without missing another beat.  “Sometimes I look at ‘em too long and forget where I am” 

A surprised, breathless little laugh escapes her.  If she wasn’t a blushing wreck before, she certainly was now.  She tries to continue tweezing away at his eyebrows… but it seems like his eyes insist on holding contact with hers, and she can’t exactly pluck eyebrows without looking.

And again, she’s reduced to a mumbled, “R-really?” 

“Mhm” Yuji hums, his point proven as he gets lost staring up at her.  He looks like he has something more to say, but soon enough his eyes are glazed over and he’s got a dopey smile on his face.

That smile is quickly reflected back at him as her insides start to melt to a point of no return.

“I didn’t… uh- I- I didn’t know that” She stammered, and normally she’d feel embarrassed for stuttering over her words too much, but with the bigger picture forming, stuttering was at the bottom of her list for reasons why she was growing bashful.

“Mhm,” Yuji hums again, this one a little more dazed than the last.  He blinks a few times to cure his tunnel vision.  “Sometimes I had to bite my tongue so I wouldn’t tell you that” 

She chuckles, similarly biting down on her bottom lip until she found her voice again.

“Why wouldn’t you want to tell me that?” She asks softly, brows pinching again with curiosity.

“Well, uh, y’know…” Yuji trails off, barely shrugging his shoulders.  “Didn’t want to say something weird and mess up our friendship” 

At this point, her curiosity was getting the best of her, so with a tilt of her head and a bolder disposition, she gave him a knowing smile.

“So why say something now?” 

“Couldn’t help it” He replies right away, and (y/n) has to purse her lips from grinning too much.

Her eyes flicker away from his, only to glance up at his lips.  She’s looking at him upside down, so for a brief moment Yuji thinks she’s staring at his chin, and he wonders if some of that green mask is still stuck there.  But then he catches the way her lips part and it dawns on him- oh.

It happens all at once and agonizingly slow.  She leans further over him, bringing her face down closer to his.  One of her hands firmly clutches the small set of tweezers, while the other relaxes, fingertips gently brushing over his cheekbone, thumb resting against his temple.  Yuji can’t decide whether he wants to watch it happen with wide eyes, or close them and give into the moment.  They end up falling shut on their own accord as soon as her lips brush over his- before she’s even actually kissed him.

She hovers there for a brief moment, her lips ghosting his, the tip of her nose grazing his chin, and her mind running wild.  Should she have asked him if this was okay first? Was she making this huge leap of faith over one compliment? Sure, it was the sweetest thing anyone had ever said to her but if she kissed him right now, like this, would she come to regret it-? 

Her thoughts are calmed when Yuji tilts his head back, bringing his lips to meet hers in a kiss that pushes every last doubt out of her mind, until it’s gone blank.  Every thought that doesn’t surround him is completely lost.

Needless to say there’s no second thought when she kisses him back.  Her fingers press softly into the skin of his cheek as though to keep him still- just as she had before when applying the eyelash serum.  Yuji never could have imagined his silly daydreams from that moment would play out in reality just twenty minutes later.

When they part, and Yuji drops his head properly back into her pillow, (y/n) doesn’t go far.  With her eyes still shut and her touch unmoving, she leans down one more time to steal another, quicker kiss, before she finally sits up and glances down at him again.

He’s already looking at her, his lips stretching so wide that his grin nearly split his face.  It was a grin she was familiar with, but it still made her light up with a shared joy.

She giggles at him, before steadying her tweezers in her fingers and going right back to the previous task at hand.

“Couldn’t help it” She mumbles his words back to him, and Yuji laughs as he shuts his eyes, relaxing once more as she evened out his eyebrows.

He reaches his hand back, gently laying it against her bent knee and giving it an affectionate squeeze.  He didn’t say anything, and neither did she, but they didn’t have to.  Not until they finished their night of pampering and made plans for a proper date later in the week.

___

xoxo ~ jordie

[g1rld1ary]

lifeguard!james x reader

cw: reader is HORNY sorry guys (i'm on my period I can't be held accountable), swearing, excessive sexual innuendos, implied fem!reader but no pronouns I think

part 2

wc: 1055

you'd always been a strong swimmer, but merlin maybe you'd be ok with water in your lungs if the new lifeguard would put his mouth on yours to get it out. lily snorted when you voiced that thought, but you weren't going to apologise.

the new lifeguard was hot, and you were pretty sure it wasn't part-of-the-job-description-hot (though the swim shorts and seat up in the lifeguard's tower was certainly helping), he literally looked like a greek god, brown skin and dark inky curls that you wanted desperately to tug on. suddenly it wasn't just the pool that was wet...

the public pool was your staple with the girls, it had been since you were kids. it was pretty much the only way to stay cool in your shitty town, and the summers only seemed to get hotter as you got older. you'd never seen this boy before though, and you probably wouldn't be surprised if he'd literally descended down from heaven.

you tried to tune into their gossip, reaching for another ice lolly from the ice box, grinning when you got your favourite flavour. you nodded at whatever mary was saying about the party sirius was throwing in a few weeks; she had a new slinky dress she was dying to wear but was weighing up whether there were going to be enough fit boys there for it to be worth wearing. gazing across the pool distractedly, you happened to catch the lifeguard's eye, rolling your eyes when he sent you a cheeky wink. so he knows he's hot you thought, shifting your weight in the beach chair.

you weren't going to give him the satisfaction of openly ogling him, sliding the oversized sunglasses down your face until he couldn't see your eyes, contributing your thoughts on mary's plight.

when you caught the lifeguard stealing glances at you you couldn't help your delight, satisfied it wasn't a one-way attraction. plus, it was summer, you could afford to have some fun. you sucked on your ice lolly, loving the way his eyes kept darting back between you and the swimmers he was supposed to be watching. when you were sure you had his attention you let the treat sit on your lips, accidentally letting a few droplets of syrup roll down your chin, continuing their journey down your chest and beneath your bikini top.

at the boy's bright red flush you couldn't contain a smirk, loving the way it contrasted with his deep tan. by now your friends had caught on to your little show, all giggling as they watched teenage sexual frustration in action.

"you are such a slag," marlene scoffed, but you could see her amused smile behind it. you just shrugged, continuing to command the boy's attention with the popsicle. none of the boys you knew were half decent compared to the mysterious new lifeguard, why shouldn't you give him a proper welcome to town?

the fuss had died down after a while, all four of you quietening down as you tanned. you were almost drifting off into a sun-induced sleep when an unfamiliar voice spoke from near the pool.

"are all the girls around here this fit, or did I just get lucky?" you cracked one eye open to see the lifeguard standing between your four deck chairs, but his eyes were locked on yours. a glance to your right showed the rest of your friends sitting up to greet him, giggling in the way you all knew was because he was totally fit.

"does that usually work?" lily asked and you snorted a laugh, lying back down to continue your tan (and maybe so he got a good view of your underboob).

"it's never hurt," the boy said, surprisingly good-natured.

"where did you come from?" mary redirected, and you listened with interest despite your appearance.

"i'm from up north. my family just moved here and I already had the qualification, so I figured it wouldn't be a bad way to spend the summer while I had no friends." your friends made a noise at that, asking more questions about him. you were surprised at his seemingly honest friendliness, most of the guys you knew would rather die than come off dorky and friendless, but when it was this boy it seemed endearing.

"i'm james, by the way," he said, and the girls all introduced themselves as you remained silent, content to listen and lay in the sun.

as late afternoon sun began to run low you started to pack your things, dazed and content from your sunbathing. you made quiet conversation with lily about dinner plans, pulling up your denim cutoffs around your hips.

james caught up to your group as you were leaving the public pool.

"it was nice meeting you girls today, will I see you around more often this summer?" mary answered for the lot of you, confirming you visited more often than not on hot days.

"shit else to do," you added with a small laugh.

"i didn't catch your name?" james replied, leaning against the wire fence, giving you ample opportunity to admire the way his bicep flexed under his weight. were your knees weak or did you have sunstroke?

"i didn't throw it." a smile played on your lips, and your periphery caught lily turning to leave, knowing your game too well. james looked genuinely shocked for a fleeting moment, then covered it with a playful groan, miming a knife twisting in his stomach.

"you wound me!" he cried, "i burn, i pine, i perish!"

"alright there, shakespeare," you laughed, somewhat put off by the reference, but not deterred -- you could do brains, "you heard mary, you'll see me around. guess you'll just have to earn it." james brightened at that, the thought of a challenge evidently exciting him.

"oh sweetheart, just wait till you're riding my surfboard."

"that was horrendous," you said, fighting embarrassingly hard to keep from smiling.

"oh come on," he grinned, running a hand through his mop of curls, "not worthy of your name?"

"not a chance in hell." you gave him one last look over -- something he was positively delighted about -- before turning on your heel to catch up with your friends, brushing off their teasing as you thought of the hot new lifeguard you'd be visiting the pool for.

ok im lowkey obsessed with lifeguard!james rn so if u have any requests please send them over bc I would love to write more for him

[who-is-there]

Deciding to write a fantasy high au where the Rat Grinders hide their connection to the overarching plan better than in canon. This is achieved by them actually (basically) stalking the Bad Kids everywhere, so they know more.

Or that was the plan. But it turns out that Kipperlily is really the only one sneaky enough to get away with it, so for the time skip between the beginning of Sophomore year and spring break, the Bad Kids keep accidentally finding the Rat Grinders watching them. It’s weird the first few times, but then the Rat Grinders are sort of- unofficially invited? to hang out with the Bad Kids? Like, they aren’t told when and where, but the Bad Kids usually just invite them into the conversation and talk to them more if they’re found out. Kipperlily encourages this because it means they’ve got more intell.

Except that’s not what happens. They ask Ruben about school, and the way he describes bard classes actually convinces Fig to give them a try. She introduces him to new music, and they start writing songs for each other to look over. When Fig starts her band, she asks Ruben and his band to be her first opener. The two have a decent overlap in audience, but they also pull their own listeners into each others music.

When Fabian asks Mary Ann about her tamagotchi friend, she’s the most excited they’ve seen her. Gorgug asks about it a little, and confines that it’s the small, complex kind of tech he’d never be able to make. The bad kids encourage him, and around winter break he comes in with a- strange looking bird that he says is named Chloe, but that’s not what it responds to. A few weeks after they come back from their spring break, Gorgug gives Mary Ann a construct of her tamagotchi, small enough to fit in her bag, and she cries.

Ivy tries to get Fig on the ‘mean girl’ idea, but Fig shuts it down pretty quickly. She introduces Ivy to Baxter, and Ivy now comes to the Manor solely to pet him. She meets Sandra-Lynn, who sees this girl that is almost her, and asks Jawbone to have a talk with her, just once. Ivy tends to be quieter nowadays, but a little nicer too, and Fig can understand her mom a little more with Ivy next to her.

Adaine and Oisin meet earlier, and the two talk more about their school work. Adaine apologises for not remembering him, and the two are a speed team in their class that semester. The first time Oisin made a comment concerning lower classes, Fabian pulled him aside and they have a talk about family, and what it means to use your class to help others rather than insult them. They both come out of it a little better.

Lucy and Kristin talk some. Kristin still likes hearing about other Gods, and Lucy doesn’t often get to talk about her ancestral religions. She helps Kristin and Tracker, since she doesn’t have anything against other Clerics or their religions. When Kristin gets doubt, she talks it out, and Lucy learns some spine from Kristine assertiveness.

With Riz, the Rat Grinders have been told stories from Kipperlily, so they expect things, but Riz isn’t like that. He isn’t dismissive or impersonal, and while he’s definitely- intense, there isn’t superiority there like they thought. When he talks about his dad or his home life, they don’t see a great backstory like Kipperlily wants, they see a kid at their age, that has to do twice as much for half the reward. They don’t know how to tell her.

But he does relax. With more people helping each other, Riz is a little less stressed. And the Rat Grinders, more than anything, see an adventuring party that are actually friends, that rely on each other and actually hang out together outside campaigns.

And then Spring break happens, and it’s a little better. The Rat Grinders convive Kipperlily to go on another quest, instead of to the mountains. Gorgug is more secure, Fabian’s more aware, Adaine has pushed her spells more, Riz is a little less stressed, Fig’s more focused and Kristin still doubts, but she’s better at taking about it. But it’s still bad. They still go through the forest, still have to deal with fighting and their fears, still get beat up and everything.

And when they come back, the Rat Grinders don’t see them getting praise. They don’t see all the great rewards for saving the world they expected. What they see, is a change to a deadline that was going to happen anyway, and that this group of people that were kind to them have gone through absolute hell. They’re tired, they’re scared, it’s rough. And then a week later, they’re running off again, after an endless night. And when they come back, it’s just more consequences and reprimands from a system that the Rat Grinders have been told favours the Bad Kids. And they realise that maybe Kipperlily doesn’t understand the Bad Kids as well as she thinks.

[tyonfs]

untitled

GENRES ▸ angst, smut

WARNINGS ▸ profanity, infidelity

AUTHOR’S NOTE ▸ i wrote this in an hour because of a writing exercise i wanted to try out. another note at the end

SOMEONE ONCE TOLD YOU THAT THERE WOULD NEVER BE A SINGLE DECENT HUMAN IN THIS UNIVERSE THAT COULD LOVE YOU.

You liked to pretend that you forgot all about it, but the reality was that you remembered every single detail of that moment, like it was burned into your memory. It was the first year of college, and you were in a relationship with Kim Jungwoo until he caught you in a bedroom with Johnny Suh one night. You were drunk out of your mind, your mascara smudged your cheeks, and you couldn’t feel anything.

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry,” you kept crying and crying, but Jungwoo left you in the end.

It was a record that never stopped playing; they touched you, they loved you, you fucked up, they left you. No second chances. No do-overs.

Your next boyfriend was Jeong Jaehyun, who always showered you with compliments. You’re so pretty, you’re so beautiful, your body looks so good. You loved the thought of Jaehyun, and you thought he maybe loved you at some point. He was every girl’s dream, but he made you feel so anxious.

Anxious even when you lowered yourself onto him so slowly that he cried out, grabbing your hips and moving you the way he wanted. Anxious when he whispered praises in your ear. Anxious when you smelled the cologne on his warm chest. Anxious when he slept soundly afterward and you set an alarm to wake up early and do your makeup.

Nothing was worse than feeling undesirable. If no one was there to touch you, then were you even real?

Maybe that was why you put the flame out yourself.

“You’re kidding.” Jaehyun’s voice was hoarse—more sad than angry. You felt like a monster to have made him so upset. “I should have listened to my friends when they told me about you.”

That you were what? A cheater? A slut? You were sure you heard it all by now, but it wasn’t like any of your other exes had a scarlet letter over their chest when they slept with other girls.

You met Na Jaemin shortly after that. He wasn’t much older than you, but he was more mature. Less of a mess. He was exactly the sort of pretty face that you would have accidentally let slip from your fingers, let him shatter like glass around your feet, let his sharp edges cut into your skin and make you bleed out until you were empty again. You didn’t want to do that, though, and it didn’t seem like Jaemin was interested in you in that way.

He rubbed the back of his neck shyly when you asked why he was single.

“I have a crush on someone,” was all he said. His ears and cheeks went red, and all you could think about was how innocent he was compared to you. How much better he was.

He showed you a picture of her on her Instagram. She was so much more different from you with her bright eyes and dazzling smile. Someone who was cute and dainty, like a doll. Her clothes were nothing special, but the way they framed her figure suited her well. She was surrounded by friends in most of the pictures, so you figured she was someone who was well-liked.

Someone who wasn’t you.

“You should ask her out,” you told him, passing him the cigarette you had been taking long drags from, but he turned you down with a scrunched nose. “It’s not like she’s gonna say no.”

“She could,” he said. “We’re not that close.”

You laughed. “No way. She’d be stupid to turn you down.”

“Why?”

“What? ‘Cause you’re cute.”

It was his turn to laugh this time, but he sounded embarrassed and flustered. “You think so?”

“Mhm. Do you think I’m cute?”

Jaemin stared at you for a minute, like he was really trying to look at you. The red was creeping back up his neck again, and he was about to murmur a quiet yes when he decided to clear his throat and nod instead. You were silent yourself until you placed your hair on the back of his neck and pulled him down for a kiss.

Jaemin was gentle with you, unlike the other men who pushed you down with rough hands and fucked you until you had little to no grasp on reality. Jaemin held you with careful hands and pushed his cock into you with such tenderness that you wanted to cry.

This must be love, you thought.

But that was a lie. This was not love in the slightest. You thought of the girl with the bright eyes as you rode Jaemin, and you thought about how sick Jaemin must have felt to be having sex with someone who was damaged beyond repair.

You would have liked to think that you and Jaemin could have had a happy ending, that he would finally be the one to set you free from your cycle of self-destruction. But when have humans ever learned from their mistakes?

ENDING NOTE ▸ so my writing prof said you should not be concerned with morality and should write all of your characters with love and compassion. i agree! to an extent. i don’t think characters should be let off the hook for their immoral actions but i think you can pour love into writing them. cheating is like one of the things i despise the most. especially when it’s romanticized. that’s why i chose to try writing mc as someone who’s the embodiment of what i hate but i still wanted to sympathize for her at the same time. obviously this is not romanticized in the slightest because mc is stuck in a cycle of pain and heartbreak, but even though she has her bad qualities, you can still feel bad for her, even if it’s just a little. i hope LOL but what do you think?? did you feel bad? thank you for reading btw :’) i will not be putting this on my masterlist but i hope you enjoyed <3

[simpsdept]

Eda Clawthorne x GN reader (Platonic). Mother headcannons

(I wrote this like almost 2 years ago so it’s weird ik)

-You were friends with Luz and also had to attend to the summer camp where she was headed.

-This means that you also ended up in the boiling isles with her.

-This is when you met Eda the Owl Lady. She was a bit weird at first, but you eventually got use to her.

-She started to treat both you and Luz as her own before the events with the petrifaction.

-She knows that Luz has her mom back in the human realm, but you have never brought up anything about your family.

-Luz doesn’t even know much about it. She has tried to ask you about it before you two came to the boiling isles, but you always ignored her, so she just gave up.

-Eda wasn’t going to though. Now that you were in her care, she was genuinely worried for you. Yknow, those mother instincts.

-You do open up to her eventually though.

-If you don’t have a real family due to some past issues, then she’s more that’s happy to let you live in the owl house for as long as you need to.

-If you have a family but don’t come on best terms with them, then she will gladly be like a second parent to you. Or if you don’t wanna live with them anymore then she’ll just keep you there with her.

-Ever since that ‘chat’, you’ve gotten closer to Eda and actually started to think of her as your actual parent.

-Now I imagine that you’ve accidentally called her mom two or three times before and immediately apologized afterwards. But was only greeted with a ‘it’s alright kid’ from Eda.

-Ever since you got the boiling isles, Luz became more of a sister than a friend. So has King and Hooty.

-Speaking of King, he absolutely loves you! At first he seems like a little gremlin, but he was really sweet! Even if he was still a gremlin.

-You would listen to him speak about Demons whenever Luz or Eda were too busy. You would also fall asleep with him all the time on the coach.

-Eda has many pictures of you and king, and sometimes Luz or Hooty snuggled up on the coach sleeping. No I’m not kidding, she has so much that it scares you.

-Hooty was scary to you at first, but he’s actually a lot of fun to hang around with. Sure, he can be weird, but in a fun way right?

-You, King, and Hooty are a chaotic group. Eda can’t leave you three alone for more than five minutes or you guys would’ve blown up the house.

-One time, you three were having a ‘party’ between the three of you when Eda and Luz ran off to do some errands. Let’s just say you three had A LOT of cleaning to do that night.

-Eda would be quite protective over you. She would be the same for King, Hooty, and Luz too of course, but would be a little more protective over you then the others since she wants you to have a good life in the boiling isles unlike the life you had back home.

-Even though she cracks jokes or teases you, she doesn’t really mean it. So don’t take them to heart. But if you do get upset, she’ll stop and tell you that she’s sorry.

-She’s scared ti let the owl beast loose in front of you. Especially you. She doesn’t want you to be scared and feel like you don’t have a safe space to turn to.

-But once she gets it in control, she is happy to show you her harpy Eda.

-I guess if your sorta Eda’s kid you would also be the niece/nephew of Lilith.

-You didn’t like her at first since you found out she cursed Eda, but you found out that she was actually a pretty decent person.

-You’ve heard Eda talk about somebody named ‘Raine’ before, but never knew much about them.

-Once you joined the ‘C.A.T.T. s’, you finally got to meet them, and you loved them! They were friendly and you could see why Eda had a crush on them.

-Oh that’s right Eda, she thought that you wouldn’t notice her little (or big) crush on Raine.

-If you get stuck on the boiling isles when the Collector is free, then she will do everything in her will to protect you.

-If you went back to the human realm with Luz and her friends, then all she can do is hope you are all safe.

-If you want to move in with her after the events with Belos and the Collector, then she will gladly let you stay.

-But if you want to go home and just visit on a daily basis, then she would be fine with that.

-Since you sorta see her as your mom, you would probably see Raine as a parent figure as well. It would take a while to warm up to each other but all three of you will be like a happy family.

-Overall, Eda would be a great momma bird👍.

[bellysoupset]

Halloween Part 2 - Lucas

Halloween was Bella's favorite time of the year. She started shopping for it early, often buying things that she had no intent on using to "spook" people, but just as regular decor year around. So it was much to her pleasure when she got a text from Wendy asking if she could tag along the latest Halloween haul.

"Jon said what?" Bella asked, lazily pushing the stroller around wallmart and browsing through the spooky themed pillows.

"That I have to throw a Halloween party for Leo," Wendy repeated, hurrying up to catch up. This always happened whenever they went shopping together, Bella walked far too fast.

"Leo's birthday is in April," Bell frowned, then grabbed a pillow shaped like a pumpkin, throwing it inside the cart.

"It's not a birthday party, it's just... A costume party. He's upset that they don't get trick or treaters in their neighborhood."

"Okay, so Jon could throw a party, no?" Bella shrugged, continuing to walk, "it's not like they don't have the space. Way more than you do, to be honest."

"Leo can't know it's for him," Wendy rolled her eyes, "look, it's just Jon babying Leo. So are you gonna help me or not?"

"Sure, sure, no need to get harsh," Bella giggled, inspecting some cute mugs covered in skulls, "what do you need from me?"

"Well first off, to help me buy the decor-" Wendy dug through her purse, then raised a black credit card, "Jon's paying."

Bella let out a whistle, "alright, now we're talking!"

Wendy chuckled, putting the card back inside the purse, "and I need a band, you're the biggest music nerd I know... Can you get us a band?"

"What type of band?" Bella turned around, resting her back to the bar of the cart, "metal? Grunge?...Pop?" Her voice dripped with disdain at the last word and Wendy snorted at her unbiased reaction.

"Well, something people can actually dance to, Bella," Wen poked her side, "alternative rock?"

Bella wrinkled her nose in distaste, turning back around and starting to push the cart again, "let me think."

"Okay... Oh this is very cute," Wendy held up a plug-in lantern, with little ghosties drawn on the side. Bella agreed, barely paying attention now that she had been put on a mission.

Wen was right, she was a music nerd and participated enough in the local music scene to know bands...But an alternative rock band?

"Oh, I know that guy..." She mumbled, fishing her phone out of her jacket's pockets, "what's his name..."

Wendy raised her eyebrows, watching Bella go through her contacts list, with a laser focus, "that guy?"

"I only saw him play once..." she wasn't paying attention, "he had this long, super pretty hair..." Bella gestured to her own head, mimicking a long flowy hair, "he had a tattoo with his band's name... Something -shee..."

"Do you remember the name of the party you met him?" Wendy asked, pulling her own phone out. Bella thought about it for a second, before shaking her head.

"No, but I must have the post saved here..." she clicked around quickly, scrolling through multiple posts and then lighting up, turning her phone so Wendy could see the screen, "here!"

"On A High Note," Wendy read out loud, typing the name in her own instagram and going to the concert's page, "let's see... Cipher of Lies?"

"Nope," Bella circled her, so she could see the poster Wendy was reading the names from, "no, it ended with a shee..."

"Inferno Banshees?" Wendy guessed, clicking on the profile and then scrolling down. The main guy had long hair, like Bell had described, black with red tips.

"Yeah! That's him!" Bella pointed at the screen with such force that Wendy accidentally liked the post. She rolled her eyes, deleting the heart.

"And he's any good?"

"From what I remember, they were decent. Here, listen to this-" Bella scrolled up again, until they landed in a video post of the band performing. Wendy frowned, they were good, indeed. More than "decent", but she guessed Bell's ear was more nitty picky than hers.

"They're probably preeetty expensive to book," Wendy worried, as they moved further inside the candy aisle and she started to load up the cart. Bella let out a scoff.

"Don't worry about that," she fumbled with her own phone, checking the guy's name again in the insta bio, before switching to her texting app and Wendy squinted, noticing there was almost no text history there. Before she could say anything though, Bella was pressing the little mic icon, holding the phone close to her mouth.

"Hi Julian, it's Bells from the High Note party, do you remember me? I forgot my wallet in your room and we had lunch at the Pavillion?" she released the icon, sending the message and Wendy let out a huff.

"So he's an ex-hook up," she deduced and Bella's cheeks turned red as she shrugged.

"Don't look at me like that," she pouted, "you saw his hair!"

"I did," Wendy snorted, chuckling, "are you sure about this? I mean Luke-"

"Is a big boy and he knows I had hook ups while we were on break. Hell, I bet so did he-" she cringed at her own words and Wendy grimaced too. She doubted Lucas had slept around, "besides, that's not the point. We're married, he's an adult, he'll be fine."

"I guess," Wendy shrugged, agreeing, "but maybe tell him before hand-"

They were interrupted by Bella's phone buzzing with an income voice message and she smiled smugly, clicking on it. Julian's voice was deep from sleep, despite it being late in the afternoon, "oh hi ginger, you completely ghosted me, that wasn't nice," he said playfully, "what can I do for you, beautiful?"

"Beautiful," Wendy repeated in a mocking deep tone and Bella elbowed her side, bringing the phone back to her mouth.

"I might have a gig for you."

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

Lucas was not feeling well. He was having a pretty shitty week - his supervisor for Poli Sci had asked him to rework the last 30 pages of his thesis, he had to hand in extra credit in one of his History classes if he wanted to graduate alongside his class and the team had flunked hard the most recent game. It didn't disqualify them, yet, but it made their odds pretty bad for the future.

So it had been already on a very shitty mood that he had gotten the news that the lead singer of the band that was going to play in Wendy's Halloween party, the one Luke knew damn well was more of a Wendy-and-Bella shenanigan, was Bell's ex-hook up.

He had already been sulking during lunch, jamming his fork in the food while Vin and Leo chatted, but he had practically sent his filet flying when Leo said "I don't think I'd be cool if it was Jon's ex playing tonight, that's all."

"Jon doesn't have any exes," Vince rolled his eyes, "you're the only lunatic willing to date him."

"You mean I'm the only lucky one to land him," Leo squinted at Vince and Lucas glared between his two best friends.

"Whatever are you talking about? Whose ex?"

"Bells, duh-" Leo's face suddenly turned red and he cringed, interrupting himself, "oh shit, you didn't know."

"Bella doesn't have exes," Luke rolled his eyes, ignoring the throbbing behind them. He dropped his fork back down, glancing up in time to catch Vince glaring at Leo, as if reprimanding him for speaking up, "what?"

"Nothing!" Leo squeaked, still red as a tomato, "so uhm, what's gonna be your costume tonight...?"

Luke let out a huff and turned to Vince, levelling him with one cold glare, "who said Bella's ex is playing tonight? Wendy?"

"I don't know anything," Vince shrugged, refusing to meet his eyes, "ask your wife."

"Jonah and I are gonna be matching," Leo continued to speak, attempting to change the subject. Lucas let out a scoff, turning his attention back to his plate.

If he was already thinking of ditching the party, his desire now all but doubled. A wish that was promptly squished when he arrived home five hours later and found Bella already hunched over the bathroom sink, doing her makeup while sporting just panties and a strapless bra.

"I thought you said you'd be home sooner today," Bella pouted, spreading grey body paint all over her face, "get in the shower, I still need to do your makeup."

"I don't wanna go," Lucas leaned on the bathroom door, crossing his arms to his chest and scowling. Bell raised an eyebrow and he realized she had painted them a dark brown, almost black.

"Why not?"

He shrugged, not quite managing to put into words the fact his head was throbbing and his humor was soured by the prospect of her ex being the lead singer and Bella not telling him.

"I just don't wanna go," he repeated and Bella rolled her eyes, grabbing the thin eyeliner and leaning in so close to the mirror she was almost touching it, drawing fake stitches on the side of her face.

"You can't be serious, you know it's my party as much as it's Wendy's," she said, squinting to her reflection as she focused on the drawing, "get in the shower."

"So it was your idea to hire your ex and not tell me?" Lucas blurted out and Bella was so surprised by his bitter line that she missed a line. She let out a frustrated groan, putting down the eyeliner.

"What are you talking about, Luke?"

"Your ex," he repeated, "the guys told me."

"You mean Vince told you," Bell rolled her eyes and crossed her arms, "I don't have exes, you know that, babe. It's just some dude I hooked up with, it's not impo-"

"Why didn't you tell me? It was fucking humiliating to realize Vince and Leo all knew about this before I did," Lucas glared at her and he knew his headache was exacerbating his temper. He wanted to shut up, but he also just really didn't want them to go to this damn party.

"Honestly I didn't think it was important and I kinda forgot," Bella's voice had an icy undertone, "it's literally just some dude, Lucas, c'mon. You're not the jealous type, what's up with you?"

He rubbed a hand over his face, "I don't know, I don't like you lying to me."

"Lying to you," she repeated, brows raised, unimpressed, "okay, I don't know what the fuck is going on, but there was no lying. Now, I've been looking forward to this party and you know it, so if you wanna sulk home over some random ass guy I hooked up with once, then be my guest. I'm going," Bella turned back around, once again starting her make up.

Luke snapped his mouth shut, rubbing his neck. He really didn't want to go anywhere, but the prospect of Bella going alone was even less appealing. It wasn't that he didn't trust her, he simply didn't want her there at all.

"Fucking hell," he grumbled, entering the bathroom and stripping his shirt. Bella didn't spare him a glance, but she did let out a pleased noise at getting her way, which only annoyed him more.

He was not gonna let her paint him like a clown, Luke decided, when he shut the shower off ten minutes later, the hot water having dulled the headache just a bit, but the quiet minutes only making him more annoyed.

Bella was now in their bedroom, putting on the stockings that were covered in fake stitches. Her hair was down now and Luke did a double take, noticing her curls were all gone, flat ironed away.

"Alright, your costume-"

"I'm not wearing a costume," he interrupted, grabbing a random array of black items in his closet and throwing them on the bed, "this is good enough."

Bella's eyes, decorated with purple eye shadow, scanned him up and down, "you cannot be acting this childishly over a hook up," she said slowly, "we are literally fucking married, Lucas, grow up."

"I'm already going to the stupid party, I'm not gonna dress like a clown too!" he rubbed at the side of his head as the throbbing started back again and Bell rolled her eyes at him.

"You can be such a dick when you want to," she said quietly, grabbing the patchwork dress that was stretched on the bed and putting it on, "I'm leaving in ten minutes, if you're not dressed, I'm going without you."

"And I'm the dick," Luke scoffed, slipping on the black track pants.

They didn't talk at all during the fifteen minutes long drive to Wendy's place. Twice Lucas opened his mouth to apologize, twice he snapped it shut when he noticed Bella with her arms crossed and glaring out of the window.

The party wasn't in her apartment, but in the last floor of her building, where there was a conventions ballroom. Lucas had to give it to both Wendy and Bella, they had done a spectacular job decorating. It was fancy and beautiful, Wendy's job, but still spooky, with a fog machine and bats glued to the windows. All Bella.

"Looks nice," he said, hoping it was apology enough, squinting at the blue and purple lights of the room. Bella let out a scoff, ignoring his compliment.

"Bell!" Wendy rushed to her, skipping from across the room. There were some people already inside, people Lucas did not recognize at all. Other med students, maybe?

Wendy was dressed in a green mini dress, with wings coming out of her back and Bella let out a giggle, "oh hello, Tinkerbell!" she teased, pulling the shorter woman into a half hearted hug, "you look great!"

"Not as great as you do!" Wendy smiled brightly, covered in glittery body paint, "It's from that Tim Burton movie, right?"

"Nightmare Before Christmas," Bella grinned, turning around to show off her outfit and Wendy nodded in approval, then turned to Luke and frowned.

"And you are... No, let me guess, Jaso-"

"Not in the mood," Lucas cut her off swiftly and Wendy raised her eyebrows, taken back by the curt manners.

"Alright, Debby Downer himself," she rolled her eyes at him and Luke was about to snap something he knew he was going to regret, but was luckily interrupted when someone wrapped an arm around Bella's waist and twirled her around, causing her to let out a squeal.

A man dressed like a vampire put her back on her feet, smiling at her, "give me your bloood," he said in a creepy voice and Bella chuckled, stumbling back on her feet.

Luke started to feel a steady, lancinating pain behind his right eye, "Isabella?"

"Hi, sorry-" she snapped her head, then gestured between them, "Lucian, this is Luke-"

"Her husband," Lucas interjected, forcefully, offering a hand and Lucian pouted at Bella.

"Uhm, it's Julian, beautiful," he said, squeezing Luke's hand, before doing a double take, "oh wait, husband?"

"Yes, beautiful," Lucas mocked and Wendy let out a snort, planting both hands on Bell's shoulders.

"Awkward... Anyway, bye guys, we have party stuff to figure out. Julian, I need you on that stage in twenty minutes. Where are the rest of your buddies?"

"Fuck me if I know, Tink," Julian shrugged, eyes glued to Bella, so Lucas squeezed his hand a little harder in his.

"Well, figure it out and get them on that stage," Wendy said, then proceeded to push Bella forward, mixing them with the small crowd of strangers and introducing her around.

Julian dropped Lucas' hand hastily, mumbling a "excuse me," and vanishing into the crowd too, although in the opposite direction.

"Great, just great," Luke sighed, walking towards the bar.

He was nursing a lukewarm drink and trying to ignore the painful pulsing behind both his eyes, when the microphone let out a feedback noise and then Julian's voice came in, "good night, everyone," he said, smiling, "we are the Inferno Banshees, let's rock this place."

"I fucking hate musicians," Luke whispered, chugging the rest of his drink and then flinching when the alcohol hit his stomach at the same time the band started to play and the noise made him feel like he had just been punched.

The drummer was going all in and Luke could feel every beat of the song. It didn't help that the lights were strobing now, flickering between red, blue and UV lights. He let out a loud groan and scanned the crowd in search of Bella.

More people had arrived, half the football team and a bunch of people Lucas hadn't ever seen. He squinted, tugging at the roots of his hair, the vague pain doing barely nothing to distract him from the migraine.

It took him a moment to find Bella, the lack of her signature curls making him completely miss her even when she was directly in his line of sight. She had her back pressed against a blonde girl's, whose long blonde hair was styled in a voluminous blow out, clad in a sequined jumper.

Vaguely he recognized her from somewhere, he just had no idea where. Luke stumbled forward, feeling dizzier the closer he got to the loud noise. It didn't feel like music was playing at all, but rather someone stabbing him right in the temple.

"Bell," he grabbed her wrist and she looked up, blue eyes sparkling for a second, a tentative smile springing up. She thought he was going to apologize? No way.

"I'm leaving, I'm not feeling well!" he yelled over the music and Bella frowned, getting on her tip toes, not hearing him.

"What!?"

"I said I'm going home!" Lucas repeated and she frowned, pulling back.

"It's not even been an hour!" Bella yelled, just as Julian started a guitar riff and the lights all flickered red, "at least try to have some fun-"

His stomach churned, the lights throwing him for a spin. Lucas rubbed a hand angrily over his face and shook his head, "stay, I don't give a crap," he scoffed, even though he did give a crap. He really didn't want to go home alone, not when his head hurt this much, not when the singer on stage kept looking at his girl like she was his next meal.

Bella's frown deepened, "you're acting like a teenager," she said calmly, leaning in and not bothering to raise her voice, so he had to really strain his ears to hear, "I'm not leaving."

"Suit yourself," Lucas groaned, turning around and stumbling over his feet. It was getting difficult to make out which way was up and his stomach was making known just how done it was with this whole night.

He wasn't gonna make it to the bathroom, Luke realized quickly. Instead, he made a detour to the balcony area of the party, stumbling towards the railing, only to slam against someone.

His stomach jumped to his throat and as Vince exclaimed "Hey, don't run me over!" Lucas let out a sick belch and bent in half, bracing against his knees and throwing up on the space between them. He missed Vin's black boots by a couple inches, the man jumping back.

"Jesus, Luke!" Vince exclaimed, circling him and it was a good thing he did, because Lucas swayed forward and only his best friend grabbing him by the arm stopped him from face planting the puddle of sick.

"What the hell did you drink?" Vince asked, thumping his back and Lucas let out a whimper, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand.

"Nothing... Migraine," he groaned, closing his eyes and leaning against Vin's side. The other man let out an unhappy noise.

"Can you sit here for a second? I'm gonna get Bella-"

"No," Luke reached out blindly, squeezing Vince's coat. He blinked, trying to situate himself. Vin was dressed as Captain Hook, with eyeliner and all, "I don't want Bell."

Dark eyes measured him up and down and Vince let out a huff, "you two are fighting over the stupid fella? This is ridiculous..."

"Can you just drive me home?" Luke sighed, leaning in and planting his forehead to Vince's shoulder. At least he managed to conceal the lights, but that did very little to his raging migraine. Lucas knew he had only a couple more minutes sounding coherent in him and he was too proud, he really didn't want Bella now.

"She's going to tear me to shreds," Vince groaned, but then tugged on Luke's hoodie, looping one of his arms around his neck, "okay, keep your head down."

He could've cried from relief at the change of tone in Vin's voice. Luke buried his face on his best friend's shoulder and allowed him to be steered around, feet stumbling over each other, Vince's arm around his waist the only thing keeping him from keeling over.

They stumbled outside the party area and Lucas muffled a sob, swallowing against the persistent nausea, "m'hday"

"What?"

"M-head..." he groaned, pressing his forehead with more force against Vince's chest, feeling the impatient vibrations of the other man tapping his foot as they waited for the elevator, "grends"

"Green?"

"Nuuh-" he squeezed his eyes, "grenade."

"Oh," Vince let out a sigh, a hand coming to shield Luke's exposed ear, further muffling the noise, "you'll be lying down soon..."

Lucas let out a heavy sigh through his nose, gulping down the bitter spit pooling in his mouth. He was starting to feel detached from his body, head too heavy to lift it up even when the elevator stopped on their floor and Vince shuffled inside, stumbling a little with his weight.

"Mgonuke..." Lucas whined, daring to open his eyes and staring at Vin's black leather boots, "sry..."

"What?" Vince pulled back and good thing he did, because Lucas gagged again, unable to stop the mess. A dribble of bitter, watery vomit fell on the space between them and Vin let out a scoff, "are you hell bent on fucking up my boots, dude?"

"Sorry..." Luke groaned, swaying on his spot, "I'm- I'm sorry-"

"I'm joking," Vince pulled him back in, wrapping both his arms around him, mess on the ground be damned, the fact that he knew everyone in this building be damned. His best friend was hurting. Lucas sank into the hug, muffling a sob against his shoulder and Vin bit down his lip, praying the elevator came to a stop sooner.

As soon as it stopped, Luke undid Vince's hold on him, staggering forward and collapsing down with a heave.

"Luke!"

A retch answered him, followed by a whimper and more sobs. Vince closed the small distance between them, crouching down next to his friend and rubbing his back in a reassuring manner, "hey, breathe, man..." he whispered softly, supporting Luke's forehead with a hand, "take a deep breath for me."

Instead of breathing in, Lucas fell back on his heels, ass meeting the cement of the parking lot and then he slammed his fists to his forehead, causing Vince to let out a surprised gasp.

"Luke, don't do that!" he whisper-yelled, rushing to grab Lucas' wrists before he could try punching himself again, "this isn't gonna help, bud."

"Hurtsssss," Lucas cried, eyes bloodshot and his nose all congested.

"I know, I know, c'mere-" Vince grabbed his arm, pulling Luke up, "Uhm- Ah fuck... Okay, do you have your keys?" he didn't expect to get an answer and he didn't. Vin let out a heavy sigh, shoving his hand in his friend's pockets and praying he had his car keys with him, otherwise things would be tricky.

His bike was parked next to Wen's pink car, but her car keys were upstairs in her own apartment and well, he didn't feel like leaving Luke...

"HA!" Vince let out a victorious shout when he managed to fish out Luke's keys from his hoodie' front pocket, only to make the other man whimper and curl on himself, "sorry, sorry, sorry!"

He carefully maneuvered them around, getting to Lucas' green car and forcing him on the passenger seat. No sooner he had shut the door, he rushed to the driver's side and got in just as Luke was once again thumping his head, hard, against the window.

"Luke, you're going to give yourself a concussion on top of the migraine," Vince berated him lightly, pulling him away from the door, "close your eyes."

"I feel sick," Lucas answered instead of obeying, not bothering to muffle a sick belch, "Vince..."

"Shhh, eyes closed, c'mon," Vince pressed his hand over his best friend's eyes and felt him lean forward with more force, "deep breaths."

"It's like I got fucking shot in the head," Lucas slurred, before a new heaving fit caused his tears to start back up. Vince flinched in sympathy.

"I really think I should go get Bell-"

"Nuhhgh..." Lucas mumbled, bracing against the dashboard, "no, fuck no. Let her be with the fucking vampire."

"You are an idiot," Vince sighed, starting the car and keeping a hand on Luke's nape, "lean back, you'll just make it worse."

It took him a second, but then Lucas' obeyed, leaning back with a sigh, eyes squeezed shut. He wiped the tears off his face, sniffling again, "thanks, Vin."

"Don't thank me, I still haven't decided if I'm not just gonna drive you to a hospital."

TBC

[a-strange-inkling]

Hellcheer Ten Years Later/Recovery AU…

(So this tragic idea is eating away at my brain and distracting me. Thought I’d jot it down here for maybe a future story or inspiration).

tw: mentions of drugs, alcohol, addiction, od, eds and attempted s*icide.

.

.

.

There was never any Vecna or Upside Down, never a drug deal at an abandoned picnic table in the forest behind the school, and Eddie and Chrissy never met again after that fateful Middle School Talent Show. After graduation, Eddie did just what he said and ran like hell out of Hawkins and never looked back.

It’s 1996 and Eddie made a decent career for himself, touring and opening for big names, but always felt this unhappiness inside of him, this void that no amount of sex, drugs and rock and roll could ever fill. In his late twenties the drugs and alcohol spiral out of control to the point he wakes up in the hospital after an accidental OD.

Wayne takes him home and begs him to get help, try to recover, that he doesn't have the strength to bury any more family members. For his uncle's sake, to repay him for taking him in as a kid, Eddie eventually gives in and admits himself into a private recovery center somewhere in the hills of Illinois.

It’s rural and quiet, filled with rich and semi famous addicts. Eddie hates it upon entry… and well the withdrawal, being told what to do on a daily basis, and the group therapy doesn’t warm him up to it.

One morning, feeling weary and miserable, he takes a long walk outside on one of the trails. He stops in his tracks, pretty sure he’s hallucinating when he sees Chrissy Cunningham, the former Queen of Hawkins High and his crush of eight years, reclined on a bench, reading under one of trees... And she’s reading The fucking Hobbit of all things.

Stupefied, he slowly approaches and it’s actually her, thinner than he remembers if that’s possible, those sparkling blue eyes now dull, gray... sad. "Chrissy?" he asks in disbelief, startling her terribly.

“Sorry, sorry... I didn’t mean to scare you.”

She stares up at him with haunted eyes, trembling a little. It unsettles him for a moment, and he thinks he should just walk away, leave her alone... but he stays, tries again. Desperate. “Uh hey, hi…" Very smooth. "You probably don’t remember me; but we went to high school together—"

“Eddie Munson.” she replies softly in astonishment, eyes widening.

And for the first time in he doesn’t know how long, he feels life and warmth inside him again as they talk and reconnect on the bench, beneath the leaves. She’s still so beautiful. Sweet and kind. He makes her laugh and the sound causes his heart to skip a beat in his chest, only for it to sink a moment later when he notices the wedding ring on her finger, but he doesn’t let it show.

She’s Chrissy Carver now. She married Jason right after graduation and studied at IU with him for four years before moving back to Hawkins to be near her parents and start a family. She grows quiet and reserved, her smile disappearing when she mentions her husband. He watches as she recoils back into herself. She tells him that she's been struggling with an ED half her life as well as addiction and depression.

Jason admitted her into rehab after her last failed s*icide attempt earlier that spring. She’s been there for almost four months now.

Eddie listens silently as she slowly opens up to him. It’s awful to think that someone like her ended up in a place like this. Her life seemed so perfect back in school.

He asks if she’s found any healing during her stay.

She shrugs her shoulders saying that she’s away from her mother, so that is healing in and of itself.

They walk and talk together every day after that, sharing their scars and the dark ugly parts of their lives that led them there, finding companionship in one another.

He plays his music for her in exchange for her poems and thoughts. Falling in love in the most unlikely way in the most unlikely of places.

[ryuichirou]

Replies

More replies! :)

hipsterteller asked:

I saw the artwork of Jade and Rook, and the only thing I could say is-

"Oh please tell me they didn't kill someone"

+

Anonymous asked:

Yep, both weirdos doing weird stuff. Also, context on their murder?

I really love how the first ask is in denial, hoping for the best, and the second one is “alright who did they kill this time” LOL

Unfortunately though, there is no context, I’m just sure this is something both of them do, so it’s only a matter of time until they stumble upon each other. It would definitely be funny…

I keep joking about Jade just feeding randos with his mushrooms, even though it’s not really how mushrooms work, but I’ll keep telling this joke until the day I die and get buried in the forest myself lol

Anonymous asked:

MEGARA!

YES!!!!! <3 <3 <3

Your childhood crushes really cement one’s type… we rewatched Hercules about a year ago, and it really made me remember just how much I loved this girl.

Anonymous asked:

seeing idia in a consensual relationship/situation with azul is like a jumpscare on this page

Thank you Anon!! I’m genuinely happy that you’re so used to seeing messed-up stuff that anything wholesome seems surprising lol We really do have our preferences…

But if that makes it easier, with these two it’s almost always just a fleeting moment before they start arguing again over something super unimportant or messing up each other’s lives. There is no way these could actually coexist without it lol

Anonymous asked:

Ironically enough if Azul was Regina I could see Vil being a decent Janis

He doesn't share a lot of the same fashion traits as her but he is honest and can hold a grudge for a long time

(this is related to one reply from this post)

Wow, Vil as Janis is something I never considered. This type of pettiness is closer to Vil’s, that’s true lol

Jamil would also maybe work as Janis.

But now all I can think about is Vil in a grungy-punky look… a complete delusion, but an aesthetically pleasing one.

Anonymous asked:

This sounds a bit too mean (to Malleus), but what reactions do you think he may have if Lilia's fucking him and accidentally moans his mother's name instead 👀

Since we can’t say anything about ch7 yet (still haven’t watched it), so there might be any specific aspect that I’m missing, but in general I’m pretty sure Malleus is going to be super damn pissed if Lilia moaned any name that isn’t his while they have sex lol He might even get angry and destroy everything and only then go “wait what?” realising what the name was.

blackbutlerfandomnerddomain asked:

I might bombard the inbox with thoughts so sorry in advance! I lowkey see Sebek and Silver starting as a thing after realizing Malleus and Lilia were a thing (I find the idea Silver having the Windows reloading sound in his mind as he’s like “Ooooooooh” when realizing his two dads are lovers really funny), and I’m currently writing a fic based of Ch.7 where Sebek kissed Silver finally during the fight, making them official finally

No worries, as long as you don’t mind waiting. You know how it is with me and replies lol, but I’m slowly but surely replying to everything.

Bonding over the trauma of realisation that Malleus and Lilia are a thing lol well jokes aside, it’s probably not as traumatic for Silver, but the realisation could still be the “oh” moment for sure. Let Malleus and Lilia be an example for the younglings lol

Good luck with your fic!^^

Anonymous asked:

Hear me out: Fem Idia with the song Worst Taste In Girls by Charley

Alright now that I’ve finally listened to the song!

She really does have the worst taste in girls… Although, she has even less autonomy in her love life than the heroine of the song unfortunately lol But Idia is prone to thinking that whenever things go kinda well, it’s never going to last long.

[friendlyengie]

Heyo thought I’d drop some random tf2 hcs and stuff cause of ur post :D

- scout and Pyro get along really well and scout will draw for pyro. Scout likes them cause he seems to actually listen to scout talk

- Engineer is pretty oblivious when it comes to people having feelings for him and hes (kinda accidentally) decent at flirting tho

- Engineer is like a father figure to scout and it makes spy really jealous lol

- Demo is really good at karaoke

- Since spy is good at finding this out about people based on body language etc. he knows exactly who has crushes on who in the base and he thinks it’s SO OBVIOUS but it’s not to the rest of them and he’s really close to just screaming at everyone that they’re blind and to just kiss already. He’s just forced to watch all these pining idiots dance around each other and he hates it

- Heavy and Medic have a book club that is just the two of them

- Scout would be a good dad later in life if he had a kid

ohohhoho interesting. Cracks my knuckles.

-scout and pyro friendship truther until I DIE. I find the idea of scout going from being terrified of this weird “thing” to just being besties with Pyro kind of hilarious. I think they can both do art pretty well actually! I like to think they run around towns and do graffiti together.

-Nodding at this. I also think it helps that (to me) hes naturally very friendly and polite because of how he was raised and like half of the people on his team havent heard anything nice from another human being since they were actual children (if that.) Is he good at flirting or are your standards dangerously low? Is it both? Great question!

-Ive always seen engineer as more of a low-maintenance uncle figure to scout If That. They’re just kind of a pretty standard close older dude with a lot of life experience and younger dude with fuck all going on friendship to me. and tbh ive never. Really been able to get behind the idea of spy being “jealous” of any sort of relationship Scout has with other mercs. Whether it’s him being weirded out by father standins or judgemental of potential partners. I don’t think he doesn’t have a weird relationship with seeing scout bond with the other mercs but i feel like it’s just sort of. Idk. A little more of a unique issue for him.

-Accepted. Though i think “good” for him ranges from “genuinely good singing” to “loud, overconfident, and having a great time getting half of the lyrics wrong.”

-As much as I think it would be fun if spy was surprisingly emotionally dense, i cant deny his canonical skills in that sort of field. That’s like. His whole game. I think his approach to trying to help anyone with romance is “he wont unless youre prepared to basically just inflate his ego for the sake of a few tips.” A la expiration date.

-no doubt in my mind that heavy and medic dont agree with a single thing that the other gleams from reading books. Said with love. They will argue about meanings and subtext and the value of interpretation until it sounds like someone’s about to file for divorce and then end with “so same time next week ^_^?”

-I will be so honest with you. I do not know if i could ever see scout being a father, much less a good one NDGSKHJDKNJJ.

Actually . Hm. Thinking about it. I could. SEE it in a sense. I think he would have some good steps to go off of because of his Mom. Unsure of how good his ma’s parenting was but she at least was very caring toward her kids. He’d have that. But i think he’d have to be a lot more emotionally mature to be able to process how his own current issues with dads and fatherhood would healthily translate into being a dad himself. I could see him being really laid back and maybe a little too “im not just your parent, im your friend,” and any hypothetical kid he has would Not take his ass seriously. I think having to parent a teenager would kill him.

[sootonthecarpet]

are u doing the spotify thing hesed? if so, 7, 14, 21!

oohh that's a satisfying number set! lemme check. ok I don't remember how to embed songs so I might have to just link em. ok wait I figured it out. wait the exact same method stopped working after the first time I embedded it and I accidentally deleted the first one so I can't just copy the html so I'm just gonna link. dammit.

7: Hash Pipe by Weezer. There were a lot of horny songs about drug use in my top ten (to say nothing of the year I've had) and I think this one may actually be the tamest by a pretty long shot. I don't think this is a song that needs much commentary bc many people have heard it before and already know how they feel. I like the bass riff.

14: Truth and Reconciliation by Tok. Oh man. Ohhhh man. This thing is good. it's really sexy (good bpm too) and it layers up gradually and I don't think the band had very good microphones. there's a decent amount of Tok on this list and I'm really glad we hit one. I just started listening to them like a year ago and I really vibe with their style and, when I can understand what they're fucking saying, their lyrical content. I think this is actually my favorite song of theirs even though a different Tok song wound up as this year's #1.

21: Negative Creep by Nirvana. look, I think this one would've been a respectable 60-80-range pick on my list except for last spring I had a not atypical but particularly stressful encounter in the park with a suburban mom or auntie/young grandma or something. her kid was about to go through the picnic area (where I was) to get to the playground area, and she saw me and immediately rounded him up to leave the park (while staring at me the whole time and uhh, her body language changed completely to acting like she saw some kind of terrifying beast and had to back away slowwwwly) and she specifically told him like, 'i think you want to go home now' even tho he clearly wanted to join the other kids on the playground equipment. now, everyone is entitled to their opinion, and I try not to read too much into why well-dressed older white women periodically see me and assume I am a danger to their children or themselves, but as I was having a really rough time already that day (had actively fought thru and reasoned with a bunch of of 'theyre going to think I'm dangerous and scary if I go out in public' type thoughts, for one), the encounter sucked absolute asssssss. I wound up listening to this song one thousand billion times in the subsequent week. thank u Kurt.

[terabyteturtle]

Fighter #10 - Ness

- Ness does amazing in school. He gets straight A's without even trying. Out of every class, science is easily his favorite.

- He has a collection of colorful magnets for the kitchen fridge.

- He knows how to make molotov cocktails somehow. Samus blames the villains for teaching him, but she fails to realize that the internet is a magical, informative place.

- He owns a small science kit that he always brings around with him.

- Ness has nearly blown up the mansion due to irresponsible mixing of various lethal chemicals. How he got said chemicals, nobody knows—they sure as hell weren't in the science kit. (He doesn't read the labels half the time, so that doesn't help either.)

- Ness might be smart, but he still does some stupid things, both accidentally and on purpose.

- He often uses PK Thunder to propel himself throughout the mansion, which earns him plenty of visits with Dr. Mario.

- He always marks the dates of meteor showers on his calendar. When the day arrives, he invites his friends over to watch them.

- Ness has a massive crush on Samus. If she does something nice for him (or even talks to him, it really doesn't take much), he blushes like crazy.

- As much as Ness loves baseball, he kinda sucks at it. With help from Snake, he's slowly trying to improve. He's far better at batting than he is at pitching.

- He isn't the most artistic, but give him some clay and he can do a pretty decent volcano sculpture (though it won't last long before he accidentally blows it apart with something).

- Ness got really curious about Kadabra one day and decided to read a bunch of its Pokedex entries. He couldn't sleep for weeks after that.

- Young Link is a good friend of his. He might not speak much, but he makes for great company.

- He won second place in his school talent show one year for his cool yo-yo tricks.

- This kid is unbelievable at hide-and-seek. He knows all of the best hiding spots in the mansion. One time, the others thought he'd gotten kidnapped because, for over an hour, they couldn't find him.

- His first stuffed animal was a teddy bear named Roger. He won't admit it to anyone, but Ness still has him in his bedroom closet. Whenever he has a really bad nightmare, he'll retrieve Roger and cuddle with him for the rest of the night.

- Ness is really interested in Greek mythology and finds himself talking to Pit a lot about it. 

- Ness gets homesick really easily. If something reminds him of Onett, he becomes slightly depressed. He video chats with his friends every night to help him cope with it.

- Ness LOVES steak. Steak tacos, steak with potatoes, surf & turf—he'll eat anything if it has steak. Much to the others' dismay, he likes it best when it's cooked rare. A lot of the older fighters are worried about him eating it like that.

- "Rare? It's practically still alive at that point, darling." - Bayonetta

- Snake is like a father figure to him. They do a lot together, from playing video games to perfecting Ness' pitch.

- He's also Snake's self-proclaimed wingman when it comes to love. In the past, Ness has desperately tried to set him up on dates, even going so far as to set up a Tinder profile for him without his knowledge, but Snake always rejected them. Poor Ness just wanted the man to get the love he deserved, and he didn't understand why he wouldn't give it a shot. Then one day, Snake finally confided in him. As it turns out, he only rejected those dates because he already had his steel heart set upon Samus. Ness was shocked and felt a little betrayed at first, but he was still determined to help out his friend.

- "Samus? Really? Well, you better make a move quick before I get to her first!" - Ness

- Ness also has a strong friendship with Otacon. They nerd out about science-y stuff together.

- To his surprise, he's actually a big fan of heavy metal. Snake introduced him to a couple bands and when he listened to their music for the first time, his mind was completely blown.

- Ness dreams of one day joining a professional baseball team. He just has to pitch without hitting someone in the head first.

- Despite being young, Ness understands the value of a dollar. He's financially responsible and already has a jar in his closet specifically for college savings.

- Ness has a whole album full of limited edition baseball cards, with most of them in mint condition.

- Once, Wario stole this precious album and put it up for auction on Ebay, where he ended up selling it for $100,000. It wasn't long before Ness found out, and with Otacon's help, he tracked down the person it was sold to. When he politely informed them that the cards were stolen, they were very understanding and sent them back. Once they returned to the mansion, Snake held Wario at gunpoint until he agreed to give the money back. In the end, all went well and everything returned to its rightful place.

- Well, except for Wario's happiness. That disappeared along with the money.

- Ness has a lot of dreams about memories from his early childhood, which often contribute to his homesickness.

- As of right now, he's the only one who can comprehend, speak, and translate Saturnian. He's currently trying to teach it to Lucas.

- Surprisingly, Ness doesn't have the strongest stomach. He nearly threw up when he first encountered Master Belch, then nearly threw up again when they met a second time, then actually threw up when he found the blob of grossness hanging out on the Spirit Board.

- Ness has accumulated quite a few nicknames during his time at the mansion. Roy (FE) and Snake affectionately refer to him as "squirt", Otacon calls him "buddy", and Bowser, Ganondorf, and Ridley call him "pipsqueak". His favorite is "Psi Guy", given to him by Pit.

- Bayonetta calls him a twerp sometimes, but that's only when she's irritated with him.

- You know how his science experiments sometimes go completely awry? Well, it only gets worse when he has friends around. He and Jeff have launched rockets around the mansion several times and nearly destroyed tons of valuable items. They're convinced that, one day, they'll finally be able to make a functional rocket, but Snake believes that day won't arrive for a long time.

- This kid makes Scooby-Doo references constantly, to the point where it's almost too much. If he sees something dangerous, he always says "Gee Scoob, we better get out of here!" It doesn't matter whether he's by himself or with ten other people, he'll always be talking to "Scoob".

- He has six different yo-yos, all in various colors. The green one is his favorite.

- If a blackout happens, Ness will use PK Flash to help fighters see. Pikachu and Pichu will also contribute using their own electrical powers.

- If he suspects someone stole something from him, he'll use his psychic powers to turn them upside-down and give them a cartoon-style shakedown. He'll then drop them on their head when he's finished.

- When big festivals and parties come up, he begs the adults to be in charge of fireworks, but everyone knows how that would end up.

- He does the Naruto run even though he has no idea what Naruto is.

- On nights he can't sleep, he loves going up on the balcony and using the telescope. Not only does he enjoy seeing the stars and planets at night, but it also reminds him of the smile on Samus' face when she first bought it for the mansion. Seeing her so happy made him happy, too.

- His favorite song from the Smash soundtrack is Bein' Friends. He always cries whenever he hears the slow part, so it inspires him to finish his battles quickly before it comes on.

[ambyandony]

okay so let’s say it’s like. Really fucking hot. Hypothetically at least.

I’d kill myself -

Doppio: is that a fucking sweater??? Is that a fucking sweater??? That’s literally the worst fucking thing to wear in hot weather?? I’d kill myself just over the feeling of sweating NEVERMIND THE FABRIC MAKIMG IT YUCKIER?!?

Illuso: A fucking . PUFFER??? IS THAT A FUCKING?? PUFFER VEST? WITH LONG SLEEVES?!

Mista: A SWEATER A LONG SLEEVE SWEATER WITH NO OPENINGS”???MAND A TURTLENECK COLLAR?! AND A FUCKING HAT!!?!?!?!? A HAT!?!? ID KILL MYSELF OVER THE FEELING OF HOW GREASY MY HAIR WOULD GET ALONE! NO WONDER IF HES STINKY!??? THE FUCK?!?!

Abbacchio: I don’t care if it’s got an opening down the chest it’s a FUCKING CLOAK AND ITS DARK!!! NO! THAT WOULD TRAP SO MUCH FUCKING HEAT!? ?!?

No -

Risotto: matter of personal preference also he has a hat too. Listen I’m a hat wearer but I wear firm hats that I can fan myself with.

Cioccolata: rage rage rage I have rage in my bones in my tendons I want to kill I want to maim death death murder kill him kill him now I hate him I hate him and I hate his stupid ass outfit too.

Carne: matter of personal preference im… I don’t love it

Buccellati: not as bad as the others I think but it’s not my style I think it’s a bit much

Giorno: matter of personal preference, I’d be more lenient with shorter sleeves

Maybe? If I got top surgery? -

Sale: I wouldn’t like trying to hide a bra with this but in terms of just the outfit it has airflow and it’s pretty okay but I don’t love it

Prosciutto: I like the opening but he IS wearing black so it’s a harsh “maybe”

Trish: I know she’s a girl with tits and all but I just don’t like how. Revealing it is. It’s not really my taste but if I didn’t have tits I wouldn’t have nearly as much of a problem. In monster au I made it a lil better becos I gave her suspenders ( instantly makes any outfit look better ) and made her shirt an actual shirt ( extended the midriff )

Melone: also kinda revealing against my tastes but looks like it has decent airflow plus the gloves are neat but the mask would be awkward under my glasses. But the left side I think I’d be fidgeting all the time

I could handle it I think -

Squalo: thank god. Finally. Short sleeves. I could live with it but the shoulder pads I would accidentally tear those apart stimming with them

Pesci: the ruff is. Um. There’s no sleeves but my collarbone would be deadly. But if I took the coat off I think maybe I’d be okay?

Formaggio: doesn’t look too bad though I’m not big on the mesh shirt

Fugo: I have a Fugo cosplay and it’s tolerable and I fucking love ties so much

I’d wear that -

Tiziano: it’s like a romper with long legs! And it’s open in the collar! I’d like it more without tits, but I’d still wear it if I had it rn . But I will never be as beautiful as him

Ghiaccio: ASSUMING I. ALSO GET THE ICE POWERS.

Narancia: yeah. I’d wear that.

What is this -

Diavolo: even without tits I still would want to wear a goddamn SHIRT

Secco: no seriously what is this

Polpo: my autocorrect changed this to ‘polio’ and I lost my train of thought as a result

some of the shit they wear in part 5 I could never. In ITALY? isn’t it hot as fuck there??? Long sleeves?????? I’d kill myself

[phoenixyfriend]

I've played with transmasc Anakin and "cis dude but genuinely into the idea of getting pregnant" Anakin and omega male Anakin...

But how do we feel about transfemme Anakin?

Notes on my mind:

Obi-Wan probably dithers over it because Tradition, but lets Ani grow her hair out from the padawan cut for gender affirmation reasons. (Komari apparently wore her hair long as a padawan, so precedent!)

Obi-Wan sees Anakin sighing over holos of Padme's public speaking engagements and chooses to assume it's gender envy and not a crush, proceeds to learn how to do braids and increasingly complex hairstyles for Anakin's sake. Anakin does not know Obi-Wan is doing this until Obi-Wan is already skilled with it. I'm going to say that he asked Siri Tachi to let him practice on her since he only has so many human friends with long hair, and Quinlan's is in dreads.

Jedi Temple obviously subsidizes most elements of transition (HRT, surgeries, essential parts of the wardrobe, possibly some cosmetics?)

Obi-Wan accidentally cementing Anakin's loyalty to him over Palpatine because Palps never considered he had to learn how to be polite about gender stuff, while Obi-Wan is putting in a lot of effort.

Please understand how much I love the idea of Ani trying on makeup and the first time she gets it mostly right and is happy with the results, Obi-Wan just has a Dad Moment and comes up behind her and hugs her around the shoulders and meets her eyes in the mirror and tells her "you look beautiful, padawan" because he can't let himself call her 'sweetheart' or 'my dear' because Attachment but his voice kinda just cracks and she knows he's having a 'my little girl' thing going on 'cause his shields are down and probably she starts crying.

Whether or not Ani and Padme fall in love is irrelevant because I need Padme putting Ani in ALL the dresses. Sure, Ani's too tall for most of them but.

I feel like this would pave the way for a Girl's Night Out episode in TCW feat. Ani, Ahsoka, and Padme for sure, probably running into Ventress, maybe cameos by Barriss and Aayla. Yes, I am thinking about Leverage.

Ahsoka is overall really stoked that she gets a female master. It's all the canon Snips and Skyguygal but now there's nights designated as Girl Talk.

We'll say Anakin got to Shmi early enough to save her because reasons*, and Shmi has a lot of feelings about Ani transitioning and Coming Into Her Own. (It does take a bit to convince Owen that Anakin is, in fact, Shmi's child. Demonstrating the Jedi Magic helps.) * IDK maybe Palpatine was so caught up in trying to figure out how to balance his desire to gaslight and control Anakin with Palpatine's own original-trilogy-implied lack of respect for women and presumably trans people that he didn't time the Tuskens thing right.

Help I want to make this Rexwalker in the vein of 'boy walks into walls because his crush took her hair down after a hard fight and sure she's covered in blood but that just makes her more attractive' and IDK the clone group chat is now just Rex and Bly being bullied to hell and back by all their brothers.

Obi-Wan ends up having a network of friends that are specifically trans Jedi because they all noticed him panicking and looking up books in the archives on how to support your transitioning child and went "aw, he's trying! He... wow, he's crying, somebody help him."

Anakin's fairly public about being a trans woman? Most of the GAR knows specifically because non-cis clones all got really excited and spread the word and she keeps getting approached by queer and questioning clones for advice.

"Somehow" this aspect of her identity doesn't make it into the propaganda about the war and about The Team. (Palpatine assures her the marketing team probably thought it was necessary to keep arguments about the war from being derailed, and to protect Anakin from people who'd try to use her identity against her. The marketing team didn't care, really, but Palpatine sure told them to keep it quiet.)

Oh my god please imagine Rex trying to figure out how to put together a bouquet for a pretty girl while they're on a planet that's decent for that sort of thing oh my god I'm going to make myself cry thinking about Rex being head over heels for his general and incidentally putting in All The Effort to make sure he doesn't fuck up the gender stuff

Listen between the mental image of Obi-Wan grabbing a particularly rude senator's arm and telling them "you are aware that Knight Skywalker is something of a daughter to me, yes?" as a threat and the overall idea of Rex getting flustered by Ani, I am... I'm gonna cry, guys.

As @the-lunar-system put it:

Rex: Girls like flowers, right? Rex: But it's Anakin, she likes, like, mechanic parts, and swordplay Rex: But also I don't want her to think I'm assuming she prefers more ""masc"" hobbies Rex: But also those ARE her hobbies

(he ends up getting her a vibroblade engraved with flowers)

[z0mbiebitchb0y]

So this take place right after this am gonna be using the name adam for mirror man, hope for wine mom, and Ted for the grandma(he kinda like... Just there)

Adam pouted "CLAIRE THIS DOORRRR!! UR BEING SO RUDE!! "

ted was pounding on the door "YOU OPEN THIS DOOR RIGHT NOW AND GET OUT!!! ", Hope just sighed listening and watching her husband and father in law pound on the door

"Ugh!!! That's it am going back... "

Ted let out a gruff and slowly made his way back down stairs grumbling something Adam pouted his lips looking over at hope ".... I guess we should um.. " hope just sighed and walk back to her room leaving her husband there "... Rude! "

Once hope got back to her room she couldn't help but feel a little sad.. Why was Adam so upset? And why was Ted going on about someone in the house? And most of all why was Claire avoiding all them? She just let out a groan and layed down

Adam walked back to the bathroom stilling whining about Claire not listening! He sat down on his chair and starting to fix his mirror but his mind started to wonder... How long has it been since he seen hope outside of her room.? And not to mention how she ignored him!!! >:[

The next morning Adam signed and when down stairs to grab something seeing his father asleep with blood on his chin and mouth "ugh... " adam said out loud as he walk to kitchen seeing hope already there they both look at each other Awkwardly "soo... Your up.." "And your out of that bathroom" he shot her a look as she just look away "you know you don't have to be so rude! I can't say anything without getting upset!! " he said a little to loudly his voice becoming whiny "are you serious?! I can't say anything!! You always ALWAYS have something to say!! " she yelled louder then him "well at least I try to be a decent person! " " decent really?! " he look like he was one comment away from crying so she just walked away quickly making her upstairs and to her room slamming the door

Adam just stood there in the kitchen having no idea how to process what just happened, he hasn't seen his wife in a while and that's what she does!!! He couldn't have been more upset!! He crossed his arms and went up to his bathroom "UGH! Now I forgot what I was gonna get!!! "

A few nights later after the whole... Fighting in the kitchen Adam had to go into his wife room to grab something of his... Ugh this is not gonna be pretty is it he thought.. He walked over to her door and opened it seeing her asleep he sighed and walked it quickly grabbing what he needed... Not with out accidentally dropping a wine bottle.. Why him!?

She got up and look at him her vision blurry "w-what? Who there..? " she asked her speech all slur he quickly said " am just here for my thing" she went quiet before saying "Adam.. Why do we always do this..? "

".. Do what? " fight.. No matterr what it iss we always find something... " adam looked away he wanted to walk away but.. Why won't his legs let him? Has his body betrayal him?!

Hope got up and almost tripped he quickly ran over to her and helped her, she looked over at him and gave him a smile "thanks.. " he set her down on her bed and look at door "a-am gonna go now.. " she sighed "ook... Again... Thanks Adam it nice when you care"she put her hand on his face as let out a small chuckle, he quickly rushed out the room "nice when i care? Hmph!" He walked back to his bathroom and sat down and blushed a bit touching the part of his face she touched... He smiled and chuckled a bit "... Maybe I'll check on her more often.. ".

BOOM first time writing a story! Lol idk what I was going for but I like to think that when hope all aigydgisgeigdou she just.. Sad and wants love

[whumpster-fire]

Yes, yes, yes!! This is one of my FAVORITE books of the series and my all-time favorite character, and you’ve understood her so well! I’m so glad someone realizes how traumatized and messed up she is but doesn’t blame her for it.

Yesss, thank you!

Funny story: several years ago when I had no idea what Wings of Fire even was, I made an OC for a totally unrelated fandom who... also has a character arc of being a child soldier / minion of the main villain who she's theoretically way more dangerous than, is told from birth that she's an irredeemable monster who the outside world would always hate and fear, emotionally and physically abused, and manipulated into committing atrocities, who also creeps people out and has blue eyes that remind people of fire, burned her abusive "parent" to death when she figured out how much he'd lied to her and that there was never any chance of him actually loving her, and even post redemption arc is kind of a mess of trauma who barely knows how to interact with others without intimidation and violence. When I listened to the Dragonet Prophecy, my reaction to encountering Peril was a combination of "What the fuck, how did I accidentally write a character with this many similarities?" and "Well, the fates have spoken, I love Peril now and want to adopt her."

So, I've kind of spent a lot of time writing characters with somewhat similar trauma, although not the kind of obsessiveness with people who treat her decently or being scared of making her own decisions that Peril has. But, like, it's so obvious how badly Peril's been desensitized to violence and starved of real affection and. The girl needs a support system to make real progress and it's kind of sad that the DoD, especially everyone except Clay, just kind of... didn't try and wrote her off as crazy and unstable even after she saved Clay's life? Like, her track record on helping vs hurting them is at most slightly worse than Deathbringer's, and also they're letting Webs teach at the academy and I think everyone except understandably Glory had complicated feelings about Kestrel's death, you'd think they could be more understanding of Peril having trouble with the idea of letting Scarlet die.

Also fr, everyone acting like Peril’s Satan when they’ve done horrible things under Scarlet’s reign as well?? Like… Ruby. Do you KNOW who was involved in this and how many things they did without hesitation?

The scapegoating is real!

Anyway, I finished Escaping Peril

My thoughts until the last like 5 minutes: Good job Peril I'm so proud of you

My thoughts after the last like 5 minutes: Good job Peril I'm so proud of you (but god damnit)

Dankstalker is back and ready to ruin everything I can't wait

I love this series but I think the "Oh well Peril realized that trying to cure her disability is bad because it would change who she is" message is missing the mark pretty badly. An Animus-touched accessory that suppresses her Firescales isn't a cure it's an assistive device and the IRL equivalent would be claiming medication that suppresses symptoms that fuck up your life and are dangerous to others is still bad because taking it implies there's something wrong with you. Chameleon's necklace isn't bad because using magic items as disability aids is bad, it's bad because he sabotaged the thing and added a mind control function, and also because Chameleon has species dysphoria and is also a fucking moron who was too unimaginative to use his Enchant-O-Matic 5000 scroll competently.

Here: "Enchant this bracelet to be impervious to all forms of dragon breath as well as the touch of a dragon with Firescales, and to perform the following functions when worn by a dragon with Firescales: first, to grant its wearer, if they have the Firescales condition, the power to control the temperature of their scales via thought and reduce it to the temperature of a typical Skywing while automatically relaxing the suppressing effect in the event of exposure to extreme heat or cold, defaulting to typical Skywing temperature if the wearer is asleep or unconscious, and second, to produce a mild cold sensation and a sharp tingling in on and off pulses with a length of two of the wearer's heartbeats and turn the stone in the center of the bracelet bright yellow in time with the pulses if the wearer's scale temperature exceeds the boiling point of water, and to shorten the pulse duration to one heartbeat and change the color to bright red if the wearer's scale temperature exceeds the ignition temperature of dry paper." That spell creates an item that Peril could put on and take off without destroying it and it wouldn't take her powers away, just give her an "off switch" that would let her touch other dragons / vegetation / scrolls safely plus give her two levels of warning for "don't touch other dragons" and "don't touch anything flammable."

Of course now it's understandable if Chameleon gave Peril trust issues about anything Animus-touched.

Speaking of Chameleon I'm kind of surprised Scarlet didn't try to get him to give her a trinket that got rid of her scar from Glory. Then again maybe she was planning on doing that as a celebration when she succeeded at her revenge plot.

Huge W for Queen Ruby being able to put aside her trauma with Peril. Good for her.

Laughing so hard over the entire "freeing Darkstalker" fiasco but especially him complaining about Moon reading his command line logs, and also Peril being so pleased with herself for doing the right thing and destroying the scroll and then IMMEDIATELY

Okay so I was just on a road trip and I decided to start listening to the Wings Of Fire series on audiobooks and after finishing the first sub-series I gotta say I'm loving it so far.

What I Expected: Warrior Cats but with dragons.

What I Got: Warrior Cats but with dragons meets Underland Chronicles (levels of Going This Hard with the dark themes and gore and fucked up stuff) meets A Series Of Unfortunate Events (general competence and trustworthiness of most of the adults in these poor kids' lives for most of the series). Like, not that Warrior Cats doesn't go hard with messed up stuff, but this series kind of gives me Underland Chronicles vibes in the way that it does it.

The setting and premise: In A World Ruled By Dragons... that apparently used to have a human civilization that was destroyed by dragons in an apocalyptic event long go but that's not important right now, (humans are still around but almost completely irrelevant to the plot with one notable exception), the seven tribes (species) of dragons have been dragged into an utter clusterfuck of a war because one of the tribes had a civil war due to a succession crisis and have managed to drag nearly everyone else into it. An ancient quite recent prophecy made by some guy who is still very much around states that this completely pointless waste of life will be ended by five children born under a specific celestial alignment, who will have the power to decide the victor of the civil war. A cross-species secret society known as the Talons Of Peace with the noble goal of getting everyone else to stop doing WWI With Dragons decides that the best way to make the prophecy go smoothly is to raise the destined hatchlings themselves in secret and keep them safe from any of the parties with a vested interest in the war's outcome, until they are ready...

In other words a pretty bog standard "Chosen Ones" children's fantasy plot, but what I love is that from the very beginning of the first book, Wings Of Fire pulls absolutely no punches with the fact that the main characters are child soldiers, and the supposed "good guys" organization is not only pretty sketchy for acquiring five eggs under circumstances of varying legitimacy (read: definitely kidnapped at least two, one more supposedly abandoned, one sold by deadbeat parents, one supposedly donated for the cause but it's unclear) but also is just as guilty of trying to use them as pawns for their own political goals as everyone else, and are not even actually neutral in the war.

What I also love is that the DoD (Dragonets of Destiny) are the worst fucking child soldiers ever and this is largely because the Talons Of Peace are completely fucking incompetent and massively fucked up every step of the "grooming kidnapped hatchlings into child soldiers" process.

Failed at kidnapping eggs. Literally in the very first chapter one of the eggs supposedly predestined to save the world is killed. One of the main characters is the last-minute replacement and literally not even the right species that's supposedly specified by the prophecy (and has psychological issues because no one has let her forget it)

Assigned the very important task of raising the Chosen Ones and teaching them the skills they will need to save the world to three dragons who were utterly horrible with kids and didn't want the job. Left them to it with no oversight for years and years.

Decided to raise them isolated from the organization they're supposed to be loyal to, in a fucking cave, giving them literally zero real world experience with so many essential skills like, say, navigation, or flying in actual weather. The main characters literally had a "Puppy Mill Animals Seeing Grass For the First Time" experience.

Did not research / pay attention to the basic biology and culture of the species the kids belong to. One of them, Clay, spent his whole life being told he tried to murder his adoptive siblings when he hatched because the surrogate parents had no idea that for his species the first in a clutch to hatch instinctively helps break their siblings' eggshells for them. Another is from the aquatic dragon species which has their own sign / bioluminescence language they use to communicate underwater. She was not taught any of this despite one of the surrogate parents being the SAME FUCKING SPECIES AS HER. And also, y'know, the negative amount of effort put into every single parenting decision related to Glory.

Literally the only thing the Talons Of Peace actually succeeded at was making the kids bond to each other, but managed to instill less than zero loyalty to the organization they were supposed to obey due to being left to be raised in isolation by emotionally and physically abusive parental figures. Later, the guy who made the prophecy, after checking back in and discovering that one of the children was the wrong species, thought fixing this mistake by having her murdered and replacing her with another kidnapped child would in any way work. As a result the Talons Of Peace now have five Chosen Ones who have ditched them and wanted absolutely nothing to do with them and their plans. As of three books into the series they are still doubling down on the "kill and replace the more annoying members of the group" plan and still seem to think that the surviving members would somehow accept this.

I also think it's noteworthy that, like, most of the remotely competent and trustworthy allies the DoD have are other child soldiers that they have run into along the way. Like, at this point we have Peril (Skywing Queen's attempt at making her very own Azula), Anemone (magical prodigy small child on a leash), Deathbringer (Nightwing secret agent who Glory accidentally flirted with while in disguise within the first five minutes of attempting her own unrelated spy mission), Fatespeaker (one of the Talons of Peace's backup plan dragonets who they somehow put even less effort into than the main five). And, like, Clay's siblings who are also a bunch of kids fighting a war.

Also I don't know if this was Tui T. Sutherland's intent all along or if it was audiobook reader Shannon McManus's artistic license, but. Whoever decided to give the Nightwings - a tribe from an inhospitable island who act like they're smarter and more cultured than everyone else but are mostly a bunch of pompous idiots, who have a decrepit and useless royal family, notoriously inedible "cuisine," and a plot to colonize and genocide one of the other tribes for land and natural resources - British accidents is a goddamn genius.