#hey who gave them the right to add such a fun mechanic to the game

[nightmareonpeachstreet]

friendship ended with treasure compass, now Sorush is my best friend

[felassan]

Highlights and insights from the MELE launch cast & crew reunion panel

[rewatch link] [highlights & insights from the N7 Day 2020 reunion]

In case a text format is better for anyone (in terms of accessibility for example). Cut for length.

Some paraphrasing.

If anyone’s interested in just the line-reading session, it starts at timestamp ~1:04:45.

In addition to the cast and crew from the N7 Day reunion, at this reunion also in attendance were: 

Mac Walters (Project Director for MELE, Lead Writer of the og MET)

Melanie Faulknor (Lead Producer for MELE)

Crystal McCord (Producer for MELE)

Fred Tatasciore (Saren)

Seth Green (Joker)

Kimberly Brooks (Ash)

Ash Sroka (Tali)

This was the biggest reunion / meetup of the cast so far, and some of the cast and crew were meeting for the first time here.

It’s been so long since the og MET that PW & KW are getting to watch their kids experience playing it for the first time

JHale doesn’t play but since MELE she’s been sneaking around Twitch jumping into peoples’ MELE livestreams to lurk, watch and comment a bit

What drew Seth to the character of Joker? The whole concept of the game. He likes games and MET’s mechanics (different trees of adventure, stacking reputation, choices carrying between games) at the time were the most sophisticated that he’d ever heard pitched. He thought this was new and exciting and wanted to be a part of it. For the character they cast him based on his personality traits (i.e. he sounds quite similar to Joker personality-wise)

Would Seth ever want to play Joker again if the opportunity presented itself? Sure, he loves the character, and if the writers ever had more things to explore/expand with Joker he’d be down for it. 

Seth said that it’s a different kind of fan that approach him about this project. The fans have spent many many hours in an intimate exchange with “him” that he hasn’t been a part of, but they experienced it nonetheless. “I’ve hugged a lot of strangers, you know what I’m saying? It’s great, you get an interaction with fans that you never get as a performer in any other experience”

Seth has been a space guy since he was little, it inspires him

With the state of the world the way it is now [covid, masks etc], does Ash think Tali’s story will be more impactful now than it was before? Ash hopes so, and that anything they do here will have a positive impact on a bigger level. Ultimately that’s why most of them do what they do, they want to reach people in deep ways. She hopes Tali is an inspiration in courage, bravery, standing up for what’s right and thinking about the greater good

The [MELE I think] dev team had a last team meeting with Greg Zeschuk, one of the founders of BioWare, who they had invited to it. He was regaling them with stories of the inception of Mass Effect. “You would imagine this sort of well-laid out, drawing boards everywhere... [but] it was basically just a napkin sketch in a Greek taverna with him and Casey going ‘We wanna do a space opera’, and then it took off”

The process of creating lore through development is very organic. A lot of it comes from character and story development. It builds up over the course of the game’s development. They did the codex entries at the end, the idea being that if they saved them for as late as they could, then they could pull from the story, characters and meaningful moments, and build them from there

PW wrote a bunch of the codex entries, elevator banter & lots of little bits of lore. They describe their time on the og MET as being a “baby writer”. They originally came in after Mac had back surgery and a junior writer was needed to fill in. “It was really fun, it was us sitting in a room together going ‘What do you think a hanar or a krogan thinks about this or that’?” For a first project for them this was an amazing experience - the world building itself creatively with all these awesome people

They tried to add multiplayer in every game but only got it to work in ME3

They had a lot of plots laid out in ME1 that they called “global plots”. These were outside the core critical path and would take players from planet to planet, and were sprawling stories. They pulled out a lot of really interesting concepts and ideas from these that did make it into the game, but all of the global plots ended up getting cut due to time. Mac still has old diagrams and spreadsheets which detailed how all of these would have come together

Q. If you all had to take a long-distance road-trip with two squadmates, who would you take and why? PW: “Jack and Mordin. Mordin because the drive would never lack for things to talk about at length quickly, Jack because you know you wouldn’t pay for the room. You wouldn’t know how you’d get the room, but you wouldn’t be paying for it.” Courtenay: “I’d take Mordin because there’d be singing, and FemShep just to have this thing - happen. In the room that I get for free.” JHale at this point fistpumped while saying “Yeess” [then I think what she said was “steaming hot”]

Seeing as asari are long-lived, how open is Ali to one day reprising her role as Liara? “She’s a character very close to my heart, it was such a great opportunity. In some games that we work on the character has already been created or voiced by someone else, but this was really a group effort. When I first went into the booth, the only thing I’d seen of her was a sort of like, rendering, and we slowly kind of came to her voice and presence. I would love to bring Liara back any time... hey, she can live a really long time guys. :D”

Caroline and people who do what she does (Creative Performance Director) are so critical to the quality of games. Caroline: “This group of people are extraordinary. We were lucky to have such an extraordinary cast. Every [recording] session was new and challenging. It was a labor of love. I’m tearing up right now thinking about it. I’m remembering my last session with Jen, she was the last session, just sobbing and sobbing”. When JHale was trying to say the lines of Shepard’s goodbye with Garrus, a line hit her like a tonne of bricks and she was in tears and was like “Shepard does not cry”. “It took me a second, I got it out and took another run at it, it was in there but stuffed down as it should have been, and I finished the line [and there was silence in the booth when usually Caroline would have been talking to give direction or instruction] Did we lose her? Did Skype crash?” and it transpired that what had happened was that Caroline was in floods of tears

ME was the first time Keythe had ever come across branching dialogue. “Normally when we work on a script and it’s from page 1 to 100. In this it was get to page 5, then go back to page 2 and play it a little differently. The skill and the fun and joy of it was to be able to go back and play a scene in a different way, with different writing, with different outcomes. This was not only a challenge but a real treat. So to all the writers who dreamed up how this build-your-own-adventure plays out, you have my undying respect. It was a real pleasure”

VEDA is a proprietary system that BW use to record the dialogue, which is the closest way of having it feel like having people in the booth together (it’s all digital and VAs get to hear the line someone else has done in that scene). Caroline really pushed for this because of the amount of time etc that was wasted due to lack of this sort of thing on ME1. William: “It was a god send for me, thank you, getting to hear a cue from Jen or Mark.” Ali: “Us being able to bounce off each other helps make it more real. This for me was the most real acting experience on a game I had ever had - the writing being so good, Caroline helping us through, being able to hear each other.” JHale was always early coming in to record relative to the others so only got to use VEDA a few times - a bit of Liara content and the scene with Anderson towards the end. “Those two times, oh my god it was amazing”. VEDA being a thing also helps from a scheduling standpoint

Seth and Tricia Helfer (EDI) only got to be in the booth actually together 1 time, to record/shoot a piece of promotional video. “We actually got to record a scene together and we were like ‘oh my god this is the best thing ever’. It was great, even though I had to stand on a stool. She’s the best”

Seth: “As an actor, the kind of opportunity to do this kind of material in games just didn’t exist.” Fred: “Oh, never! I had never had a villain part that was complicated like that. In a game? Never before, it was really interesting”

Raphael always goes back to the fact that ME brought more women into gaming than any other game before it. “The writing and the complexity of the relationships gave us so much ballast”. “This set this apart from running, shooting, gunning, looting”

JHale: “What I noticed in the times before when I got to be around fans, there was a huge hunger among women in the gaming world for something they could really jump into. They were starving for something which fed them what they deserved and needed”

Mac: “[praising Caroline] Caroline would often come to us as writers and challenge us and say, as an example, ‘Do we really need another male character to do this? Why are we writing another male character for this?’ She pushed that very early and to the betterment of everything we created”

PW: “Karin and Cookie and all of the editors across the trilogy, [were critical in] making sure that Shepard sounded consistent - [especially since] we had a large writing team, writers came and went, Mac is the only one with a significant writing contribution on each of the games”

PW: “[on game dev] It’s a process of getting hundreds of people pointed in the same direction, all believing that this is something worth doing”

Ash: “Having all the different possibilities and avenues, going back to play them all out in the different ways [really helped to round the character of Tali out and make her feel like a natural person]”.

VAs only get paid for the original recording sessions, not again (as in they don’t any royalties or anything from something like the remaster)

In MELE, they left all the original credits at the end of each game in

Fred: “It’s creating in five dimensions [because of all the outcomes and relationships etc]”. Seth: “The cool thing is that the audience feels that. They’re immediately struck by how dense, thought-out, prepared and planned the entire universe is”

How was it for the new MELE devs coming onto this? Crystal: “I knew it [the series and fans’ love for it] was big, but I didn’t know it was BIG! Working on MELE there was this infectious excitement. Being part of it was so exciting.” Melanie: “I came on at ME3, I had a 3 or 4 year honeymoon period with BioWare. Coming onto MELE, I’m getting really emotional. One of my first meetings originally was going into a cinematic review for an epic Tali scene in ME3”. Crystal: “On MELE, we had an hour or 2 every day where the team came together to play the game. In those reviews, a lot of the devs who worked on the original would tell all these stories. It was really fun to hear all the inside stories on ME’s creation and be a part of that”

DC: “Should this unit get vaccinated?” Ash: “Of course”

How do they think ME will be viewed in the next 10-20 years, what do they think its legacy will be? A piece of history, ground-breaking. It broke down some barriers and opened doors for people. It’s a powerful, powerful community. It’ll continue to age quite well and be enjoyed by a new generation, it’s original and evergreen and there’s a lot in it that people go back to. There’s a lot of universal things in it (personal experiences, like there will always be love, people fighting to belong, trying to make sense of their pasts etc)

JHale and Alix did the “I love you Shepard, now go save the world again” Shep-Sam exchange and both got teary. It was then Seth’s turn to line-read: “Jesus Christ, now that I’m good and choked up, fucking mess”. Ali was also actually crying from it

Seth: “It can’t be overstated, this community is so large and global, it is one of the most powerful fandoms that I’ve ever been greeted with. Thank you”. Ash: “It’s the most amazing group of fans ever. We’re all so grateful”

Some funny anecdotes/stories:

PW didn’t realize that Alix could do different accents. They remember a time when they were listening in the booth and an Alliance soldier was complaining about the gear had been given. They said “Wow that’s really good, who is that?” and the VO producer said “That’s Alix, Patrick”, “because she wasn’t doing her [normal British accent but was doing a Californian accent instead]. Alix roasted me later for not recognizing her voice and never let me heard the end of it”

Alix: “[on Sam’s toothbrush] Caroline’s like, ‘So then she pulls her toothbrush’ and I’m like ‘What? Sorry? A toothbrush?’ and obviously it’s funny now as everyone knows that Sam’s thing is her toothbrush. Caroline’s like ‘Yeah, you’ve gotta like, flirt, over the toothbrush’ and I’m like ‘Who wrote this - a frickin toothbrush, are you kidding me? Really guys?’ ANYWAY. I was wrong and it worked. :D”

Fred: “I remember a 12 year old kid coming up to me and being like [flat tone] ‘Oh yeah. I killed you’.”

Keythe: “The other assasin I play is Kellogg in Fallout 4. People come up to me like ‘Omg. I love you so much. And then I fucking KILLED you!’”

Courtenay once went out to dinner in NZ with a few prominent people from the Game of Thrones cast. “Everyone around was making a big deal out of it like ‘Omg, it’s so-and-so from GoT’. I was feeling a bit like ‘Hi, I’m here, just nobody’. And I looked around in the restaurant and there's one guy in the corner and he’s got an N7 shirt on and he’s just looking at me like [knowing look, does a peace sign]. And I’m like ‘I got one! I love you guys!’”

PW: “I have a question for the cast members, because I don’t know if JHale has done this to all of you or if she just does it to the devs. Show of hands if Jen has ever made you do push-ups.” JHale: “It’s just you guys”

Karin: “One of my favorite editing files that I ever had was a ME file. It was before Seth was coming in for a session. I opened it up and it was just 20, 25 lines with the word ‘Shit’, over and over again, and I was like, ‘This file is perfect, I don’t need to do anything to it, have fun!’”

Seth: “Didn’t we do a track that’s like 60 seconds of laughing? Escalating laughing? I don’t know about other actors but for me getting into a laughing fit is kind of like trying to get into a crying fit, it takes the same level of commitment, you start to follow a path until like you’re hysterically uncontrollably laughing. I remember looking through the glass, and I’m deep in it at this point, and I make eye contact, and I can see from the other side of the booth and they’re like [making ‘okay you can stop’ now gestures] - ‘Like that’s plenty, we got it’ and I was like ‘okay, okay [dying]’”

JHale: “The craziest thing Mark and I had to deal with was how many times we had to say ‘I should go’”. Mark: “We also, Caroline and I tended to use that as short hand when I needed to go to the bathroom”

The panel host: “The first time I interviewed Ali was a decade ago. She did the ‘I’ll flay you alive with my mind’ line halfway through, it was my first interview and I literally fell out of my seat [from being star-struck]”

Ash line-read Tali’s drunk omni-tattoo scene and in response DC said “I totally get why people wanna romanticize all these characters :D”. Karin: “We’ve had more than one person come up to us and show us actual tattoos that looked like that”

[source]

[my-own-oracle]

Loving you- requested!

EDIT: this has been re-uploaded since my account was deleted! I am sorry for the inconvenience. 

Tfp bots with number 42-"I have never loved you as much as I do right now."

@a-bitchtm I love your enthusiasm, usually have a limit on the number of bots I have per request. But because I made you wait so long and I had a lot of fun with it, I did four of them. If you want to see any more, let me know. 

Ratchet

Ratchet was usually quite hard to approach: his no-nonsense demeanor often left interactions with the bot feeling flat, and with much to be desired. But he had been appointed your guardian, and a stubborn mech like the doc required a stubborn companion. 

You often spent your days at the base, watching the giant doctor work. But the evenings we're where the battles of stubbornness were indeed waged.

 You had been studying a map of your home city, it was only a state over and the proposed location of another artifact. You had been looking for a site that could hide, or be built around a 'mystical' cybertronian object. You had accepted this task, earlier this afternoon, but you still felt like you nad nothing. 

Ratchet was standing not far off. Mumbling to himself as he worked through the lines of gibberish, you recognized as cybertronian. You had tried to convince him to take a break and recharge a few hours ago, but he insisted he was fine. 

He wasn't. You could tell he was tired. His frame sagged, and his mumbling and squinting of his optics gave it away. A yawn caught you off guard as you checked your watch. 2:39 am. You had decided to keep him company. After all, you had work to do too, but your body was beginning to protest. Another yawn, you turned back to the maps laid out in front of you. 

"You need to go and sleep." Ratchet's voice filled the empty air, but his attention was still on the large screens. 

"So do you," you watched his helm shake slightly.

"No, I have to much to do."

"And taking care of yourself is also on that list." Ratchet turned to face you, and his optics looked dim. "Your tired, your frame is sagging," you raised a finger with each point, "your eye -ah optics, are dim and your starting to sway"'  

"You're infuriating. You are no better. You've yawned 36 times in the past two hours. Almost cycled off in to recharge 5 times in the past thirty, and if you want to call my optics dim, I would say yours have been snuffed out." His voice was firm, but it lacked its usual snark. 

"Since when do you keep such close track of me?" You stood up, waving your hand at his monitor. "You're always talking about how much more important your work is, but you're willing to use brainpower to keep track of the number of times I've started falling asleep?"

"It's my job to make sure all members of this team are in top form."

"All members?"

"Yes, "

"Then that includes yourself" He stammered a moment. Another sign to add to your ever-growing list. 

"Since when did you start fretting over an old mech?" A giant hand placed itself next to you, a silent offer. You climbed up, opting to sit in his open hand rather than trust your legs to hold you steady.

"Since the day I met you, Ratchet." He mumbled a response. You didn't quite hear it. 

"One more time, "

"I have never loved you as much as I do right now." You smiled, and so did Ratchet. You loved his smile, he should do it more. 

"Then love me enough to go to sleep; if you go to bed, I will too." Ratchet grumbled and smiled. With a few taps to his computer, he turned off the monitors and headed off to his hab-unit with you in hand to get some rest. 

Bulkhead

Today had played out so differently in your head. The dream had been waking up to no excitement. There is no need to storm an energon mine, no world-shattering event to stop. Thanks to a school-wide trip, no teenagers making errors could cause huge problems. At the end of this uneventful day, you would have all the time in the world to go out and watch the meteor shower that was occurring at 2am. Instead, you had been sent out on a mission with Bulkhead only to discover at its end, that the ground bridge wasn't working. 

"Why did we allow her to come again?" You turned and watched Miko as she played a game on her phone in the back. She was sprawled out in the back tired out from the rock show she performed for you on the drive up and the hiking around during recon. 

"Because her school trip got canceled, and I have a hard time saying no," Bulkhead's voice quietly filtered through the cab. You chuckled, Miko seemed lost in her own world at the moment, so you decided to give her space.

"You are wrapped around her finger" You all round a bend before you talk again. "How far are we from the base?"

"A good day's drive. Maybe more if we want to avoid major cities." You feel like sulking, you were definitely missing that meteor shower. "What's wrong, did you have a hot date tonight?" 

The eye roll was a gut reaction, as was your smile. "You know I don't have time for that; besides, you're starting to sound like Wheeljack." 

"Seriously then." you sighed, shifting to slouch lower in your seat. 

"There's this meteor shower tonight." You didn't know how much of this Bulkhead cared about, but he had been the one to ask…" I was going to spend time researching the best possible location to watch it from and see if I could bribe Ratchet to bridging me there and back."

"But now you get to hang with us." Miko injected, while Bulkhead realized the source of your frustration.

"You'd rather be watching it, hm?"

"Don't take it as I don't want to spend time with the two of you," you gesture to the cab, "It's just since I was little I've always wanted to watch the 'falling stars' my mom talked about seeing once." 

"It sounds nice," You leaned deeper into Bulkhead's seats.

"More like boring, but hey, to each their own." Miko flopped forward over the center console. "Hey, let's play a game while we drive." You smiled as Miko tried to describe her road trip game to Bulkhead. You spent a moment pushing the meteors out of your head; after all, it was not every day you got to spend quality time with these two. 

     * 

"(Y/N). Can you wake up?" The question was light. Bulkheads voice breaking the silence during another of Miko's and your naps. The sun had set at some point, casting the day into a soft and comforting darkness, illuminated by the milky way's thousands of stars. "(Y/N), wake up." Your head jerked awake at Bulkheads prodding. When had you fallen asleep? You had wanted to keep the giant bot company through the night since he was determined to drive as long as possible. 

"Is everything ok?" you started looking around. Outside looked peaceful, and inside was quiet except for the snores emitting from the teenager behind you. "Has Miko been asleep the whole ride?" You looked back in disbelief. It looked as though she had moved, but you had no evidence that she had woken up. 

Bulkhead chuckled, "You're delusional if you really think Miko would sleep for the majority of a day." You swatted at the headrest of the seat next to you. "Ok, ok. She was awake for a while after you fell asleep. I tried to keep her quiet." 

You were touched at the effort that must have taken. Miko was loud and brash, keeping her occupied and quite must have been a handful to do while trying to drive them home. "Thank you, Bulk." you shifted to lean against his door. "How far out are we?"

The sound of tires on the paved road filled your ears, and you watched as the wheel moved to keep them steady. "Not too far, but I'm taking a slight detour." He sounded guilty, 

"What was going on?" Slowly, being careful not to jostle the cab, Bulkhead pulled over to the side of the road. You felt the locking mechanism move under your back. "Step out, will you?" You eyed the dash, curious as to what on earth Bulkhead could want this late at night. 

"Bulk what's-" a man materialized in the seat next to you. He was a big broad-chested man with dark skin and an Autobot tattoo on his right shoulder. His black wifebeater and green cargo pants screamed military and soldier in your mind. His body had materialized with his hands on the steering wheel, his arms relaxed, and his eyes gently closed. He was still for only a moment, and in that moment, your heart sped up. From what you couldn't tell, but it was hammering. 

His eyes opened to reveal an unusual blue color, one more resembling the color of the bot's optics than any blue you had seen in a human. The man wasted no time opening up the driver's side door and stepping out. Hesitantly you followed. "What-"

"What do you think?" The man kept his head upwards towards the sky, his voice was Bulkhead's voice, but softer... almost. "The lights from all the major cities are far enough away you should be able to see this meteor shower you wanted to see."

"Who-" 

"Then again," Not-Bulkhead surveyed the flat landscape. "Miko had said you probably wanted to watch from an elevated area." He hurried past you back to Bulkhead's parked form and began climbing the back to reach the roof. Watching this man climb up, your close friend snapped you out of your shock.

"Just you wait one moment-" you grabbed the back of his shirt. "What's going on here?" you tried to pull the man down "Bulkhead-"

"Come on (Y/N)," He reached down gently, swatting your hands from his shirt and finishing his brief climb to Bulkhead's roof. Turning to offer you a hand up. "You didn't want to miss this, right?" the way he said your name, the gentle giant way he was caring about you, this was Bulkhead. This was Bulkhead trying to show you the falling stars you had always wanted to see. 

"How do you know we'll be able to see them?" You took his hand and let him haul you up into his arms. Letting him guide you into sitting in his lap. 

"I had Miko call Raph, and he looked up on his computer where we needed to be." His voice rumbled from his chest into your back. You knew you had to be smiling like a crazy person. "Look," one of his hands, previously holding him in place as he leaned back, was thrust forward-pointing up to the sky. You caught the tail end of it. The fading streak across the sky. It was followed by another, then another, soon enough, the sky was full of streaking silver light, and your heart was swelling. You laid back, eyes never leaving the atmosphere above you.

"Bulkhead, I've never loved you as much as I do right now." His arms moved to wrap themselves around your waist. Together, you stayed there, watching the sky until the last one had sailed by, before moving back into the cab and starting off to finish the rest of the road trip home. 

Bumblebee

Bumblebee loved Fridays. It was the best day of the week, especially since you had moved to the base. Every Friday morning, without fail, you would wake up at 7am and head out to the roof of the base. There you would lay out a massive tarp and roll out an industrial-sized shop vacuum you had bought off eBay. And it always leads to this. 

7:30am  

Bumblebee sat in the morning sun, his doors open to the world. You sat in an old pair of jeans, your knees on the metal roof vacuuming out his interior. To Bee, this was the most relaxing feeling in the world. You meticulously vacuumed his seats, driver's side, the back then, passenger side, afterword focusing on the floor mats. That's what you were currently on. Woking the vacuums brush against his transformation seams. Dragging out a week's worth of sand, dirt, and grit. 

He always told you it was unnecessary to clean him this thoroughly, but you insisted. 

"Bumblebee, you drive Raph and me everywhere. We, all though unwillingly, fill you with all the nasty and dirty particles of everything we walk through in a day. The least I can do is clean you out." 

After nearly two months, the strange feeling of the vacuum had become comforting. The feel of the brush, relaxing. The young scout would never admit this to anyone, but he especially enjoyed what came after. 

The vacuum shut off, the silence overtaking the air. You stood up, pulling a small white rag from your belt. You dipped it into a bucket of warm water, wringing it out before slipping off your shoes and crawling into his cab. 

The rag ran down his dash, cleaning up the oil and dirt that came off human fingers. Your hand pressed delicately against his leather interior, studying yourself as you worked.

"Everything alright?" you were scrubbing a little more forcefully on his steering wheel.

"Yes, There's just something a little sticky, I bet it's from a soda." you sighed, shifting to sit in the seat. "I can't believe you let me and Raph eat in here yesterday." You took the dry end of the rag, tracing back over every spot you cleaned with the damp side. 

"I knew you would be careful and take care of me later." You climbed out, chuckling at his comment like it was a joke. Throwing the now 'dirty' rag off to the side in favor of a new one, dipping it in the same warm water you had before. 

He shut his doors, he could feel you as you sat down next to him. Your presents brushing against his EM field; his door sensors, the ones that made up his 'wings' as you called them, lighting up at the gentle touch you had as you worked off scuffs and paint from other bots and cars alike. 

The strokes began to blend together as his processor slowed down; he wanted to stay in this moment forever. The chilly desert morning and his (Y/N) cleaning off the grime from the week. 

"I have never loved you as much as I do right now." He knew it was a strange thing to say, and an even more unusual way to thank you for all the work you were doing. But it didn't make the statement any less real. 

"I love you too." Bumblebee could hear the smile in your voice. Yes, if he had to pick any one moment to live in forever, this one was most definitely number one. 

Wheeljack

"I can't do this anymore." Wheeljack looked over, the thick book on your lap slamming shut registering in his audials. "This assignment doesn't make sense, this professor is a moron, and my school is a joke." Your hands were gripping the hair on your head. Wheeljack was no expert on humans, but he felt that that wasn't a good thing. "I'm done, I can't do this." he laughed to himself as you began shoving everything into the bag you took with you everywhere. "I can't do this, I can't. I'm done. I'm done." Your human optics are leaking a little. He watched as your face turned red, and your head shook back and forth.

He recalls Bulkhead explaining that leaking optics are a terrible thing for humans, It means there's something wrong. A soft whisper is let out amongst the noise, a whisper he wouldn't have heard if he wasn't so in tune with you.

"I'm a failure,"

Wheeljack was on his pedes faster than he had ever thought possible. You were hunched over that stupid bag, shoulders shaking. He had to get you back. He didn't know what exactly got you this upset, but he knew it had something to do with that university you kept complaining about this week. 

"Alright speedster, enough of that." As gently as a wrecker could, he picked you up. Dropping you from one hand to another. "No wrecker gets to sulk while I'm around, Stop your crying and brace yourself." The bot looked over to Bulkhead and the other humans as he walked to the center of the base. "Tell Prime: I'm going out."

Wheeljack gave you a soft toss upward, you yelped as gravity pulled you back into his open servo. "Ready?" You tilted your head, something he found cute but swore never to admit out loud. 

"What-what are you-you doing?" you stuttered between your tears.

"Fixing that look on your face." Wheeljack nodded to Bulkhead, who opened the base doors. Your bot tossed you up again this time a little higher, lurching forward he transformed around you, landing with you in his front seat. Before you could blink a seat belt was strapped around your torso. The two of you flying out into the desert. You watched as his speedometer climbed, 30 to 40. 50 to 70. 80 to 100. You were no longer on the road; instead, Wheeljack had turned out into the desert. The world was a blur out of his windows. He dared to look inward for a brief moment to check on you before returning his optics to his driving. Your soft hands were holding onto the seat and door. But the tears had stopped flowing, and a small smile was spread on your face. 

The wrecker pushed himself to go faster, he needed his speedster back, the one that laughed as he drove at unhuman like speeds that begged him to try and go even faster then he could go safely with you.  

150.

He was, for your sake, slowly climbing in his speed. Your grip loosened on his door, and he tightened the belt across your torso. 

170

Your body was shaking again, but not from tears, this was a familiar shake. This was you teetering on laughter. This was a shake Wheeljack loved to feel against his seats. 

190

"Wheeljack!" you were laughing. "I know you can go faster!" 

200

"I promised Ratchet I would go over 200 with you, he says it's dangerous." You hear the smirk in his voice. 

"Since when do you listen to the Doc-Bot?" Both hands were on his seatbelt, "I'm safe with you, come on, Faster!"

"I need you to say something first," He slowed a little, enough so he could glance inward again. "Tell me why you, of all people, would think you're a failure." Your face fell, not good, but necessary.

"I don't understand the work, my teacher wouldn't answer my questions." Your head sank. "She said I shouldn't be asking too many questions."

"Well, Frag her. She doesn't know what she's doing. It's obvious she's just bad at her job." you smiled again, "Now, if that's the only problem, I think we ought to see how fast we can outrun it." 

He gave a little yank on the strap, making sure your body was flush against his seat. 

He'd never tell you, but Ratchet had really freaked him out about hurting you. 

"Floor it!" 

He complied.

*

It was late in the evening, you both were tired, and your adrenaline had worn out, and Wheeljack knew he had burned through more energon than he should have. 

"We should call for a bridge." The car around you rumbled for a moment.

"Yeah, I'll patch us through." The two of you sat in silence.

"Are you even calling them?"

"No." You reclined his seat back. And listened to his engine idle.

"Thank you for making me feel better." 

"No big."

"Seriously. I have never loved anyone as much as I love you right now. Thank you."

His spark practically jumped, but he was grateful you couldn't see his faceplates. It would be nice to spend some more time with you, so you two sat in the quiet desert. 

Happy and content. 

Don't forget to share your thoughts with me!

[omiscurls]

prom queen

sakusa kiyoomi x reader

word count: around 12K i apologize profusely 

 "Did I just hear Sakusa Kiyoomi say my ass? Oh god the world's end is upon us!"

i’d just like to add that english is NOT my first language so i apologize for the simple constructions and mistakes every now and then, although i did check it all before posting 

"Quit smiling at me, I can't stop messing up my sentences if you keep looking at me like that" you heard him say, almost embarassed, but still not quite, going back to explaining something to Komori, after the comment.

"I wasn't smiling at you" you responded, crossing your arms at your chest, pulling out the best pout face you could. You almost heard Sakusa's eyeroll.

You, in fact, were smiling at him, for two very simple reasons. One, volleyball was one of the things you geniuenly adored watching him talk about, and two, you knew how rattled it made him and enjoyed his face turning bright red as he tried to ignore you, but failed miserably and loosing the subject he was talking about.

Even when he finally figure out that you were doing it on purpose, he still couldn't seem to get over your wide smile. But what he truly couldn't get over was people, mostly Komori, teasing him about it all the time.

Sakusa's one weakness — your smile. And the germs, of course, that too, but it made the quote so less romantic.

"You were saying, Sakusa?" Komori asked, smiling as well, watching him being all miserable, and knowing that question will push him off his tracks even more.

"Nevermind, you meatheads, you aren't worth my time" he cut him off by pulling out his headphones and then proceeding to plug them into his phone like he was alone.

"Hey, I know you're a douchebag, but be pleasant to your girlfriend!" his friends intended on hitting him playfully, but he dodged it in absolute shock. Then, when the words finally hit him, he turned even redder and looked at Komori with disgust.

"She's not my girlfriend". he just added, leaving, but grabbing your sweater, so you'd follow him.

"Sure she isn't!" the other boy yelled as you two were walking away. Sakusa showed him his middle finger without even turning around.

You were still laughing while leaving the school campus, with him holding a scrap of your sleeve between his fingers, eyes glued to the phone.

"Would you mind stopping already?" he finally lifted up his head.

"Oh, I'm sorry Omi, it's just fun seeing you all so flustered"

"I'm not! And enough with the Omi already" he said coldly, it would almost hurt you didn't know him long enough to know being unpleasant was just his coping mechanism.

"Oh yeah? Then let go of my sweater, Sakusa-san" you said in the most chilly way you could, before jerking your hand away and walking in a different direction than the one you two usually took when going home. Both ways leaded to the same train station, cause you needed to take the same train to get to your block, only after leaving your station did you need to part. The route you took now was longer than the usual one, but you didn't care, you didn't need to make it before Sakusa's train if you weren't coming home with him, right?

"Oh god, don't get offended!" he said while you were already leaving, even tried to catch you, but gave up. After coming across a turn, you looked behind you to see if he was following you, but he wasn't.

It kinda hurted, how fast he gave up. Made you feel as if it didn't matter to him whether you went home together or not. Maybe it truly didn't, sometimes you had no clue what was happening in his head. Did he truly get embarassed when Komori called you his girlfriend? Or was he just annoyed? Maybe he ment it every time he insulted you in some way, and you just tried to explain it to yourself in other ways so you wouldn't lose him?

Maybe, just maybe, he was as much of a douchebag as everybody described him to be.

**

Meanwhile Sakusa was still looking in the direction where you disappeared a couple of minutes earlier, letting the crowd of students pass him by.

Did she really leave like that? Did I offend her?

Oh, whatever, girls were so easy to offend, anyway. You knew how much you ment to him, right? There was no need to say it.

Right?

Komori interrupted his thinking, by running up to him and slapping his back, much to Sakusa's displeasure.

"What're you still doing here? Aren't you walking with Miss Girlfriend today?" he asked unbothered by the murder look on his face.

"She's not— No, no I'm not" he gave up on trying to convince Motoya you weren't his girlfriend. Or maybe he didn't want to convince him?

"Why's that?"

"Well, she left and went the other way" he explained, starting to walk. He and Komori lived almost next door to each other, so even after leaving the train station, they'd still be going together, and Sakusa already predicted that this conversation is going to haunt him all the way until reaching his door.

"Oh my, what did you do now to piss her off? She never gets annoyed with your shit"

He wanted to yell at him that he did nothing, and you're probably just in a bad mood, not by his fault, but words couldn't seem to get out of his mouth.

"I might've accidentally hurt her on accident"

"You said accident twice"

"No I didn't!"

Komori laughed, suprising his friend. How could he be laughing right now, when you left him just like that, and he didn't know what to do next?

"Anyway" he finally said, and suprisingly caught Sakusa's attention "I'm not the one you should be explaining yourself to, so let's shift the subject a bit. Saku, your my socially awkward friend, and you know I'd do a lot to help you out once you actually found somebody who keeps up with you, but I can't be dropping her hints forever. How're you gonna ask her to prom?"

If Sakusa were drinking at the moment, he definitely would've choked.

"I'm not asking her to prom" he denied. What kind of an idea was that? Did he loose his mind? Sakusa? To prom? Hell no.

"What do you mean you're not asking her to prom?!" Komori stopped in his tracks, putting both of his hands on Sakusa's shoulders, so he'd stop as well. "Are you dumber than I already preassumed, Saku?"

"Are you? I'm not going to prom at all." he replied before starting to walk again.

"Why?!" Komori tried desperately to keep up with him.

The black haired boy stopped once more and threw a deadly glance at his friend.

"Because, you idiot, I hate crowds, I hate people, parties, shared drinks, dancing, highschoolers and not being able to talk, because the music is so loud it could be heard from the fricking moon. Because prom is everything I am not. Because it's gross and overrated and not that fun at all, it's an old custom that parents use to tell their kids they need to have a boyfriend or a girlfriend at eighteen or else they'd waste their teenage years, and the popular kids use to mock the less recognizable ones. The thing that makes both girls and guys loose sanity and adds twice as much complexes to their mental health than they had before. And besides, she would've said no anyway. Satisfied, you moron?"

Only after finishing the sentence did Sakusa realize his hands had started to sweat uncontrollably, and a hot feeling flooded his insides, causing his heart rate to increase significantly. It took him a minute to catch his breath, even though he was standing in place, not even walking.

Komori was looking at him with a dumb expression, not really sure how to respond to that outburst of frustration.

"Well that part with saying no isn't certain, is it? he finally mumbled, but Sakusa only snorted sarcastically and speeded up. "You never know unless you—"

"Komori! I'm not fucking asking! Do you understand, or is it too difficult for your peanut sized brain? Well let me spell it out for you: I'm not. Asking. Her. To. Prom. Understood?" he didn't even realize he was yelling, and two or three old ladies were staring him up and down from the distance, with disgust. He was so shaken up he didn't care.

He noticed the other boy wasn't walking beside him anymore, but standing in place and only looking at him in disbelief. He slowed down as well. Komori's normal and bubbly expression and aura suddenly shifted, and the taller boy noticed that he looked like a serial killer when he didn't smile.

"Well, now that you're done with that pathethic little whining, let me tell you something as well" the boy trembled at the coldness of Komori's voice, as he was walking up to him. "And you better listen to me carefully, Sakusa fucking idiot Kiyoomi."

Now, that was unnecessarly direct.

"Prom isn't the only dumb tradition this school holds. You know what happens a week before the party? A game. "Honours Homecoming Match". The team that has the most successes on it's account by the end of the semester has a game. And what is our school so famous for? Volleyball. So who's gonna have a game, for the third years to show off one last time before graduation? Us. And you know who's the most awaited person on the prom night, besides the prom queen and king? The athletes. The captains, the aces, especially of the teams that are popular right now. And who's the ace of our most significant team?"

Silence fell upon them.

"That question isn't rhetorical, Kiyoomi. Who's our volleyball ace?"

"I am" he responded, now regretting ever getting into volleyball.

"Exactly. Now get your act together and acknowledge the fact that coach is probably going to FORCE YOU to go there, and you're going to be way more miserable all alone with Cap and his girlfriend, than you would've been if you took you precious little friend along with you."

"I gue—" Sakusa tried to agree, although, he still hated the idea, but Komori cut him off once more.

"And if that's not enough for you, then fine, I'll paint you an even worse picture. Go on about how you are not interested in her in any way, but I see the way your eyes light up when she shouts your name from across the hallway. I see how you smile every time after telling her you don't care about the compliments she gives you. I see how focused you are when she's watching our games."

"I'm always focused"

"Shut up, did I finish? It's a different kind of focus. You really think I don't notice you constantly checking whether you got notifications, even though you never did that before meeting her? And even though you tell her it's annoying when she randomly texts you? Well, I do. I see how important she is to you and I see how much you try to hide your feelings, even from yourself, because you're scared, which is understandable, you never felt like that before. I get it all, really, I do, Kiyoomi. But imagine this. Imagine how she would feel if everyday, while hanging out with you, she'd wish for you to ask her that one simple question. Maybe sometimes you'd even unconsciously lead her on, and then at the end of the day not say it, imagine how she'd go home with her hopes crushed, only to hope for the same the next day. And imagine it going on and on until prom week, when she'd suddenly stop wishing for it to happen anymore, because everything around her seems to say it won't? And then some lame ass guy's gonna ask her two days before and she'll eventually say yes, because well, it's better than going alone, right? And then she'd dress up the best she can, do her make up, all that, all for a guy she doesn't care about, but she still wants to have prom memories? Then she'd go, and see you there, alone, which wouldn't even mean you have someone else, no, it would only mean you didn't want to go with HER."

"Stop! That's not why I'd be alone!"

"Did I say it was why you'd be alone? No, I say she would've thought that, because well, that's how it would've looked like. And imagine her waiting for that lame ass guy to ask her for even one simple dance, but she'd be busy trying to get attention from a girl that already rejected him. And even though she didn't give a single shit about him either it still would've hurt her, because she'd feel objectified, someone only wanted to go out with her because it would be a shame to go alone. Imagine her not taking it anymore and running of to the bathroom, all her carefully done make up flowing down her face, but she wouldn't care anymore. It's not like anyone wanted to see her all pretty, was it? Imagine her crying in the bathroom, hearing the slow song playing and only wishing she'd dance to it with you, but she'd know that was impossible, since you didn't even respect her enough to tell her you ARE going, but alone.

Sakusa's face was all pale, his eyes not able to focus on one point. Wait, would it really hurt you like that? Does a girl's mind really work like that? Was he really such an asshole?

"Am I really this bad of an asshole?" he asked, not realizing it was out loud until he heard Komori laugh. He raised his eyes to see his face back to normal, a smile across his cheeks.

"Yes. Yes, a thousand percent you are"

"There can only be one hundred percents"

"That's exactly what I'm reffering to. Thousand percent." Sakusa rolled his eyes, but Komori knew something big was on his mind, much bigger than his puns.

He was silent for a good three minutes, during which he'd start going in circles, running his hands through his hair in distress, looking up at the sky as if he was blaming god for the fact he was ever born, and of course facepalming like a crazy person, until he finally looked up at the other boy, chest puffed, shoulders raised and a confident look on his face.

"Alright, you won. How do I ask her?"

Komori jumped in excitement, hugging his friend.

"You have two seconds to get off or I'm reporting abuse to the police"

"Sorry, bro, I got carried away. You're growing up so fast"

"Call me that again, I dare you."

"No, sir."

"So, how're we going to do it?"

"Oh, man, get ready, this will be some serious Mean Girls meets Disney shit"

***

Never once before a game has Sakusa been this nervous. That's because he always knew that he had only his abilities to depend on, but now, there were so many unknowns, so many possible outcomes.

"'Supp, Omi-Omi?" he heard a giggle behind him, and someone touching his shoulders.

"I told you not to say that cursed nickname. It's Sakusa for you" he replied, turning back to look Komori in the eyes while he said that.

"Someone's in a bad mood"

"Only because you made that someone not only step out of the comfort zone, but fricking jump a hundred metres below it" he mumbled, crossing his arms at his chest, and looking down at the floor, a distressed look on his face.

They were already waiting in the back of the gym arena, dressed in their tournament uniforms instead of the practice ones, as it wasn't a normal practice match, but the last one they'd ever play with this squad. It was Honours Homecoming match, after all.

But that wasn't what worried Sakusa.

It wasn't the team they chose as opponents, either. He was in fact, happy to see a familiar face on the enemy team. His concerns that day didn't regard the game itself, but whats was to happen after it.

And the fact that for it to happen, they really REALLY needed to win.

They heard a voice of the commentator, (again, honours match, all the fancy stuff needed to be there) through the walls.

"Ladies and gentlemen, the students of Itachiyama Academy, the teachers, and all our dear guests. It is my pleasure to welcome you to this year's Homecoming Match. It has been a productive and succesfull year for our volleyball club! They returned from Tokyo National Gymnasium as victors, after the Interhigh..."

Clapping and cheering.

"... and won the silver cup at Spring National Tournament! Today, some of them are here for the last time, so please, do your best in cheering on our dear soon-to-be-graduates, and the rest of the team as well! But first, let me introduce the guest team to you. Ladies and gentlemen, I request a warm welcome for the team of Shiratorizawa Academy of Miyagi!"

Sakusa smiled ever so slightly, as sudden motivation flooded his mind. He was going to crush Ushiwaka-kun that day, and you were going to watch it happen.

"Let me introduce the starting order. Number 14, libero, Yamagata Hayato! Number 12, Kawanishi Taichi! Number 10, Shirabu Kenjiro!"

"Oh, so it's the same order they had against Karasuno" Sakusa whispered. Komori looked at him in disbelief, once again forgetting he was able to watch EVERY match his opponents ever played when nervous.

"You're unbelievable."

"...Number 8, Goshiki Tsutomu! Number five, Tendou Satori! Number four, Ohira Leon! And the ace and captain, ladies and gentlemen, number 1, Ushijima Wakatoshi!"

"Now, they needn't have added that. That's unproffesional, it's the commentators job to call someone an ace, not the official speaker." Sakusa complained.

He heard "Ushijima-kun!" coming loudly from the audience. Oh, so they came with their support team?

Even better, said his competetive side. Damn, am I turning into Miya?

"Now now, ladies and gentlemen, our dear Itachiyama students! Please welcome..."

He was going on and on, reading the names of every single one of his teammates that were assigned for that match, and Sakusa was forced to high five all of them while they were leaving for the court.

"Do your best there, Sakusa-san" he heard some of the first years say, and managed to smile at them a bit, which turned out to be so out of character for him, the first years were more scared that encouraged.

"...and lastly, our own ace, please welcome, number 10, Sakusa Kiyoomi!"

He heard cheers while running out of the gate, waving slightly at the crowd. Damn, Komori didn't lie when he said a lot of people will be watching. Never once had he seen the gym so full. People were sitting on the stairs, Standing next to the doors and some even out of the stands, near the court.

He even heard his fans shout, his fans who's existence he frequently denied, shouting "Omi-kun" as loud as the girls who were screaming Ushijima's name.

Don't you have anything better to do, he thought, but then he heard a familiar voice yelling on top of everyone else's.

"Omi-omi! Do your best!"

It was obviously you who was shouting, and you noticed him smile a bit, which suprised you a lot. You always yelled that, but he never EVER payed it any attention. But now he was looking directly at you, noticing even the Itachiyama colours painted on your cheeks.

And then he waved? What was up with that boy, did the aliens finally take him home, where he belonged, and replaced him with another one?

Ushijima went over to the net to shake hands with Itachiyama's captain, Tsukasa, a third year, so for the both of them it was the last time they ever did that.

Well, not for Ushiwaka, he was promised a career. But you were certain so was Sakusa, even though he was only in his second year, he was already a better spiker.

"Pleased to see you again, Kiyoomi-kun" Ushijima said louder, for him to hear. Everybody was even more suprised when he responded, with a smile on his lips.

"Any opportunity to crush you is a good one, Wakatoshi-kun"

"And now you sound like Miya" he replied before returning to his team.

Oh. Well, not like I care.

**

They lost the first set, 23 to 25, so they almost won, but it was still enough to make Sakusa's hand sweat like crazy from stress.

"Sakusa-kun" he heard captain Tsukasa behind his back. He turned to face him and notice a deadly expression. "It's my last time being able to scold you like that, so don't mind if I will. I don't know if you care or not, probably not, but we need to win that.

Oh he cared. He cared loads.

"To be honest, it doesn't matter to me what kind of motivation caused you to bite back at Ushijima like that, but I need that energy back for the second set. Drop the act for once, and try your best like it was Tokyo Finals. Like it was the fricking Olympics. I know you don't care, but I really do, and even if it's foolish of me to hope you'll actually liste—"

"You got it, captain." he cut him off and notice his pupils widen and mouth open in disbelief "I'll do my very best to win. I can be humble all I want, but I am the best, after all. No, we're the best. We defeted Shiratorizawa not once, not twice, and we'll beat them again. You'll leave like the true champion you are."

"Sakusa-kun I— I didn't think that would actually work on you..." Tsukasa lost his words.

He just shrugged his shoulders and turned away, as Ushijima came to say something to him.

"What's up with you, Kiyoomi-kun? Are you not at your best today?" he asked. Sakusa would've been annoyed if he didn't knew he was actually honestly concerned, in his own, weird way.

"I am, Wakatoshi. You'll see"

"I hope to"

Well, I hope to, as well. He looked at you in the crowd, checking your phone. A spring of jellousness stung him in the heart. Look at me, his eyes screamed, watch me, I need you to look closely as I win this foolery for you.

**

He was on fire, it seemed like the ball was his and his only once he touched it. It was beautiful thing to watch, really. They won the second set and were already near the positive end of the third one, going 22 to 20.

You noticed that Sakusa's newly found enthusiasm really tired him, as he was standing there, catching his breath, with both his hands on his knees, facing the gym floor. What has gotten into that boy you knew, always distanced, only showing his best when it was obviously needed, freaking everybody out. Here he was, giving his heart out, but in a different way than usual. Like he was actually invested emotionally in that game, not only wanting to win out of competetiveness.

Minutes later you watched him getting ready to spike the final point, as did the commentator describe it.

"...ladies and gentlemen, we're here to give a warm goodbye to the third years, but as an unwritten rule says, the last point belongs to the ace! Will Shiratorizawa's block use that information? As you can see, now near the net we have the undefeatable Ushijima Tendou duo, I'm sure Sakusa's frustrated by that fact, they might interrupt his glorious point streak!"

"Undefeatable my ass" said Sakusa, causing Komori to break into laughter.

"Did I just hear Sakusa Kiyoomi say my ass? Oh god the world's end is upon us!"

"Did I ask?" yelled Sakusa, focusing his eyes on Tendou. Ushijima just had strong arms, but Tendou, he was truly a blocker to be feared.

Shut up, Kiyoomi, you're the ace here, not Tendou Satori.

He checked quickly if you were looking. You were. And that was all he needed.

He clapped, telling the team to start already. Shiratorizawa's pinch server, Semi Eita was serving, but that was no suprise to Itachiyama's block, and the ball got passed on to the setter. Captain Tsukasa tossed it with a slight spin, but that wasn't a problem for Sakusa at all.

Now it wasn't a question of his abilities, but strenght. He wouldn't outjump Tendou and Ushijima, both tall as towers, they obviously left no room for a spike, but he felt reassured. Tsukasa could toss to anyone else, knowing they'll focus on Sakusa, but he still believed in his ace. And he didn't plan on disappointing the captain on his last day of duty.

"And that's not even my best, Wakatoshi!" he yelled as he took all the energy left in him to spike the ball right into Ushijima's fingertips.

If he didn't give it so much power, Ushi could've easily blocked that, but that was truly an ace's spike. Worth someone called "Japan's best".

He fell on his knees, feeling as tired as ever, catching his breath, but noticed the ball fall into the enemy field.

They won.

You shouted, alongside everyone else, yelling Sakusa's name.

You knew he didn't like the attention, but well, what could you do, you were proud. And he managed to suprise you yet again, when he actually checked whether you were scanding "Sa-Ku-Sa" along with the whole gym. He actually checked, he really looked worried you wouldn't, but how could you not?

What happened to him today?

The Itachiyama team, as well as Shiratorizawa's came to their side of the stands to bow to the people cheering them on for the last two hours, and then they all started to walk towards the coach.

"Now, Sakusa, while you still have the adrenaline"

Oh right, he was supposed to do it now.

Just like in the movies.

He nodded, feeling the stress rise inside him once again, already feeling saltiness in his mouth, as if he was about to throw up.

You were suprised when you saw him walk back to the edge of the court, looking in a different direction.

Other people around also noticed him walking over and were now silently watching.

That stressed him even more, but well, what can you do.

"Hey, Smiles!" you were suddenly so shocked, hearing the nickname he only used when you were alone, and even so, with embarassement, now using his full voice, with a confident look on his face. You raised both your eyebrows and bent over your seat to hear him better. "I have something important I need to ask you?"

Well, couldn't you wait? Your team is waiting, you thought, but nodded.

"What is it, Sakusa?"

Something itched inside his heart. Why, though? He liked his last name.

"First of all, never call me that again. It's Omi for you." he said, completely serious and official, making you pinch your arm to check whether this wasn't some kind of a weird dream. He hated that nickname, didn't he?

"And second, Smiles, will you maybe... I mean, if you're not busy or anything..."

"Sakusa fricking idiot Kiyoomi! That's not how they do it in the movies!" you heard Komori yell, making you even more nervous.

"Right! Right." He shook his head. "Smiles, go to prom with me" he said super fast and super loud, making people around you gasp for air in shock and then clap their hands. He looked embarassed, hearing the cheers. Right, other people were there. He didn't think that through.

What?

Well, you'd love to, but... what? You thought he'd never ask! You thought he wouldn't go at all...

"I mean, don't you hate crowds, Omi?" you asked, concerned.

"Smiles!" he yelled, getting more and more comfortable with calling you that. "That's a yes or no kind of question!"

You noticed everybody around looking at you, as well as the Itachiyama team, waiting for Sakusa to join them.

"I— well, uhm... I'd love to, actually" you answered, your smile couldn't be cointaned anymore and painted your lips. You felt heat coming to your cheeks. You weren't prepared for that.

"Great!" he laughed, so geniuenly, you were even more suprised, if that was possible. "Now if you're excuse me, I have to get my ass kicked."

You waited for him outside his gym room for good fifteen minutes after the last member of his team left, and were starting to worry he somehow escape not wanting to face you. But you were so, so happy, you didn't let that thought bring you down. However, you started to get a bit impatient. You decided to knock.

"Omi? You there?" you asked gently, and waited for the response.

On the other side of the door Sakusa looked at his displaced finger and wonder why didn't he feel it hurt before. Was that from his last spike? He knew it was kind of unproffesional and coach already scolded him for that, but well, he put so much strenght into it that the form he was so famous for somehow disappeared. He didn't care about it, only wanting to score and win, and now the painful consequences got to him.

Then he heard you say his name and started packing up rapidly.

"Coming!" he only responded, tears forming in his eyes as a piece of his shirt got over the hurting finger, causing it to bend and hurt even more. "Fuck" he whispered, clenching his teeth. He put the sports bag over his shoulder and left.

You noticed that he had just showered, which was rare, because you knew he'd rather die than set his foot into a public shower. But there was no doubt, he smelled like his coconut shampoo and the cologne was fresh, you knew he wouldn't spray cologne onto a sweaty body, because he personally despised people who did that. His curls were still a bit wet and were closer to his face than normally, weighted down by the humidity.

"Did you shower, Omi?" you asked straight forward.

"I never want to speak of that again."

You noticed his sports bandage wrapped over his feet. Oh, so that's how he went into the shower. Understandable.

"Look at you overcoming your fears. Did you hit your head or something, now that you're acting so different?"

He giggled, letting down his guard at once, with what he satisfied you to the point a proud feeling filled up your chest.

"No seriously, you could've just waited until you got home, like you always do, why'd you do the one thing you hate the most?"

No, the thing he hates the most was only just coming for him, he thought, looking down at his finger. Then he lifted up his head and looked at you.

"How could I invite you over if I was still sweaty? That would've been disgusting"

"How could you WHAT?" you shouted, which really took him off his tracks, confusing him.

"Uhm... yeah, unless you don't want to, then I guess I'll be going then" he explained quietly, and rushed to get in front of you, but before he could you already noticed the blush forming on his cheeks.

"No wait, Omi, I was just suprised!" you caught up with him and grabbed him by the hand, which caused him to curse underneath his breath.

"Fuck"

You let go instantly, not knowing what you did wrong.

"I'm sorry?"

"No, no it's nothing, it's just... my finger hurts a bit. Forget about it." You stood in front of him, not letting him keep walking.

"Show me" you said in a demanding tone. He hid his palm behind his back, but you managed to grab it anyway, looking at the fingers in shock. "That looks concerning, it's not supposed to look like that."

"What're you, a doctor?"

"No, but I'm taking you to see one."

"What? No, no you're not!" he yelled, and you saw fear in his eyes.

"Yes I am! Omi, we need someone to look on this, for the sake of your future career! Do you know how easy injuries like that can ruin it?"

You had a point, but he was still not sure about it. When you tried to lead him out of the building, he froze in place.

"Omi! Act reasonable, please" you said, but he still wouldn't move, only shaking his head.

"I don't need a doctor, I don't need to go to a hospital, it's nothing serious, I can just rest it and it'll go away! I don't need anything else, I'll take a pill and it'll stop hurting so much, I'm a big boy, I can handle it like a grown up, no need to make a bit fuzz about a hurting hand, come on, hands hurt after every match, that's just how it goes. You wouldn't understand, you don't play volleyball! They're just gonna charge me for saying nothing, anyway! Or maybe they won't even agree to see to it without my parents and they aren't home, they're away visiting my aunt in South Korea! See, we can't go!" his breathing became very laboured and short, he started to get red, hands fidgeting and head shaking constantly, he started to speak very fast, you had trouble understanding.

You smiled at him.

"Omi... are you scared of hospitals?"

"What? No, I'm not, they're just so... full of sick people, and IV's and needles, and serious illnesses, and sadness and death, I just don't like them, who normal likes hospitals?!" he took a step backwards, almost falling of the stairs.

"Omi. Sit down."

"On the floor?"

"You showered in a gym locker room and have trouble sitting on the floor?"

He did as you asked. You kneeled down to him and took his face into your hands, causing him to twich a bit. Right, he didn't like that. You decided to put them on his shoulders instead.

You handed him his own water bottle and waiting for him to calm down a bit in silence.

"Omi, do you have any bad memories related to hospitals?" you asked gently, curling his hair with one finger. The one physical thing he really liked was you playing with his hair.

He shook his head yes, but didn't say anything.

"Okay. Do you consider them dirty, and that's why you don't want to go?"

He nodded again.

"Is there any other reason, besides these two?"

He shook his head no.

"Do you want to tell me what happened that made you hate hospitals? You don't have to, if you don't feel comfortable enough with me."

"I'll tell you later" he said quietly, looking away. He was speaking much slower and calmer than before, so you prevented the panic.

"Alright, now, listen, does it hurt more if I move it?" you asked, lifting his finger just a bit, and noticing tears form in the corners of his eyes. "Okay, it does. Now, Kiyoomi, I know you're a reasonable and mature person, and you understand the difficulties it might bring in the future if we don't check what's wrong now, right? It can be just hurt, but it seems like it's broken. If we fix it now, you'll be off for a month tops, and if we don't, well it may haunt you for a lot longer. That's logical, right?"

He nodded unwillingly, knowing where this is going.

"I understand your aversion, but some things are just beyond our control, right? So, you need to act like the man you are, and let me take you to a doctor. Alright?"

This time it took him a second to nod.

"Smiles... can you promise me two things?" he said so quietly you barely heard him, but as there was no one left in the hallway, you manage to understand.

"Whatever you want, Omi."

"Can you please, please not tell anyone about this? I'm really embarassed right now." He was still facing away, his eyebrows frowning.

"Of course I won't. We wouldn't like them to know you're not so tought and douchy all the time, right?" you laughed but he only smiled apologetically. "Hey, Omi, one thing. I'll like you the same, even if there's something in the world that you're afraid of. Even if there's a lot of these somethings. In fact, Omi, I'm sure there's nothing that would make me stop liking you, alright? You don't need to get embarassed in front of me. You don't need to get defensive every time you feel something. You're human, it's actually good you do. Understood, Sakusa?" you added the last part in a very demanding voice, as if you were scolding him, but you failed and giggled at the end.

"Understood." he responded, feeling a bit reassured. "Now that you've said that... for the second thing, uhm..." He started playing with his sweatpants' material nervously.

"Just say it, Omi, I already told you I'll do it all" you said comforting him, still pretending to give all your attention to his hair, so he'd feel more comfortable.

"Could you maybe... go into the examination room with me? I will freak out alone" he asked, facing the floor, but then got up quickly and turned away. "No, wait, forget I said anything."

"Omi" you sighed "Stop acting like a big baby already, of course I will, I would even if you didn't ask. Now stop pouting and give your prom date a hand so she knows you won't run away when she's not looking" you played it off cool and he turned back to you, smiling a bit.

"Right, my prom date. I never thought I'd have one"

"But I'm here, am I not? And now stop changing the subject and let your prom date take you to a doctor. Right now, mister!"

You left the school and went to the nearest train station, where Sakusa put on his face mask and pouted at you for making him do this. However heartbreaking he might've looked, you knew it was necessary and that you were doing the right thing. Your train arrived on time and after getting in, you noticed his leg was shaking unconsciously. You were really wondering what happened to him that made him hate hospitals so much, but this wasn't the right place to ask. If he wanted to, he'd tell you himself.

"So, Omi, what was that with asking me to come over before? You'd never done that." you decided to change the subject a bit to maybe loosen him up for a while.

"Well, that's a difficult question, actually" he answered very quietly, causing you to sit closer in order to hear.

"I'm only asking because, you know, many times in the past I wanted to do that but you always became practically furious while disagreeing, so it's a huge suprise for you to suggest it yourself"

"I know" he replied calmly, playing with the string of your hoodie with his one good hand. "Well I just figured, if I am to take you to prom, and there's going to be way too many people for me to be comfortable, maybe it'd be easier if I started with smaller things, like maybe show you my room, or hold your actual hand instead of the sleeve, so I don't freak out and let you down on the prom night" he mumbled, avoiding eye contact.

You felt your chest fill up with a warm feeling. Did he truly care that much about a highschool party? Did he care that much about, well, you?

"Omi, you don't have to push yourself too hard just to please me, I'll be fine if you just stay yourself" you said, taking the hair off his eyes. "And besides, it would be really hard for you to let me down, don't worry about that."

"It's just that... I know I can be a total dick sometimes, but truth be told I really do... like you, and care about you, and all that stuff" he stopped to hide his face with his arms and  bend over to face the floor. "Even if I say I don't. It's just a weird feeling I didn't want to face because it was new. But I'm not letting that ruin your highschool memories."

"Sakusa. Let me tell you something about girls and prom, alright? For most of us it's not the prom that matters. Of course, it's nice to have an opportunity to dance with your friends and classmates and have fun, but for that, we can go alone. That whole thing with waiting for a guy to ask you out is so, so cliché! We don't wait to be asked to prom just to be asked. We wait for that one person to show affection towards us by asking, that's what makes it so special. And you already did that! You wouldn't even be able to understand how happy that made me! Just yesterday I was texting with my friend, complaining about how pleased I would be if only you asked me, but I was certain that would never happen. And then it did, when I least expected it!"

"Did it really make you that happy?" he chuckled, shaking his head.

"Yes, yes it did, I'm a stupid teenager and silly things like that satisfy me. Got a problem with that, Sakusa?" you laughed, playfully hitting him on the arm.

"Oh no, no, please, do continue being an immature baby" he responded, in a much better mood, not trying to hide his wide smile anymore.

"You're the baby here, I wasn't the one who almost cried like five minutes ago..."

"Hey! I told you not to bring that up!"

"Sorry, sir, I forgot my orders" you saluted ironically, making him roll his eyes in amusement.

And once you said that, the train door opened and the mechanic voice inside croacked out the name of the station, which turned out to be the one you needed to leave on.

And once you did, you could already see the modern building of the hospital in front of you.

"I hate the fact that I was ever born, I'd like a receipt so I can return myself"

**

You somehow managed to get him inside the hospital, and even to get an examination, although he didn't even want to sit, only standed and while doing so, made sure he didn't touch the walls.

But turns out waiting for the doctor was the worst part yet. He was walking back and forth throught the corridor, hands in his hair, and eyes closed most of the time. You were constantly giving him worried looks, but he didn't seem to notice.

The doctor said he'd be back with the results of the x-rey examination in about twenty minutes, but has already been fourty and he still wasn't back.

"Smiles" you suddenly heard Sakusa next to you and flinched in shock, realising you have zoned out. "What if it's serious and I won't be able to play anymore?"

"Well that certainly would've been dramatic, considering you're the number one spiker"

"Smiles! That doesn't help, like, at all!" he looked at you with pure panic in his eyes, and you were then sure that his distress had something to do with his past memories.

"Okay, okay Omi, calm down, I'm sure it's not that serious."

"You were the one who said it was!" Sakusa shouted.

"Shh, Omi, you're being too loud. Hey, why do you keep your eyes closed like that? Are you tired?" you asked. Well, of course he was, he played an entire match, and has been under a lot of stress ever since, not to mention it was already evening.

He nodded.

"They why won't you sit?"

He shook his head.

"I'd rather have my insides bleached and washed mechanically than do that" he then added, making you burst into laughter. He also smiled a bit.

"Shh, Smiles, you're being too loud" did he just mock you? Such a baby.

"Do you mind telling me now why are you so nervous about hospitals? You're a semi-professional, you know even a broken finger can't put you away for long, and still, you're this upset."

He sighed, looking into the ceiling as if he was trying to find something there. He started to play with his fingers out of nervousness, waiting to find the right words.

"Do you remember when I said my parents went to South Korea to see my aunt? Well, they're working people, they wouldn't just leave in the middle of May, on a monday, like it was nothing. They actually went over there to celebrate my cousin's fifth death anniversary, so she wouldn't be alone on such a day. He was one of my closest friends, growing up, while they still lived in Japan, but he would get sick very easily, so we'd mostly play in his room. One day, he disappeared from his house, and my parents wouldn't tell me why for weeks. I was miserable, so finally, they decided to have a serious talk with me about why my cousin couldn't play with me anymore. They said he was really ill this time and had to be transported to a hospital. And you know what I said?" you noticed he was now clenching his fists and frowning, trying to hold back emotions. "Turns out I wasn't always such a douchebag. I said that's okay, but he must be really lonely, so I'll just come play with him there. And so, my parents would bring me to see him a few times a week until we were twelve. Then I started noticing that he was becoming thinner and thinner day by day, his complexion was as pale as the walls around, and he had no energy to talk with me anymore. I would just come there and sit by his bed for hours, waiting for him to even say hi to me, but it was rare of him to do it. One time, when I was there, it was already late in the afternoon, so my parents came back with my aunt to pick me up, but as they were talking to the doctor in the hall, I heard all the machines around start to make high pitched noises. My cousin didn't look pale anymore, I only took my eyes off his for a second, because I was tired, and he turned grey, like paper. So I rushed up to him and shook his entire body, but it seemed so weightless, I already knew something was off. And the machines, they wouldn't stop making that awful noise... I ran back to the hallway and screamed at my mother and aunt to see what was happening, so they went in there and told me to wait... I was sitting there, in the hall, for what seemed like an eternity, and turned out to be an entire night. After many hours, my mother left the room, her eyes red and swollen, and alltogether she seemed smaller than when she entered. I asked her what was wrong but well, she wouldn't tell me. She'd just hug me, but I remember it being terrible, not like these warm, fuzzy hugs she always gave, but suffocating and trapping, so I started crying. She told me she loved me and went back to get my aunt, who left the room crying even harder then I was, practically screaming. Then she looked at me with such hatred in her eyes, I could practically feel my heart shatter. My mother escorted her to a different room, and I was left there to witness my cousins bed being carried out of the room, a small figure of a boy all covered by a sheet, even his face... I even noticed a teddy bear, a birthday present from me, sticking out."

You were shocked, but to the point where you couldn't even bring yourself to move, listening to Sakusa tell this sad story with a voice washed from all emotions, but with one single stream of tears rolling down his cheek. You wished you could say something, but words couldn't get out of your mouth.

"And that's why I'm not in Korea with them right now. Not because I had a match, but because she never wants to see me again, even though I'm her sister's son. After all, I was the messenger who told her about her precious son's death, wasn't I? So what if I was a kid and didn't even understand what was going on, so what if I was heartbroken myself. It wasn't a grown up's logical decision, but her emotions speaking through her, my mother had told me, but countless times at the funeral, or after, before she finally moved, had she told me she hates me. I even remember one time at my mother's birthday party, she got really drunk, and when I went down from my room to get some water, I ran into her in the kitchen. She looked at me with no emotions whatsoever and just told me she wished it were me. Just that. And then she left." Sakusa began laughing "So yeah, you can say I hate hospitals."

You adored watching him laugh, but that scared you, that wasn't his normal, vibrant laugh, but a sarcastic one, full of venom.

"Kiyoomi..."

"I guess I just don't want to be bad news to anybody, I don't want to see any more suffering that I cannot do anything about!" tears started forming in his eyes as he smashed his fist against the wall.

Well, that was heartbreaking to watch.

What could you say to him that would make him feel better? There were no words right for explaining a trauma like that. How would you even begin?

"Kiyoomi, there's nothing we can do about that now. And there's nothing you could've done then. True, the world isn't fair. It takes away the people who had done nothing wrong when they didn't even start their life properly. And true, there are scary things waiting for us around every corner. But bad things happen, and you can't do anything about it. You just have to keep going... for the two of you. If you want to truly make a difference, and not let his short life go to waste. I'm not sure there's anything more I can say, because I know how much you hate sugarcoating. I—"

"Smiles?"

"Yeah?"

"I'm really proud you consider me to be the tough guy here, but... you're a better hugger than my mom" he whispered, still facing the ceiling.

"Sure, Omi" you said, wrapping your arms around his waist. It was difficult to give him a comfort hug, considering the fact you were tiny compared to his 6,2", but what could you do. You felt him lean over and squeeze you really, really tight, his arms shaking a bit, as he put his face in your hair, making you able to feel him breathe.

"Smiles?" he said quietly, smiling as he felt you holding the material of his jacket. You only mumbled in response, so he carried on with his question. "I'm really tired."

You didn't know how to react to that, honestly. You had never seen him like this before, he was always hiding behind a cold and douchy exterior.

"Just a few more minutes, and we'll be going home" you finally responded, patting his back. "The doctor has to tell you the results and somehow secure that finger from getting even more hurt"

"We'll be going home?" he asked, and you felt embarassement rise in your stomach.

"Well... you DID say you're inviting me over, and I don't trust you not to play with the bandage you're gonna get"

He laughed, as sweetly as normal, and you sighed with relief.

"I suppose I  might've said something like that."

"Well then be a man and live up to your promise"

"I never PROMISED anything"

"Oh come on, you know you want to, I'm your prom date!" You laughed, but all of the sudden you felt a movement and before you could object, you were mid air, held by Sakusa's tight grip, your face very near his.

"I suppose you are" you saw him smile behind his face mask, but were too shocked by this sudden burst of affection to be able to answer.

"Now, Sakusa-kun, I highly suggest you stop doing that to your hands, unless you want another injure to the list" you heard an adult speaking behind you, and the next thing you knew, you were falling to the ground, glaring deadly at Sakusa, who's attention was already somewhere else. "Come in, I'll show you your results"

Turns out the finger was just badly injured, but still not broken, so Sakusa only needed to take three weeks of holidays from playing volleyball, and as the season had ended, it wasn't a very dangerous threat. You were now walking home from your train station, Sakusa's eyes constantly closing, due to tiredness. Your heart was pounding it's way out of your chest, when he finally opened the gateway to his house, and stepped to the side to let you in. You felt blush coming to your cheeks while he turned the key inside his door's lock. You were looking closely at everything after entering the house. It was close to what you've imagined, designed in a modern style, the walls grey or white, black tiles on the floor.

"You must be hungry, right?" he said, leading you to the kitchen by the sleeve of your hoodie. "Wait right here, I'm sure there's something that I can make"

You sat on a kitchen counter, making him raise an eyebrow in slight shock.

"Practice, Sakusa" you laughed "I'm just helping you"

He rolled his eyes and put noodles in a pot on his stove.

"Move, I need to get my knife" he said, easily picking you up and putting you on another counter. You turned away, blushing uncontrollably.

"Oh my, okay, Sangwoo" you said, making him want to kill you with his look. "Wait, you understood the reference? Look at you, being a weeb"

"Well he was an interesting person after all" he said weighing the knife in his hand with a sarcastic grin on his lips. He then proceeded to prepare the best tomato sauce you've ever EVER eaten in your entire life. He turned as red as the tomatoes when you pointed that out, only telling you to shut up and eat already.

You helped him clean, but he wasn't so happy about it, claiming your "dishwashing habits" were different than his.

And then it was finally the time for you to see his room. You followed his up the stairs, and then entered a room you've least expected.

It was... completely normal. It wasn't clean on every centimetre, it wasn't all white and septic, no, it was just a normal teenage boy's room. His Itachiyama Team hoodies laying around on the deskchair, a big computer with gaming headphones, a small bookshelf with novels and even some mangas,  a huge bed in the corner, draped with black bedding and Star Wars and Marvel throw pillows. It was clean, of course, there was no dirty dishes or socks laying around, but besides being overall tidy, it was  totally normal.

But what suprised you the most, was the most beautiful being you've ever seen in your entire life, and no, not Sakusa. A fluffy, white cat.

It was a breeded cat, you knew that instantly, even having a heart as good as his Sakusa wouldn't allow a stray in his house, due to his problems with germs. From what you recognized, it was a Birman Cat. You gasped in awe upon seeing it, already kneeling down to pet it.

"Look at you, cutie, who're you? Awwe, look at your little paws, so soft!" the cat already crawled into your lap and sat on your thigs, purring with content. Sakusa laughed.

"You probably think we took in Lady because I needed a thoroughbred cat, not a stray right?" he picked up, throwing himself on his bed, leaving the jacket on top of other on the deskchair. He was now only in his grey sweatpants and yellow T-shirt, being a little loose, even on someone as tall as him. He groaned, realizing he forgot about his finger and now pinned it down weight of his body, whch caused it to hurt more. He then decided to sit, resting his back on the throw pillows. "Well, you're wrong if you think that. We actually decided on her because her breed has hair instead of fur, which my mother is allergic to.

Oh.

"The only thing I'm thinking right now is that Sakusa Kiyoomi named his cat LADY, and it's hillarious"

But what you were in for witnessing next was cuter than the cat itself.

"Well, that's because she is my little Lady, right?" he said in a sweet and high-pitched voice, deciding to ditch the comfortable bed and sit on the floor beside you, scratching the cat behind it's ear. "Who's my Lady? Who? Yes, you are!" he started to sound like a fourty year old lady with no family and nine cats. You bursted out laughing.

You suddenly stopped, when Lady decided it would be a great idea to... vomit on you. It was all happening so fast you didn't even notice, until you heard her clear her throat and then watched her walk away in shock. You looked at your dirty hoodie and then at the frightened Sakusa next to you, already as white as his walls.

"Oh... uhm... that was unexpected" you said, not sure what to do next.

"I am so, so s-sorry" he started to apologize "She must've e-eaten something b-bad while I was gone" he mumbled, getting up and walking around his room as if he was going to find something that could help him.

Normally he would get his mom, but she wasn't even in the country.

"Omi, it's okay, don't worry" you said, taking your hoodie off carefully, so it wouldn't mess up the carpet or anything else. "Just, would you show me where the bathroom is?" you asked, and he nodded, leading you to the door at the end of the corridor. "Thanks" you added, putting the material in the sink and running hot water on it. Most of it came off pretty easily, and nothing else got dirty in the process, but you noticed a big stain on the chest area.

"Shit, put it in the washer" he said, taking it from you, to your suprise, and turning on the machine. Then he went back to his room, all red, and took something out of his closet. "Here, take this, I forgot to turn the radiators on, and it's cold" and thus he handed you a black hoodie, with a single yellow stip on the side, and "Sakusa" written on the back, with smaller "Itachiyama Academy Volleyball Club" below.

You froze in place.

"Wait, why are you giving me your hoodie?" you said, after gasping dramatically.

"Just take it you idiot, before I change my mind" he answered bitterly, walking over to turn on his computer. "Do you want to watch something while we wait for it to wash?" he then asked in a much calmer tone, and you silently agreed. He put on some movie you spent twenty minutes choosing, because it needed to match both yours and his interests, and after he did, you sat on the floor, focusing on the screen. "Are you dumb?" he suddenly muttered.

"What?"

"Sit on the bed like a normal person" you were suprised, but he didn't need to ask twice. You sat there, uncomfortably, at the edge of the matterace, until you heard a sigh  and felt strong arms pull you back, almost to the wall. You noticed you were now half sitting, half laying on Omi's chest, legs over his, plus, he putted his chin over your head.

"Omi, what has gotten into you?" you laughed, making him sigh again.

"Do you have some sort of a problem?" he answered, visibly nervous.

"No, no I don't sir!"

"I swear I sometimes wonder why I'm attracted to a dumbass like you"

"You're WHAT?" you said, your heart skipping a beat.

"Nothing! Just watch already!" he shouted.

You giggled.

Minutes have passed and you two were just sitting there, chilling and watching the movie. You felt Sakusa's head slip over yours. Had he fallen asleep? You smiled, looking at the peaceful expression on his face. After seeing him so tired and distressed today, you were really glad he was finally getting some rest. You adjusted his head to lay by your neck instead, so it wouldn't slip all the time. The music in the movie started playing really loudly, so you turned it down and started to check your phone, while curling his hair with your fingers.

Oh, he's gonna be so grossed out when he wakes up, you almost felt bad for him for a second.

It was oddly calming to feel his even breathing on your neck, and you suddenly realized how much has changed that day. Twenty four hours before you were wondering if he'd ever even ask you out on a date, and now you were sitting on his bed, with him asleep on your neck, knowing he was going to take you to prom.

Oh, truly, what a day.

**

prom night, 6:28 PM

You were still fighting with your eyeshadow, when you heard the doorbell ring. Shit, that looks awful, you thought, trying to erase your mistake and do it once more. "I'll get it!" you heard your little sister shout, and smiled to yourself. The night was finally here. You were going to prom with Sakusa Kiyoomi, somehow, you still didn't know what heavensent force made him ask you.

"It's someone for sis!" she yelled.

"Tell them I'll be right there!" you shouted back, but she seemed to have ignored you, because soon after you heard your mother invite the two boys over. (Komori's sister had a licence and a car, so she was driving you all)

"Good evening, ma'am" you heard your prom date say. You almost saw him all nervous with the eyes of your imagination.

Fine, you thought, it won't get better than this. It was time to go. You took a quick look at yourself in the bigger mirror. The dress wasn't spectacular, and you did your make up by yourself, so of course you didn't look like Hollywood's next biggest star on the red carpet, but you definitely did look better than usual.

You took your purse, sprayed some perfume, and went down the stairs, watching every step,  because you couldn't seem to get the hang of walking on heels yet.

"Hi guys!" you said, still watching your feet, but got no response. It seemed like everyone was there, your mom, dad, sister, Sakusa and Komori, but nobody had said a thing. You finally looked up when you reached the bottom of the stairs, to see your parents smiling slightly, your sister pouting over how jealous she was of your spotlight, Komori watching Sakusa, and Sakusa, well...

He looked as if he'd just seen a ghost.

"What's wrong, Omi?" you asked, giggling. He was still silent, so Komori hit him on the back.

He didn't look so bad himself, all the loose curls that were always framing his pale face were now carefully styled to stay at the top, not the sides. His suit was a plain, black one, with a single yellow bow tie, matching Komori's.

"You look great, by the way" you added, upon still not hearing anything from him.

Only then did he smile a bit and take a bouquet from behind his back, then hand it to you.

"That's for you. They're your favorite—"

"Freesies" you finished, looking at the white flowers in awe. "You remembered" you added, already feeling all the emotions rushing to your head. "They're beautiful, thank you"

"Well, you're still the most beautiful in the room" he mumbled, his face red. You chuckled upon hearing that cheesy phrase.

"Smooth" Komori whispered, laughing, and Sakusa promised himself to kill him later that night.

Everything went as you'd imagine it to go, you drived to your school, saw the huge crowd of students everywhere around. You smiled at Sakusa while he opened the cardoor for you, and looked at him in shock as he took your hand into his and intertwined your fingers together.

"I thought you didn't like doing that?"

"That's what people do at proms, right?" he said, smiling at you widely "I'm going to do it all, prepare for the cheesiest night of your life" he then faced away, leading you towards the entrance.

Little did you know, inside, he was practically shaking, upon seeing all these people around. He was right, there were too many of them for him to be comfortable. He was already nervous and wanted to leave, and the night hadn't even started.

"Sakusa-san! I didn't think you'd come here!" You heard some girl said. You recognized the captain of the girls' volleyball team, smiling widely, while draped all over her boyfriend. Captain Tsukasa somehow appeared from the crowd, joining the converstation by hanging his arm on the boy's shoulders, which almost caused a shiver down his spine.

"Now, how could he miss this? He's our dear ace after all, right, Sakusa-kun?"

"Right, captain" he responded, the fakest smile you've ever seen colouring his lips.

"Enjoy the party, Saku!" said Tsukasa before leaving, heading back towards the main gym arena, from which loud music could be heard.

Enjoy, yeah, right, you idiot, thought Sakusa.

He only wished he could be enjoying the party like everyone else, because then he could just focus on you and making sure you wouldn't regret coming. But he wasn't made like everyone else, and the level of comfort he felt was descreasing at a very rapid speed.

The night was going great, at least from your point of view. Hours have passed, you laughed, danced, even watch the Prom Queen election. You didn't even wish it were you up there on that stage. You already felt like a queen.

But then it all decided to go to hell.

Komori had found his place with the kids who were spiking the drinks, and now came back to you two with a questionable grin on his mouth.

"Sup, my dear lovebirds?" he started the conversation by messing Sakusa's hair playfully, only for him to correct it with disgust.

"Good, but I seem you're even better" you responded with amusement, watching him rock from side to side.

"You know, Sakusa, I never knew why you insisted on calling her Smiles, it's such a dumb nickname"

"You're dumber."

"But! But now I get it! There's an old saying..."

"I'm sure whatever your about to say isn't an old saying"

"Stop interrupting me! There's an old saying that claims, that when a boy is in love, you see it in his eyes, but when a girl is in love, you see it in her smile. Is that why you insist on calling her that? Are you counting on that, Saku-chan? I mean, she is out of your league a bit, but, I'm rooting for you, buddy!" he said, and started to walk away slowly. "Besides, Smiles, watch his eyes up close!" he laughed, and began to dance to the music that changed suddenly when he finished the sentance. It was dark around you, but you still managed to notice Sakusa's face turning red.

"I'm going to kill you, I swear, I'll strangle you with your own vocal chords and make you wish you were suddenly Ariel and forgot how to speak!" he yelled, getting more and more nervous.

He was right, you were out of his league. And he embarassed yourself in front of you a week earlier, acting like a four-year-old, and needing your help. You probably considered him a pussy right now... So all the effort he did over the last few months was for nothing. He felt like throwing up again. Suddenly the walls around him started to get closer and closer, making it seem like there was even more people there, the music became louder and in a moment he only heard the base guitar trying to rip his ears apart. And in front of him were you, looking at him with that worried expression. He remembered himself saying, "Nothing sucks more than someone calling you a poor thing"

And your eyes were calling him that right then and there. He felt small, but furious, and overall miserable.

"Omi, are you feeling okay? He was just joking, you know that, right?" you said with a slight grin on your face.

"Oh, sure, because your little Omi is just a big crybaby for whom you're just waiting to snap and run away, right? Ever since this night started, you're all looking at me like at a fucking social experiment, counting minutes until I won't be able to take it anymore, right?"

"What? Kiyoomi, that's not—"

"Shut up! Oh my god, shut up, with your condesending tone and pretending to understand how I feel! If you so wanted to babysit someone then, I don't know, watch the neighbours kid instead of playing with me like that, you idiot!" he shouted, not noticing a couple of people closest to you watching him. "If that's what you're waiting for, then fine, have your satisfaction!"

And after saying that, he turned away and started to walk towards the exit to the patio. You knew you had to follow him, but didn't know whether he wanted you to.

You decided to go.

Once he found himself at the empty patio, he put his hands over his knees and looked up at the night sky, catching his breath.

"What the fuck was that, Sakusa?" he whispered to himself, realising he had now ruined his only chance with the one girl he actually liked. And how he did it, oh lord, like a total baby he so didn't want to be compared to. He decided to loosen up his bow tie, because it seemed like it was suffocating him, and tried to calm down. "Fuck, how stupid can you get? Oh my god!"

"Omi! Could you please, PLEASE, stop running away?" he heard your voice behind his back, and turned away as soon as he did, feeling tears rolling down his face.

"Go away" he said in an empty voice, but you just shook your head.

"I'm sorry I made you feel like a child"

There was silence for a long minute, as he was fighting with his emotions.

"I'm sorry for yelling at you on your big prom night"

"Silly" you laughed "It's only big if you're a part of it"

He smiled a bit.

"You know I didn't mean that, right?"

"I always know you don't mean that."

"Well, yeah, but I wish you wouldn't have to. I just felt super uncomfortable in that room with all these people, I am not that kind of person you'd want, I'm not the super fun jock guy to take you to prom and all that shit, that's just really not me, and I tried to, I really tried to become one for you but it's just... it's just not who I am" he sighed.

"Omi. For fucks sake. You don't need to change yourself at all, I like you for you, not for someone you're not! Where did you get that idea from, dumbass?"

Well, Komori, he thought.

You moved closer to him, and he sat on a stone bench,  making you stand in between his legs, looking directly into his eyes. "I would never, ever, EVER, trade you for anyone else. You're perfect the way you are, and well..." you felt the heat coming to your cheeks. "You're the Omi I fell for, after all"

You heard him giggle, and felt the warmth of his hand against your own.

"Yeah?" he said, looking up at you. "Go on then" a proud grin appeared on his lips that caused you to hit him on the shoulder in embarassement. But you did eventually go on.

"Well, there is one more thing I'd like to say but I don't think I have the courage to do it" you mumbled.

"Oh, I'm sure you do"

"Oh, you know, well... I, uhm, when I look... at... no wait, that's not how i wanted to say it. You know when... no, wrong again" You suddenly heard a slow song in the distance, coming from the gym. "Oh I love that song"

"Well" he said, getting up "I believe one of the prom night traditions is a slow dance with your date, right?" he then continued, putting both his hands on your waist and starting to sway, pulling you even closer than you already were. "And Smiles, one more thing" he adden, upon leaning over to your ear and whispering a simple sentence. You trembled, not even sure if it was from the cold, or from excitement, or from his lips so close to your face. "I do, too"

You laughed, hiding your face in his shirt and breathing in the perfume.

"You really did mean it when you said you were going to do all the cheesy stuff"

"Shut up, dumbass, I really meant it"

"I know."

[himooonlight]

who are you? pt. 4 (reggie x reader)

pairing: reggie x reader

word count: 4.4k

plot: you dream about reggie constantly and when you see him perfoming with julie, you decide to ask her about him

warnings: confusion? EVERYTHING WILL BE FINE THOUGH, I PROMISE

A/N: look who is back :) I wanna thank @i-should-be-writing-my-own-fic for being so sweet to me and giving me such a thoughtful feedback about the story. that gave me the motivation I needed to keep writing - so keep in mind that comments help the writer, ok? just hope I’m not disappointing anyone with this chapter by the way… and sorry again for taking forever to update.

here's chapter 1, chapter 2 and chapter 3

it’s @carolineeforbes' gif, by the way; I’m not sure how to add that “gif by…” at the end (cause I’m old and I know nothing about html)

As soon as the last class of the day ends, I make my way to Julie's locker so we can go to the cafe together. I haven't seen Reggie all day, but something tells me he's just as nervous as I am. Waiting for her, alone, I let my mind go to him, remembering his sweet smile.

  There's something about him that gives me peace. It's not explainable or rational; it's just there. An invisible feeling that makes me ecstatic, blissful because he exists. And if that's not love, if it's something else, I can accept and live with it knowing that he taught me how to feel visible, alive.

  Ironically, he is none of those things.

  - Y/N, hi! - Nick's voice greets me. - How are you?

  Nick is alone too. His blue eyes are darker than usual and his aura makes me shiver - more so than yesterday, his presence is heavy and disturbing. And I can't understand why. His clothes are darker than usual and even his cute freckles look more aggressive, if that's possible.

  Maybe my mind is playing tricks on me, but I can almost swear I see the own devil in the smile on his face. His whole body looks stiffer and more brutal, making me step back mindlessly and look around for somebody that could confirm that his eyes are actually trying to hurt me.

  I'm out of my mind, for sure.

  - Hey, Nick. - I say. My voice is breathy and low, matching my demeanor. - I'm alright. How about you?

  I don't really wanna know about him and it's borderline annoying how my body is responding to the situation. My hands are shaking so much I have to hide them in my pockets. When my eyes start watering, I understand just how terrible the situation really is.

  - Why are you so afraid of me, hum? - There's an eerie glow in his eyes that can only be described as demonic. Nick is following my every move, almost like he is trying to control my actions or read my mind. When he gets closer to me and lets his thumb meet my right cheek, a single tear rolls down, to what he smiles. He's enjoying the situation. - It's just me.

  It's not him. It's not Nick.

  I don't know what is going on, but this person is evil.

  I can smell Nick's breath and see it too. It's purple and dense and I'm for sure out of my mind, because I can see it all around us as if trying to suffocate me.

  The purple mist swirls around my head and vanishes quickly while my tears dry. Nick's smile disappears and his stare holds something heavy like betrayal. He looks disappointed, annoyed, angry, all together.

  - I can't believe this. - He murmurs, stepping back. The boy is imitating a lost puppy or a spoiled kid that isn't getting what he wants. - Your soul is…

  Nick looks so shocked and that gives me strength. The sudden vigor allows me to break our eye contact and recompose myself, just in time to blink and get an image in my head like a daydream. But it wasn't a dream or my imagination; it feels like a memory, just like what I experience with Reggie.

  I see a big stage. The curtains are embroidered with CC's and everything is either black or gold. There's a tall man standing in the center, with the same aura as Nick, and the same expressive eyes. He's screaming for attention and validation.

  The man is wearing a velvet suit and sparkly shoes. I can tell he's narcissistic and have some kind of power over people, because nobody around the place is looking directly at him. They all look scared and conflicted; probably because he demands attention but makes them feel bad about it.

  Someone opens the curtain a little bit more and I can see a big glass box filled with water. Three assistants wrap his hands and feet with chains and when he sees me staring, a devious grin spreads across his face, making me shiver and get an urge to run.

  I manage to do that, going back to the school halls in real life, ignoring all that happened in my mind just seconds before.

  Nick is nowhere to be seen and my body is not shaking anymore.

  - Hey, Y/N. - Julie says. Flynn smiles at me and I try my best to do the same, but I'm still overwhelmed by the feeling of being controlled. - Are you alright? Not to be that person, but you look like you've seen a ghost.

  Flynn laughs while her friend winks at me, lighting up the mood. Still, I can't wrap my head around what just happened. I feel sick to my stomach, dizzy and they probably can see it in my face that I'm not fine.

  - Don't know if Reggie said anything to you, but they talked and Alex doesn't feel ready to go to the coffee shop yet. He's afraid that they're going to move on and disappear and he's not sure if that's what he wants now. - She explains. Flynn nods her head the whole time, agreeing with everything Julie says and making me wonder how much she knows. Probably everything. - But, really, are you feeling ok?

  - I think I just need to go home and sleep a bit. - After trying my best to assure them I'll be fine, I start making my way to the parking lot. We're not the best of friends, so I don't feel comfortable explaining anything, especially when Reggie's nowhere to be seen. - I'll see you tomorrow, ok?

  I can't find my sister's car when I get to our usual spot, so I just stand there, calming my senses and looking at the sky. It's a beautiful day with a few clouds and it's impossible not to find solace in the pretty blue infinity.

  The clouds are moving in all its glory. The cumulus clouds are very fluffy and not very high in the sky, letting me notice their cotton-like appearance distinctly. It's so peaceful that I can't stop my mind from wandering to Reggie and that same feeling of harmony and happiness that he makes me feel.

  - Julie told me you were not feeling well. - The boy startles me, making me jump and almost scream. - Did you fall? Did you eat something bad? Maybe you should go to the hospital. I should know that considering I died from a bad hot dog. What did you have?

  His wide eyes and fast words make me laugh, forgetting everything that happened previously. He tries to touch my hand and signs when that doesn't happen. I do the same, regretting momentarily the day I met him.

  I know I love Reggie. That feeling, however, is like getting tickled and laughing out loud. For someone just passing by, it might look like we're having fun, but it's also painful and excruciating. A smile doesn't necessarily means joy; sometimes it's just a mechanism to stay positive. And positivity is very important when the person you love is a ghost.

  - I'm alright now, don't worry. - In cue, Daisy arrives. - Wanna go home with me? - I ask, covering my mouth with my hand, pretending to yawn. He follows me without answering and the way Day looks at me as soon as I get inside tells me that she believes her little sister is simply happy with the tickling. - Hey.

  - Well, well, well. Look who is in love.

  Reggie sits in the backseat and it's inevitable to feel nervous. It doesn't really matter that Day can't see him; the only important thing is that we haven't talked about feelings yet and now he knows how I feel.

  He knows what I feel: love.

  Suddenly I am drowning in dichotomy, a bipolar feeling of relief and nervousness. 

  I am relieved that the "decision" is no longer in my hands.

  It's like that child's game, hot potato. The ball would pass in a circle and if the song ends and you are holding the object, the responsibility to run after someone is in your hands. Every time I held the ball as a kid, I felt excitement, anxiety and nervousness and yet I still enjoyed playing the game, even with the risk of losing. 

  Reggie knowing how I feel is basically that same feeling of not knowing whether I would have to run or be disappointed and relieved at the same time for not being chosen. The next step is his to take; to either stop the music or continue singing.

  - Sis? - Daisy's voice brings me back to the car and all the consequences. - Are you ok?

  - Yeah, yeah. Just a bit nervous about some school stuff.

  I met Reggie in school, so it's not exactly a lie. Josh's voice rings in my head saying "I ain't calling you a truther" and making me wish I could tell everybody about how I met Reginald and how much I like him.

  - We went from love interest to school project. Y/N, we really need to talk. - Reggie's remarks make me roll my eyes. - What am I to you? And you don't need to be nervous, darling. It's just me.

  It's just me.

  Same words that left Nick's lips.

  I feel shivers running down my spine, remembering everything. His gaze, the strong perfume and my own thoughts all over the place. What about my soul? What about me that scared him so much? And that stage? The magician?

  Too many questions for someone that just wanted a few answers.

  - Reggie, please, we'll talk later.

  Oh, no.

  Daisy is looking at me like I am crazy and she's possibly right. There's no way I am not losing my mind by now.

  - Who is Reggie?

  Oh, no.

  - Reggie?

  - Yeah, you just said his name. Is this part of your school thingy? - She bounces like a little kid, making me breathe normally. She's not about to ask if I lost my mind, great. - Practicing some of those insanely creative theatre games? How does this one work?

  Oh, yes.

  - I have to create this character, right? - Reggie scoots closer to listen to my explanation, sitting on the edge of the seat. I can see him through the rearview mirror and he has a curious expression on his face. A very cute expression that makes me smile. - For the whole day I have to talk to him, Reggie, like he really exists. - Daisy beams and that gives me courage to continue. - I get extra points if I get to make somebody else speak and interact with him, so do you wanna try?

  I really ain't a truther.

  The thing with my family is that they are incredibly supportive, especially Daisy and my dad. My sister's bad temper is not even half as intense as her supportive-big-sister-mode. Probably because of that that I don't have many friends - because it is very easy to get lost in my family's love. They make me feel like I don't really need other people, like nobody else would be as important as them, so why try? I've always had friends here and there, but opening up and trusting is a whole different story.

  Maybe that's why Reggie had such an impact on me; because he made me realize that the world is bigger than my little bubble, than what meets the eye.

  - I need to know a little more about this Reggie dude. Characteristics, please.

  - Reggie, what do you want me to tell her? - I look at him, turning my head to face his way and the view makes my heart melt: he's staring at us with thankful eyes.

  The boy is on the verge of tears. Happy tears, apparently. It feels so heartwarming to see his big white smile and his freckles from up close.

  - I… I don't know. What do you want her to know about me?

  - Well, Day is more than just my sister. - I reply while Daisy just smiles, keeping her attention on the road. - She's my best friend, so I'd like her to know everything about you. I know she'll like you anyways cause you're both sweethearts. You two like Star Wars and she says she hates puns, but that's a lie. And you're always making jokes and being adorable, so that's a start, right? You'll get along just fine.

  - What about appearance-wise? Is he cute? - My sister's question has Reggie laughing and blushing. Their interaction is so cute and the tears on Reggie's eyes say the same.

  - He has deep blue eyes, a pointy nose and some freckles that look like the galaxy. For all I know he could have the whole bear keeper constellation on his face, I swear. - The way he observes me speaking foolishly about him is encouraging and sweet. He seems to be admiring me too, intrigued by the way I describe his features.

  - Bear keeper constellation, hum? He should watch out for poisoning then.

  My sister giggles scares the hell out of me and by Reggie's silence and wide eyes, he's panicking too.

  - What? - I mumble.

  - Icarius? The wine story? - She tries explaining, but seeing my confused semblance, she continues. - Icarius died because some people thought he poisoned them with wine. They didn't understand alcohol back then and well, he died for nothing. Poor guy. After all, a god really did trust him with the wonders of wine because he was such a great person and he basically died for that. For being too good. - She shrugs like it's nothing, like I am not surprised and startled by the coincidence. I never heard that story in my life. - But what else? I wanna know more about him.

  Reggie shakes his head and closes his mouth, blinking a few times in the process. I take my time to study him once again, ignoring my own surprise.

  - He's funny, positive, loves animals and can be a bit of an airhead, but that's cause he's very creative and imaginative. He is a bassist, likes flirting and I'd say he uses jokes as a way to cope with sadness.

  I can't look at him while saying those things, so I fix my posture and stare at the car in front of us. It's too personal and I don't know how he truly feels about me and the way I read him. After all, I officially met him yesterday and every single dream could be wrong. My version of him could be wrong.

  I could only hope I was right and he would keep singing in that silent game of hot potato.

  - The only important question left is: what's his Harry Potter house?

  And that's how we spend the rest of the day watching Harry Potter, with Reggie sitting beside me with his eyes glued to the tv screen. When Chamber of Secrets ends, my parents get home and Day quickly explains that we'll be having company for dinner. Reggie doesn't leave my side for a second and even though I could speak to him when my sister was around, my parents might think differently, so I don't really hold my breath.

  - We have company for dinner, dad. - Daisy says.

  - Oh, really? - My dad asks. He's already in the kitchen, so we follow him there. Reggie sits on the counter while Day helps with the food and I just stand by the door, looking at my family. - Who is coming?

  Daisy does something funny with her eyebrows, teasing me, and I roll my eyes, because that's very rich coming from her. Reggie is silent, just studying our reactions and conversations, so I decide to imitate him, sitting by his side. I want him to feel included in the family, like he belongs there, like he is welcome in our house.

  - Dad, this is my friend Reginald, but you can call him Reggie. - I say, pointing at the boy next to me. I know they can't see him; it would be impossible considering he is dead. Reggie's eyes, however, beg for love and appreciation, so I don't mind making a fool of myself if that means I get to make him feel comfortable. - He'll be eating dinner with us tonight, if that's alright.

  - Well, sure. - My father answers, with a smile on his face and no second thoughts whatsoever. - We're happy to have you here, Reggie.

  Daisy winks at me and Reggie is astonished with my dad's answer, especially because he really is looking and speaking in his direction, to the place I pointed. That probably makes him feel alive, but I don't really have time to say anything else because soon enough my dad walks up to him and goes for a handshake. My dad doesn't wait for Reggie's hand to shake it, but the boy doesn't mind and lets his transparent skin go through my dad's solid body, trying any kind of connection he can.

  - Cold hands, hum? But are you really just friends with my daughter? Cause I don't recall any friends staying for dinner before.

  It's not really a surprise that my father would participate in any kind of experiment, project or whatever he thinks this is; his trust and love for me are the only irrational part of him and he is very good at that - trusting me with his eyes closed. As Daisy explains everything to him, his tired figure just keeps cooking dinner and making a few questions here and there. He starts with the basic "how was your day?" and moves on to "bassist that loves country music? That's new. I would like to listen to your music, Reggie".

  He's not weirded out by the situation and that makes me wonder if I should tell him the truth. Or at least half of it. Maybe he wouldn't understand everything, but at least I'd feel lighter. When he starts telling us the positive stories that he's seen in the hospital today, Reggie interrupts his monologue by leaving the kitchen, so I follow him.

  - What's wrong? - I ask, indicating my room. He goes in and I close the door. - Is everything okay?

  He doesn't answer for a moment. He just stands there, looking out the window. His torso is covered in the same black leather jacket that I've seen so many times before in my dreams and his hair looks perfect. He looks perfect. Even when he sniffs and starts crying.

  He looks perfect and I'm freaking out.

  - I am so sorry for today, Reggie. It was never my intention to make you feel bad, I swear. That doesn't mean you shouldn't feel whatever you're feeling; I'm just justifying myself really. - I start mumbling, letting the words come out of my mouth with no filter. - You don't have to stay, if you don't want to. You can leave and we can talk tomorrow... I don't know.

  He's not singing in our game of hot potato. Reggie's sad and it's painful to see him like that, crying, perhaps even regretful. After the heavy day, I can't stop myself from crying too, feeling unwanted, wrong.

  My heart hurts.

  My heart hurts for him, almost like we share the same body.

  - I forgot how much I missed being alive. - He says, letting his fingers roam his cheeks, cleaning any signs of tears. - It's not just about dying young, you know? It's like ordering a pizza that you know will never arrive, but you still don't order another one. You just keep waiting and waiting. And you can almost taste it; the cheese, the smell, the love in the shape of pepperoni… but it's still not enough. Being a ghost is not enough for me, Y/N. I need to make my own pizza or order something else.

  A glimpse of determination in Reggie's eyes makes me feel uneasy. If Alex said he didn't want to find out, "ordering something else" is off limits. Going alone to the cafe looking for answers could mess their friendship and hurt all of them even more.

  - Are you sure you can't wait a little bit more? We can wait together, if it helps. - My reasoning is not the best in the world; I am basically bargaining more time with him. - We can finish Harry Potter, I can show you some music. And, of course, you still have Julie and your friends, right? Maybe the pizza will arrive, Reggie. Have a little faith.

  He opens his mouth a few times, trying to say something, but nothing comes out. He shrugs and turns around, staring at the window again. Outside, the weather is the same and everything looks peaceful. But inside of him, things are different. His world is not the same as it was when he entered my house.

  He wants answers now.

  - What kind of music do you wanna show me?

  His smile is not reaching his eyes, but I take whatever I can get, grabbing my phone quickly and playing Taylor Swift. He falls in love with her banjo songs, like I knew he would, and then shows me some of his favorite musicians. We talk about movies and he's impressed to know that Back To The Future is a classic, considering that none of his friends liked it back then.

  It's so easy to talk to him. His overflowing attention and care is noticeable and heartwarming. It's not like he's just answering me, no, he's making conversation, showing interest and curiosity about me, about the things I like. And I do the same with him, because I wanna know everything there is to know, everything he wants me to know and love.

  With him so close to me it's very easy to forget he's not alive.

  - You know what I was thinking? - He asks with his face so close to mine that I can even count his freckles.

  - No. - I whisper and he chuckles. - What is it?

  - I really wish they could see me. Your family. They are so nice. I really wish my unfinished business involved them too so they could see me. - Reggie sounds sad again, so put my hand on his knee, not really touching him. We're sitting on the floor, with our backs resting on the wall and our legs close to our chests, looking like two lost kids. - At least I've got you.

  - Your parents probably miss you too, you know? Don't you think we should look for them? Do you think it would help?

  - I am not sure anymore. I think I want to know, but at the same time what if I get disappointed? What if they don't care about me anymore? Don't think about me at all? Or what if they do? What if they can't move on? - He touches my hand softly and I can tell he has to focus a lot for that to happen. - It's also scary to see what they've become. To see what my future could've been.

  He doesn't say anything else after that. His thumb tries stroking my skin and it takes a while until he finally succeeds. My heart is about to get out of my chest and I stay still, afraid that he'll run away like he did the night before.

  - You are not your parents, Reggie, just as I am not mine. As much as they are responsible for us to some extent, it's not as if we are a property being marked by our last name. Our family is not our whole world; if anything, they're the cheerleaders who stand outside the field cheering for us. Well, - I feel his gentle touch more prominently so I turn my gaze to our connected hands. - at least it should be like that. But anyway, I'm very proud of you. You are a beautiful, loved human being with an incredible capacity to love others. Alive or dead, you're full of life and that's amazing.

  I don't want to extend the topic too much, just in case he's not ready for it, but I know that our parents also lost individual characteristics when they became parents. They didn't have their own names anymore; they were "my father" and "my mother". It seemed that they were less their own and more ours, as if their value was linked to their children in some way.

  - I… thank you. - Suddenly I can't feel his touch anymore. Disappointed, we stand up at the same time and again, we're so close I can memorize the exact shape of his lips. - You have no idea how much I… I needed this. Needed you. How much I need you. I'm happy we found each other, Y/N. I really am.

  - Me too, Reggie. I just wish our timing was a bit better, you know?

  - Yeah… I mean, the world is so old, right? At least we got some time here together. Let's just enjoy it from now on. Like it's now or never. - He smiles brightly again and I imitate him. - That's one of our songs, by the way. You need to hear -

  The doorbell startles us. Reggie and I laugh at our own reactions and I go get the door. When I open it, Nick is there, with arrogant eyes and an infuriating smile.

  - Hey, Y/N. - He says. - I think we need to talk. Now.

  - Honey, who is this? - My mother asks me. Just like Daisy, she has that pretentious grin that tells me she thinks we're more than friends. - Is this Reggie that your dad was telling me about? Come in, sweetheart. Dinner is almost ready.

  Mom runs to the kitchen, probably to tell the others about the news, and I'm scared again. If looks could kill, I'd be just like Reggie now.

  - Oh, so Reggie is here too? Good, that way we can kill two birds with one stone. - Reggie comes to the rescue, but he looks just as conflicted and confused as me. - And just so you know, you're one of the birds, Y/N, and I won't let you escape again.

  - What is this little dude talking about? - Reggie asks.

  Nick's head turns to Reggie's direction and I feel sick again. It's hard to breathe and the purple mist coming out of the blonde's mouth is scarier than before. He's standing at my door, invading my house and threatening me. Everything is too much, my own body, my own thoughts and the house feels smaller and smaller.

  - I am talking about you, your friends and this rat right here. I've been looking for you for two lifetimes already and I'm not letting you go again. Not without getting my revenge first.

taglist: @revolutionary-werewolf-ghosts

[boleyn-falcon]

‘wouldn’t it be nice?’

okay so ever since i made my Joan and Jane fic (here) I've decided i wanted to make a oneshot for all the ladies and their queens! this one is a lot more happy because my heart can’t handle a sad Maggie rn like i’ll die.

this is also me just being a wannabe soccer jock because i finished my first season this school year :> of yea and if i accidentally refer to it as soccer and not football i’m sorry i’m a dumbass american

synopsis - Anne thinks today would be the perfect day to kidnap her closest friend and sports-related hijinks ensue! with maybe a slight side of bruises and concussions..

Words - 2593

Trigger warnings - none that i know of but tell me if you think i should add one!

     Maggie loved the early summer. It was the perfect time of the year, not too hot nor cold. She could leave her window open to let in natural sunlight during the day, she’s always hated artificial lights, they give her headaches. It was the best time to just hone her skills and relax, she could let all of her stress just melt away. The brunette started learning a new song she heard so she could play it to the ladies and queens. “Wouldn't it be nice”, by some old american group called ‘The Beach Boys’, it was a nice feel good song the guitarist just felt amazing hearing. The old song’s lyrics remind her how good her second chance at life really was, “And wouldn't it be nice to live together,In the kind of world where we belong?”, it was perfect.

  Her hands gracefully floated over the strings, eyes locked on the chords displayed on her computer screen. It felt like the world had stopped moving for a moment, like everything was calm. Well that feeling didn’t last that long. Maggie’s hands suddenly gripped the neck of the instamet as a large crash came from down stairs, ‘oh no what is it this time’. The musician laid her guitar down on her bed right as a slew of very creative and colorful curses came from what she could only presume was Bessie. With a quick trot down the stairs she was soon to find a very peeved bassist, a started pianist, a confused drummer. She made haste to the living room where they were standing to also find one very apologetic tudor queen and one rambunctious gremlin on the floor, oh and a slightly broken window.

    “Gosh Bess I’m so sorry about her, we just got back from pret and i let her buy a large chocolate frappe, i'll pay for the new window..”, the blue clad queen said with a sorry smile. Maria spoke up with a curious tone, “Wait why are you guys here anyway? Atleast give a reason Miss Kermit the Hulk over here came crashing through our window?”, the green eyed woman finally stood up from her place on the floor and shuffled shyly. “Well Cathy wanted to come over and get some piano lessons from Joan and I tagged along to hopefully get some time with my favorite ferret!”, Maggie gave an amused chuckle and stepped forward. “Well okay you sugared up raccoon, what did you wanna do?”, Anne made her way to the couch and plopped down, “Well before we do anything, you need to go change into some shorts and a tank top oh and put your hair up. Cathy then grabbed one of the two drawstring bags she had been holding and handed it to Anne, who was already in some black running shorts and a neon green muscle tank. “Well me and Joan are gonna go hit the keys, you two have fun with whatever trouble Anne will get you both in”, and with that the two shorter girls made their way across the room and began to talk quietly.

  The band member made her way back up to her room and began to pick out an outfit. ‘ Huh, I wonder why Anne is having me wear sports gear..the only kind of sport she watches is hockey and that's because she thinks it's funny to see them beat the shit out of each other’. She opened her closet and picked out some white athletic shorts(with pockets because all pants need them in her opinion), and a pastel cyan dri fit shirt with a black double note on the front. Lastly, she ties her hair back in her normal high ponytail she wears for shows.

      Finally they were ready and made their way out of the house and onto the London streets. Anne still had her green bag, without giving a single hint to what could be inside. They made their way down into the nearest tube station on the Piccadilly Line. Maggie could now slightly narrow down the places they could be heading,but just a little. They stayed on the hot tube for a good few minutes before the hyper woman pulled her off and gave her a little time to look at where they had gotten off, Hyde Park Corner. This had just gotten even more puzzling as they made their way up to the surface. They were so close to leaving the station, till they had to scan their oyster cards. Anne had gotten through the gate easily with a quick swipe of her card. Maggie walked forward and scanned her card, but as she was walking through she felt a pressure on her waist. The Confused woman looked down to find out.. The gate had closed on her and she was stuck in between the two sides of the machine. “...Well shit… that's a problem”, the two rudor women laughed and Anne waved down a worker to let her friend out of her plastic-mechanical prison.

       They finally made it out of the station, at least they already had a funny story to tell the others. They ambled their way down the stone sidewalk, smiling and laughing like school kids. “So I tell Joey about the whole pasta-wall test and she actually does it! Wait it gets better, she grabs a handful of angel hair spaghetti and chucks it at the kitchen wall! In front of Maria and Bessie! Let’s just say she wasn't allowed to be near any kind of noodle for a while”, Anne bursts out in laughter even stronger than back at the station, wiping tears from her eyes.  Suddenly the green queen stopped and grabbed her friend’s hand and pulled her over to the other side of the road. “Tadah! We are gonna hang out here and try something new!”,the enthusiastic woman points to the stone arch like structure above them. “Hyde Park? What could we possibly learn here?”, Anne gives no answer as she continues to drag the poor musician into the park and off to a flat clearing.

    The Boleyn girl stops right in the middle of the small grassy area and finally pulls out what has been hiding in her bag, a basic football and a small bluetooth speaker. “I thought it would be fun if we learned how to play Football! It seems easy enough and it would be fun bonding for us!”, she put the speaker down next to her bag and put the ball at her feet. Maggie was beyond confused, neither woman had ever tried sports, she knows Cleves runs and does boxing with Kathrine but that's about it. The guitarist gave a nod to the woman in front of her, she was about three meters away. Anne pulls her foot back like a bow and slams the front of her foot into the ball and sends it flying towards the other burnette. The ball hits Maggie’s right shin, she stumbles back and trips over the object at her feet and falls on her backside. “Ow shit!”, both women say loudly, Anne holding her foot and Maggie on the ground clutching her shin.

     “Okay so bad idea, maybe we should..I dunno, learn how to play the damn game before we start kicking shit?”, the tudor queen gave a shy nod as she walked over and helped the injured girl to her feet. Maggie pulls out her phone from the pocket of her shorts and goes to her trusty friend, Google. “Okay Mags we should start with how to kick the damned thing without breaking all of your toes”, the guitarist gave a small chuckle and searched what Anne had suggested. After about thirty seconds of looking she finds a short Youtube video titled, ‘How to properly kick a soccer ball’, huh made by an American i guess. She clicked the video and turned her phone so both inept reincarnates could watch. The woman in the video showed her foot parallel to the ball, lightly kicking it with the inner side of her foot, unlike Anne who ‘toed’ the ball from what the woman said. The demonstrator showed how to open your hips wide to pass forward and how to angle your foot to make sure the ball goes in the right direction. After the tutorial ended Maggie turned her phone off and returned it to her pocket. “Okay Anne go back to your spot with the demon-sphere so we can try this again”.

      So it was take two and they widened their stances slightly like the player in the video did, “Okay Mags remember to stop it with the side like she said so i don't break your foot! God the other Ladies would kill me..”. Anne got ready and tilted her foot outwards slightly and pulled back, she hit the ball correctly, well sort of. She used the right part  of her foot but hit the very bottom of the ball and it flew upwards and towards the poor ferret-like woman in front of her, hitting her square in the face. Maggie stepped back and made a low grunt noise and held her face. “Christ Annie what did you do wrong this time? You did exactly what she said and it was still fucked up!”,Anne gave a confused look with a tilt of her head, “I dunno ‘M, maybe it was wind?”.  Both gave a frustrated sigh as they sat down on a nearby bench and started to think. Before they could conjure up a coherent thought, Maggie spotted 3 teenage looking girls with matching gold and red sports uniforms with low and behold, a football. The younger girl shot up from the bench and gave her queen a confident smirk, “Anne i think i have a good but also maybe terrible idea”, she sped up to the girls and stopped them in their tracks.

           “Hey sorry to bother you girls but erm… you play Football right..?”, the three girls looked at each other confusingly, “Um”, the tall brunette girl starts, “Yea we are on our school’s team..why?”. Anne catches up to Maggie right as the conversation continues, “Well I’m Maggie and my friend Anne and I want to learn how to play but we are kinda…”, Maggie trails off for Anne to finish, “Bad at it, like really bad”. The tanner girl with gloves on stepped forward with an amused look, “Well okay then, we were just about to go for a short practice so we could totally help you out!”, she put her gloved hand out for Maggie to shake, “I’m Samina, I’m the team’s goalie and these are two out of three of my defenders, Piper”, she points to the girl from brefor who gave a small wave, “And brooke”, a shorter brunette looked up and gave a small nod. “So I see you're already kinda set up here so let's get to it!”, the goalie led her girls over and gave the older pair an encouraging smile, “Show us whatcha got ladies!”.        All five of the girls got in a wide spread circle with Anne’s ball at her feet. “Okay so first things first, do you know how to kick it without hurting yourself or sending it to the moon?”, Anne looked over and answered for Maggie, “Kinda, we can do it without harming our precious feet buuut it went flying and ‘bout gave Mags a broken sniffer..”. The shortest girl gave a small nod and gazed over at the pair, “Well then you hit the bottom of the ball, next time hit the middle or top, but i say middle because you might trip if you hit the top”, she said in a monotone voice. Anne decides to give it a go and turns to face Maggie, giving her a look that says, ‘be prepared because this might end horribly’. Giving her queen a quick nod she gets ready to receive the weapon of death, aka the ball. Anne pulls back and hits the ball just like she was told and it zooms towards Maggie on the ground and the brown eyed woman manages to catch it with somewhat ease. “Nice job Bo!”, she says as she rushes to give her green clad friend a high-five who gladly returns. “Now”, Piper starts, “time to learn how to dribble with the ball!”. Both girls groan in response.

       After about an hour and a half of learning the simple methods of the sport the girls had to leave so it just left Maggie and Anne to figure it all out from there. Maggie spots an opportunity to turn up the fun and jogs over to Anne’s speaker and connects her phone. An upbeat guitar melody begins to play and just a few seconds later words start to emit from the speaker, “Wouldn't it be nice if we were older? Then we wouldn't have to wait so long?”. The musician gives a bright smile as the cheerful song plays, she now could really understand how grateful she really was for this new life. She sauntered over to the smiling Boleyn girl and they began to pass the ball around and laugh. They practiced thier passess and dribbleing, even tripping a good few times which made their smiles even brighter as they became covered in dirt,grass, and small bruises.

     “Annie! Heads up!”, the ball flew past the queen’s head and into a tree behind her, getting stuck up in some branches. “Shit sorry, i'll go up and get it dont worry!”, Anne gave a worried glance, “Are you sure Maggie? We could just throw stuff at it to knock it down..”, Maggie had already started scaling the tree. It was anything but graceful, she looked like a blind cat with a missing tail,left leg, and whiskers, she couldn't balance at all. After making her way up about 5 or so branches she finally got to their beloved horri-ball. She grabbed it with her left hand, leaving her right, non-dominant hand, to be the one holding onto the flimsy branch above her, it was a recipe for disaster. “Hey Anne, I got the bAL-”, where her last words before the branch gave way and she went tumbling to the ground. Luckily or not so luckily, her dearest queen was there to break her fall. “I told you so”, is all Anne could croak out from under Maggie before she pushed her off. After that fiasco they moved a tad bit farther from the trees so they didn’t have to go home in full body casts.

After a few more hours it was starting to get dark and they thought it best for them to head back to their respective homes. They parted ways and started the trek back to their humble abodes. “See you later Mag! I'll text you later!”, and with that Anne was gone, Maggie has always wondered how she just vanishes right when you take her eyes off her. After a very cautious tube station trip and ride, she was finally home. The guitarist, happy to be home and rest, opens the door, ready to have some quiet time. Her dreams are slightly crushed as she sees a small brown blur scurry across the hall with a very distressed Maria rushing after it. The drummer stops in her tracks to make eye contact with her bandmate, “Bessie,Cathy, and Joey went out for dinner, don't say a word about this Margret”, today just got even more exhausting.

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

Okay well that was an absolute acid trip-

i hope yall enjoy some cute bonding shit becuase the last one was so edgy n shit, and before any of you ask, yes the three girls on my team who are all really amazing players and friends and i love them so so much-

the next one will probably be with Maria and Lina and them dealing with Maria’s.... new little predicament haha

[jadewritings]

Love Letters To My Professor - Talk To Me

PAIRING: Sam Winchester x Reader, Dean Winchester x reader

WORD COUNT: 2k ish

WARNINGS: Language, fluff, angry!sam, imagined smut

AUTHOR'S NOTE: AAAAAAHHH!! I love this chapter UwU

Another week. Another week without talking to Sam. Dean you'd talk plenty to but purposely left the conversation if Sam came up to you. He was starting get really pissed off and you enjoyed it.

Okay, maybe you were taking it too far by going this long without letting him explain but it was a fun game to play. You wondered how far you could push him.

But when you really thought about it, really looked at why you were acting this way, you knew. You were developing feelings for the man.  You couldn't tell anyone. But you also didn't want to keep it bottled up.  So you decided to start writing it down. You'd bought a journal to write it all in. You set them up as a genuine letter and used about two pages worth to write how you were feeling. Both front and back.

Then Dean started getting under your skin. He flirted constantly and ever since you saw him that first day on campus, flirting with the other girls, you hadn't seen him do it again. He only had eyes for you now.

You'd grown close to Dean too. Maybe there was something there. But you knew you couldn't have both. Things were just so complicated and you still had to worry about actual college. Not boys who vied for your attention. Well if they actually wanted it.

When you thought about it you didn't mind sharing. Hell, that would be the perfect scenario, right?

Your dreams filled with both of the men. They were the only thing on your mind for the past week. But you had to focus. Schoolwork and soccer came first.  

You were in Sam's class today, you were working on an assignment. He had the class research their favorite mythological creature and make a PowerPoint on it. You choose a Phoenix because they were badass and majestic.

He sat at his desk, looking at his laptop. You could feel every time he looked up at you. His pen tapped anxiously on his desk. Your eyes were glued to your screen and wrote down important details you'd need or want to use in the presentation.

Your phone buzzed next to you. The screen lit up and your attention turned to it. Dean's name popped up through iMessage and you set your pencil down to unlock your phone and look at it. Everyone on the team had their numbers so it wasn't too odd for him to be texting. That was, until you actually read the message.

Dean: Hey! Since tomorrow is the weekend, I was wondering if you'd like to go see a movie or something? Eat dinner after?

Y/N: Isn't that a little inappropriate? Asking your player on a date?

Dean: Not if we just call it two friends hanging out. Plus I don't work directly through the school. I work as a mechanic.

Y/N: And what do you think Sam will say about this?

Dean: Who cares? It's not like I haven't shared with him before.

You slammed your phone down on the desk, heat rising to your face. Everyone turned their attention to the loud noise and you lowered your head, trying to conceal yourself.

Why did he have to say that?!

Your phone buzzed again. Then again. You were scared to look at it again.

Sam gave you an odd look. He looked confused and you dared to look back at him. The bell rang, signaling the end of class and he took in a deep breath, looking down at his laptop again before closing it.

You did the same, returning it to your bag. These small laptop were the schools but they were rented for this class. You were allowed to take them for the time being.

You looked at your phone to see the other messages Dean had sent, as much as you were afraid to.

Dean: I take that as a yes then?

Dean: I'll pick you up tonight around 8. See you then gorgeous ;)

You lowered your phone just as you pumped into a brick wall. Or rather, Sam's chest.

"Coach? What's up?"

His nostrils flared at his name. And he tried hard to suppress an angered shiver.

"You know damn well what's up. You've been ignoring me."

"And?" You asked, pretending to not notice his breathing stutter.

"And?! And you never gave me the chance to explain myself—"

"There's nothing to explain, Sam.  You can fuck whoever you want. We're not together, probably never will be. I'm not going to stop you. Mrs. Levi really seems to like you and I'm sure her tits will rub you in all the right ways." You didn't mean to sound so mean but you couldn't help it. The jealousy just took over and made the words come out of its own volition.

His hands clenched and unclenched a few times, his eyes closing trying to calm himself down. You really worked this man to his core. Why? You didn't know but he was hot when he was angry. His chest flared out and his pecs pushed against the fabric of his white shirt.

You scoffed and tried to get around him, shaking your head. You didn't have to deal with this. Besides you had a date tonight. Well... a friendly hangout.

You didn't even get a step in before Sam pushed you against the wall. His breath was hot in your face and you yelped when he did it. His hands blocked either side of your head, making escape impossible. You looked at the door, which was open. If anyone walked by or in they would be suspicious by the scene.

"Sam.."

"Shut up." He growled, "Do you know how hard it's been trying to get you out of my head?"

"W-What?"

"I said shut up!" He yelled.

You whimpered and shut your eyes tight.

"....Y/N." His voice was lower.

You cautiously looked at him, "I hate it when you ignore me." He said, his eyes lingering on your lips.

"I hate it when you call me coach because I love the way my name sounds coming out of your mouth." If your heart could beat any faster, it might've beat right out of your chest.

"I don't want Mrs. Levi. I don't want anyone else but the one person I can't have because she's my fucking student."

He sighed, sliding his hands down the wall and back to his sides. You could leave now, but you couldn't help but stare at him. This gorgeous man in front of you just confessed he wanted you. Little did he know, you wanted him just as much. If not, more.

"I-I'm sorry." And you rushed out of the door. You couldn't bare to look back. Your heart ripped in half leaving him without saying anything but could you really say? Hey I'm falling in love with you but I'd probably get kicked out and ruin my chance at playing for a big soccer league so I can't be with you? Yeah you'd broke his heart enough by leaving.

••••

Sam's Brief POV

Y/N just left me. She ran out and didn't even look back. What was that supposed to tell me? I just poured my heart out to the girl and she fucking leaves! Well, I couldn't blame her. The school would fire me and probably kick her out if they found out about a teacher-student relationship.

I really didn't see the problem with it. It's not like this is high school, she's a big girl, well over the age.

I was frustrated though. She ignored me for so long, only speaking to Dean. And calling me coach, that pissed me off the most.

I always imagine what she sounds like, screaming out my name underneath me while I fuck her into the mattress. Then she goes and calls me coach. Ruins the moment really. Why her? Why did I have to get involved with her? That day she had us stay in the bed, and she dug her ass into my dick, that's what started it all.

I punched the wall in front of me. Though it barely even did anything since it was concrete. My knuckles slowly started to bleed but not too much. I wiped that same hand down my face before I notice a black book on the floor.

Is this Y/N's? She must have dropped it when she ran out.

I picked it up and opened it to the first page. I didn't intend to read it. I only wanted to see if there was a name or something to identify it. But I saw her handwriting and couldn't help myself.

These are... love letters? About... oh my god, these are about me.

-Part 6-

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[1stunseeliefaelass]

Darksiders Arthurian Tales Revisited

Chapter 13: The Hunt Begins

Strife immediately panics and goes looking through his inventory to find a crystal. Death however grabs him by the shoulders.

"STRIFE! Calm down, Miriam should be fine. Uther likely won't pay attention to her. As far as he's concerned, he's probably among the group that doesn't view her race as people."

"Still worth checking on her, you know? I do not want tiny getting punted." Strife states.

"She can actually avoid getting stepped on you know. I taught her a spell to make herself taller. A better disguise than her running around in country bumpkin dress."

"Ok she can do a whole lot more than just country bumpkin, I know, I helped" Strife tells him annoyed.

"Right, and you have such a good style." Death remarks sarcastically.

Strife rolls his eyes before calling Miriam up finally. Miriam meanwhile is reading another romance novel as per usual in the city library. She ends up hearing her crystal go off and quickly hops down from her powder puff for a bed. From there Miriam hopped across a thin line with decorative lanterns on it, using said lanterns as platforms. Once across the line she gets down to the table her crystal is on using a bucket for a elevator. Finally upon reaching it she answers the call in a very cute, high pitched voice.

"Hello there?"

"Miriam you alright?"

"Mmhmm, you know I am my big gunslinger. What's cooking?"

Death suddenly busts out laughing in the background, "Did she just utter the expression 'big gunslinger'!?"

"Oh go sit on Harker's dick Death!" Miriam shouts in a mini explosion.

"Uhm no thank you. Ahem."

Then Puck walks in, "Already did it for him."

"Wait a minute.....Strife did you get into trouble at another bar?" Miriam asks.

"No no not at all my Sugarplum Fairy." Strife tells her gulping.

Puck looks at him funny, "Wait are you and her an item? I didn't know you were into shots of hard alcohol."

As Death continued to try and die of laughter, Strife retorted to both of them, "First off, she's a shot of Jaeger. Second off, you, shut up."

Miriam is of course squeeing at the comment, "Awwwwwwwww. Eeeeeeeeeeeeeee."

"AH! Sugarplum you're gonna crack the windows, tone it down a peg. Anyway, I'm calling to ask if you're alright."

"As I said I'm fine. Why so worried?" Miriam inquires gingerly.

"Uhm just uh...telling ya....uh....if anyone bad mouths my brother, keep your head down. Don't speak up about it ok?"

"Oh sure, but what's he done this time?" Miriam asks.

"Uhmmmm.....I may have pissed off a King, again."

He hears a tiny facepalm, "Really?"

"To be honest, I was trying to stop him from harming an innocent person." Death expresses.

Strife adds on, "Yeah, he's got on crush on her too."

"Zip it."

"Hey you make fun of my love life, I make fun of yours. This is the game we play brother, this is the game we play." Strife states.

Suddenly Miriam hears the bell above the front door ring and glances over, "Oh, I gotta go now. May need to help with this customer. It's how I earn my keep here you know."

"Right right, just stay out of trouble. Swear to me you'll be safe ok?"

"Of course honeybuns, talk later." Miriam says before ending the call with a smooch. She then scurries to the front desk where a rather scary looking pirate is. The old librarian is noticeably concerned upon meeting them.

"Uh ah.......Mr Ding.......uh-uh I mean Captain Leatherbeard. What brings you to my humble library? A romance novel perhaps?"

"Heheheh haha....Nah nah, you know I'm not into those books. They're nowhere near realistic, or worth my taste." The bald man said simply. His 'beard' lived up to his name. Scarred tissue and calloused skin that when touched was comparative to leather. He had no true hands, as one was replaced by a massive anchor. The other looked like an unfinished prosthetic, that is unless it morphed another tool. A constantly changing piece of work that could become multiple things, using the mechanical parts mixed with a good dose of magic. Course he hadn't expected to hear a sudden small voice pipe up next to him.

"Actually sir, the romance novels can be very realistic."

He glanced over to the small Pixie Elf girl, "Hmhmhmhm....how so?"

"They just are, I assure you." Miriam insisted a bit flustered.

"Heheh....and have you experienced any of those things in your books?" The Captain inquired, getting closer to her.

"Why would I be so inappropriate as to tell a customer such things?"

"Heheh....I hear it's inappropriate to call a customer 'wrong' on a subject."

Miriam gulped, "Sir it was only an assurance."

"Oh assurance was it? So, you're saying this poor lonely soul of mine could find love? Have a peaceful life? Could have someone accept me for the way I look? The way I talk...heheh? For the way I act? You're saying I can find love? So naive. So filled with hope in this cruel dark world."

"I have love, and he appreciates me for who I am. Never judges my little stature." Miriam states.

"Heheheheh....Well I mean you are quite a pipsqueak but, I've seen smaller. And besides, how tall is your great prince? Is he as tall as me? Or is he as tall as my beautiful first mate here?" Leatherbeard asks her whilst pulling his first mate over, a female surprisingly.

"Shorter than both of you actually, but I still love him very much." Miriam says all dreamy.

"Oh well then, since there is a small height difference, you mind telling me how you get all 'snuggly' with him?"

"I'm afraid I can't say, it's private." Miriam states firmly.

"Hmm, we've already gone this far? Why can't we go any further?" Leatherbeard questions before suddenly snatching her in his fist. Squishing her big time he inquires further, "Give me a good reason why I shouldn't pop you? What makes you unique enough for me NOT to SQUEEZE?"

Miriam finally utters the spell under breath, which knocks Leatherbeard back slightly. As the light from the spell clears, he sees she's taller now. Slightly taller than a halfling, lithe, and actually rather 'blessed' as well.

"Hohohoh....now I can see it. Hahaha." Leatherbeard says before putting his hands on both her shoulders, "Now I can see why someone as tall as him could find someone like you pleasurable. Mind if I take a peek?"

"I'd rather you didn't....." Miriam says backing away like a frightened fawn. Her black doe eyes certainly don't help her image.

"Oh come now, you already gave me one good peek. What's wrong with seeing the whole show, as it were? I'm sure your, man, won't mind. He isn't here to give any trouble now is he?"

Miriam began looking around frantically and finally just forced herself through a window. Naturally she was cut by the glass but in her terror she paid no heed to her bleeding arms and feet. Scurrying away like there was no tomorrow. Only for Leatherbeard to pursue her. He takes a shard of glass, and upon sniffing it, "Got ya. Run run as fast as you can, nowhere to hide from me."

Miriam kept running, leaving a trail of even more blood as she went on in her fear. Meanwhile the librarian takes the opportunity to call Strife, "Strife you need to get down here, Miriam's in trouble."

Strife freezes and asks, "Wait what do you mean by trouble? What's going on?" Suddenly he hears the poor man being choked out and yells, "What's happening what's happening!?"

The first mate then picks up for him, "Captain's about to get himself a new gift. Thank you for her, honestly. Captain's been feeling a bit antsy today."

"Bitch where's my girl?!"

"Look honey my time is short, so if you know what's good for ya, let this happen. Or you can just get yourself killed, your choice buddy. Either way, this one's on you." She tells him before slitting the librarian's throat and ending the call.

Suddenly Death gets his own call from a very scared Miriam, "DEATH HELP ME!!"

"Ah! What's going on, and please speak calmly if you can?"

"Just get me out of here! Please!" Miriam screams at him.

"Merlin, get a portal ready! Miriam you need to keep running, who's chasing you?"

Suddenly Death hears a yelp and a voice he never thought he'd never hear again, "So your name's Miriam eh? Heheheh...and I can hear your friend there. Hello there Death, been a while. Hahaha ha..." Leatherbeard tells him before singing the song Oh Death.

Course he's interrupted by Strife, as he explodes whilst hearing Miriam whimpering on Death's crystal, "You motherfucking son of a bitch! Fucking damn you, you goddamn monster! I won't let anyone I care about become one of your playthings! No matter how demented you are, so come at me you bitch!"

Leatherbeard actually looks impressed, "Strife? Heh, last time I remember you were just a squirt. Heheh...been a while, been a while indeed."

"What the hell are you on about? Last I checked, we never met!" Strife yells at him.

Death notices Morgen looking a bit scared again, and inquires quietly, "Do you know him?"

"He's one of Uther's privateers." Morgen says in her fear.

"Shit. Strife you need to cool it." Death tries to tell Strife before they hear Leatherbeard singing that song again.

He then actually lets Miriam go surprisingly, and menacingly calls after her, "Keep running, just...keep...RUNNING.."

From there everyone hears the painful transformation that Leatherbeard undergoes. His 'screams' of pain more like moans that slowly become a strained hissing sound. The bones snapping in place, limbs and teeth growing. Every visceral detail and bloody pop they hear on the crystal. Finally a low hiss is all that's heard next before the crystal is smashed to bits. The wereshark has begun his frenzy. Strife begins having a panic attack, imagining whatever twisted being he fears Leatherbeard may be now. He can't get the image of Miriam being devoured by some twisted amalgamation out of his head. No matter how hard he tries.

"Shit fuck....shit!"

"Calm down calm down, Merlin get that portal ready damn it!" Death shouts.

"Working on it working on it! I can't keep a good lock on it when she's running around as fast as she is!" Merlin shouts back.

"Then let ME find her! My crystal's still intact so you can track me with that right?" Strife tells him.

"Riiiiiight." Merlin says.

"Be careful, he's a vicious monster and you still don't know what you're going into." Death warns Strife.

"I think I got this." Strife states confidently.

"Don't be cocky."

"Bitch please, I know what I'm doing. He's a Therianthrope, magic can still work against him right?" Strife questions.

"You have no idea who or what he is. That's it, I'm going with you in case you get yourself killed."

"I have this covered." Strife insists.

"Now is not a good time to argue. If you want to save Miriam, we need go now. Merlin get that portal ready!"

Merlin shouts back, "I already got it ready, now stand in the circle!"

As they do so, Miriam turns into her normal self. Letting a loud little shriek as she does so. As the glass still stuck in her scratches her up more. Miriam then slowly climbs up a wall pipe and after getting comfy she slowly begins losing consciousness. Course Strife heard her shriek of pain and immediately bolts in that direction. With Death running after him in worry. Miriam's extra blood however, brings Leatherbeard's attention all the more. Eventually Strife finds the blood trail Miriam left, and he and Death then hear Leatherbeard breathing nearby.

"You go get her, I'll take care of this guy." Death tells Strife before taking a stance for combat.

Strife nods and hurries on, finding the blood trail has led to the pipe she's hiding in, and it's practically leaking out of the pipe. He panics and quickly whispers up the pipe, "Miriam, you alright in there? Miriam I need you to say something."

He doesn't get much of a response, beyond a sudden rapid group of little thumps going down the pipe. Finally Miriam falls out of it, covered in her blood and scaring Strife shitless.

"Miriam!" Strife shouts in his panic whilst trying to patch her up. Even ripping her clothes off to get to her injuries better. As he's working on getting the glass out and wrapping her up quickly. Occasionally he nudges her with a finger and each little moan she lets out gives him the reassurance he needs. All of a sudden, Death is sent flying through a building. Landing conviently right beside his younger sibling.

" What the fuck?!" Strife shouts before looking behind him. Seeing a massive wereshark staring him down.

"Heheheh...three birds, one stone." Leatherbeard says in a low, hissing voice.

Strife pulls out Redemption and uses charge shot on him. The first shot sends him back a ways. Leatherbeard looks at Strife, then at where the bullet hit him, and laughs. Strife then realizes, the bullet didn't even penetrate through that thick bastard.

"The fuck?"

"Heheheh, cute." Leatherbeard laughs before flexing the bullet off of his skin. It left a dent, but nothing more. Not even blood.

As Strife is trying to think something to do, he feels something grasp his hand. Looking down he sees Miriam hugging his hand as tight as she can in her state. Shaking a little bit as she does so. Strife then hears Death behind him getting up.

"Nnngh...try the electric shock and run!"

Strife does so and hopes for the best. Using his electric shock on Leatherbeard seems to be somewhat effective. The electricity slows him down and it pumps through his body. Strife then immediately takes the borrowed time to try and help Death up.

"Go! I'll be right behind you!"

"I'm not leaving you behind!" Strife hollers before getting Death on his shoulder. His other hand grasping onto Miriam still. From there he hurries as best he can to get himself and the others out of there. Suddenly Leatherbeard forms his prosthetic into a massive anchor flail and then slams it down in front of Strife.

"No more running boy. Heh....you grew up big and strong. Compared to the pipsqueak you were when you were young. Absalom didn't see your potential, while THAT ONE on your shoulder nearly smothered it out. Heheheheh...."

"Last time I checked, if there's one thing my brother taught......don't give a shit about what others think. Give a shit about what you think. And personally, I think you're an asshole." Then he set Miriam in Death's hand pulls out Mercy, and aims at Leatherbeard's dick. Using a lazershot he continues, "And just for you scaring my lady, prepare to lose your dick!"

Strife begins firing, whilst Leatherbeard pulls his anchor back to deflect the shot. He succeeds in doing so to Strife's anger. Strife brings out his daggers but sees even those seem to not affect him. As unfortunately his silver enchantment doesn't work as he'd hoped. He's then bitch slapped backwards into the square, hitting a fountain at the center. Strife then gets up with some effort and fights on, only to get slammed in the ribcage by the anchor. He spits out blood briefly and Death meanwhile finally searches his mind and finds Crom.

"I need a little bit of your power, that's it."

"A small bit, in return for your time later." Crom states to Death's confusion.

Death suddenly feels a surge of power in him, like a rising flame, a burning sensation as vines begin growing around him. He then shields Miriam in a small bubble before going on the attack. The vines catching a flame and wrapping around Leatherbeard as Death begins floating in midair. A raged fuelled fire consuming him, slowly eating away at his sense, as he begins burning Leatherbeard. Even thorns form eventually that hold Leatherbeard in place as he burns within the vines' grasp. The shield bubble housing Miriam soon harmlessly bounces towards Strife, who's looking at his older brother in horror and shock. As the vines are also wrapped around him and burning him as much as they are Leatherbeard.

Scooping the bubble up he shouts at Death, "That's enough! We've got her let's go!", Strife then hollers out, "Merlin we've got her! Get us out of here now!"

Death however gives no indication that he's hearing him. Fighting the power as much as he is using it. Unable to do much else beyond attacking and fighting for control of himself. The pain making it even harder.

He thinks he can hear Strife shouting at him, "Death snap out of it! Merlin pull us out now!"

"If Death's like that I can't! He'll pose a danger to others! If I bring him here he'll probably burn this whole place to the ground, try and snap him out of it!"

Strife then yells at his brother one more time, as he can see Leatherbeard smirking. Healing from the flames as fast as Death could burn him, "Dude it isn't even working on him, stop!"

"I.....must burn...." Death shouts as he begins to lose control of himself, then in Strife's mind he tells him, "Douse..me.....now!"

Strife nods and sees the broken fountain spewing water. He only needs to redirect it. Strife takes a manhole and tries redirecting the water towards Death. The water hits Leatherbeard at first but isn't doused. Death however is then hit square in the chest and is doused. Death reacts quickly by throwing an attack at Strife, being under the influence of the power still. It misses luckily and Death grabs his head suddenly. Finally coming to his senses with effort, and realizing he is massively burnt. He begins healing and gets over to Strife, only to turn around as he hears Leatherbeard snapping the vines. Death takes off towards Strife despite his extreme pain, then shouts,

"GET US THE HELL OUT OF HERE!"

Merlin then finally does so," Got it got it, it's on its way."

"We're low on time! Death's hurt bad and Leatherbeard's coming right at us!" Strife replies.

The circle then begins forming around him, and Death manages to get into the circle. However his achilles tendon is suddenly scratched by Leatherbeard's prosthetic hand, which he morphed into a harpoon gun. Just as the group finally teleports away, Leatherbeard picks up the bloodied harpoon bolt. Death meanwhile is screaming in pain as the adrenaline shuts off, he can feel the burns all over his body and his injured tendon. War immediately grabs Death, throwing him over his shoulder.

"Gah! Could you please be gentle!?"

"Sorry." War says simply before hurrying to find a medic.

Strife meanwhile stays behind with Miriam after getting her out of the shield bubble. Merlin is about to ask but Harker comes in and does it for him, "What the hell's happening here? Why is your brother screaming bloody murder?"

Strife only shook his head, "Leatherbeard....nnngh....", he then holds his side as the adrenaline rush in him dies down too.

"You, sit down. I'll take care of your girl as best I can. Ok lassie, geez what'd ya do to yerself in order to cause this?"

Miriam shakily explains, "I was big at first....and broke through a window....got glass in me though. Me going small again.....well you can probably guess what happened...."

Strife then looks at her, "Seriously, you shrunk down with glass in you?"

"I was scared......but it was even scarier while I was hiding......I thought.....I thought......" Miriam begins to say before sniffling.

"Take it easy, he's not after you right now. Plus he doesn't know where we are, and he can't find us." Strife tells her whilst nuzzling her with his finger.

Then everyone freezes as they hear Leatherbeard call them up and begin singing Oh Death once again. Harker drops to the floor, screaming, "NO!", over and over again. Having a full blown panic attack. Miriam hugs Strife's hand right away and begins sobbing into his palm. The taunting singing goes on until after the third or fourth time Harker screams no.

"Ah Harker, I didn't know you were here. Heheh I'm on my way to wherever you land lovers are. And Harker, keep yourself warm for me. I don't want it to be too hard on ya."

Harker immediately hides in his serpent form inside an empty pot. Muttering gaelic swears to himself in fear and occasionally uttering things that suggest pleading. Eventually they hear him having what sounds like a PTSD flashback in there. Death comes back into the room with help from War and Morgen, having heard the commotion.

"What's going on? I heard Harker screaming." Death inquires with a slight hitch to his tone.

Strife points at the pot, "He's having a....'moment' in the pot there. Might want to go check on him."

As Death goes to do so, Leatherbeard has one final thing to say to Strife, "So, how often do you use the cocksleeve?"

"You son of a...!" Strife goes to retort before the crystal hangs up. He then notices Miriam looking extremely hurt by that. Naturally he scoops Miriam up and brings her close to him. Gently placing her to his face after removing his helm. She of course hugged his nose for being so sweet to her, a gave a teensie peck to it's bridge. His warm smile gave her a big reassurance as he oh so tenderly returned the kiss to the side of her head.

"Sugarplum, I love you more than anything. You're so much more to me than a cocksleeve. You give me what matters, you accept me just as much I do you. And that's just fine by me, in fact it's perfect."

"Awwwwwww.....you always know what to say." Miriam replies blushing hard.

"And she's completely red, you sure she's bandaged correctly?" Death states sarcastically.

"Yeah I'm pretty sure I patched her up just right. And uh what did Leatherbeard mean by he'll see us soon, he has no idea where we are? Right?" Strife inquires of him.

He thinks back, and remembers how effective a shark's sense of smell is. And both of he and Miriam have bled profusely between themselves, "He has both our scents. Damn it!"

"How the fuck did he do that?"

"He's a shark! Think about it." Death growls at him.

Both Strife and Miriam get a horrified look, and Miriam in particular begins having a mini panic attack. "Don't worry, I won't let him get to you. I'm gonna find a way to kill this bastard, you hear me?" Strife tells her calmly whilst cupping her in both of his hands.

Death then remembers Harker and checks on him inside the pot. "You in there?" Death asks tapping the outside of it.

Harker then comes up from the pot and is now in a smaller version of his true form. Being about the size of a house cat once he comes out. He then hops into Death's arms and begins to make a slight purring noise.

"Seriously?" Death asks before petting him like a house cat.

"Thanks Death. I know it's......probably not the best....time right now but.........thank you." Harker expresses slowly.

"Don't mention it. I'm only doing this to calm you down." Death states.

Harker sighs before telling him, "Thanks anyway, it helped."

Death notes his depressed and hurt tone, and can't help but say something, "Sorry if my cold, callous nature is making itself too apparent. Just trying to handle all that's happened."

Harker perks a bit at that and questions him, "How's Miriam? Is she alright?"

"I daresay she's probably about as scared as you are. Perhaps it'd do her good to hear from a person who knows how she feels right now." Death tells him simply.

"You think so?"

"Yes, I do."

Harker thought a moment before deciding to make his way over. Going into his serpent form and floating over in a flowing motion. He lands on the table near Strife and coils up into a circle before asking him, "May I speak with you and Miriam by chance?"

"Yeah sure." Strife responds before revealing Miriam from within his hands. She looks over to Harker and waves a bit despondently, "Hello Harker."

"You doing alright?"

"Better now, just still not great." Miriam replies snuggling her man's hand.

"That bastard. He just knows how to get inside your head, and mess with you." Strife adds on in anger.

"Yeah he gets inside your head and messes with you, real bad." Harker responds simply.

Miriam lays down on Strife's hand and tries to fall asleep, course Strife has a better idea for her. He stands up and thanks Harker for the brief talk, even suggesting they continue another time. For now he takes Miriam to his room, placing her on his bed and breathing heavily as he removes his armor. Still in pain all his own, but masking it as best he can for her sake. Wanting nothing more than to make sure she's fine. He soon has his armor off and checks himself in the mirror. Making sure he's not hurt too badly as he looks over his massive bruising.

"Damn, he really did a number on me. But it's worth it. Nnnnngh." Strife says before hissing as he turns around, looking at his back next. Covered in scrapes and bruises from the fountain.

"Ah damn it!" Strife hisses out when scratching his head, right where a bump happened to be.

Strife ultimately sighed to himself and laid down at last. Seeing Miriam all curled up on the bed was both warming and adorable all at once. Gently he stroked her teenie body up and down with his finger, only for her to hug it. He couldn't help but continue to let her hold him that way. Falling asleep slowly as he watched her keenly. The next morning Miriam woke up and seeing Strife asleep with his finger in her grasp made her truly happy. Gushing and squeeing on the inside, Miriam gently kissed his finger before carefully maneuvering around so as not to wake him up. Granted it was easy, given that she was barely the size of his hand. Eventually she made it to the floor and made a pitter patter sound running along it. Miriam upon reaching the door placed her tiny hand to her chin and began thinking of a plan. She wanted to test to see if it was locked. She found some long wire and formed the end into a hook shape. From there she tried to place it on the door knob, which took a few attempts. Once she finally hooked the door knob, she began to shimmy up the wire. Once all the way up it took some effort to balance herself on the knob. But after managing this, she hopped from the knob to the latch lock. From there she checked it's position and saw it wasn't locked, so she thusly latched it that way. She heard Strife stir with a light groan but he didn't wake up. Miriam then sighed with relief before hopping onto the hook wire and sliding down it to the floor. She then went behind the room's partition and decided to borrow a chair cushion to sit on the floor. Her grabbing of the cushion's tassel was enough to pull it down surprisingly, but it landed on her as well. Causing her to get smothered a little before she made her way out from under it.

"Mmmmmph.....mmmmnnngh....eeh! Whew. Ok. Now to wait." Miriam whispered to herself before getting on top of the cushion.

Strife then curled his hand up and realized Miriam wasn't there. He bolted up, "Miriam, agh........damn! Knew I was gonna be sore in the morning. Uh Miriam, you here? You alright?" He goes to get up but is way too sore to move.

Miriam however finally answers, "Over here honey! Behind this big, tall.....thingy! I wanted to surprise you with something."

"Oh ok, whew."

War however comes on by and tries the door. Seeing as it's locked, he can't open it normally. So he knocks and calls out to Strife, "Is it alright to come in?"

"Yeah it's alright, none of us are doing anything. You can come in now."

"The door's locked." War states.

"Well I can't exactly get up!" Strife retorts.

As War begins searching for a key, Miriam calls out, "Sorry, was hoping to surprise your brother with something. But, I guess it can wait.....want me to unlock the door?"

War laughs, "Uh yes, I need to check on him. Make sure he's able to move."

"Dude, I'm having a really hard time moving my arms, my legs.....just nope." Strife informs him.

"I could do without the mocking, but I'll unlock the door." Miriam states before going the through her earlier process all over again.

This time Strife is awake to see what she's doing. Naturally he can't help but give some comments and encouragement, "Doing pretty well, although one thing would make this easier and better. Try swinging, it makes it easier. We practiced on your landing remember?"

Miriam sighs and begins swinging like he says to. Course she ends up going in circles and in her little panic forgets to let go. "Aaaaaaaaaaahhhaaaaaaaaahhaaaaaah!"

"Let go let go let go!" Strife shouts at her.

War meanwhile hears the commotion and readies his fist to punch through the door to catch her.

Miriam finally lets go and has her eyes shut the whole time. Strife then let's her know, "You're fine, if you kept your eyes open you'd have gotten a 9.5 landing. That's an 8.5."

"Hmmm? Oh....ok whew. Also, zip it." Miriam retorts before hopping to the door's lock from the knob and then unlocking it this time.

War settles down at this and then opens the door. Seeing Strife stuck on the bed and letting Miriam hop onto his massive gauntlet hand. He then lets Miriam down onto the bed and begins checking Strife over.

"I've never seen you this fucked up. Even up against Moloch."

Strife gains an grumpy face, "I would flip you off, but I can't seem to move my fingers."

War shakes his head, "You're probably just exaggerating.", then upon seeing all the welts and massive bruises he has when removing the covers, "By the nine hells, what happened? Next time you go up against him, I'm coming with you."

Strife then told him, "He punched Death through a building! This guy then bitch slapped me through a fountain, and he threw an anchor at my chest! Who the fuck brings an anchor to a fight!?"

"Oh my gosh! Is that why these look so bad?! I'm so sorry." Miriam says before cuddling Strife.

"Not your fault, just in the wrong place at the wrong time. Ow." Strife assures her.

"What would win, his anchor or my fist?" War inquires.

"Depends, how close are you going to get?" Death questions from behind War, whilst on crutches.

"What the fuck happened to you?" Strife immediately asked.

"A harpoon to my achilles tendon doesn't bode well for me. Although the question you asked me is one I have to ask you. What the hell ha-?"

"Anchor to the chest, and being smashed into a fountain too. Yeah be happy you're able use crutches. I can't do shit." Strife tells him.

Miriam meanwhile curls up onto Strife's neck and snuggles him a little. Course Death has an idea.

"I have some ointments that can help heal....all that. But I'm not doing it, Miriam, if you'd be so kind. I'm going to get check on breakfast, War let's give them some privacy."

"Why must we?" War inquires.

"Do you really want to our brother naked?"

War immediately shakes his head and follows a snickering Death outside the room. Once it's closed Miriam taps Strife's face to get his attention.

"Yes Sugarplum?"

"Think I could show you that one thing? Since we're alone now, and because it might make things easier." Miriam suggests.

"Yeah go ahead and show me."

Strife then watches as Miriam goes behind the partition again after using the blankets to climb down to the floor. Then after a moment he sees a flash of light and hears her speak again. But her voice sounds a smidge lower now,

"Are you ready?"

"As ready as I can be."

Strife then sees Miriam step out as a nude short woman. With long black hair and quite the 'blessing' for such a small girl. The curves she has aren't that bad either, in fact it's a welcoming sight. Only her eyes remained the same, pure black like a raven's.

"How do I look?"

"I'm glad that one muscle's working." Strife smugly remarks.

Miriam's giggle makes him smile warmly as she walks over to him to get the ointments on. "Guess that means you like it then? I was worried you might not..."

"Miriam, all I need is you."

She gushes and does her best to hold in the squee before finally beginning to get the ointment on him. Being as gentle as possible so that he doesn't feel pain. She hears a few pops and feels them too as things go back into place. Strife groaning and moaning all the while.

Meanwhile Morgen began tossing in her sleep again. She could hear that one voice again, in that ever dark void. Immediately she screams for Death to help her. But is taunted by the being for the effort.

"Why scream for such a man who cannot understand us for what we are? My sweet Ilona."

"Please Death, if you can hear me, help me....please." Morgen continued to beg, ignoring the voice as best she could.

Suddenly she heard a brand new voice, one just as terrifying though, "Let the poor girl rest. She needs it after all. Don't you have anything better to do, other than tormenting children?"

The voice from before answered, "You know as well as I do, this is no mere child."

"What is going on? Please just....no more....Let me go..." Morgen begs the two voices in her fear. One presence tries to pull her away, another however keeps her in place.

"She must stay." The voice spoke up.

The other however explained angrily, "I will not allow her to remain here. Release her now or else."

"Or else what?" The original voice laughed from beyond the haze.

Death is using the crutches to get around, and catches a sudden dizzy spell. Nearly toppling over but catching himself with the strength he's got left in him. He then hears a creepy, grandiose voice speak in his mind, "Prepare yourself for an unexpected trip."

"I'm not exactly in the best condition for...oooh" Death begins to warn him before completely faceplanting on the floor.

He comes to in a darkened plane, one with a swirling blackness that he can't begin to make sense of. He hears the screams of several men, women, and children. Then he hears a familiar voice from within. One that he recognizes above all the rest in that void,

"Please stop.....please...."

"What the? Morgen? Morgen?! Is that you?! Where are you?!" He shouts into the void.

"Death!? Death please help me!" Morgen replied as a sudden light quickly bursts from her chest.

Quickly the light travels forth and finds Death after a moment. Circling him briefly before leading him along. Good thing the Horsemen's mental strength is enough so that he can actually run. Chasing the light down, and hoping it's leading him to Morgen. Luckily he's correct in his assumption, and grabs Morgen once he reaches her. Morgen naturally hugs him in her panic.

"Morgen are you alright, what's going on here?" Death quickly inquires.

"Morgen? Funny name. You're not supposed to be here."

"Neither are you, whatever this place is." Death retorts.

"It's all in my head, that's where we are." Morgen explains whilst shaking.

"Come out and show yourself coward!" Death shouts into the void.

"Coward? I find that hilarious coming from you. Given your fear."

On cue some burning worms begin traveling up Death's body. He tries swiping them off and stomping on them, only for a pile to begin forming. Morgen quickly reaches into the pile after him and searches for his hand. Course the more frantic in her search she gets, the more her light begins shining. Finally it bursts from her entire body, engulfing the worms in a bluish white light, as well as the void around them. Morgen is left dazed after the experience but pulls herself together enough to make her way over to Death. Death's on his knees when feeling Morgen's hand on his shoulder. He glances up to see her looking dazed still and the world around them is now a bluish white void instead. Only a few patches of black remain, like parasites in her head.

"What's going on?" Death asks sighing.

"I truly don't know. Either it's an evolving nightmare, or some unknown tormentor. But this has happened twice now. It horrifying each time I go through this." Morgen informs him whilst sitting down to try and manage her dazed state better.

"Are you alright?" Death implored.

"I'm fine, just dazed." Morgen replies doing her best to stand up, nearly falling down.

Death of course stands up to catch her, "Woah easy there. I have you. You sure you're alright?"

"Yes, I'm only dazed. But thank you regardless. What about you? That looked horrifying." Morgen says to him.

"Little shaken up, that's all. Now, where the hell are we?"

"My head, like I told you before." Morgen replies simply.

"Ok I must've been seriously messed up from that incident."

"Uhm so long as I wake up we should be fine, I think. We just need to find a way to achieve that." Morgen explains a bit unsure.

"Please tell me that there is no ridiculous requirements or tasks to get the hell out of here."

"I'm trying to think of something believe me. Perhaps knock me out here and see what happens? Shove me off a cliff maybe? Falling dreams do wake people up usually." Morgen tells him.

"Are you insane, where are we going to find a cliff here? Secondly why would I even do that?"

"Then let's hear yours then smartass." Morgen retorts.

"Uhm let me think let me think, let me think of something good."

Morgen looks at skeptically before she starts hearing something. Turning around she sees the black spots pulsating. They're silent, then one begins talking and starts to sound eerily familiar.

"Hello little bun oven. When you grow up you're probably gonna be all nice and pretty. Yeah your Papa's pride and joy, and other things maybe, heheh..." Morgen heard Leatherbeard say.

[khdiscussions]

Huge Breakdown: Sleeping Realms Theory

 Tl:dr, I still don’t like the theory, and my rebuttal had almost zero points proven otherwise and you can read the whole thing below of my liveblogging.

The fact that they call Riku’s act an “Act of true love” first of all makes me believe this is meant to sell canon SoRiku and I’m already unimpressed. It shows biased phrasing and takes away from any credibility this theory could ever have with anybody who isn’t a SoRiku shipper because it is ultimately pushing that Sora and Riku are going to be romantically involved and as somebody who really needs to edit her ship list and remove SoRiku...no.

...Okay so the Ultimania already proved this wrong I don’t even have to go through the rest.

Before I go into it, I can see how from just reading their summary, you can fall into the trap, however, the Realm of Sleep and Dreaming Worlds are ultimately the same thing. You cannot enter the Realm of Sleep without Dreaming Worlds unless you are coming to the brink between it and death. As such, it would still require every world Sora visits to be a Dreaming World, and thus have fallen into darkness. Since we know this isn’t the case, my “Alpha Timeline” and “Beta Timeline” labels are fully and 100% accurate. Even the way they describe it “World Line” implies and Alpha and Beta Timeline. If we ignore that KHUx is confirmed to be taking place in data still, the world lines cannot be in the same timeline, as they’d be two separate universes. Meaning the events of Alpha Timeline and Beta Timeline are two separate entities and cannot be condensed into the same Realm.

Meaning even if this is Beta Timeline, Alpha Timeline and anything that happened in it are factually irrelevant, because when Sora and co. slip into the alternate Worldline, because essentially the events of it don’t come to pass or matter. If this was real parallel worlds split, then even if Sora is now inhabiting the mind of his Beta Timeline counterpart (which for the record, he should have his memories if he’s the one who brought them all back) there still needs to be a Beta Riku, a Beta Kairi, etc, otherwise there wouldn’t be Xehanort attacking and even then.

If this is a separate worldline then that still wouldn’t be counted as the same timeline, however. Which the Ultimania directly argues against in its pages when things occur in a single timeline, but I digress.

Other things I find directly wrong as conflicting with power is Sora directly states in KH3 that it was Kairi’s faith in him and her light (her powers alone) that helped him hold his form. Not the PoH’s.

“Riku’s strength comes from his love for Sora”

Actually, in that scene they’re talking about how Riku wants to rescue Aqua, and that’s his desire to “protect what matters.” This is a line that has been paralleled in several games from Riku (most notably in which is Kingdom Hearts 3D) and given the line makes him flashback to Terra, it’s likely that his strength is actually being explained as coming from protecting the people he cared about. Aqua, who gave him the chance to escape the RoD (who he’s trying to protect), Terra, who gave him the Keyblade in the first place, and Sora and Kairi, his two best friends.

When facing the same way, there are also several difference in KH3D’s and KH3′s hair that stand out. They aren’t the same and they point that out in the theory. In this case I don’t think it’s similar enough to be of note.

Second, this does not explain how and why Riku dropped and since he is still dropping a) In the Realm of Darkness into a different realm and different World Line and b) Into a completely separate World Line when he should still be alive in the first. At this point, Riku is alive in the Alpha Timeline and would have no idea of his impending death. A drop should not be necessary. So my Riku point questioning why is still valid.

Xigbar cutting out is also a direct easter egg to us, the viewers to keep us from understanding what’s happening, and not what actually occurs in the game. 

...I want to quit at the logo having bad graphics gradient being used as evidence but I’ll keep going but this kind of shady business practice would likely cause such an amount in distrust that sales after KH3 would plummet and anybody who buys what is the biggest release of the series to be told it’s only that in technicality has no standards. I’m sorry. If this is actually technically KHII.9 my trust in Square and Disney (especially Disney is important, because you should know I am Disney stan 69 and see them as good) is gone. Just poof, gone. No more. And I wouldn’t want to invest in the next big entry because what if it’s just another lie.

(Nitpick: Nomura said an early world in KH3 would be Twilight Town, not that it would be the very first world. Even then, had 0.2 been packaged with KH3 like initially planned, it’s highly likely it and Olympus would’ve been 2.9 anyways.)

(More nitpicks, the TWEWY explanation does not account for the fact that Joshua actually has power to bring people back to life so long as a shred of their soul exists. It sounds like Shibuya got destroyed and Josh saved what little was left of his friends to take to somewhere they could be safe, not necessarily that the Sleeping Realm in specific called out to him. This is again Nitpicking.)

Ansem Reports foreshadow an old plot twist that’s not even valid. Aqua’s magic is now the source that rescued Kairi, not Xehanort’s experiments sending her away. Kairi being flung out the door is also representative of the events of the Island falling and them losing their safety and shelter. It’s not Kairi herself, but Ansem’s arrival on the islands that Xehanort is talking about.

Everything about this seems like it’s trying to invalidate SoKai with the Paopu fruit scene. She eats the fruit. Maybe if you hadn’t opened with “Riku loves Sora and this is Riku’s act of true love” I’d buy that this is real but as it stands the authors come off as salty that SoKai got a Paopu sharing scene.

Kairi’s death is the release of her heart as Nomura called it directly in the Ultimania. I know this was written before the Ultimania’s release but moving on it’s not a death sequence. Even then her death resembles Xion’s so it’d be more inline with the Replica theory floating around, so not a Dream Eater.

“Kairi is the Darkside in the Dive” No.

Even if Kairi did die, her heart has no darkness, all that would happen is she’d fade into darkness. She cannot physically form any dark entity, let alone one that has always been connected to the darkness in Sora’s heart. And yes I read how they point out that it’s made of water but that’s because it’s literally made from the Final World itself. As for where Kairi’s heart is, canon answers this. It’s waiting for Sora, because the Heartless cannot kill or steal her heart through the Lich. Remember back to KH1? Kairi had lost her heart, but rather than form a Heartless, all we got is a body. 

More Ultimania tidbits disproving this, but the Dive to the Heart is meant to take place after the entirety of KH3. This means it’s after Sora leaves to rescue Kairi and has beaten Xehanort.

Kairi being a Chirithy theory my points are still valid on because it doesn’t work. Kairi cannot be a Chirithy because we see her after the drop point in her KH2 outfit. Therefore meaning the cat ears have nothing to do with her after the drop point.

Point on the Dream Portals is accurate and inaccurate. It says they’re ways to travel to other worlds, but everytime they’re used it’s in exactly that way in game. The two pink locations bring Sora closer to the Realm of Light after the Final World, and the second portal takes him into Scala ad Caelum, another world. It ain’t that deep.

More points, Dream Eaters don’t just exist in the Realm of Sleep. Summoning Meow Wow and friends does not matter if they can exist outside of the Realm of Sleep. Scala ad Caelum is implied to be a special world to begin with and I’ll be honest, the Caribbean is probably for ease of gameplay. If anything, I would be more curious in how water in the Realm of Sleep (and memories re:CoM) allows people to walk.

“Gayblade” Your SoRiku bias is showing. (Also Nomura violated a lot of things for rule of cool. You think a gameplay mechanic showing up means something?)

Comparing what happened to Sora and Aqua is very different. Aqua had darkness shoved into her (Nort lite) while Sora actively fell into the deep darkness he was surrounded by. Aqua could’ve emerged from the water, but did not. Sora chased darkness, and fell right in. As for how they saved Aqua in the Alpha Timeline, this wouldn’t have changed? It was Sora using his light to reach Aqua as she fell in the darkness similar to Mickey doing so for her in 0.2, now that she was free of the extra darkness Ansem shoved in her for some fun. It had nothing to do with darkness or sleep.

So we’re talking Toy Story here and his “Not this time” doesn’t add up because if Alpha Timeline is dead and Beta Timeline are a second chance then Xehanort should not have any recollection of the initial timeline/worldline because you still don’t explain why he bothered with following Sora down instead of leaving him to just stay trapped in the Realm of Darkness. There’s no strategic reason to it and Xehanort is a chess master.

“Hey let’s explain shit” Okay first of all the Goofy reference was a way to include the new arc words but without that, the others are all ways to catch up new players so they’d have an idea of what’s going on. There is no in universe reason for it. All of this was excuses for filling in new players. (As for the Unversed: Just because we only see Donald and Goofy at Yen Sid’s Tower does not mean we see what happened to them before they arrived there, jsing. Mickey may have also shown them things. Just because we don’t see it doesn’t mean it doesn’t happen.) Most of the other memory shenanigans are either just springboards for banter or, in Riku’s case, save your energy for the battle against Xehanort ahead.

The Station of Awakening line is pointless since Sora has visited his dive multiple times in the series. As Roxas and as himself in KH2 and KH1 respectively and a final time in 3D when his heart was taken in by Ven’s armor. The Station of Awakening after all, is essentially the stained glass hearts.

Heffalumps stopped only appearing in dreams when they showed up in Winnie the Pooh. Also the promotional material quotes Nomura admitted using because they sounded cool.

Yellow Kingdom Hearts is on KH1′s cover as well. It’s had more appearances. Stands to reason it’s the more official color. Could also be be based on who, what, and how it’s summoned. 

Keyholes: Both Scala Ad Caelum (born from Xehanort’s heart and Kingdom Hearts) and the final Keyhole are forged to deal with sleeping. It makes sense they’d be the same.

YMX’s warnings are referencing exactly what KH3D Sora did. No more complicated theory necessary.

Skipping the Disney world synopsis because I know these worlds far too well at this point for my own Disney sanity.

Pulling symbolism from KH1 when KH2 wasn’t even planned by this point is wrong and also Riku being true love and light reeks very much of that SoRiku bias I mentioned. Okay skipping all this it’s literally just SoRiku and I’m not here for that. I’m here for the theory, not “Why Riku is Sora’s true love.”

“Riku and Kairi both helped Sora hang around” Except Riku dies at this point in the timeline. You can’t make an argument he’s alive because his heart is guided over by the Lich. What’s helping Sora hold on has nothing to do with what it is, otherwise he would just be another shapeless star, like Namine, the Nameless Stars, or the rest. It’s Kairi’s life that gives him the form to come back to life. Saving his heart has nothing to do with it and it just reeks of that same ship bias that was why I skipped the whole section on sacrifice. These 70 pages are irrelevant because all they do is take importance away from Kairi completely in the story, meaning she’s fundamentally useless besides a dark force. Which means Kairi literally doesn’t matter and can be written out of the story.

Kairi’s heart being lost is a full stop. Her heart was released at the end of the game. Saying it’s lost in the Lich sequence makes no sense, especially when she’s the one who guides him back in what is, as noted by PhoenixDowner’s translations, one of the more romantically weighted scenes of the game.

Summary of the more recent pages “SoKai is noncanon and you’re just being mislead it’s actually SoRiku that’s canon” and I’m starting to see where that anon came from...you could’ve saved this theory a hundred pages if you ignored the shipper stuff.

Everything in this ending is literally saying “Kairi doesn’t matter” and “Sora doesn’t care about bringing Kairi back” what the actual fuck?

Okay so I see a lot of talk about Sora and Riku being in the Sleeping Realms (which for the record that secret ending does not tease that but okay) but it still doesn’t explain how the events actually happened. The events of the Sleeping Realms are not the true reality. They’re Beta Timeline but if they never leave the Beta Timeline then the Alpha Timeline is still lost and legitimately none of this matters because at some point they have to leave the Sleeping Worlds, because at the end of the day the Realm of Sleep is still a dream. It still doesn’t happen?

Rage Form is Sora harnessing his darkness.

Rikunort is KH1′s Riku’s heart after he fell to darkness traveling to the awaiting vessel in the future. He’s not Data Riku, and the scene cited from Re:coded is actually a Riku memory held within the Journal’s data, not something happening to Data Riku at all.

In conclusion: I don’t think it’s all a garbage SoRiku fanfiction.

But I think way too much effort went into proving SoRiku was canon.

And also most of the holes I poked in the theory are still pretty valid. 

And now I also know it’s contradicted by several Ultimania interviews whether the original writers acknowledge it or not.

But whatever, it’s not my cup of tea, you guys can still like it.

[1358456]

Review Response, June 23-29, 2019

I totally forgot about this until right now. Whoops! My bad.

And also, starting with this post, each weekly review response will now show the updated graphs... charts (I keep saying graphs but they’re more charts...) of the stories that got the reviews.

Destiny #010

1) OH GOD. I KNEW IT. Y'S GOING TO DIE. THE WHOLE THING WITH X AND NOT THINKING OH HER AS "HIS GIRL" WAS A BUILD-UP OF SOME SORT. This will only cause X grief as it was one of the last things he said about Y before she died. Ohhhhh god. Poor Y, she tried so hard. I simply cannot imagine being attacked like that. And speaking of being attacked, Sapphire? Really has to get over her fear. I know its difficult love, but you're hindering the rest of your team! But anyways, going back to Y, the way she was dominating at first made me soooo happy. Finally! Proof that they can win! But nope. I still can't get over it. A death so soon... unless she miraculously survives. But tbh I can't see how.

Also nil I forgot Silver even existed for a moment there. When you mentioned him, I was completely take by surprise lmao. I don't blame you or anything, it's really hard to focus on a lot of dexholders in one chapter. But I was surprised to find that none were mentioned at the end, the it hit me that of course they weren't. They've got their own battles (problems) to deal with. Those shiny pokemon aren't going to disappear by themselves. Although I hope and pray that they do. But I am really interested as to how this battle will end. Will the dexholders prevail? Will they be defeated? Or will they retreat with their tails in between their legs? So many questions. And there can be so many answers. I'm hoping that they will win, but I just don't think that is likely tho. They've practiced yes, but it's probably not enough. They need years of practice before they can get to his level.

Also I forgot to mention, but I started sweating when I realized that Emerald still had his Mega bracelet thing I forgot what it's called. I was like "Ho boiiiiii." One could easily predict that he would be targeted first. Or at least second only to Y. But I feel like Peter is definitely using the Salamence to his advantage. I mean who wouldn't? That's one dexholder down.

Speaking of Sapphire, I absolutely love how you added in that bet between her and Gold. Like I said previously the balance of fun and not fun (?) is absolutely amazing. And I can only imagine a lot of people there probably face palmed. Which I get but like it's also a fabulous way to motivate someone (especially two competitive dexholders like them) to fight. But I doubt that that either of them will still have the heart to order around the other person after this battle. Well... then again this is Gold and Sapphire we're talking about. They are two people who might still do it. And it makes for a perfect opportunity for comedy later on. Nicely played.

I've decided to use paragraphs 'cause I tend to wander in my reviews, and it makes it easier to process. I'm sorry of this review isn't as good as the others. To be honest they only thing I feel I can say now, is about how good your writing is. But that gets tiring. And I'll make sure to shut up about Peter being so powerful later on. But I'll admit you're legit making me worried.

Anyways, thank you. Its been a pleasure like always.

I didn’t really think of that as a build-up. More like... “the f*ck, X?”. If I recall, I put that line in there because he says it in the XY arc, and it was incomprehensible... at the time. And yes. Poor heartbroken Y... :( And death so soon? This is chapter 10. It’s too soon*! And yes, Sapphire needs to get over the Salamence weakness... which she has in Destiny because this was before that scene in ORAS where Sapphire did not give a FUCK, since there was no time for such trivial things. Damn ORAS...

Silver? ... Oh yeah. That’s right. Heh. Not only are there a lot of Dex Holders in the mess, but there are those who I just do not give a damn about, who always wind up being forgotten as the focus of the chapter is elsewhere. Hehe. And the Dex Holders don’t need years of practice... they just need to embrace the game mechanics!! Hehe. ... What, is a Modest Rhyperior going to win against an Adamant one if it practiced? Heh.

The Salamence over-usage is not only because of how it cripples Sapphire, but also because the guy the Mega Hunter is based on generally always has a Salamence in his singles team. ... Usually with Choice Band and Moxie and Outrage. One-shot a guy, get Moxie boost. One-shot the next guy, get another Moxie boost. And one-shot the next guy. 3 Pokemon down in 3 turns. ... And then it usually hits itself in confusion and deals like 75% damage to itself.

Ah, the competitive rivalry between Gold and Sapphire! The one that’s hardly ever mentioned by anyone else... It’s fun, though. And all lighthearted. They always need to get the one-up on each other. Heh.

I do like the new paragraphs! It makes it easier for me to respond! I really do appreciate your reviews! :)

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Destiny #011

1) If shit wasn't already real, it is now. I honestly love the tension between Platinum and Sapphire, and it makes sense. They're the complete opposite of each other, one's quite literally wild, while the other is as refined as possible. It's only natural that they should clash. But I must admit, Platinum was being exceedingly rude. Like goddamn, you're fresh out of a battle, you need to find a new teammate and Sapphire is giving the perfect way in order to find her. Who cares if someone sees you with a girl sniffing. Stepping back was petty, though I'll also admit that Sapphire was being a but rude to Platinum when she told Platinum to just follow her. But it's simply Sapphire's way (as it is Platinum's), so I guess I can't complain too much. But I'm still rather peeved.

So, Peter thinks that the dexholders will get better, huh? That's new. Usually villains will boast and get cocky, and that usually leads to their downfall. Seems as if Peter is not going down that path. I found that a nice thing for you to add, because it only adds on to how clever this dude is. Like the little clues you leave for certain things, I'm not sure whether you write them on purpose, but some of them I notice and it only gladdens me.

In any case, I did not think Peter was going to manipulate Oak and Daisy. That actually quite surprised me, but in reality its a great way to gain information. After all, knowledge is power. And the more you know about your enemy, the more of an advantage you have. Meanwhile the dexholders don't know anything about him, only that that he wants to kill them for reasons? And some of the strategies he uses. Yikes indeed. Red voiced this perfectly in this chapter, with those questions of his. (And if I'm correct) I believe that this is another one of those "clues" I mentioned earlier. I believe Red might be the one to find out the answers to those questions, as he was the one to ask them. But that might just me looking too far into it. And I'm not exactly sure that that is a clue lmao. Ah well, a girl can come up with as big of theories as she so wishes.

Also, could it be possible that for a future strategy, they use Yellow for her healing? I mean, it seems practical. Their pokemon are not strong enough, and they drop one by one so easily. And while it seems rather cruel to constantly heal them only to fight again, that is reality. We do it all the time in the games and actually that brings me to another topic. The world of pokemon is wonky. We just capture these sort of "animals" and force them to fight for us? We might create bonds with them, but jeez these guys are just living their lives when bam! You come across them and then just capture them? And have them battle for you and constantly drain their health, only to do the process all over again. That is fucking cruel imo. I know certain trainers consider pokemon as companions and friends and whatnot, and that's all great and dandy, but like jeez. At least some pokemon come with you willingly and that's the best part. But whatever I'm getting off topic.

Again, personalities on point, writing smooth. Honestly I've never read something of your that felt jagged in a way. (Which is what really confused me when I accidentally skipped this chapter, and I was thrust into the future without an explanation of what happened at the end of the battle) Thank you.

I don’t think Platinum was being rude there at all. She doesn’t say anything, and from her perspective, it’s natural to be baffled at Sapphire. It’s like... you see someone sniffing at the air and the ground and the trees, and you just feel the urge to not be seen right next to that person. Stepping backwards was an unconscious decision, and hell, I’d do that too. And of course, Platinum hadn’t spent enough time with Sapphire to be used to it, or even appreciate her uniqueness. So for now, it’s an understandable natural reaction. And the cause of the Sapphire vs. Platinum minor feud that... I was going to push but abandoned because no one gave a f*ck.

One of the things I absolutely HATE about villains in anime/manga is their usual cockiness. If I had a dime every time some bad guy said something along the lines of “it’s over”... Well, it ain’t over ‘till it’s over. The Mega Hunter won’t be saying that it’s over when no one has died yet. And I left quite a few clues about him throughout the story. They become far more evident when Blue points them out later on.

Knowledge is power, indeed. Especially when it comes to Pokemon! ... And battles. 知彼知己 百戰不危 and all. And I think Red’s internal questions are a bit too blatant to be considered as clues. Hehe. But hey. That’s just a-

Using Yellow for healing? Oh, I do love how you consistently point out options that actually do happen shortly afterwards. It is, after all, the logical next step. And... ah, the morals of Pokemon. “Pokemon are not tools of war”... that’s because you’re not using them properly. HA! The Pokemon world ain’t looking too bright. Also factor in humans’ tendencies of eradication, and...

I did notice that you skipped this one, given the review order. But I respond in the chapter order, so this one comes first. As to how you NOT notice that you skipped a chapter... ...

2) I swear to god these reviews take me an hour to write lmaooo. I didn't even realize it took that long. Not like I'll stop but dam.

You don’t have to write such long reviews, if that helps you. I do enjoy reading your long reviews, but if it’s too much for you, you can shorten it!

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Destiny #012

1) I wouldn't be surprised if they were copying your work ngl. In fact, they'd be stupid not too. Its that good but anyways, I'm face palming myself now. Of course it was a pokemon. What else could it have been? Honestly, sometimes I'm amazed at my own stupidity. Just like I'm amazed at your writing this chapter! Y's, Platinum's, and Blue's insecurity felt all unique! Like, one could tell it was insecurity, but each felt it in a different way. Which I felt reflected in your writing (as I'm starting to realize most emotions of the characters do) which might've just been encase of their different situations, but I feel like it was more than that. Kudos to you, that's hard to accomplish. And speaking of insecurity, this Peter guy seems to really know how to manipulate it. 'Cause I know the pokemon was doing the brainwashing, but Peter was the one putting the ideas and thoughts into Blue's mind. But he wasn't forcing them, he was juts voicing some of the thoughts he assumed were going on in Blue's mind. Also speaking of Blue, we finally have a chapter in her point of view again! It was nice seeing her again, and making sure that she was okay. But um the whole "It's not my problem" is worrying me. I completely understand why she's at that point. But still, not how the Blue I know from the FRLG chapter would act. (I say FRLG 'cause I'm not sure whether or not that's how she would've acted in RGBY. I mean she's had her small arc)

Fucking bastard. I was hoping Blue would somehow turn him down, but I suppose my prediction was correct. He "tricked" her in a way. But I guess I can only hope now that Blue will snap out of it the moment she sees the dexholders and is assured that they are indeed her friends. Seeing as how we already know she is capable of at least breaking free of his grip for a few moments with only the help of her subconsciousness and thoughts. Break free, Blue! You got this!

Also, on the matter with Y. I am so surprised she survived. The was quite a beating in the last chapter. I mean, forcefully being held in the air against her will. With things like Hydro Canon shooting at her. Not to mention the branches and rocks that pummeled her. What a remarkable girl. Even is she had on her suit. Dam. And even still wishing to fight. Is this what it means to be a dexholder? I can hardly imagine. If I break a nail I feel like crying and I start hugging my teddy bear. Well no, I don't do that either. But you get the idea.

But speaking of the time when Blue will have to battle the others. I wonder how that will play out? I wonder what the reactions of the others will be. Especially the ones close to her like Silver, and Red and whatnot. I'm sure that very moment is when my heart will break and I will cry. I'm certainly looking forward to the fluff that will help heal those wounds of mine. But Green's guilt. That will certainly overwhelm me. More than I thought X's guilt over Y's supposed "death' would have. Also, I wonder who's perspective that will be in. Lately it's been a lot of Platinum and Y, but I think it would be great if that battle was in Green's or Blue's point of view. As they were the ones who had the "falling out" in their relationship. Nonetheless, I'm sure it will be quite enjoyable. I cannot wait to read it!

Lackspeed to my babies. Treat them well I beg of you. They deserve all the love in the world. But still I thank you.

The conspiracy! First ORAS copies SA’s Primal Groudon and Primal Kyogre, then XY copies... er... well, I can’t say right now I guess, since you’re not far enough in Destiny. Heh. And yes, of course it’s a Pokemon. Destiny literally begins in Terminus Cave in Kalos. And you do know what’s in that cave, right?

The insecurities of the different Dex Holders are the cause of their different personalities and their situations! Blue, the lonely girl who’s been drifting away from her friends and feeling utter isolation, would have insecurities about her friends. Platinum, the proud girl who have never known defeat previously would have insecurities about her own capabilities after losing multiple times to the same enemy. And what she says is what she would’ve read in a book too. 敗將有口無言, and all. And Y, the new girl, who has a lot to prove and a lot of catching up to do, will have her own insecurities after being absolutely obliterated.

Blue saying “it’s not my problem” is the result of her drifting away so much from her friends and feeling betrayed. In FRLG, it’s subtly revealed that Blue doesn’t remain in contact with anyone other than Silver (since Red and Green had no idea what she was doing in One Island, or what she had been doing), and so if that was to continue for years, and she lets her darker thoughts go rampant, she would end up quickly reverting to her old colder self.

And yep. “Tricked”. Rampancy in AI (which is what Blue’s rampancy is based on) doesn’t require something HUGE happening. It can all start with just a subtle suggestion. And now the struggle begins, between her rampant thoughts and her rational thoughts. Hehehe...

Yep. Y took a hell of a beating... again. And yet she’s still trying to fight. The resiliency of the Dex Holders! ... Also, the resiliency of those who are in the top 5 favorites! In order to be able to fight even after such a beating, you need to be in the top 5 of my favorites. Otherwise... hehe.

Oh, Blue’s upcoming fight against the Dex Holders... it will be quite the journey!

Treat them well, eh? Hmm...

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And so with that, Destiny’s chart is updated!

With the reviewed chapters in the red circle. ... Destiny still doesn’t show a trend, as it is ALL OVER THE PLACE.

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Legacy #007

1) Janecklyn from Specord here :P

Anyway, i really appreciated those "slice of life" chapters and some of the dex holders forming friendships with others outside their region! Makes the stakes higher and the mental problems more heavy.

Aww, jelly X, I have a feeling Jeremy is gonna be important to the plot.

Moon, you goofed up D:

One thing I like of your writing, is that you get the characterization pretty well, most of the time I can tell who's speaking for the lines alone. It tells me that like you love these characters 3

Intense and suspenseful chapter! Will wait for the update 3

Oh. I had no idea that you actually read Legacy. ... It happens if people just don’t review, since I have no other way to know if it’s being actually READ.

Gotta love those “slice of life” things, eh? It’s not always just chaos and catastrophe in the lives of the Dex Holders. Even if they’re always in the middle of one.

X is going to have to compete with Sky Trainer Jeremy! Hehe...

Moon had failed to properly heed Platinum’s warning, and had failed to react fast enough. Ouch.

Hehe. Thank you :) I do try to make each one sound as unique as I can, though some... just... can’t.

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With this one review, Legacy’s chart now looks like...

The red circle was the change, and so now it’s no longer a straight line barring the last chapter’s “anomaly”. Still, the trend is too clear. Legacy will not be getting an update until that dot in the red circle goes up by another 5. And it has the rest of 2019 to do so.

[ponyregrets]

Hi there! Your ‘The 100’ fics are a joy to read! I’m sure you have plenty on your plate, but would you consider maybe writing a little something for Asexual Awareness week (October 21-28)? I’ve been having a tough time lately and it would seriously make my week if you had the time to write something fluffy featuring an ace pairing. Thank you for all you write! Happy Halloween!

AO3!

Clarke doesn't really have trouble not sleeping with her first boyfriend.

It's not any kind of thing, not sleeping with him, not even something she notices much. They don't go out for that long and it's just not that serious. She heard he liked her from a friend, who had heard it from a friend of his, and when she shrugged and said he was okay, the high-school grape vine turned it into a message that, if he asked her out, she'd say yes, and she was curious, so she did. She'd never had a boyfriend before, and she wanted to know what it would be like.

Without anyone to compare him to, it's hard to be sure he's a bad kisser, but she definitely doesn't enjoy kissing him. When he fumbles his hand over her breast, it's mostly just awkward. If he tried to go further, she probably wouldn't have stopped him, but his parents get home, and Clarke doesn't really think it's worth finding the time to sleep with him after that. She's still curious, in a general sense, but if kissing him wasn't great, she doesn't see why she'd want to fuck him. There have to be better guys to have sex with.

Three months into college, she starts dating Finn Collins, who is pretty good at kissing, at least from what she can tell. Her chin doesn't get as wet, and she actually has fun kissing him.

But no matter how much she does it, she never feels like she gets kissing Finn. It never crosses the line from being good into being amazing, never quite clicks. It's just another thing the two of them do together, but more involved than snuggling or grabbing dinner. She can't do homework while she and Finn make out.

Miller chokes when she tells him this. "Dude. Of course you can't."

"No, I know. I'm not saying I want to," she adds, although it's not entirely true. "I don't know. I'm not explaining it right."

"Have you ever considered that maybe you're not into dudes?" he asks. "Because every time you talk about dating, I get flashbacks to trying to hook up with my high-school girlfriend."

Clarke has considered it, but she's still on the fence. She does think Finn is cute. She likes his broad chest and his smile. She likes being with him in quiet, easy ways, even if she's still working on being with him. And when she thinks about kissing a girl, it's not a bad thought, but she doesn't think she'd like kissing the girl better, if kissing the girl was just like Finn. Girls, en mass, can't be that much better at kissing.

"I think I'm into dudes," she says, careful. "I might be into girls too, but I don't think it's related. Maybe I'm bad at kissing. But Finn hasn't complained."

"No offense to my gender, but most guys I know are just happy they're getting laid. Or might be getting laid eventually," he adds, with a wave of his fork. "They're not that hung up on technique."

"So I might be bad at kissing."

"If you wish you could be doing homework when you're kissing your boyfriend, there's probably something going wrong somewhere."

It's true, and Clarke can admit that the kissing isn't really the only problem with Finn. The moments she likes, the ones of just being a couple, are the ones he seems least interested in, the ones he's always trying to turn into a hookup. He never wants to just be, and she's already on the verge of a confrontation about it when she finds out about Raven.

"It explains a lot," she says, taking a swig from Raven's bottle of vodka and wincing. She likes drinking, in theory, but she's still trying to get good at it. Maybe that's just college for her right now: waiting to get good at things she wants to like.

Raven, of course, doesn't wince when she drinks. She's a year older than Clarke, like Finn was, gorgeous and apparently brilliant, the kind of person who should have their whole life together, but here she is on the floor of a dorm room with illegally procured booze.

"Yeah?" Raven asks.

"It never felt like he wanted to just hang out. He probably had to get back to you."

Raven snorts. "Turns out having two girlfriends isn't all fun and games. You've got to be really on top of your schedule."

"Was a he a good boyfriend?" she asks, with another gulp of vodka. This one goes down easier. "Aside from the cheating. Were you happy?"

"I thought so. He'd been weird, but--it used to be good. But it's hard not to go back and second-guess everything. Maybe we were never happy, I don't know."

Clarke was hoping she could get away without actually asking directly, but that's not happening. "How was the sex?" Raven's eyebrows shoot up, and she hastens to add, "We never actually--we just kissed. A little under the shirt stuff. I've never--"

That seems to help; Raven's face softens, and she bumps Clarke's shoulder. "He's the only guy I've ever been with, so I don't have anything to compare to. But there's no way that's as good as it gets."

"No?"

"I think we were getting better. It was a while before he could get me off himself, but he got there. I figured we had the rest of our lives to get the hang of it." She shakes her head with this soft, defeated sound that's related to a laugh. "Stupid, I know. Who marries their high-school boyfriend?"

"Someone who likes their high-school boyfriend," Clarke says. "It's not a bad thing."

"No, it was." It's a pronouncement when Raven says it, a declaration of how the world is. She's making it true. "He was safe, you know? Staying with him was safe. And now I get to find someone better."

Clarke smiles, holds up the vodka. "To someone better."

"To someone better."

*

Clarke's next person is Niylah, and she's definitely someone better. Miller introduces them junior year, when he finally convinces Clarke to come to the campus LGBT group and tentatively ID as bisexual. Niylah is smart and pretty, direct in her interest, almost comically eager to have conversations, especially compared to Finn. They talk about kissing, what Clarke likes and doesn't like, and they talk about other things, about everything, and that makes it easier to do everything. Clarke finds she likes giving more than receiving, in terms of sex, finds it easier to be the one getting Niylah off. Getting touched feels good, but she's slow to come, especially without mechanical intervention. She's always afraid that Niylah will be offended or discouraged if it's taking too long, and it just doesn't seem worth it. It's still fun, and Niylah's happy, or at least happy enough. When they break up, it's because Niylah is graduating, perfectly amicable and drama-free. Clarke's confident that she's a fine kisser, pretty good at oral, and a decent girlfriend.

And once she's sure of that, she loses a lot of her interest in actually being anyone's girlfriend. It's not that she's opposed to the idea; it's just that once she's sure she's capable of having a relationship, it becomes a lot less pressing to actually have one. It'll happen when it happens, and given the number of subpar relationships she's been in, rushing into another one seems stupid. She'd rather wait for someone who's a good fit.

So she graduates and gets a job in Boston, gets an apartment with Miller, and settles into her real life. Most of her friends are Miller's friends, on loan, which isn't the best, but she and Raven facetime once a week, and she gets updates about Niylah's string of new girlfriends, and she's happy, for the most part. Content, for sure.

Bellamy Blake happens four years after graduation, and Clarke's first impression of him is that Miller has great taste in guys.

It's a misconception only because of the Miller part; they're at a Halloween party and Miller told her the guy he liked was there. When he gave Bellamy one of those back-thumping bro hugs and said, "Hey, good to see you," Clarke had just assumed this was the crush. He was, after all, incredibly hot, with a great smile, wearing a toga that showed off an impressive upper body. He seemed like a good crush, and Clarke approved. Miller had been single for almost a year, and, unlike her, he was upset about it.

But then Miller wandered off to find the video games, and Clarke found herself alone with this unfamiliar man dressed as some kind of Greek god, possibly expected to be Miller's wingman.

"So, you're Miller's roommate, right?" he asks.

"Yeah. We went to college together."

He nods, in that slightly awkward way people do when they realize they're out of words way too early in a conversation. "Cool."

"You guys work together?"

His mouth twitches. "No, he's got a thing for my roommate."

Clarke has to take a second for that one, adjusting. She knew that she had been not meeting Miller's crush for a while. She knew that she didn't know the crush's name, because Miller always calls him the new guy. That's how Miller is with crushes; he's always convinced that if he doesn't name them, the feelings aren't real, like some kind of weird, Voldemort situation. She knew that he'd been spending time with this new guy outside of work, that they were becoming friends.

She hadn't realized quite how many things she was skipping out on because she didn't feel like going out, but Bellamy is living proof of it, right in front of her.

"I didn't know he knew the guy well enough to hang out with his roommate," she says, careful.

"He's pretty shitty at talking about crushes, so that's not a surprise."

Clarke smiles. "He really is."

Dunking on Miller is, as it turns out, a great way to bond with someone new, and the conversation flows easily after that. Bellamy is a few years older than she is, a high-school history teacher who met Monty--Miller's crush--on craigslist a few years back when Monty and his best friend were looking for a place to live. He likes them, says they've gotten him into board games and are trying to lure him into video games too, after a childhood of growing up poor and wary of technology.

"What about it?"

"Not to be way too serious for a Halloween party, but I think it was a defense mechanism. I couldn't afford it, so I told myself it sucked anyway. I think it worked too well on my sister, now she lives in Alaska and drops off the face of the earth for months at a time because she doesn't have a cell phone."

Clarke hides her smile in her beer; she likes people who are too serious. "So what video games are you getting into now?"

"Monty just bought Assassin's Creed: Odyssey, I think it was just to make me want to play it."

"That's the one with the really ripped bi girl with a bird, right?"

He grins. "That's it, yeah. Technically you can be a girl or a guy, but I don't know why anyone would want to be Alexios when Kassandra is right there."

"I haven't actually played it, but I like to backseat drive while Miller plays."

"Yeah? What do you tell him to do?"

"Flirt with girls and kill people."

"That's the only way to do it, yeah."

For the first time in a while, Clarke finds herself wanting to clarify that she's bi, that she also likes Kassandra hooking up with hot guys, but as always, she can't figure out the exact right way to put it.

Bellamy does it for her. "I think it's just that the romance options are available for both characters every time, which is cool. I get to be as bi as I want, and even homophobic dudes who are pissed that playing as a woman is an option have to see flirty dialogue options popping up when they're talking to guys."

"How bi do you want to be?"

"As bi as possible, always."

"Same," she says, and he grins.

Miller eventually finds them again, with his crush. He's hot (if not, in Clarke's opinion, as hot as Bellamy), dressed as Waluigi, whom Clarke only recognizes from memes, and can't stop looking at Miller, all of which bode well for Miller's chances with him. And he's cool too, a nice guy with a quick wit.

But Clarke's a little distracted by Bellamy.

Given he's not actually Miller's crush, it's not theoretically a problem. He's cute, he's bi, he seems to be single. It should be a slam dunk. But it's just been so long. And just because she's interested, it doesn't mean that he is.

"Can't believe I never thought about you and Bellamy," Miller says, as they walk home. "Of course you assholes would get along."

"Takes one to know one," Clarke shoots back, automatic, most of her mind on you and Bellamy. "I think Monty might be too nice for you."

"Yeah, no question."

She glances at him sidelong. "Me and Bellamy? You think?"

His roll of eyes is all fondness, an expression she hasn't seen in a while. Maybe Miller doesn't talk to her about his love life more because she never reciprocates. Maybe gossip is more fun when everyone can get teased. "Doesn't really matter what I think, right? If you're into him, you should go for it."

Clarke looks up at the stars, letting the thought of it fill her chest. Liking someone again could be fun. If he liked her too. "Yeah," she says. "Maybe I should."

*

Dating in high school and college didn't feel that hard, but, in retrospect, her relationships really weren't particularly deep. Niylah was the best of them, but even then, it was fairly uncomplicated. They saw each other when they didn't have class, but they didn't have real lives to coordinate. She didn't have to put effort into seeing Niylah, because they lived on the same campus.

Every time she sees Bellamy, it's a choice. She has to go out of her way to interact with him, sometimes do things she wouldn't usually do. It feels dishonest and deceptive, even when it's actually fun stuff like getting drinks and seeing movies. She's doing them with ulterior motives.

She might not be as good at all of this as she thought. And she honestly didn't think she was great at it.

But it's not as if she's not enjoying herself. She'd gotten into kind of a rut, not being social, convinced that she was forcing herself into Miller's social circle, but no one seems to mind her being there, Bellamy least of all. By all appearances, he likes spending time with her, and drinks and movies turn into regular texting, chatting, friendship verging on intimacy.

It doesn't, however, turn into what she thinks of as a relationship. They never see each other alone, never do things as a couple. There's no kissing, no sex, no waking up with him or going to sleep with him, none of the impositions on her life she'd like.

A new friend is nice, but she definitely and absolutely wants more. She's sure of it in a way she hasn't ever been before, in a way she wasn't when she was a kid who wanted to know what romance was like. Bellamy doesn't feel like an experiment or a curiosity; he feels like someone who could really be a partner. He's the closest she's ever come to feeling what she thinks she's supposed to feel, when she's in love.

So she asks him to get coffee, and it's actually a little terrifying, her first time making the first move at age twenty-seven, even when the "first move" is barely even a move.

Bellamy, at least, doesn't make her wait long; he texts back Sure, when and where? in less than five minutes.

Clarke knows, as she's looking at outfits and fretting about how to wear her hair and debating glasses or contacts, that this isn't really a huge deal. Bellamy might not even think it's a date at all, it could just be two friends hanging out, having a conversation. And the conversation is going to be about feelings, and it's going to suck.

So she dresses casually, hair in a loose braid, glasses on, cute without trying too hard. She reminds herself that this is Bellamy, and most of the reason she wants to date him is that she likes him and enjoys spending time with him and feels comfortable talking to him, so she really shouldn't worry this much. Either he feels the same or he doesn't, and if he doesn't, at least she'll be able to stop going to social events she doesn't actually care about just because she wants to see him.

Not that she'll go back to being a total recluse or anything, obviously. She'll just cut back a little. Be more selective and less stupidly desperate. Maybe give herself some time to get over the disappointment. Which is still hypothetical.

She takes a few breaths, grabs her purse and keys, and heads out. Bellamy's already at the coffee place when she arrives, waiting outside with his hands in his pockets, breath puffing out a little in the still-chilly March air.

"Hey," he says, with a smile that she can't quite read.

"Hey. Sorry to keep you waiting."

"It's cool, I'm always early." He holds the door open for her. It's early afternoon and while there are plenty of people at the various tables, the line is short. They get drinks and find two open seats at the end of a long table, and Clarke's debating what to say when Bellamy says, "Did anyone tell you I'm asexual?"

It's about the last thing she was expecting him to say. "No."

His mouth twitches. "Sorry if I made it weird, but I thought you might be, uh--"

"Asking you out?"

"Yeah."

"I was going to."

"I'm not saying no," he says, but he's still not really smiling. Not like Clarke wants him to be. "Just, uh--I don't know if this is really what you're looking for." Clarke frowns, and he clarifies, "If you'd still want to date me."

Asexuality is something she knew existed, but she doesn't know much about it. As far as she knows, she doesn't know anyone who identifies that way--aside from, apparently, Bellamy--and she'd never researched it much. After all, she liked sex with Niylah, and she would have probably liked sex with Finn, which meant it wasn't a label for her, and she'd felt like it was fairly straightforward.

"I guess I assumed if you were asexual you just wouldn't date? Sorry," she adds. "You're the first person I've met who IDs that way. And you're bi too?"

"Biromantic asexual," he says. "I like relationships, I don't care about sex. But that's usually a lot to tell someone on a first meeting, especially if you don't know--" He shrugs. "Once asexuality comes up, it becomes a conversation about asexuality."

It feels a little like she's drowning, or like she can't catch her breath. It is a conversation about asexuality, and she doesn't know where her footing is for that. "So, you want to date me, you just don't want to have sex with me?"

He rubs his neck, but he's speaking again before she can apologize. "I don't, uh--I don't not want to have sex with you."

"Sorry, I'm just--not doing very well with this."

Now he does smile, a bright one, one of her favorite ones. "You're doing fine. I've been stressing about it so much, jesus. I didn't want to tell you because--I really like you. I didn't want to scare you off. But I felt like an asshole, so--here we are."

"You're not scaring me off. I don't care about sex that much either."

"No?"

"I haven't had it in a while, I don't miss it much." She smiles. "Full disclosure, I was thinking about having sex with you."

He laughs. "I was thinking about having sex with you too."

A little thrill runs through her, chased by a rush of guilt. It shouldn't be more exciting than his wanting to date her, and it's not, exactly. But there's something nice about the confirmation that he'd been thinking about logistics, about how this would go. How to make it work. "So, this could be a date."

"Maybe." His expression sobers, and he wets his lips, eyes steady. "It's, uh--you should think about it. I've dated people who were sure they were cool with it, and then--"

"They weren't."

"I get it, it's a big deal for some people."

"Can I ask more questions?"

He laughs. "Sure."

"Do you like kissing?"

"Kissing's good."

"Sleepovers? Cuddling?"

"All good."

She fidgets with the sleeve on her coffee. "How did you know? Like--was it before or after you figured out you were bi?"

"After. I, uh--I told you about my mom, right?"

"Yeah."

"After she died, I was in pretty rough shape. My sister got put into foster care, I couldn't get her back, I was spiraling. And I, uh--had a lot of sex. Not to brag."

He's got a smile playing around his lips, so Clarke nudges his ankle with her foot. "Yeah, I'm so jealous you lost your family and went into a depression spiral."

"I figured, yeah."

"So, lots of sex."

"Yeah. I liked feeling, uh--useful." Clarke winces, and he shrugs, jerky. "I know, yeah. It was bad. And after, I figured out--I didn't like it. Which, yeah, obviously," he adds, at her expression. "It sucked. But it wasn't just that. Sex is something I do for other people, not for me. When I'm in a good place, that's not a problem. I like being with people I care about, it's fun, I like it. I get off. Just--if I never had sex again, I'd be fine, and that's tough for some people."

It's as if Clarke has stepped out of her body, as if she's seeing herself from a distance, seeing the whole scene from a distance, thinking about everything. She's had a privileged life, a fortunate one, hasn't ever hit rock bottom like Bellamy did after his mother died. That's not news, nor is her general lack of experience with sex. It just never felt noteworthy. If anything, it felt healthy, that she wasn't obsessing over a relationship, had escaped from the trap of thinking she needed someone.

And that can all still be true. But other things could be true too.

"I've never actually had sex with a guy," she admits. "I've dated two guys and one woman, and I only actually had sex with the woman. And it was--fine." He nods, but doesn't say anything, so she has no choice but to go on. "Once I'd done it, it didn't bother me that I wasn't still doing it. I don't miss it. I like, uh--" She glances around, mindful that they're having this conversation in a coffee shop. "It's a good stress reliever. Before bed or something. But that's just--me."

Bellamy's mouth quirks. "Diplomatic."

"We're in a coffee shop!"

He wets his lips. "Monty and Jasper aren't home. You want to talk there?"

They take their coffees and walk back, chatting about Bellamy's classes and Clarke's project at work, easy things. But there's this bright seed of hope in Clarke's stomach, this tiny, growing kernel. They could be on the exact same page, a page Clarke didn't even know about. A secret chapter at the end of the book that explains all the loose ends, resolves things you didn't even know you were wondering about.

There's a unique pleasure in learning there's a word for something you didn't realize needed one.

"I always kind of thought asexuality was just--no interest in sex."

"It's a spectrum," says Bellamy. "And it's kind of like--it's related to compulsory heterosexuality, I guess, but--it took me so long to even figure out how much sex I was supposed to want and how I was supposed to feel about it."

"Yeah." She lets out a breath. "I honestly don't know. I never thought about it. But I think we could probably make it work. I think we'd probably be pretty good for each other."

"Me too." He ducks his head, smiles. "So, you want to watch a movie and talk about masturbating?"

The happiness sprouts and grows, big enough to fill up her whole chest, her whole world. "Sounds perfect."

*

Clarke doesn't really have trouble not sleeping with Bellamy. But she doesn't have trouble sleeping with him, either, when she wants to. She is curious about it, after all, and it's fun with Bellamy, when she's not worried about doing things right or being good and mostly just wants to try things. She'll read a book and the characters will be overcome by lust and have sex in a bizarre position, and she'll draft him into seeing if it works, or he'll be in the mood to eat her out, or they're both just in the mood to be naked together and see what happens.

Mostly, she puts her feet in his lap while she reads, and she kisses him before she leaves for work in the morning, and he cooks her dinner and she does the dishes, and she cuddles into him at night before bed, and she loves him.

It's everything she never had the words for, everything she didn't realize she was looking for.

He proposes, and she says yes, and just like that, Bellamy Blake is her last boyfriend, her only fiance, and her only husband.

It's not that hard, once she figures it out.

[mamaluigi2018-commsopen]

Mama Luigi’s Top 10 Favorite Games of All Time.

Hey, everyone! Mama Luigi here. Just wanted to create this list to show appreciation to the games that have given me the most joys in my life and so you can all have an idea what kind of games I love. I will be going into small detail on each game, give a description on why I love these games. and also add my favorite track from each game. Alright. Let’s begin!

10. Mega Man 10 (heh....funny)

This was the most recent Mega Man game we got until Mega Man 11 arrived. This was released in 2010 for the PS3, Xbox 360, and WiiWare, and now available in Mega Man Legacy Collection 2 for PS4, Xbox One, PC, and Nintendo Switch. The story is that a virus called “Roboenza” has appeared and have caused robots to go out of control. It’s up to Mega Man and for the first time joining his side, Proto Man, to stop the menace and uncover the cause of the virus. Many would think that at the 10th game, the gameplay of Mega Man would get stale. Not so! The platforming is still tight and a fair challenge, the robot masters are some of my personal favorites of the series with Blade Man, Nitro Man, Strike Man, and my baby boi Sheep Man. The music is fantastic with tracks such as Stage Select, Solar Man stage, and Wily Stage 1. The weapons may not have been as useful as Mega Man 9, but the good ones are really good like Blade Man weapon and Nitro Man weapon. Plus the added DLC with playable Bass and 3 stages based on the Mega Man Game Boy games are a great bonus!

Favorite Track: Nitro Man

9. Castlevania: Symphony of the Night

Released in 1997 for the Playstation and rereleased on the PSN store and PSP as part of the Castlevania Dracula X Chronicles. After the disappearance of Richter Belmont, Alucard is tasked with invading his father’s palace and put an end to his reign of terror. Symphany of the Night broke the mold of  the Castlevania traditional platform gameplay with a non-linear explorative action adventure similar to the Metroid series, which coined the term Metroidvania. Later games would adopt the Symphony of the Night gameplay such as Aria of Sorrow and Order of Ecclesia. What I love about this game is just the amount of free roam the game allows for you to do and what kind of items you can find. If you are having trouble with a part of the game, there is a variety of solutions such as a certain spell or a certain weapon combinations that can help you out. The graphics are a clean, smooth sprite style and the music is some fantastic CD quality music. The love I have for this game makes me even more excited for Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night to come out in 2019.

Favorite Track: Dracula’s Castle

8. Kirby: Planet Robobot

Released for the Nintendo 3DS in 2016. Planet Popstar has been converted in a mechanized world due to President Haltmann and his goons. Able to snatch one of the bots, Kirby embarks on a robotic adventure to free his planet from the machine menace. I love Kirby. I love Robots. Put them together and you get a absolute fantastic adventure with great Copy Abilities old such as Sword, Fire, and Hammer, as well as new such as Doctor, Poison, and ESP. The levels are well design to emphasized the robot theme and the soundtrack was given a more techno feel. The best parts are definitely the Robobot segments! It can not only smash enemies along the way, buy also copy it’s own set of abilites!

Favorite Track: Super Nova (vs. Star Dream Soul OS) or “P.R.O.G.R.A.M”

7. Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS

Released for the Nintendo 3DS in 2014, Smash 3DS was a companion game for Super Smash Bros. for Wii U. Nintendo’s greatest are pitted against each other in battle to see who will come out in top. Due to not owning a Wii U, I was a bit skeptic about getting the 3DS version, thinking it was only a dumb down version. I can now say it was not the case! Smash 3DS is just about as a real Smash game as the Wii U version. Having a cast of 65 characters, there a character for almost anyone. The addition of Omega Stages allowed for any stage to be play for competitive match. The choice between For Glory and For Fun was a fantastic idea that allowed any kind of player to have fun. Smash Run was a fun game mode to run in a maze collecting power ups to face your opponents. The music was god like with themes coming from a variety of games and remixes included. So many hours playing with my friends, I know I will always cherish this game and am looking forward to Smash Ultimate this December. BTW, my mains are Pikachu, Luigi, and Lucina.

Favorite Track: Tie between “Gerudo Valley (Legend of Zelda)” or “Main Theme”

6. Shovel Knight

Released in 2014 for the PC and Wii U, with later releases on 3DS, PS3, PS4, Xbox One, PS Vita, and Nintendo Switch. Shovel Knight stars our titular character on quest to stop the evil Enchantress and her Order of No Quarter with his trusty shovel. Steel thy Shovel! Shovel Knight is an indie created by Yacht Club as their first game, and man do they give it their all! Shovel Knight is styled after the NES days not only in art style and music, but in difficulty as well. With exciting stages with their own gimmicks and precise platforming, Shovel Knight is definitely for those who want to relive the NES days. The music is amazing, the characters have so much personality, and the 3 DLC are basically full games put in. Plauge of Shadows is a fun mode with combining different potions. Spector of Torment is my favorite mode with wall climbing, slicing enemies, and Scythe Skating (yes I said Scythe Skating). King of Cards is not out yet, but is showing promise to be just as fun as the 3 other campaigns.

Favorite Track: La Danse Macabre (Spector Knight Stage)

5. Sonic Colors

Released in 2010 for the Nintendo Wii and Nintendo DS. Sonic the Hedgehog and Miles “Tails” Prower must stop Dr. Eggman from capturing planets for his Interstellar Amusement Park and free the captive Wisps. Sonic Colors takes the game play the day time levels from Sonic Unleashed and puts him in a high speed adventure with amazing level designs such as Tropical Resort and Starlight Carnival. The Wisp power up allow Sonic to absorb the Wisp and take a variety of forms such as the Cyan Laser or Yellow Drill. What I really enjoy is how the White Wisp the only thing that gave you the Boost so you had to plan out when is the best place to use it. The best feeling I get from this game is sense of speed I get.

Favorite Track: Planet Wisp Act 1

4. Hyrule Warriors: Definite Edition

Released in 2014 for the Wii U, released for 3DS in 2015, and finally for the Nintendo Switch. The Dark Sorceress Cia has called the greatest villains from across the Zelda timelines. Now Zelda, Link, the White Sorceress Lana, Self-Proclaimed Hero Linkle( and best girl), plus heroes from the entire series must stop her and save Hyrule. An absolute fantastic hack n slash adventure where you get use your favorite Zelda Characters and just wreck everything in your path. With a fantastic soundtrack of original tracks and remixes of past Zelda themes. An expansive Adventure Map where you can collect heart pieces and unlock new weapons, collecting material to expand your characters strength. You can spend so many hours on this game and just have a good time.

Favorite Track: Linkle’s Theme

3. Metroid Fusion

Released in 2002 for the Nintendo Game Boy Advance. After an expedition to SR-388, Samus is infected with X-Parasite. After being given a vaccine containing Metroid DNA, Samus is tasked with investigating the BSL Station. This game. This god damn game was my first horror game. It terrified my 8 year old self. The tense atmosphere, the feeling of isolation, the horrible monstrosities all being after you was made perfectly. And we can not forget about the the nightmare fuel that is the SA-X. That thing was horrifying! The gameplay is fantastic with just shooting down monster after monster and fighting to survive.

Favorite Track: Vs. Nightmare

2. Super Mario World

Released in 1991 as a launch title for the SNES. Mario travels to Dinosaur Land to save Peach(again) from Bowser(again). Super Mario World was my first console game and I share many fond memories of it. The graphics are great with a nice color palette, the levels are fun and varied in design, the Super Cape is an amazing power up, allowing you to skip levels with the right timing. It also introduces one of our favorite dinosaurs, Yoshi. The music is catchy and is remixed into almost every track in the game. This game is truly a masterpiece.

Favorite Track: Staff Roll

1. Pokemon Emerald.

Released in 2005 for the Game Boy Advance, Pokemon Emerald is the 3rd game in the Gen 3 Pokemon games, following Ruby and Sapphire. As moving to the Hoenn Region, a young trainer travels defeating gym leaders, catching Pokemon and stopping the villainous Team Magma and Team Aqua. This is it. This is without a doubt my favorite game of all time. My very first game I ever bought with my own money. Many hours put in to catching all the Pokemon, training and raising different teams, competing in the Battle Frontier. Team Magma and Team Aqua were the first villains to actually feel like a threat, the Hoenn region is an amazing land scape with well known areas such as Mt. Chimney, Meteor Falls, and Sootopolis CIty. The Pokemon designs were made more excotic looking and the music is simple sublime with the use of trumpets. I love this game and I will continue to love and play for all of eternity.

Favorite Track: “Littleroot Town” “Route 120″ and “Ending Credits”

So what did you all think? Do you share any of my opinions on these games? What are some of your favorite games of all time? I would love to know! Have a great day to you all and this is Mama Luigi signing out!

[calligraphist-artemisia]

Can You Hear the Call of My Heart? (Day 5)

Day 5: Games | Pidge decides to teach Keith how to play video games.

Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3 | Day 4 | Day 6 | Day 7

Also on AO3 and fanfiction.net

Little Kisses

Day 5: Games

Video games were unfamiliar ground for Keith. It wasn't something he had while growing up and once he was taken in by the Garrison, his life became studying in preparation to be a pilot. So when his friends first started to spend their downtime sitting in front of a screen, passing a controller around and cheering each other along as they battled their way through a virtual dungeon, he didn't understand the appeal.

“Do you want to learn?” Pidge asked after pulling him aside.

Keith shrugged. “I don't really see the point.”

Had he been talking to anyone else, he would have made up an excuse about being too busy, but it was Pidge asking him and he'd never been able to lie to her. There was something about those big brown eyes...

“It's just to have fun. To take your mind off of serious matters for a while,” Pidge told him.

There was no judgment in her voice. No incredulous declaration or remark about how obvious it was that he wasn't fully human. (Always meant as a joke, he knew, but that didn't make it hurt any less. That strong sense of not belonging to either side of his bloodlines.)

Keith's gaze flickered to the others, who were yelling with delight as Shiro gained the upper hand in the fight. He watched as his oldest friend delivered the final blow and Matt leaned forward and planted a big kiss on his cheek in celebration.

Pidge's hand, warm against his own, drew him back to their conversation. She smiled up at him and said: “You don't have to decide now. Anytime you want to learn, I'll be happy to show you. And who knows, you might even be as good at it as I am. Maybe.”

Keith found himself grinning back at her, put at ease by her easy confidence. “Maybe I'll be even better.” His words drew a laugh from her and his heart soared even as she pulled away from him.

“In your dreams, Hawkins,” she teased.

It was another month before Keith took her up on her offer, following a particularly rough assignment from Kolivan. He returned to the Castle for some well-earned rest, but found himself unable to do so. He tossed and turned in bed, unable to sleep for more than ten minutes at a time, and eventually gave up in favor of aimlessly wandering the halls.

That was when he found Pidge.

She was sitting by herself in the game room, curled up against one of the arms of the couch with a controller held loosely in her hands and a thin blanket draped over her shoulders. All he could hear was the sound of her fingers tapping the buttons and, of course, the sound effects of the game she was playing.

Keith quietly moved closer, giving the screen a cursory look-over. He could tell it was different than the one he'd seen everyone playing. It was more brightly colored than the last and the character was some sort of blue animal instead of human, but he didn't care enough to note more than that. His real focus was on Pidge herself and how she wasn't playing with her usual enthusiasm.

She looked... sad.

Keith was moving before he actually knew what he was going to do. There was something in his chest that twisted at the sight of her looking like that and he had to try and change that.

“Hey,” he greeted as he came around the couch.

Pidge glanced up, her fingers pausing for a brief moment. “Can't sleep either?”

“Not really,” Keith admitted as he sat down next to her. “It's... been a rough few days. I thought being here would help.”

Pidge smiled sympathetically. “It's too peaceful, right? Everyone else is asleep, so there's no one around to talk to. No one's making noise. There's nothing to keep your mind off of things.” She stared at her hands as she spoke, her fingers tracing the buttons on the controller. She pressed down on one of the middle ones, pausing the game, and then turned to Keith. “My offer still stands, you know. About teaching you to play. If you want to.”

The thought had crossed his mind once or twice. And it was even more tempting with it being just the two of them, with no one else around to make fun of him or trying to talk over Pidge's advice.

Keith fought back the sudden awareness that they were completely alone for once, and in turning to face him, Pidge's knees were just barely brushing against his own. It was so different than when they were out in the field working together. At least out there he knew what was expected of him.

But what did he really have to lose? (Other than accidentally offending the one girl he'd ever liked and hadn't managed to offend in the two years they'd been working together defending the universe.)

“Nothing else has helped me relax so far. Maybe this is what I need,” Keith said.

Pidge's eyes lit up at being given the chance to share something she enjoyed. “Okay, lets do this! It's perfect timing, actually. This game's easier to pick up and play than Killbot Phantasm.”

Keith watched as she rapidly pushed a few buttons, switching out of the game itself and to what he assumed was the title screen. “I'll take your word for it...” he said, staring down at the controller as she pushed it into his hands. “Uhh?”

“The best way to learn is to jump right in. There are only a few buttons you need to know. Now...” She paused to help him adjust his hands properly. “Left hand controls direction. If you press up, your character will look up and the screen will adjust to give you a better view of what's above you. It's the same if you look down. If you press right or left and then look down, you'll go into a roll. Right hand controls jump and that's it. Now hit start. It's in the center.”

Keith did so, watching the screen a the game started up the first level. “So now I just go forward?”

Pidge nodded. “Exactly! This is a side-scroller, so your objective is to get to the end. Along the way you want to beat the monsters by hitting them and collect golden rings.”

Keith moved his character forward, cautiously at first, but soon he started to pick up speed with a little well-timed advice from Pidge, who knew the best way to take out the mechanical monsters and the best paths to take to get the good power-ups. He didn't dare imagine he was actually any good at it, considering the number of times he lost rings or ran too fast and fell into the void, but her encouraging smile was all it took for him to keep going.

He had to admit, it was kind of fun.

By the time both of them were having trouble keeping focus, somewhere in the early morning hours of the Castle's day-night cycle, Keith felt a little more confident in his ability to play.

“Want to play again later?” Pidge asked. “Hunk and Lance are going out to see how the Balmeran's are doing, so they'll be away for the day.”

“You're not going with them?”

Pidge shook her head “As tempting as it is to go and watch Hunk transform into a giant mushy mess the moment he sees Shay, I'm going to pass this time.” She paused to yawn, covering her mouth with her hand. “This was more fun than that.”

Keith looked at her in surprise. “Really? It wasn't boring watching me try and play?”

Pidge leaned back into the couch, barely able to keep her eyes open. “Not really. Why? Do you get bored watching me try an learn a new move on the training deck?”

His face flushed hotly at her question. He hadn't known she'd been that aware of him watching her form during training. Part of it was because he could never seem to keep his eyes off of her and the other was from sheer awe at how quickly she picked up techniques. “Never.”

“Thought so,” Pidge murmured, her eyes fluttering shut. Her breathing soon evened out as she drifted off to sleep right there on the couch.

Keith didn't dare move, for fear of waking her, and soon fell asleep next to her.

Pidge awoke with an abnormal amount of heat radiating from the couch she was laying against. It was the fleeting taste of Altean wine still on her lips that reminded her of what she'd been doing when she fell asleep and how she hadn't been alone.

Sure enough, she opened her eyes to find she'd slid to the side and had spent the past few hours drooling onto Keith's shoulder. To add to the embarrassment, someone had found them because there was a large blanket spread out over them. (She really hoped it wasn't Lance or Hunk. Neither of them would ever stop talking about it.)

Pidge took the rare opportunity to watch Keith as he slept. He always looked so at peace when he fell asleep after their gaming sessions, as if it allowed all of his worries the chance to melt away.

It had been two months since they started their night-time “hangout” whenever Keith was back in the Castle, bringing them closer together than ever before.

Pidge found herself eagerly anticipating the times he was in the Castle and missed him so fiercely that it ached when he was away. Matt, always her go-to person in times of emotional crises, was being unusually unhelpful on the matter, saying that it was something she had to discover for herself. (Extremely useless. 0/10 would not recommend as advice.)

Which was how she found herself talking to Coran late one night.

“Sounds like heartache to me,” he had told her sagely.

Heartache, she thought as she watched Keith breathe. It sounded crazy. Keith was her friend. They were partners (or had been, when he still piloted the Red Lion) and worked well together, and sure there had always been a level of mutual fondness between them, but that was all!

Wasn't it?

Pidge wasn't so sure anymore.

A friend probably wouldn't have such vivid dreams of kissing him. A friend probably wouldn't catch themselves daydreaming about what it'd be like to hold his hand or just be held.

She regretfully pulled away from him, moving slowly and carefully tucking the blanket around him so he wouldn't wake from the sudden chill. She settled back on her side of the couch and recollected the controller from where it had fallen. What she really needed was something to distract her from her thoughts.

“Getting an early start?” Keith's voice rumbled low with sleep and the sound sent tingles down Pidge's spine. “Pretty sure that's cheating.”

“Cheating?” Pidge parroted in confusion.

“For our competition. The one you said you wanted to do before you fell asleep last night,” Keith clarified. (And was it just her imagination, or was he blushing?) “Or, was that...? I mean, we don't have to. It sounded kind of fun.”

Oh. Right. The competition. The one her half-asleep and mildly inebriated brain decided would be a good idea. The one where some part of her thought it would be a good idea to request a kiss if she won. Not that she'd actually said that out loud.

That one.

Fighting back the blush threatening to take over her whole face, Pidge restrained herself from hitting start. “I'm not backing down now. Lets do this!”

Keith was quiet for a moment, staring at her with an unreadable expression. Then, he slowly exhaled and looked away. “So, I've been thinking about what I want if I win. I'm not sure I can top the kiss you're requesting, but-”

The controller clattered to the floor.

Pidge rapidly paled, blood draining from her face. “What?”

Quiznak.

QUIZNAK.

Her thought process stuttered to a stop.

She didn't...?

She had.

Pidge was never drinking Altean wine again.

“Perfectly safe” her ass. Coran was going to get an earful from Shiro once she let it slip that he let her have a bottle. A bottle which she was returning post-haste if one little glass was enough to make her lose all sense.

“Pidge, are you okay?”

She groaned and dropped her head in her hands. “I'm so sorry! I don't know what I was thinking last night.”

“...so you don't want to kiss me?”

Was it just her imagination or did Keith sound disappointed?

Pidge peeked out through her fingers, unsure of what to make of the situation. She could deny it. Should deny it? No? Yes? What was the right answer? Was there a right answer?

(“Love isn't something that has a wrong or right answer, Pidge,” Matt said, gazing at Shiro. “It just is. You can fight it or you can go along with it, it's your choice. But let me tell you, going with it, as terrifying as it is, is so much better.”)

“I want to kiss you,” Pidge whispered, too quiet for anyone to hear. She swallowed around the lump in her throat and sat back to slump against the couch, dropping her hands to her lap. “I want to kiss you,” she repeated, louder than before.

“Okay,” Keith said as he bent down to pick up the fallen controller. “But first you'll have to beat me.”

“And if you win?” Pidge asked, accepting it from him. She dared to meet his eyes and her heard did flip-flops at the heated way he looked at her. She could also make out the faintest hint of a blush, which set her a little more at ease.

He was just as nervous.

“If I win, I get to kiss you,” Keith said.

Pidge's heart fluttered. Mustering her resolve, she managed a small, lopsided grin. “Hope you're up for the challenge. I never lose.”

Keith answered her challenge with a smirk of his own. “We'll see. I'm not going down without a fight, Katie.”

She flushed at the use of her real name and turned her attention to the game, trying not to let him see just how flustered it made her. She hit start.

The competition was simple. They'd each play the first zone of the game, which had a total of three acts and the possibility for two special stages. In the end, the winner would be the person with the highest total score. It was a contest of knowing the right path to take and which risks would be worth the points.

Pidge concentrated solely on the game, ignoring whatever Keith was doing. He was bound to try and distract her and she refused to let him succeed. They had an unspoken rule about how much interference was permitted and so far, neither of them had crossed that line.

She grit her teeth as she passed the first act, moving the first special stage as a reward for collecting and keeping enough rings. She could feel his eyes on her.

Don't get distracted!

She passed the special stage with ease after collecting the emerald as a prize and then moved onto the second act. She'd just started to relax when she felt him shift closer. A weight settled against her shoulder.

“Keith, what are you doing?” Pidge asked, refusing to take her eyes off the screen.

“Just watching,” he replied.

She pressed on, trying not to let herself get sidetracked by the way his hair tickled her skin whenever he moved. She was in the middle of timing a jump when Keith shifted again, his breath fanning over bare skin, and gently pressed his lips against her shoulder.

Quiznaking quiznak.

Pidge wouldn't look. She refused to look.

She just knew if she did, she'd get distracted by those beautiful blue-violet eyes and –

Too late.

Pidge swore under her breath, angry with herself for being so weak. As Keith chuckled into her exposed skin, she swore revenge. (And, for good measure, she swore off ever drinking wine again, as it'd been the reason she stripped off her usual sweater for the tank top she wore underneath.)

“Having trouble, Katie?”

“You wish,” she retorted, viciously bouncing off an enemy's head. “You'll have to try harder than that, Hawkins!”

“Oh?”

Another kiss, a little higher, and a shiver ran down her spine. When did Keith get so confident? Was she still dreaming? She absolutely blamed the Altean wine. Clearly, it had affected them both. Another reason to get rid of it.

Pidge fought to focus. A kiss on her neck had her missing an easy target and losing her invulnerability. Keith backed off for a few minutes, letting her finish the act in peace, but the moment the next special stage began, he returned, nipping gently.

“Quiznak!” Pidge swore, fighting her rising desire to give in. Did it really matter who won, when the outcome would be the same?

Her hesitation led to her failing to acquire the emerald and reinvigorated her want to win. She had a momentary lapse, but that was fine. She'd make up for it.

Keith didn't let up for the final act, peppering kisses wherever he could get away with it.

Pidge trembled under his ministrations, losing more rings and precious time than she would have liked, but easily finished off the zone boss. She let the total score tally up and then paused the game, breathlessly turning to look at Keith. “Your turn. Hope you're ready.”

“Do your worst,” Keith responded, unable to stop himself from placing one last kiss on her shoulder. He took the controller from her and restarted from the first act.

Pidge hummed as she settled against him, much like he'd done to her in the beginning. She was content to watch for the first level and into the special stage, but after that, she began slowly tracing swirls along his arm. She kept her touch light and gentle. Teasing.

Keith shifted beneath her uneasily when she didn't do more than that through all of the second act and was practically squirming when he got to the next special stage.

“Hey, Keith,” she asked softly, tilting her head to look at him through her eyelashes. “Kiss me?”

She expected him to laugh it off, to retort with something witty or at least a distracted “you'll have to try harder than that.” Instead, Keith paused the game with a low growl and tossed the controller aside so his hands were free to gently cup her face as he gladly melded their lips together.

Pidge nearly gasped at the heat radiating from him, utterly lost in the way his lips moved against her own, hesitant and unsure, but still nice. One hand slid down to her waist, holding her close. And then he pulled back, not far, just enough to give them a moment to breathe.

“I win,” Pidge whispered, unable to help herself.

Keith chuckled. “Are you sure about that?”

Bonus

“Coran, are we missing a bottle of Juniberry wine?” Allura asked as she returned from taking inventory of the Castle's drink selection. She wanted to get a head start on preparations for the next diplomatic meeting and had noticed an empty space on one of the racks while checking the more appropriate drinks.

Coran jumped guiltily at the question. “Ah, why do you ask, princess?”

Allura leveled him with a no-nonsense look. “You and I both know the effect it tends to have on people. Imagine if one of the paladins drank some! Lance is... affectionate enough without it. I don't want to imagine...” She trailed off, a blush overtaking her face. “That might not be so terrible, actually...”

Feeling as though he'd narrowly dodged a bullet, Coran stealthily made his way out of the room, leaving the princess alone with her thoughts.

She didn't really need to know that he'd deliberately given a bottle to Pidge in hopes she and Keith would resolve their feelings for each other. She especially didn't need to know that he hadn't warned her of the potent effects of the wine and it's ability to draw feelings of love to the surface.

Coran hummed a lively tune as he set off to complete his usual morning routine.

NEXT

[hexdream18243]

Fanfiction: Crush

Little thing: This fanfiction I wrote only in English. So PLEASE tell me if you find mistakes (or typos)! It’s everything. Enjoy your time!

Relationships: analogical (friends), logicality Warnings: mention about car crash? Nothing much or significant. Please tell me if I should add something. Word count: 1772 Summary: Virgil stole his roommate’s phone and found out that he has... a crush?!

Part two

AO3 link

Virgil was bored. So unbelievably bored. So he did the most logical thing he could do. He stole his roommate’s phone. Well, not exactly stole. He came to their room (they were there), stood next to their table and took the phone without question. Logan just looked at him and went back to work. He hope it was work, not some new strange obsession about something. Logan’s obsession were hard to deal with. If he found something interesting, he wanted to know everything about it. Just. Everything. It was no way to have a normal conversation in days while he was doing his “research”. For “Do you want coffee?” or “Do we have a milk?” Logan answers always led to random information about his “topic number 1”. Virgil knew that these information were interesting, really, but he started to hate the phrase: “Do you know that…”

But it looks like Logan was just working. What a relief.

Virgil came out of Logan’s room and sat at the kitchen table in the living room. They had too small kitchen for furniture beside necessary like fridge, sink or oven. After getting himself comfortable, he got to work. First, he had to unlock the phone. It was their unspoken game. Logan changed his password, PIN or code and left hints about it around their apartment. Every time Virgil was bored or had others troubles he could take Logan’s phone and play as detective. It was fun for both sides. This time Logan had a password. Unfortunately, Virgil immediately knew it, because his roommate’s favorite jam brand released a new taste recently. Jam was in every corner of the kitchen. An answer was obvious. He wrote “Crofters” and was welcomed with a photo of Pluto with text “Pluto is a planet! Viva la Pluto!”. So puzzle were solved what’s next?

He know that Logan’s phone also was boring. Of course not if you didn’t know about his obsessions and others things like interesting music choices (Classical music, rap, rap to classical music. He didn’t have many songs of the last, but just because they were a little uncommon. Also he has a folder with songs from probably all genre from Disney to hard metal, at least one of each genre.) or strange high quality of organization. So Virgil started to look into contacts. It was nearly impossible that Logan met someone new recently but maybe? Some minutes passed but suddenly… Here it is! A new contact! And description was… interesting at least. “Crush”. Did Logan has a crush on someone? And he didn’t mention it?! Okay, they were roommates but sort of friends also, he guess? Usually Logan would say something, but not this time, he had to hide it. Virgil checked if they were texting. Nothing. Not even one call! So… Why not to text the mysterious crush? Virgil considered it. Logan wouldn’t kill him for that and it will be fun to watch this nerd flustered. Yes. He’ll do it.

What to write? If he was Logan, what he would write to his crush? Hm… How would Logan flirt? That was a good question. It definitely won’t be normal flirting or some simple pick up lines. It’s not his style. In his style is using big complicated words and strange comparisons. Or random information. Virgil looked into folders to find inspiration. He found something named as “Love”. He opened it and saw enormous amount of documents, photos, videos, charts and voice files. Everything had a connection with love. One of documents was named: “Pick up lines”. More out of curiosity, he opened it. Ok. He didn’t expect this. Of course, he saw document full of pick up lines, but some of them had a small note: “Can be used”. Seriously?! Logan thought that he could use them? HE? Virgil could not imagine it. But… It could be funny. Now he should just find a proper line.

He scrolled through them.

“I’m not an astronomer, but I still promise to give you the sun, moon, and stars.” – No. Line was crossed with comment “But I AM astronomer”. And it could be too much for the beginning if you ask Virgil. Other one: “You seem to be traveling at the speed of light because time always seems to stop when I look at you.” or “You must be a red blood cell because you take the oxygen out of my lungs and bring it right to my heart.”

He wasn’t sure which line will be the best, but one of them drew his attention. Yes. It will worked.

He sent a text just in time because suddenly Logan came out from his room, calling:

“Virgil? I need my phone, where are you? I have to check something on my e-mail but I’ve already turned off my computer so if you… Oh, here you are.” – He entered to the living room. Virgil raised his head and smirked.

“Catch” – He threw a phone. Logan was surprised but he caught that (with difficulty).

“You knew password?” – Logan asked, looking at the screen.

“It wasn’t hard to guess.”

“I see. So I have to change it. I hope you had fun playing with my phone.”

“Yeah. I hope you didn’t mind that I texted your crush.”

Logan stopped in his tracks back to his room.

“What do you mean by ‘my crush’?”

“Stop pretending. I know you know what I mean. I saw your folders.”

“I am not pretending anything. I know meaning of the word “crush” but I do not know who you meant by using that term.”

“Really? Are you kidding me? You saved their number in label ‘Crush’. I don’t know who it is.”

“Wait. You texted ‘Crush’?” – Logan seemed a little panicked. - “What have you wrote?”

“I wrote only one of your pick up lines. Nothing much, really, only something to start.”

“Which one?!”

“Jezz, Logan, calm down, please. Look at your messages. It was something like: ‘Hey! You know, I think you must have a charge because I am finding myself feeling very attracted to you’. It’s not so bad.”

“IT IS! Listen, Virgil, do you remember last week?”

“Yes, of course, it was eventful week, a meeting, I got a job, you had a car crash…”

“Exactly! A man from the second car gave me his phone number and I gave him mine, because it was my fault and I asked him to text me about price of repair. And look again” – Logan put phone to his eyes. – “How I wrote a word ‘Crush’?”

“By ‘u’.”

“What?!” – Logan looked again at the screen with wide eyes. Then he muttered under his breath: “Stupid autocorrect”.

“So… It isn’t someone you’re interested in, I guess? Sorry…”

“O, I wouldn’t say that I am not interested in him. He…” – Logan stopped when he realized what he just said. He tried to dismiss it but Virgil already was smirking.

“You say so?”

“Please, forget it.”

“Never.”

Logan shook his head.

“Anyhow, you’ve already texted Patton. I think now I should explain ‘my’ behavior to him.” – He sighed looking at his phone. He started writing an apology.

“If you remember his name why you didn’t named his number like that?” – Virgil asked.

“Because I would remember his name but I wouldn’t remember who it is and how I met him. I am not forgetting names. However autocorrect…” – Just when he hit button to send a text, ring interrupted his saying so he stopped. And paled.

“What?” – Virgil asked.

“He answered for your message.”

“WHAT?!” – Virgil jumped from his place to stand next to his roommate. – “What did he write? Tell me!”

It took a moment for read a text. Next Logan locked a phone with blank expression.

“I didn’t saw an answer. He took it bad?” – Logan gave device to Virgil. A message said: “I didn’t know that but I would love to stick to you like glu-cose <3” It left him speechless but he had a big grin. Logan was irritated.

“Stop smiling! Okay, he responded but maybe he likes pick up lines and he doesn’t take them seriously. Anyway I just wrote him that all was a big mistake! What should I do now?!”

“Wait?”

“Are you serious?”

“Yes.” – Virgil leaned on the wall with crossed arms. He tried. He fell because there was no wall behind him.

“Vigil! Be careful!” – Logan caught him just in time and pulled back on the feet. – “You can’t get hurt, you have to go to the job today.”

Vigil looked at the clock above them and cursed.

“Job! I have to go now! Good luck with your crush, Logan!” – He ran out the living room, caught a backpack from corridor and left a flat. Logan stayed alone in silence. The silence was broke by ring.

[You]: I’m sorry for that message. My roommate took my phone and texted you because he was convinced that you are my crush. Unfortunately, autocorrect in phone changed my description.

[Crush]: I didn’t know that but I would love to stick to you like glu-cose <3 <New>[Crush]: Oh! I didn’t expect this…

Logan winced.

[You]: I’m sorry again. [You]: Since we are talking, can you tell me if you went to mechanic with your car? I hope you did, it would be dangerous if you didn’t.

[Crush]: Um, yes! I went! It wasn’t a big damage, only a mirror.

[You]: So can you tell me about cost of repair? I promised that I will cover the costs.

[Crush]: Stop kidding, it’s nothing big!

[You]: I insist. Eventually, maybe I can make it up to you in another way?

The answer was almost immediately, but it didn’t make any sense.

[Crush]: hfmcdsvsd

[You]: ?

[Crush]: Sorry, my phone fell down. Perhaps we can have a dinner together? Tomorrow’s evening?

Logan’s eyes widened. He hesitated few minutes but finally typed an answer.

[You]: If you want, I do not mind. I can look for a good restaurant in the city and book the table. What time?

[Crush]: 5 pm?

[You]: Perfect. I’ll send you a name of the restaurant and an address. Should I pick you up or you want to go there by your car?

[Crush]: I don’t want to be a trouble, I can go by myself.

[You]: You wouldn’t be. Just text me an address and I’ll pick you up.

[Crush]: Okey dokey!

Logan sat down at the couch and sent Virgil a quick message.

[You]: I don’t know how but I guess that I have tomorrow a date.

[Virgil]: Cool. Does it mean you won’t change “crush” to “crash”?

[You]: … Probably not.

Quick note: I probably will write a second part of it from Patton’s perspective, because... This is how writing works. But I don’t know when I’ll finish, because I have exams at my university ^^”“ EDIT: I did it!

[destielfanfic]

Unofficial Rec Bulletin #173

More info about the bulletin here. We are not currently accepting submitted recs. Link to previous bulletins.

Contents:

Fic Recs:

akasha

Everything Comes Back to You

Grown-Ups Making Grown-Up Choices

Honey and Butter series

I'll Cross the Sky for You 

Let It Be Me

Under the Mistletoe

Fic Recs:

akasha by casthewise (quillquiver) [T, 14,200 word count]

(su, au, fluff, solo hunter!dean, witch familiar, djinn dream, case fic, pre season 4, fallen!cas, pets) recced by flyingcatstiel

Five years ago, an angel fell off the coast of Cannon Beach, Oregon.

Dean’s coming off a vamp nest in Boise when he gets the call on his Other Other Cell: two dead, definitely his kinda thing. But when he arrives in town, what originally looks like a cut-and-dry case soon turns up more questions than it does answers: What kind of monster uses medical equipment to exsanguinate its victims? Why is this monster here in the first place?

And what the hell is up with the witch at the end of the street?

Everything Comes Back to You by VioletHaze [NC-17, 33,000 word count]

(su, angst, pretend boyfriend, case fic, hurt comfort, fuck up!dean, pining!cas, pining!dean, challenge fic) recced by flyingcatstiel

Dean knew better. Of course he did. But Cas seemed so charmed by the antique-filled bed and breakfast that Dean went along with it when the proprietor mistook them for a couple. Telling himself it gave them a strategic advantage to be so close to the crime scene, he agreed to the weekend special she offered them. When the case ended up being a bust, they stuck around anyhow because hey, the second night was free…

Grown-Ups Making Grown-Up Choices by Carrieosity [NC-17, 81,000 word count]

(au, fluff, domestic, abo, pining!dean, pining!cas, mechanic!dean, bottom!dean, humor, ask about fic like Let this Remain (self improvement)) recced by flyingcatstiel

Dean is a grown-ass man - he can take perfectly good care of himself, thank you very much. Except that sometimes the easier or more fun choices aren't always the right or best ones, and, all right, maybe thinking ahead and working the long game isn't his strongest suit. It's fine! He's fine.

When he meets Castiel, he realizes that flying by the seat of his pants may not be the best way to attract the super-serious (gorgeous, funny, genius) Alpha. Dean's shrink has been telling him he needs to start making "grown-up choices," and if that's what he has to think about in order to make Cas fall for him, then he'll give it a whirl.

Honey and Butter series by Morethancupcake [T and M, 12,400 word count for the series)

(au, fluff, angst, autistic!Cas, fuck up!dean, mechanic!dean, pining!dean, pining!cas, insecure!cas, jealous!dean, jealous!cas, established relationship, artist!cas, hurt comfort, alcoholism)  recced by flyingcatstiel

"Castiel collects things. Flower petals he finds on his bedroom floor, probably brought by the wind. Pictures of trees, plants, mushrooms he sees during his walks in the forest. Different teas in beautiful old tins. John Winchester’s words, out of Dean’s mouth, like thorns in his heart."

Castiel is different. But between his bees, his pictures and his friend Sam, he's happy. Then comes Dean. Dean who's loud, and mean, but so beautiful.

I'll Cross the Sky for You by superhoney [NC-17, 33,400 word count]

(au, fluff, scifi, shop au, pining!dean, pining!cas, bottom!dean, ask about baker dean) add sub rec to scifi/in space list  recced by flyingcatstiel

Castiel thinks it sounds ridiculous: a spaceship that’s also an Earth-style coffeeshop? But upon his first visit to The Family Business, he quickly realizes that the owner, Dean Winchester, is incredibly handsome, the pastries are delicious, and the coffee is out of this world.

One visit leads to another, and before long, Castiel is completely won over by both the coffeeship and its owner. It’s hard to maintain a relationship when you’re constantly flying across the vastness of space, but for the sake of both his heart and his stomach, Castiel swears he and Dean will make it work.

Let It Be Me by queenannabethwinchester (orphan_account) [NC-17, 127,000 word count]

(au, angst, fluff, high school, teacher!dean, pining!cas, pining!dean, moderate age difference, bottom!cas, angel family, bigbro!gabriel, John, !samjess) recced by anon

Castiel is a focused, hardworking student and Dean is a teacher. When Castiel is forced to take elective classes, he finds himself in Dean's auto shop class and is taken aback by his sudden attraction to his teacher.

Under the Mistletoe by whelvenwings [T, 10,400 word count]

(au, fluff, Christmas, pining!dean, pining!cas, coworkers, hate love, ask about pranks between dean and cas) recced by flyingcatstiel

Dean and Castiel are locked in deadly combat, a battle that has raged for three years - a prank war that's been their Christmas tradition since their romance catastrophically failed to launch. Since they both work at the same huge grocery store, it's easy for things to get a little out of hand. This Christmas, however, things might not be as simple as covering up a fire they started in the dairy aisle; this year, Castiel is trying to deal with the fact that Christmas doesn't quite feel like Christmas anymore.

Also, Dean decided to wear mistletoe to work.

[ahhhsami]

If you're still taking prompts, how about a fic where Korra is a quadriplegic former athlete who attends college with her service dog? Naga is normally very well behaved on campus, until one day she goes off leash and tackles the most beautiful girl Korra's ever seen. Doggo assisted meet cute for Korra and Asami, heh.

Similar ideas to this have definitely been done before, but here’s my take on it. (AO3 Link)

Korra’s father kneeled down in front of her, so that he could look her in the eye. He placed his hand over his daughters and smiled softly.

“If you need anything just call. You’ve got this, Little Bear.”

Korra rolled her eyes at her father. “Thanks, but you’re kind of being embarrassing.”

Tonraq’s thick laughter filled Korra’s ears as he stood at his full height. “You better pay attention, don’t ogle too many girls. I heard this place is full of the smartest and prettiest.”

“Oh really?” Korra chuckled. “Maybe I’ll be ogling the guys.”

“It doesn’t matter who you’re looking at… just pay attention and get that diploma.”

“Don’t act like you didn’t start this!”

Tonraq waved off Korra as he got back into the van.

“Have fun and good luck,” he said through the rolled down window.

“I’ll try to.”

Korra watched as her father drove away. She took in a deep breath and held it for a moment before letting it out. She looked down and smiled softly.

“You ready, Naga?” she asked her service dog.

Naga looked up at her with her big brown eyes and Korra’s smile grew. She moved her shaky hand to the joystick on her power chair and begin her first real day of being a college student.

It took time, but Korra gradually got used to the looks she got from the other students. At least in her classes people had been accepting, but she still got those leering looks at times from people not used to seeing a student with such a visible disability.

She hadn’t always been like this. She hadn’t always been paralyzed from her neck down with very limited movement in her arms and above her neck. She used to be the most active person out there. She was someone who was never able to sit still, always doing something. She had been coordinated and athletic, to the point that she had earned a scholarship her junior year in high school for hockey. She had been at the top of her game when the accident had happened. When she had taken a blind check that resulted in her back injury.

After that, Korra had gone through some very dark and hard times. She struggled to wake up and get on with her day. She struggled to stay in contact with her friends. She struggled to even interact with her parents. Even now she struggled, but she was definitely in a better space.

Korra was smart, smarter than the average student and luckily the college that had first given her the scholarship, didn’t retract it. They gave her academic scholarships instead, allowing her to pursue her love of psychology and human behavior.

The fact that she hadn’t lost her scholarship, was the first big step of her getting through her hardest of times. The next was the help of the service dog that her parents had gotten her. Naga wasn’t just a service dog, she was her companion, her best friend. She was there when she needed someone to talk to without being judged. She was just there and that’s what she needed. The next big step was her realizing that her life wasn’t over. Sports had been her life, but that didn’t mean that she couldn’t find a new passion and a reason to live. What became her new passion was the ability to help people. She joined therapy groups and realized that she was empathetic, good at reading people, a good listening, and could process things objectively. It was clear to her and her parents that she’d found her new path. The path of helping people who were going through similar struggles as her. A path that allowed her to show that there was a light at the end of the tunnel, even if it didn’t seem so.

So that’s what brought Korra to majoring in psychology. That’s what brought her to going through the hallways of the newly remodeled building, Naga right by her side.

“Door,” she said softly, only loud enough for Naga to pick up.

Naga instantly moved to the handicap button and pushed a large paw against it. She waited for Korra to go through and then followed after her, eventually falling into stride beside her.

“Good, girl,” Korra praised. “We’re off to Kingsbury… time to slowly die in calc.”

Naga huffed in response, causing Korra to smile.

The campus was fairly large, but was definitely wheelchair accessible. The sidewalks were wide and without cracks. There weren’t large hills or places only accessible by stairs. That was one huge thing that helped Korra decide that the college was still the right place for her.

Naga and her made their way through the large courtyard, getting close and closer to Kingsbury. It usually took Korra five minutes to get from this class to the next, which was fine since she had thirty minutes in between. She often would wait outside the building, mainly people watching and enjoying the nice weather. Today was no different. Her goal was to find a nice shady spot to relax and allow her to think and have a moment.

That at least had been the goal until Naga had veered off the path and started dashing through the freshly trimmed grass.

“Naga!” Korra shouted.

She turned her chair, cutting someone off. “Sorry!” she shouted back at them as she tried to follow her dog. She was glad that her chair was made for all terrains, although it wasn’t very fast and she had no chance of catching up to the dog at full tilt.

“Naga!” she shouted again. “Come back.” Korra’s eyes widened and her mouth fell open as she watched her service dog leap into the air. The large dog’s paws landed on the back of a taller woman, causing her to stumble forward and for her to fall to her knees. “Naga!” Korra shouted, still quite a ways from her.

She watched in horror as Naga rounded the woman and started licking her face as if she’d known her her whole life. When Korra got closer, she was surprised to hear laughter and a warm voice coming from the woman.

“Hey there, cutie. Where’d you come from?”

“Is this your dog?”

Korra looked up to see a tall guy with his arms crossed over his chest.

“Uh, yeah. I’m so sorry… she’s not usually like this.” Korra swallowed the lump in her throat, not really sure what else to say.

At hearing an unfamiliar voice, the woman who had been mauled by Naga turned her head and smiled at Korra. Korra’s breath hitched as she took in the beautiful woman. When her father had said that the school had the prettiest girls, she hadn’t fully agreed until this very moment. This woman was breathtaking.

“It’s fine. She’s adorable and it’s nice seeing a dog around here.” The woman turned back to take Naga’s face into her hands and rubbed her adoringly. “It should be a crime to not let students have pets.”

Korra chuckled at this. “Well she seems to like you… I mean she did just sprint through the whole courtyard just to jump on your back. I swear she’s normally not like this.”

“Really it’s fine.” The girl stood up and turned fully to face Korra. “I’m Asami and this is Mako,” she introduced.

Korra nodded in greeting. “Korra,” she returned. “And your new friend’s name is Naga.”

“Well she’s adorable.”

Korra was about to agree, but stopped when Mako spoke up.

“We should get going, Asami.”

Asami looked at him and then back to Korra. “Go ahead, I’ll meet up in class.”

Mako gave Asami a curious look and then shrugged. “Okay. Try not to be late,” he said with a smirk before leaving towards Kingsbury.

“Ass,” Asami muttered softly.

Korra laughed softly, causing Asami to open her mouth to say something and then stop to collect herself.

“Sorry, he’s just annoying at times. I don’t usually go around calling my friends asses.”

Korra laughed again. “Good to know.”

“Okay, but seriously. He loves to tease everyone, but he can never take it. He’s super sensitive although he gives off that cool guy vibe.”

“He kind of seemed like a stick was up his ass… was that too crass?”

Asami laughed and Korra’s smile widened.

“No, that’s pretty accurate. So, you’re a student here?” Asami asked as she kneeled down to pet Naga. Naga instantly laid down and rolled over, allowing Asami to rub her tummy. “So cute,” she said under her breath.

“Yeah. First year, majoring in psych.”

“Oh cool. I’m a second year,” Asami said looking up at Korra. “Double majoring in mechanical engineering and computer science.”

“What? How are you doing that without going crazy?”

“Very carefully,” Asami laughed. “Honestly getting to pet Naga’s been a great help.”

“Well she is a service dog even if she doesn’t seem like it at the moment.”

The dog was legitimately smirking and looked like she was in doggie heaven at the moment with her tongue lolling from her mouth and her tail wagging.

“Um, if you wanted to exchange numbers,” Korra hesitated and cleared her throat. “You could, um, text or call me and I could bring Naga to spend time with you.”

“Only Naga? Or will you hang out too?”

“We’re kind of a package deal.”

Asami smiled at that. “Then sure.” She stood up and pulled her phone out of her back pocket, handing it to Korra to add her contact info. When she got it back, she sent a quick text to Korra. “There, now you have my number.”

“Uh, cool.”

Asami smiled and then her eyes widened. “I need to get going. I’ll call or text you, okay?”

“Yeah. It was nice meeting you.”

“You as well,” Asami said happily. She patted Naga’s head once more. “Bye, Korra!” she shouted with a wave as she crossed the courtyard.

Korra wished that she could wave back, but instead just smiled. Once Asami was out of view, she looked down at Naga. “She was nice. Wasn’t she, girl?”

Naga let out soft bark, as if in agreement.

“We better get to class. Best not to be late.”