#i bet they end up perfectly fine. everything aside. despite everything.

[therevengeoffrankenstein]

reading 'gray' is a lot like watching a car crash. the thing is that, having been the car crash myself, it truly puts things into perspective. the swerve, the road, the driver's seat, and all that.

[a-dauntless-daffodil]

never have i ever been so ???? as when someone was talking about merry, eowyn, the witch king and the whole "no living man" thing, and they loved the books very much were quoting them and everything... and they got hung up on the man thing.

as in, they were sure it was actually the burrow downs blade merry was carrying that made the witch king vulnerable to killing, with eowyn being the one to step up and K.O. him despite her shattered shield arm- which yes yes I am following along perfectly fine so far, tom bombadil strikes again, ok-

and the person was frustrated bc if the "no living man may hinder me" thing was true then what about merry isn't merry a man didn't merry hinder-

And I swear I sat there for a full ten minutes, staring.

the thing about the middle earth books is, almost everyone is a dude. it's the default. i couldn't even remember when characters referred to each other by gender specifically (outside of eowyn's arc) beyond polite titles like lord or king, because it'd be so weird. the default is always male. it's assumed. im still trying to remember if any of the hobbits were called men- halflings, shire folk, little ones, i remember them being described by the things that set them apart from the people around them, and that was always WHAT they were. short, mainly. or presumed rich and important, for pipin the halfling prince while in gondor

in the lord of the rings and the hobbit the gender norm is so universal the word "man" almost always means... humans. as opposed to, elves, dwarves, orcs, blah blah blah, hobbits yadda yadda

So it was just, shocking to hear someone talking about the "man" in the witch king's context as a gender thing

eowyn answers it like it is, but i always thought that was her being cheeky. her whole thing there is defiance so i just figured, well, she expects to die and wants to piss him off while she goes. sure she'd make a joke of his boast. no living man. well no living MAN am I. like a pun?

then a hobbit, not a man, stabs the dude with a blade made to hurt and weaken him, and a woman, not a man, gets him in the head with her sword right after

which subversion of the "man" thing killed him in the end?

"not by the hand of man will he fall"

teen me thought the prophecy had been man vs hobbit, originally, but eowyn herself ALSO made it woman vs man, because only she- a woman, alone of all the men who rode to battle- only she understood merry and thought it right to bring a hobbit into war,

(something something, the theme of the books about different people coming together to save their world, those long overlooked shaking the towers of them who never thought to fear them)

but prophecy aside, she eowyn- as a woman- also served up this witch king with his own arrogance and superiority, because this whole battle WAS mankind HINDERING him, wasn't it now? she IS standing in his way, hindering him as well. one of mankind killed him, and the woman who sent him packing made a mockery of his pride right before she did it.

"no living man" pssh. begone if you be not deathless. eowyn daughter of eomund is gonna hit you with her fucking sword even if it kills her

and isn't that what the mankind of middle earth were all about?

(glorfindel you were either slightly wrong or being a pest) (i'd almost bet pest tbh)

man, mankind, fought that battle on the pelennor fields against the witch king's might, though it took a woman specifically to bring together all the pieces that would finally make him fall (herself) (1 hobbit + dagger) (love for her family) (friendship) (urge to KILL)

but still humans are the lays potato chips of middle earth

no dwarven unbending will, no longevity or wisdom of elves, no magic, not even that hardiness of the heart that hobbits can push through on

boromir, eowyn, eomer, theoden- humans other than aragorn the elvish or faramir the wizardly- hell even grima... kinda...

they might fail and die and falter, but when the end comes, they throw their whole selves into it. they'll at least be a hindrance on their way out

what was i saying

oh whatever. eowyn killed the witch king with snark and he died mad about it or something

[ecargmura]

Hirogaru Sky! Precure Episode 48 Review - VS Empress Underg

I did NOT expect that twist in the ending. I’m so confused right now. Despite my confusion, I really liked this episode! It’s action-packed! Not only do the Precures have their moment, the Sky Land army and also the Underg Empire generals help out too! It’s like gathering up the Avengers!

Empress Underg’s beef with Ellee and Sky Land is because Cure Noble betrayed their peace treaty and killed her father right in front of her eyes. Given how Noble’s story differs, I can clearly tell Empress’s memories were fabricated. It’s obvious that Elleelain is honest and virtuous, so her side of the story is meant to be taken as the truth. I did like her final form. It did feel like it was a final boss fight, but alas, it was the penultimate boss fight. Still a cool form! It reminds me of Queen Metallica from Sailor Moon when she fused with Beryl. I loved the wings and such. Despite her hatred, the Empress does seem like the type that is easily manipulated given how she was driven by words and actions. Given that she was stopped by Prism Shine, this means that she’s not truly a bad person, like how Battamonda isn’t necessarily evil.

I did like how Sky and Majesty had some screen time in the previous episode, so this means that Prism, Wing and Butterfly got their fair share of limelight too. Prism’s Prism Shine was their necessary key to stopping Empress, which is why Sky and Majesty took on the role of knocking out some damage to weaken her. Wing and Butterfly were on the defensive side with Wing being the one to restore the barrier and Butterfly being the tank/shield that she is. I do love how Butterfly stepped up as the oldest and became the temporary leader. She was commanding everyone to do this and that and it shows how being a nursery school teacher is impacting her positively. Being an educator also means being a leader, which she’s showing wholeheartedly. Butterfly was very much the MVP of this episode with the way she used Butterfly Kiss to stop Ranborgs and her Butterfly Press to stop the Underg Energy from leaking into the city. Wing was also important as he is the only one capable of restoring the barrier for it is his creation. I loved the part where he was looking back on his dreams. He had many dreams from flying, being Ellee’s knight, researching, and now wanting to protect Sky Land. He’s a testament of how dreams are never-ending. When one dream is accomplished, you can always have another one.

I also love how the Sky Land army and the Underg generals join forces to protect the city. I can see how capable the army has become and getting their Kira Kira weapons really did wonders to them. They look a lot more capable now than they did in the first episode. Beryberie and the other knight whose name I forgot looked so capable when they fought off against the Ranborgs. I didn’t expect Minoton, Kabaton and Battamonda to show up! It was nice seeing Kabaton and Minoton protecting Wing as he works to restore the barrier. I do like how Minoton stepped in because he wanted to repay the Precures for purifying him while Kabaton is already on the side of good. Battamonda and Shalala team up. I’m glad that they put aside animosity to help the people. Shalala didn’t have anything against Battamonda for the stunt he pulled in the second arc. I’m glad to see Battamonda on the side of good once and for all, but he still has his arrogant attitude.

That ending though… I did NOT see that one coming. I’m usually ready for these kinds of twists, but that one came out of the left field. So, Skearhead seems to be the true final boss of the show. I bet he’s the one who manipulated the Empress’s memories. He always said that he did everything because he loved her, but I guess that was just manipulation too. I was right in that Skearhead is the most terrifying villain of this show and I was right. This guy did a last minute self-destruction move but came out perfectly fine the next episode. That sort of manipulation technique is scary.

What’s going to happen now that Skearhead’s true colors have been revealed? Will he have a second form true to the final boss that he is? Why is he doing all of this in the first place? I honestly can’t wait for the next episode. What are your thoughts on the episode?

[manonblaqkbeak]

Fire and Ice

hello, hope you’re all doing well. i’m doing a double feature today since its the 20th here in aus. so todays fic is for day 19 and 20 (like, if u squint lol).

its a lil bit more angsty then i planned for it to be in the beginning, but its got some fluff at the end. (also, again, i borrowed the 10 month pregnancy plot from acotar)

1.9k words

enjoy!

The bathroom tiles were cool against Aelin's clammy skin as she slowed her breathing. As she willed herself to stop feeling so dizzy.

Four months into her first pregnancy and Aelin soon came to realise what the worst part of pregnancy; the morning sickness.

Or, as Aelin liked to call it, 'whenever it rutting happened' sickness. Morning, midnight, dawn, she often found herself running towards a bathroom, emptying her stomach loudly for the whole damned kingdom to hear.

She was aware of the rumours flying around, that there were friendly bets going throughout the city as to whether or not Terrasen was going to have a prince or princess (apparently, the majority were betting for a boy, but Aelin didn't care what she had, as long as they were healthy), but neither her or Rowan confirmed the pregnancy, and so the rumours stayed as gossip, until she and Rowan were comfortable enough to officially announce it.

Aelin wanted to wait because of how hard it was to conceive—it had taken her and Rowan over three years to be successful, and while she knew that three years wasn't that long, it was still hard when nothing happened—and was scared that if she said it out loud, then something horrible would happen. She hadn't even told her friends, although she knew that they knew; the rumours would have reached them. She appreciated that they hadn't asked either of them. Other than Rowan, the only other person that knew of her pregnancy was her personal healer, Magnolia. Other than Yrene, the demi-Fae was a healer than Aelin felt comfortable around, because even after a decade later, she still had nightmares about her time in Maeve and Cairn's cruel hands, the never ending chain of healers coming to fix her so she could be tortured again and again.

Rowan wanted to wait because of everything that happened to Lyria and their child. There were many nights when Aelin would wake up and find Rowan just watching her, his hand against her slowly growing stomach, and not only could she see the pain in his eyes as he thought back on what happened all those centuries ago, she could also feel it, like a living thing. Aelin knew that Rowan did his best to stop her from sensing his dread, but she wasn't a fool, and she would have known how he was feeling even if they didn't have the bond between them, even if she was miles away, she would know.

The bathroom door opened and Rowan was helping her up, his hands warm and gentle against her clammy skin.

Aelin was far too tired to ask if one of her handmaids called for Rowan after Aelin ran from their shared closest and into the bathroom, or if he felt her distress through the bond.

It was probably both. She would ask once her head stopped spinning.

Resting her head against her mate's chest, Aelin breathed in his scent, letting the pine-and-snow of him calm her senses. His strong arms wrapped around her, his tattooed hand running up and down the length of her spine as his right hand was a steady presence against her lower back.

How long they stayed like that, Aelin wasn't sure, but once her head stopped spinning, she rinsed her mouth out to get rid of the pungent vomit taste that was lingering. Once satisfied that the taste was gone, Aelin let Rowan lead her to bed—not the closest.

“Rowan—” she started to say, but her husband cut her off.

“That was a strong one, and Magnolia said that it's best to rest afterwards.” So he felt it through the bond, then. “I'll take over, and you can stay in and read that book you've been eyeing all week.”

She should say no, that she was fine, but a day of rest did sound nice and probably something she desperately needed without knowing it—and she really had been wanting to read the book that Dorian had sent her the other week (which she had to write a detailed review of when she sent it back. It was one of her favourite past times, especially if it was a book that Dorian loved, but she didn't particularly like, because his response to her review was always the most dramatic thing that always made her laugh).

“Fine,” Aelin said, “I'll rest and you can go deal with Head Teacher of the Academy.”

Rowan groaned at the mention. The Fae male that ruled the magic school was nice, but just so damned pedantic that he had a say about everything. And everything was falling apart, according to him, despite the fact that the school was built only five years ago. “I swear,” Rowan grumbled, “that if he complains to me that the school halls aren't the right shade of brown, I'll throw him out the window.”

Aelin laughed, because she had said the same thing when the male had come around complaining that the roof tiles were crooked last month and she had sent Rowan to check on said tiles (and what a surprise to absolutely no one that the tiles weren't at all crooked), but that wasn't enough for the Head Teacher, when he came back the next week, he wanted the tiles replaced.

If he wasn't so damned talented and good with children and running the school, she would have had him fired for being a nuisance. But unfortunately, neither she or Rowan couldn't just get rid of him because he was annoying.

“Make sure that your shirt is tucked in neatly, or you'll get the same speech about cleanliness like last time.”

Rowan flared his nostrils at that, but said nothing as he got up and changed his crumpled tunic for a fresh one—not at all tucked in—and began his fussing.

Truthfully, she was surprised that he lasted that long.

He left her a glass of water, and a pitcher full of the liquid on her nightstand, and the bowl of seasonal fruit next to it. Next was opening the balcony doors to let in the fresh air, and then the fluffing of pillows and straightening of the quilt and bed sheets—Aelin may have teased him a little by saying that the sheets were too tight, and then too loose, having to bite her lip to stop herself from laughing as he huffed at her ever-changing mind, until she decided that the sheets were just right after five minutes of readjusting.

Aelin watched it all with a small smile on her face, even as she grumbled about his fussing tendencies—but she knew he did it from a place of love, and that he wanted her and the baby to be comfortable.

He even went as far as to check her forehead, and gave her a wash cloth to freshen her up from her earlier sweating. At least she was already in a cotton nightgown and didn't have to get changed—although she knew that if she had too, Rowan would have brought the clothes over himself.

Once he was satisfied that Aelin was comfortable, he left with a kiss on the lips and a promise that he would see her once he was free, Aelin cracked open the book, but fell asleep thirty minutes later with an unexpected headache, a hand on her stomach.

X X X X X X

It was a rare day when Rowan had an empty afternoon, there was always someone to see, something to do, someone to write back to, that when Rowan finished his meeting with the Lords and Ladies of Terrasen and there was no one waiting for him in the audience chamber, Rowan was the first to leave the meeting, needing to check on Aelin. He hated how pale she looked when he left, but when he spoke to Magnolia quickly, the skilled healer told him that it was perfectly normal, but she would check in on Aelin to make sure that everything was okay—and since he wasn't called for during any of his meetings, he took that as a sign that things were fine.

The fact that the bond was quiet also assured him. He had tugged on it during at some point when one of the Lords was rambling, and he got a tired tug back, effectively telling him that Aelin was sleeping. So he let her be, and he sat in his worried state alone.

Rowan was excited for the baby, to take this step with Aelin, but Gods, he'd also hadn't been this tense, this paranoid that something was going to happen in so long. Rowan didn't think he'd feel like himself until he held their child in his arms, but Aelin still had six months to go.

And sometimes...sometimes he found himself wondering about the child he lost with Lyria. What they would have looked liked, if they would have been tall and broad like him, or slim like her. He also wondered how long their child would have been safe before Maeve claimed the child, having them trained to be a warrior like Rowan, or if Maeve would have cast them aside like she had done to Lyria, who Maeve saw as nothing but a pawn to use and toss aside.

His thoughts kept spiralling, his mind going from one thing and another, but stopped when he heard the sloshing of water and a relived sigh once he got closer to his rooms. He made his way through the space and soon came to the bathroom where Aelin was resting against the porcelain tub. Her skin was a light pink from the hot water, but otherwise looked healthy.

Rowan just stood and watched her for a moment and let the contentment from the bond wash over him. The steam danced through the air, carrying Aelin's scent with it, and the indescribable scent of their child within her.

“Are you going to stand there all afternoon?” Aelin asked, her eyes still closed, “or are you going to join me?”

Rowan decided to join her, managing to hold back his wince as he made contact with the boiling water—how Aelin found the hot as hell water relaxing he would never know.

When he was comfortably behind her, Aelin leaned against his chest, and took his hands and placed them against her growing belly.

“Magnolia visited me a few hours ago,” she said. “She says that soon the nausea will pass.”

“Good,” he said, letting the words settle in him.

Rowan was about to lean back against the bath when Aelin's fire filled the air in thin ribbons, moving as smoothly as water as it flew past him. His own magic moved in response, and soon his ice and wind joined her fire, going around the room, filling it up with the differences in temperature. And from the tub, a water butterfly the size of Aelin's palm lifted into the air, its movements delicate but strong as it came towards him. Aelin turned to look at him, her brows furrowed lightly in concentration.

The butterfly came to rest on his nose, and then exploded in his face.

Aelin laughed at his incredulous expression. Rowan shot forward and flicked water in her face, and soon almost all of the bath water was on the floor as they splashed at each other back and forth.

Rowan's troubles melted away with his ice and Aelin forgot about all of her nausea and stress temporarily.

Aelin couldn't wait to meet her baby, and she knew that Rowan was the same.

Six months couldn't come soon enough.

[thefanficmonster]

Best Friend’s Brother

Conrad (The Dark Pictures Anthology: Man of Medan) x Reader (Male)

Warnings: Swearing

Genre: Fluff, Mild Angst

Summary: Having been invited to the boat trip by his best friend Julia, Y/N can’t help but wish he never accepted the invitation because now he has to deal with being stuck on a boat with the boy he’s had a crush on for years with no real way to avoid him.

Requested by @dark-pictures-until-dawn  Hi hun! Thank you so much for your request, sorry to have kept you waiting for so long but here it finally is and I really hope you enjoy the read! (I used he/him pronouns but if you want them changed feel free to let me know!) Love, Vy ❤

I have no idea what I was thinking when I agreed to go on this trip. I don’t know what on God’s green Earth I was thinking but here we are now sitting on a boat, at open water with no land for miles. And I’m sitting here, face to face with him, but I’m completely frozen. Unable to say a single damn thing. Maybe that’s a good thing though, I’d probably embarrass myself if I did say something.

Let me give you a bit of backstory to how I found myself in this situation.

My parents are very close to Julia and Conrad’s family, given that our mothers used to go to high school together and have remained best friends ever since. That’s how I met the two siblings and was quick to grow a friendship with them both. Despite being Julia’s age, I found myself always gravitating towards Conrad but the girl is still my best friend - she’d probably kill me if I let her brother take that title from her. Truth be told, he could never take her title - I could never see Conrad as a best friend.

Not when my feelings towards him are anything but platonic.

No, I did not tell Julia about said feelings and no I don’t plan on telling her either. I’d never hear the end of it if I did tell her about it. She’d chew me up about it, making my romantic interest for her brother the main topic of discussion (read: teasing and mocking). Don’t get me wrong, I love Julia to death and there are never any secrets between us.

Well, there weren’t any until a few years ago when I realized my fondness for the dumbass she calls brother goes beyond just friendship and similarity. That it had more of a romantic nature that I was not prepared to have to deal with. And, in all honesty, I don’t think I’ve dealt with at all even now. I mean, it’s probably obvious thanks to the silence that’s taken over the deck of the boat where I’m currently sitting with Conrad, monitoring Alex and Julia’s dive while Fliss is tending to a seasick Brad downstairs.

“Hey Y/N, want a beer?“ When the comfortable but odd silence is broken, no one would be shocked to find it out it was done so by Conrad. I’m surprised he even managed to stay silent for so long.

“No thanks, I’ll keep the alcohol at bay until tonight when everyone’s onboard.“ It’s not a complete lie, that’s what I like about it.

You see, I’ve never got drunk with Conrad in the vicinity and I don’t wanna risk my drunk ass outing me and my silly and have neither him nor I remember it the next morning. So, to avoid getting carried with the drinking, I won’t be starting now and I’ll make sure to limit myself even tonight to three beers tops. I’m no lightweight but I’m no daredevil either.

“You’re oddly quiet.“ Conrad says when he returns with a beer in his hand, the glass bottle stained with droplets, suggesting he’s just taken it out of one of the coolers we brought. He presses the bottle to the side of his neck where he got a sunburn yesterday, some droplets trickling down his skin. He doesn’t seem to mind it as he keeps his focused gaze on me, a mildly concerned frown upon his face as he studies my expression, “Something wrong? You know you can tell me anything. That’s what best friends are for, after all.“ He smirks, putting extra emphasis on the word ‘best‘.

I laugh but I cringe inwardly. Something about calling him ‘best friend’ feels so unnatural and odd and out-of-place I can’t even describe it. I know it may sound ridiculous but if you’ve ever had a crush there’s a high chance that you can relate. “Don’t worry, if it were worth mentioning, I’d tell you.“ I blow off his concerns, using his own method against him.

He’s known to do that - sweep all his troubles under the rug and stand atop it to make sure they don’t try to escape and resurface while he’s keeping his bright smile on his face, avoiding showing any other expression. I’m no fool and neither is no one around him, at least the ones who know him well and are close to him. Us who he considers friends know that it’s not all smiles and sunshine in his life either.

Wish I could pull that rug from under him and see what’s really going on with him but not even Julia is allowed to do so, let alone me.

Thankfully though, before things could get any more awkward, Julia and Alex resurface with some rather exciting news - they went in as boyfriend and girlfriend and came back as an engaged couple.

And just like that, all thoughts surrounding Conrad were thrown out of my head. Ok, maybe not completely, but they were suppressed into some dark corner of my brain.

                                                              *  *  *

“You’ve got Connie worried.“ I yelp when my best friend plops her ass down next to me on the deck, her second bottle of beer half empty by now while I’m still nursing my first as though I’m trying to save more beers for the rest of the people on board.  We already have plenty of beers in stock but even if we didn’t, considering the sickness he had to endure earlier, Brad isn’t drinking, leaving his share at our disposal. Therefore, Jules is quick to catch onto my slow drinking.

I tilt my bottle in her direction, “I want to avoid getting sick like Brad did, thank you very much. The last thing I’m looking forward to is kneeling by the edge of the boat, puking my guts out.“

Julia laughs, clinking her bottle against mine before taking a swig. I take one too, hoping it fuels my courage at least a tiny bit to try and lead this conversation properly, “Nah, that’s not what he meant - although, I doubt Brad’s sickness was an alcohol issue.” She shakes her head, pushing aside a few blond locks to be able to look at me better. That’s when I feel like her gaze is piercing into my soul and I wish I knew how to shield myself from that. There’s a big issue with having your crush’s sister be your best friend, especially when she has a sixth sense for when there’s something off with me. “But you have been avoiding him, don’t deny it.” My eyes widen against my will and my mouth falls open as I try to defend myself and deflect her argument, but she raises a finger to signal me to keep my thoughts to myself while she’s talking. “Did he say something inappropriate while we were gone? Just tell me, I’ll end him!”

“Relax, Jules, Conrad would never do such a thing. Especially not with someone he cares about.“ Alex interferes - God bless his soul - and takes a seat next to Julia, wrapping an arm around her shoulders.

“I’ve known Connie for as long as I’ve known you, J. You should know by now that, even at the odd chance he does say something inappropriate, I have a reply ready at all times.“ I shoot her a wink in an attempt to wipe away the concerned expression on her face.

Alex contributes, “See? Nothing to worry about. Now let Y/N enjoy his beer and you enjoy yours.”

I shoot Alex a grateful smile over behind Julia’s back, subtly tilting my bottle towards him - a gesture he understands perfectly and does so in return. However, his fiancée refuses to give up the argument.

“No, no, no. There is definitely something to worry about and I’ll get it out of him if it’s the last thing I ever do.“ She narrows her eyes at me, forcing me to instinctively back away as if that’s gonna help me at all. Then, this woman pulls a 180 on me, going from an angry detective to a disappointed and betrayed friend, “Damn it, Y/N! I always tell you everything and you are just a closed book! How is that fair?!“

It may or may not be a tactic but she’s got a point - I rarely tell her things. I’m the listener of the duo and she’s the talker: she shares, I absorb the info; she’s upset, I listen and comfort her accordingly; she has something troubling her, I’m the one she shares it with. It’s rarely ever the other way around. And I can see why it bothers her.

What’s a little truth to pay her back for all the ones she’s told me? Well, the problem is that this particular truth is far from little and it would be the equivalent of descending into my own grave willingly.

It could also help you, you know? 

Yeah, sure it can. Sure it can....

“Ok fine!“ I cut her off because this woman can never run out of words to use against me when she wants to.

Her fiancée is quick to give me a sympathizing look, “No, Y/N, you don’t have to...”

“No, it’s ok, Alex. I owe her this much...“ I sigh, looking at the doorway leading to the lower level of the boat where Conrad went a while ago and doesn’t seem like he’s in a hurry to return, much to my relief. I sigh, succumbing to the inevitable, “Jules, I’m only gonna say this once and no, I won’t elaborate but I need you to promise me you won’t freak the hell out. Got it?“

The blond girl rolls her eyes, “Come on Y/N, are we in middle school or something?”

Oh she’s so not ready to hear this...

“Fine, then I bet you won’t be bothered by my crush on your brother at all.“ I huff out before I can rethink the words I’d use or how I’d phrase the sentence. It just left my body as though it has been waiting to do so for a while no. That wouldn’t surprise me though, it’s been one heavy weight to carry around.

There’s a long moment of silence. Alex and I both gaze at Julia who is pulling off the most impressive poker face I’ve ever seen but I have no time to dwell on that considering I’m too busy keeping my stomach from turning completely and forcing me to throw up the small amount of food I’ve eaten and the beer I’ve had to drink. When Julia opens her mouth to talk, I raise the bottle to my lips to shut myself up and calm myself down. “The only thing that bothers me is the fact you didn’t tell me sooner.“

To say I’m flabbergasted would be an understatement. I’ve seen Julia freak out over smaller things but she’s calm about this?! I’m impressed. But then again, I shouldn’t speak too soon - this might just be the calm before the storm.

“If I knew you’d be this chill about it I wouldn’t have waited so long.“ I admit sheepishly, fidgeting with my hands now that I’ve put the bottle aside. “It’s unlike you to be this calm about something....like this.“ I cannot find the right words to describe ‘this‘ but I know she gets me and that’s a relief.

“I’m a drama queen when I wanna be and a strategic player when I have to be, Y/N, how come you don’t know that?“ She smirks at me, all self-assured and whatnot. Wish I had at least a fragment of her self-esteem. “Speaking of strategic, leave it all to me. The two of you will be together in no time.“ She nudges me in the ribs with her elbow, giving me a wink that makes my blood run cold, my eyes opening wide as plates.

“No way, J! No fucking way.“ I feverously shake my head, the idea itself making me feel so terrified and unsure like I’ve never felt before. “You won’t do anything just like I won’t do anything. He doesn’t see me that way and that’s that, no room for negotiating.“

She scoffs, “Oh please. Have you known him all his life? Have you seen him through every darn moment of his life - from being a pathetic loser in middle school to the playboy in high school? No you haven’t. Well, I have and I can say with all the certainty within me that the way he looks at you is a dead giveaway of how he feels for you. He’s had many romantic partners, and I’ve never once seen him look at them the way he looks at you, Y/N.”

I narrow my eyes at her, “You do realize you’re contradicting your own point here - he’s never looked at me the way he looks at his romantic partners means he’s never seen me as a romantic partner!”

Julia shakes her head, “Goddammit, Y/N, you’re really trying to explain my brother to me? I’m telling you, the look he gives you is a lot more meaningful, a lot more special, unlike any look he’s ever given anyone.” The girl scans my face, looking for something I’m not sure she’ll find. “He adores you, Y/N. Perhaps even more than you.”

The words have no time to sink in an be processed by my spasming brain when I hear a familiar voice come from my right, “Wait, what?! What did I miss?”

If Conrad doesn’t have the best timing ever, I don’t know who does...

“Oh dear brother, we’ve been missing out on A LOT.“ Julia says, using every bit of insinuation she can to get me on-edge.

Conrad’s confused gaze darts between the three of us: Alex, who’s still in the processing phase, Julia who’s smiling widely and me who’s downright terrified. I now wish I had another beer bottle handy. It’d keep me occupied if nothing else.

Suddenly, the engaged couple arise from their seats and begin walking away - not without Julia flashing Conrad and I a big grin that says ‘Have fun, you two!’ as though she doesn’t know how much I’m sweating right now.

Conrad however doesn’t seem to notice the teasing undertones as he takes the seat opposite me, tightly holding onto his beer bottle when his gaze meets mine. There’s a smirk on his face but I don’t see even a trace of it in his eyes, leading me to believe it’s ingenuine and forced which is something I never thought I’d see on Connie’s face - a fake smile. It’s almost disturbing to witness.

“Well, well, well, has our boy scout found himself a significant other? Sorry if I’m far from the mark, I’m just shooting in the dark here. I didn’t get to hear much so I might be really inaccurate.“

I shake my head, “No, no, you’re pretty close actually.“ I was prepared to deny it to my grave but here I am confessing like a fool, “It’s a potential significant other. To be fair, there’s no potential whatsoever but a boy can dream.“

He quirks up a curious brow, “Why’d you be so sure?”

Well fuck, I didn’t think it that far through.

I attempt to play it off cool, shrugging my shoulder nonchalantly, “I’m not his type at all. I just know he doesn’t see me the way I see him. Hell, I’m not even sure he’s into guys and even....“

Conrad doesn’t let me finish though, shutting my up with his lips pressed against mine. I can’t recall when he closed the distance between us, I can’t even remember seeing him get up from his spot on the bench. Were my eyes closed? I have no clue, all I know is that they’re shut now and I’m afraid that this will all turn out to be a dream if I open them.

Therefore, I keep them shut even after we pull away, our faces still remaining inches away from one another.

“You still think he doesn’t like guys?“ The cocky fucker asks in a mumble, chuckling slightly.

I should probably feel timid, embarrassed or nervous or anything else that would fit well in this situation but all I feel is relief and all I can do is tilt my head back and laugh my heart out at the one thought that pops into my head:

I may have been the last person to know I had a crush on Conrad

Connie doesn’t allow me to spiral any further. He instead takes a gentle hold of the back of my neck, bringing me in for another kiss.

Man, is our story a cliché though - the story of how a dumbass (me) fell in love with his best friend’s brother.

[refinedbuffoonery]

Flawless (6)

masterlist.

Content Warning: swearing, violence, sex, PTSD

Not gonna lie, this is a bit of a filler chapter. But the NEXT chapter...that’s the one you’ve all been waiting for. Also, I’ve had “bad guy” by Billie Eilish stuck in my head for DAYS, so that’s the song playing during the runway show. 

*****

A week after the job at the director’s house, Riley sank into her first-class airplane seat and immediately opened her laptop, the tan pleather chair squeaking slightly as she crossed her legs beneath her. Dimming the brightness, Riley angled her laptop so no one could see it but her. She’d been profiled plenty of times in the past while writing perfectly benevolent code. Riley certainly didn’t need anyone catching her working on something more nefarious. 

If she did this right, then she’d be able to just connect her phone to whatever Louvre computer that controlled security and be free to do whatever she wanted. 

If she didn’t...she’d need to brush up on her French. 

Nikki dozed in the seat beside her. She’d been bouncing off the walls all morning in anticipation of getting to see Fashion Week in person after Riley had promised to go with her to as many fashion shows as they could sneak into. Nikki’s excitement was infectious. While the priority was to see the runway show of the designer whose Louvre afterparty they were crashing, before they boarded the flight, Riley found herself sifting through fashion blogs to determine which other shows she wanted to see. All couture, of course. 

Across the aisle, Jill had her nose buried in an incredibly thick book Riley couldn’t see the cover of, and behind her, Cage and Desi curled together like a human pretzel as they watched a movie. They were disgustingly happy, and that made Riley happy too. 

When they were somewhere over the middle of the Atlantic, Nikki awoke, grumbling, “You’re going to ruin your eyes if you stare at that screen any longer.” She was right. Riley’s vision had started to blur at the edges hours ago, and she knew she’d have a hard time focusing on things in the distance when she finally looked up. Riley saved her work and shut her laptop. 

Nikki still hadn’t budged from her awkward curled position, but her eyes were open. Riley figured now was as good of a time as any to make Nikki answer her last lingering question. “So you still haven’t told me why you and your boyfriend broke up,” she probed. “You know, the one who hacks everything else.” 

Nikki sighed, rolling her head to glare at Riley. “Do I have to tell you?” 

“Yes.” 

“Fine.” Nikki sat up. “When we met, he told me he worked for a government think tank. Really nerdy stuff, does a lot of consulting. I figured he was smart but harmless.” 

“I remember.” 

“That was a lie. He’s a government agent, all right. But not the nerd kind. The double-O-seven kind.” 

Riley nearly choked. “A spy?” she hissed. “You dated a fucking spy?” 

“Surprise.” 

“How did you find out?” 

“The same way he found out about me. I originally told him I was a freelance art appraiser”—not far from the truth, actually— “and the IT job was to help make ends meet. We both bought each others’ lies at first, but over time we both struggled to keep our stories straight. And then one day it all just...fell into place, I guess. We had a massive fight, and by the time the dust settled, I think we both knew there was no going back to how things were before we knew the truth.” 

Riley laced her fingers through Nikki’s, conveying her empathy through touch rather than words. “What agency does he work for?” 

“The Phoenix Foundation.” 

“What the fuck is that?” 

“It’s DXS. The name changed while you were gone.” At least Nikki couldn’t still say the P-word either. But DXS...DXS could move Christmas. If Nikki’s boyfriend told anyone about her real job, they were all in trouble. Big trouble. 

“Think he’s going to come after you? Come after us?” 

“I don’t know.” 

Trying to lighten the mood, Riley said, “Ignoring the part where he knows you’re a criminal, it must’ve been pretty cool to date a real-life black-ops spy. I bet he knew all kinds of tricks.” The innuendo easily rolled off Riley’s tongue. 

Nikki smacked her shoulder. “We were having a nice moment and you had to go and ruin it by being gross. What the fuck, dude?” 

Riley rolled her eyes. “Love you too.” And she did. Despite the grudge she may or may not be holding, Riley loved her. She never stopped.

*****

They landed in Paris at night, and the Five Eyes crashed the moment they made it to their swanky, overpriced hotel room. The next day, they bounced around the city attending as many runway shows as traffic allowed. Riley didn’t understand the hubbub and overdone romanticism; Paris was just like any other major city—loud and overcrowded. And snobby. So very snobby. 

On their second day in Paris, the women chose to divide and conquer. Desi, Cage, and Jill teamed up to scope out the Louvre. Riley and Nikki attended the runway show of the designer whose masterpiece they intended to steal. 

As she and Nikki found their seats along the runway, Riley made a mental note of all the exits. Their seats were in the back, against a wall. Nikki hoped for a better view, but Riley liked it better this way. Sitting by a wall, she had something solid behind her and could see everyone come and go without having to turn around. Riley had always kept meticulous tabs on her surroundings—that’s what made her so good at her job—but the fear of not being able to see what’s coming was new. 

She didn’t tell Nikki about it. 

The blonde blended right in with the highly fashionable crowd, wearing a floor-length, gray plaid coat with hot pink lining. Nikki was completely in her element here, and sometimes Riley thought her friend would’ve been better off legitimately pursuing a career in fashion rather than letting Riley drag her into the world of shadows, secrets, and cons. 

While they waited, Riley fidgeted with a button on her black blazer. Her whole outfit was the same shade of her signature color—blouse, blazer, leather leggings. But her boots were the real showstopper—thigh-high black suede with intricate gold embroidery down the entire front. Riley saw them in a window yesterday and had immediately gone inside to purchase them. The boots were outrageously expensive, but it didn’t matter. Riley Davis was already a filthy rich woman, and after this job, she’d have more money than she would ever know what to do with. 

The house music quieted, and the designer—older man, favored his left leg, voice thin and raspy like a smoker—strutted down the runway, microphone in hand, welcoming the audience and beginning the show. He rambled on, ruminating over his inspiration for this collection. Nikki hung on every word. Riley tuned him out. 

So this was the man who was renting out the Louvre. Riley couldn’t even imagine the amount of money and favors it took to secure such an ostentatious party venue. 

What she could imagine, however, was that she’d surely be subjected to yet another one of these long-winded speeches at the afterparty tonight. On the bright side, that would buy her and her team extra time, making the job that much easier. 

The show began with a sweep of the lights as the music dropped to a low, pulsing beat Riley could feel just as much as she could hear. The crowd murmured respectfully as the first model appeared wearing a shiny black gown that looked like a trash bag had been melted to her body with the excess pooling on the floor. She told Nikki as much, earning an eye roll. 

The next gown was better—sheer fabric with countless thin, metallic gold vertical stripes. The skirt had pretty lines, giving the model the illusion of curves she didn’t have. After that was a strapless canary yellow ball gown with a full, pillowy train. 

“I don’t understand why designers keep making yellow clothes,” Riley hissed. “No one looks good in yellow.” 

“That model does.” 

“No one looks good in yellow.” 

Nikki twisted in her seat and glared, which Riley ignored. “Are you going to say anything nice?” 

“You’d miss my commentary if I stopped.” Riley’s snide comment earned her an elbow to the ribs, but she caught Nikki’s smile all the same. 

The next gown was cherry red satin, with huge ruffles on one shoulder and the opposite hip. The extra fabric was a lot, but there was something elegant about the gown nonetheless. 

Leanna would look good in that one, Riley stopped herself from saying aloud. Nikki—nor anyone else, for that matter—hadn’t said another word about Leanna since Riley first asked weeks ago. Suddenly their longtime friend was taboo, and Riley didn’t want to disrupt the tentative peace she had with Nikki just to push for answers she probably wouldn’t get. 

Another ugly gown, this one feathery pink with a sort of netting over top. 

But the last one...the last one caught the eye of every single person in the audience. 

Including Riley. 

The sheer dress was covered in intricate silver beading that accentuated its long sleeves and mermaid silhouette and left little to the imagination. It was the kind of show-stopping gown one wore when they wanted to be the center of attention. 

Despite the audience’s rising hum of approval, Riley still heard Nikki murmur, “That one is all you.” And it was. Riley would wear that gown in a heartbeat if she had the opportunity—too bad most jobs required her to blend in, not stand out. 

She was too busy lusting after the gown to respond. 

From her seat, Riley could just see into the wings, and she spotted who could only be the designer’s assistant, running the show behind the scenes. Even from a distance, Riley had a feeling the young woman’s hawk-like gaze missed absolutely nothing. The designer would be easy enough to bamboozle during the heist, but this woman could very likely become a problem. 

Riley committed the assistant’s appearance to memory and set the thought aside for later.

*****

Later that afternoon, the Five Eyes reconvened in their hotel suite. They still had a couple hours until they needed to get ready for the afterparty. Since only Cage and Nikki had been there before, Desi, Cage, and Jill had spent the day scouting the Louvre. It was good for Jill to work with Desi for a change; because of her military background, Desi’s way of thinking through a job diverged greatly from everyone else’s. 

Team meetings like this were one of Riley’s favorite parts of the job—swapping intel and strategizing the best way to pull off the job. Or the most fun way, which was usually also the riskiest. But tonight, the team was in unspoken agreement that they would play it safe, both because of Jill and the importance of this long-awaited job. 

Piled onto one plush, king-sized bed, the five women sat tangled together as they tore through the box of pastries Riley purchased on the way back to the hotel. For the first time in forever, Riley was hungry. She avoided dwelling on that fact as she licked her fingers and picked up stray crumbs that fell on the off-white comforter. 

“So, what did you learn?” Nikki quizzed Jill. 

Jill pushed up her glasses with her middle finger, speaking with her mouth full. “The room the party will be in is super fancy and at the far corner of the building.” She swallowed. “First floor.” 

“Good. What else?” Riley prompted. “How do Nikki or I get to security and the building’s system control?” 

“There’s an employee door in the hallway…” Jill trailed off. “Wait. This is a test, isn’t it? You already know.” 

Riley smirked. “I do.” 

Disbelief etched Jill’s face. “How? You told me yourself that you’ve never been there!” 

“I have my ways.” Riley would tell her eventually, but for now, it was more fun to lure trade secrets over Jill’s head. She reached for another buttery pastry, selecting one topped with slivered almonds.  

But before Riley could continue her taunting, Desi spoke up. “There’s something you should know.” The mood plummeted into seriousness. 

Riley and Nikki both raised their eyebrows. Go on. 

“Nikki’s ex was at the museum.” 

“Which one?” Nikki asked cautiously. Riley could hear the dread in her tone, the same dread that churned in her own stomach. 

“You know which one.” 

Riley swore. Nikki’s ex, the spy, was at the Louvre. “Did he see you?”

Cage answered, “We have to assume he did. And we also have to assume he recognized Desi and me as Nikki’s friends.” Riley set her pastry down, no longer hungry as the heist of her dreams started to crumble before her eyes. She refused to let that happen. 

“He was with a middle-aged man who definitely had a gun tucked into his belt,” Desi said. “Based on that and his haircut, I’d say he’s probably ex-military.” 

“Mac is too.” Tucking her knees to her chest, Nikki’s voice was uncharacteristically small as she spoke. Defeat wormed its way across her features. Nikki thought they couldn’t pull off the job now, Riley realized. 

No way. She wouldn’t let one stupid ex-boyfriend get in the way of her dream job. And her grossly large payday. 

“It’ll be fine,” Riley reassured. “He knows you’re into fashion, right?” Nikki nodded. “Then he has to assume you’re there for innocent, legitimate reasons. Innocent until proven guilty, remember? All we have to do is avoid looking suspicious, which we already do anyway. He won’t have any evidence to pin it on us besides a hunch, and even if he shares that hunch, he’ll get in trouble for not disclosing information about you and your relationship sooner.” 

Jill said, “That seems overly optimistic.” 

“Which one of us is the expert?” Riley snapped. Jill flinched, and the other three watched Riley warily. “Sorry,” she grumbled. 

The tension only somewhat dissipated. 

“Anyway,” Riley redirected. “We picked up the replicas.” She gestured to Nikki’s Balenciaga bag sitting open on a nearby chair. 

“Replicas?” Riley fought the urge to sigh at Jill and her constant questions. 

“What did you think we were going to do? Just take the jewelry and run like hell?” 

Jill’s silence was a resounding yes. 

“Pickpocketing 101. What did I tell you?” 

Understanding dawned in Jill’s wide, blue eyes. “When you steal something heavy, put something else in its place.” A pause. “We’re going to replace the jewelry with fakes so no one even realizes the real set is missing.” 

It was Cage’s turn to smirk. “She’s catching on.” The blonde leaned in. “So, can we see them?” 

Nikki was off the bed in an instant, retrieving a package wrapped in plain brown paper from her purse. She let Cage have the honor of unwrapping it and revealing the masterfully crafted jewels. 

The faux-sapphire and diamond necklace and earrings were stunning. And exact replicas of the real set. The only difference was a tiny, insignificant bump Nikki’s jeweler added to the back of each piece so they could quickly tell the difference between the replicas and the real deal. 

Desi whistled. “Damn. Those are stunning.” Beside her, Cage nodded appreciatively. “You would look so hot wearing those,” Desi murmured to her girlfriend. “Wearing only those.” 

Blushing furiously, Cage shoved her girlfriend off the bed. 

Riley knew that if she let them, her friends would spend hours examining the jewels. Clearing her throat to get everyone’s attention, she asked, “Everyone clear on the plan?” 

The four other women nodded in turn, first Desi, then Nikki, then Cage, and finally Jill. 

“Good.” 

“That’s it?” Jill questioned. “No team pep talk?” The other women chuckled, but Riley just rolled her eyes. 

“That one,” Desi pointed at Riley, “is the wrong person to ask for a pep talk.” 

Riley’s jaw dropped in mock outrage. “Hey! Speak for yourself.” Desi shrugged. Directing her attention back to Jill, “You really want a pep talk?” 

Jill blinked. 

“Don’t fuck this up.”

~ Tag List ~ Want to be added? Send me an ask. 

@macrileyedits​ / @hellishrose​ / @incorret-macgyver-quotes​ / @mylifequotesshowallofthem​ / @thecarrieonokay

[ninak803]

My Star

As promised, this is something happy. Well it’s going to be happy. I guess. It’s going to have more parts, I don’t know how many yet. Also I don’t know how this is going to end, my brain didn’t tell me yet.

A huge Thank You to @heyitssmiller for proof reading! And I borrowed some loveley characters from @lumosinlove, they make a small “guest appearance” here (maybe they come back later!)

Have fun reading!

Part 1

“Next please!” 

Remus walked forward and looked at the woman behind the counter. She smiled at him.

“Let me guess… Earl Grey, extra large, no milk, no sugar?”

Remus smiled and nodded.

“So you didn’t sleep much last night? Had fun?”, she grinned a bit. 

Remus laughed.

“No, not really. I just had a lot to do. So… NOT the things you’re having in mind, Marlene.”

She took care of his cup of tea, but looked over her shoulder to look at him and winked.

“Sure, Remus, sure.”

Remus sighed. All he did last night was going through his essay for one of his psychology classes that was due tomorrow. He spent the last two weeks working on it just to throw it all over last night, because all he wrote was rubbish! And now he had to do the work of two weeks in two nights. So… No he really didn’t have much fun.

Marlene handed him his tea.

“Be careful, it’s hot and the lid is loose, so you can get rid of the tea bag later.”

“Thanks.” Remus smiled and gave her the money. “See you later in class?”

Marlene nodded.

“See you later, Remus.”

He stepped aside to make space for the next customer, then turned around and headed for the door. On his way out he stumbled and spilled his tea. Remus cursed. He looked to the ground to see the rug where he stumbled over. Damn rug. 

Remus heard someone curse quietly. He looked to where the voice came from, right into the face of a man standing in front of him, tugging on his white button down shirt, where a large brown spot was now. 

Remus must have spilled his tea over him. Oh god, how embarrassing. 

The man looked up and Remus looked right into his eyes. Large, stormy grey eyes. Eyes that took his breath away for a second.

Remus swallowed, then said: “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. Are you okay?”

The other man just waved his hand in a dismissive way, then smiled. 

“Don’t worry, I wanted to get rid of this shirt for a long time now. I just never had a reason. So I guess I have to thank you for ruining it.” he said with a wink. 

Remus blinked. He looked at the other man, smiling at Remus. With a really bright smile, an honest smile. 

“Still… I’m really sorry… I hope I didn’t burn you or anything…” Remus said.

The other one put a hand on his shoulder briefly.

“It’s okay. Don’t worry. I’m good, okay? Nothing happened. Have a nice day.” he said to Remus, then stepped forward to order his coffee.

“Yeah… You too.” he said lamely, after the other one was already gone. 

He stepped outside now. Taking a deep breath. What was that? He glanced back over his shoulder to have another look at that man.

He was standing with his back to Remus, waiting for his order. He had shoulder long, dark, curly hair. Hair Remus wished he could run his fingers through.

Oh come on, Lupin. Get a grip on yourself. You literally just met him. You don’t know him. 

Remus shook his head to get rid of his thoughts. He had so much to do today, so he better forget this encounter.

He started walking through the small park next to the coffee shop. It was a sunny day and it was already pretty warm despite the fact that it was still early in the morning. Three boys were already enjoying the weather, two of them sitting on a park bench and the third, a brown haired boy with a snapback, squeezing himself between the other two. He gave the redhead with the freckles to his right a kiss on the cheek, then the tall blonde one to his left. They laughed and the blonde one said something that made the one with the snapback smile. The redhead and the blonde put their arms around his shoulders. 

Remus smiled. He loved love. And he loved the display of love.

Remus just didn’t have someone to love at the moment. And that was okay, he’s too busy with his classes anyway.

Remus sat down on one of the benches, drinking what was left of his tea and enjoying the nice, warm sun on his skin, before he had to head to his first class of the day.

----------

Marlene walked to him after his last class. She was grinning. Remus sighed.

“I didn’t make you that tea so you could spill all of it over this good looking pal!” she exclaimed.

“Thanks for reminding me, Marls. As if it wasn’t embarrassing enough, to know that the whole coffee shop watched us makes it so much better.”

“Any time.” she was grinning from ear to ear now.

They walked over the campus together, talking about their classes. 

“Okay, I have to go now… I still have so much to do today. See you tomorrow.” Remus said to her.

“See ya.” Marlene replied, as they parted ways.

-----------

“I’m home, mom.” Remus said as he entered the main door of their small one level house. 

His mom appeared at the door to the kitchen.

“You’re already back, honey? I thought you’d enjoy the nice weather outside!”

“Don’t have time for that right now. I have to finish this essay... “

“Oh Remus… You’re working way too much… Enjoy your life sometimes!”

“Mom… this essay is due tomorrow. And I’m enjoying my life, by the way. I love my classes, okay?”

“Still… It’s not the same. You’re young. You should go out with your friends, maybe meet a nice boy, have fun.” Hope Lupin said with a worried undertone.

Remus knew she was right. He did work a lot for his classes, but on the other hand he wanted to finish them as soon as possible, so his mom doesn’t have to pay for everything anymore. Money was short in the Lupin household. They both knew it.

“I’m meeting Lily on Saturday, after my shift at the restaurant. So don’t worry about me. I’m doing perfectly fine, okay?” he said to her.

“If you say so.” she still looked sceptical at him.

Remus sighed quietly and went to his bedroom. He took his laptop out of his bag and started working on that goddamn essay. 

-------

Remus was on the phone talking to Lily, while he was walking home from the restaurant after his shift. 

“I’m almost home. I have to take a shower, then I walk over to you, yeah?” he said to Lily.

“I could pick you up. Marlene lent me her car, so we don’t have to walk to James.”

“Oh thank God for Marlene. I don’t have to freeze my ass off then. Tell her I love her, will you?” Remus was grinning.

“Sure.” Remus could hear Lily grinning as well. “I’ll be at yours in half an hour. Is that okay for you?”

“Half an hour, then. I’ll be ready.”

Remus took a quick shower to get rid of all the smells that came with working at a restaurant. He did that on the weekends and on his free days to earn a bit of extra money, so his mom doesn’t have to pay for everything by herself. At least Remus could help her out a little bit that way. 

He changed into a pair of dark jeans and into the warm, maroon sweater Lily gave him last christmas. He walked to his mom then.

“Lily will be here any minute. I’ll come back late, don’t wait for me. Okay?”

Hope smiled at him.

“Have fun, darling.”

Remus smiled at her while he slipped into his light grey coat. He pulled a beanie over his head,his hair still wet from the shower, as the door rang. 

“Bye mom!” he called over his shoulder as he headed for the door.

He went outside and hugged Lily.

They drove to James, talking about their week. Marlene had told Lily about the “Tea Incident” of course. Remus rolled his eyes. Lily laughed. 

“Don’t worry. It’s not very likely that you’ll meet him again. It’s a big city after all.”

“I know… I just wish Marlene would stop talking about it. She’s telling everyone I know about it, isn’t she?”

“Oh I bet she is.” Lily grinned.

She parked the car in front of the building where James’ flat was inside.

“James told me his new flatmate moved in today, so we’re going to meet him I guess.” she told Remus as he rang the door.

“Sounds good” he replied.

The door opened after a while and Remus looked straight into a pair of stormy grey eyes.

[happikattwuzheere]

was gonna try and do multiple characters in one post but nope! i have too much to say. also the pictures are all different sizes so its rly hard to get the photoset to look appealing, so we’re starting w/ blue. and also a colored pic of what adam looks like when he’s not a deer. boy’s tryin not to stand out. which goes great up for him right up until it doesn’t. lmao. i’ll talk a bit about him too w/ stuff that didnt get mentioned in the starter post about him and gansey, but this is mostly gonna be about blue. 

SO. 

there’s this fey entity, right? i don’t have a name for them, but they’re not...they didnt START the fey/human conflict, but they are benefiting from it, politically speaking? and when maura was younger, despite other witches being like “girl dont choose sides, we’re witches, we guard boundaries but we don’t choose sides,” was hotheaded and brash and went “ok but fuck that though” and one thing led to another and she ended up getting a curse on her firstborn. Oops. that’s where the kissing curse comes from, here; i’ll get into that much later in a text post probably but gansey’s survivor’s guilt thing doesnt come from him actually dying in this au it’s from something Else, but blue will still kill him if she kisses him, just, for different reasons, it’s an actual curse this time and not something to do with the nature of who they both are. 

her father’s still a tree light, but like, she actually knows that from the outset? because. they live in cabeswater. the tree lights are all around and accept her as one of their own even if she can’t turn into a tree, and as a result of that, she’s got some cool perks. 

a) extremely resistant and/or outright immune to a Lot of fey bullshit 

b) still boosts psychic energies and magical powers like in canon

c) the absolute safest person to be traveling in cabeswater ever, because the forest itself loves her, and also if you mess with her within the borders of cabeswater a bunch of tree lights will physically manifest and be like “hey buddy wanna think twice about that”

but she can’t use magic herself, still, which actually works in the favor of herself and the coven--witchcraft is in a sort of weird spot, culturally, where it’s both feared and often hated, but also understood to at times be necessary, especially by rural peoples like those of the village. im taking a very discworld spin on the witchcraft, because i love discworld and you can’t stop me, and so the attitude is, like. its frightening ancient magic and the church hates it but when there’s an emergency and someone’s on the border between life and death, or something is trying to pass into this world from another, etc etc etc, then you gotta suck it up and call on a witch because they’re the only ones who can deal with those things. so. the coven is tolerated, both because it’s too big and powerful to actually fight but also because it’s extremely needed when you live in a village right next door to fey lands. you NEED someone watching the border. however that doesn’t mean anyone wants to be seen publicly talking to a witch--but blue’s not a witch. she’s a witch’s daughter, but she’s not a witch herself, which is a step removed enough that she can go into town and run errands and also people will maybe pull her discretely aside and tell her if something’s coming up that the coven should know about, and it all works very neatly with her acting as a sort of liaison. very important role she plays, which is why gansey tries talking to her after his initial attempt to speak with the coven directly fails. 

speaking of the coven itself: i’ve been calling it the fox way coven, even tho it probably wouldn’t be called that because there’s no road called fox way that the coven is built on, it’s a big magic house out in the fairy forest, BUT they do have a fox theme because i love foxes and this is a gift i have been given. if people have familiars in this coven, they’re foxes rather than cats, because as wonderful as cats are u cant have them and foxes in the same house that will go bad. but also there’s a v small number of them, like maybe three or four total out of the much higher number of women living there, who are fey blooded like adam, but who become foxes rather than adam’s deer. persephone is one of these! (it’s worth noting the reason why they become the same animal is because of a combination of coincidence, intentional theming, and mostly just because like, virtually all of the residents there aside from persephone are related to either maura or calla) 

anyway the point is, because of this, blue’d seen enough feyblood transformations that when, one day when she was 9 or 10, on a visit to town, she saw the most distressed, disoriented fawn wobbling around frantically and was able to very quickly recognize that that was, in fact, a person who had probably turned into a deer for the first time, and responded by very calmly informing him that she knew who could help and leading him home. this is where those last two pictures come from, and how adam’s apprenticeship started. 

like, there was a lot of arguing from the witches immediately--of course we’re going to teach him how to become human again but we aren’t really going to take him on in the coven are we? he’s a boy, he’s some local kid we know nothing about, what happened to keeping it in the family, he’s the wrong animal and we’ve got a whole thing going on--at which point persephone parted everyone like the red sea, took one look at adam, went “mine now” and despite a lot of grumbling that was the end of it. she took him on a bit of a tour of cabeswater a few days later, after he’d had time to think it over, and he felt so drawn to the forest that he agreed to the apprenticeship.

so he’s technically persephone’s apprentice but like in actual practice he’s being taught by the entire coven lmao, ANYWAY

adam being adam also had a backup plan for trying to get out of the village--even at ten he figured witchcraft might be a first way out of there, he was already thinking about it, but by thirteen when the good ole abuse started (and at which point the last whispers of dissent died out very quickly amongst the coven, nope, adam is one of us now, do you want us to very threateningly hang out in your front yard sometime because we can do that--what do you mean no, let us do this,) he was also like. i dont think this is a guarantee of getting out of here i need a second job. and the thing is, as was mentioned in the original post, the fey blood also means adam’s got issues with iron; it’ll poison him if he’s stabbed with it but it also reacts to his skin touching it like a hot stove. he’s fine if there’s a layer between his skin and the iron, but if he touches it directly, it’s Bad. so ofc this headstrong idiot takes an open spot a t a metalworker’s in the village because adam is the king of making bad decisions. the witches have a betting pool on how long it’ll take him to out himself. “its fine i’ll wear gloves,” he says. “it’s the perfect disguise no one will expect someone with fey connections to work near so much iron,” he says. “i have everything perfectly under control,” he says.

anyway he totally forgets to wear gloves before grabbing an iron tool while his dad and his boss are both in the store and in clear view of him and that’s why he was getting chased by hunters when gansey rescued him 

also he and blue tried dating when they were like 13-14 and it ended about as badly as in canon and they made up later and by the time the story starts they’ve settled into very much being weird siblings. adam starts hanging out with gansey initially to try and basically spy on him, figure out why he’s here, but ends up rly liking the guy and deciding his reasons are sincerely to try and help people, and he tells this to blue who starts immediately accusing him of having a crush on the lordling and being a class traitor, because she does NOT like gansey at this point and really the nobility all prefer wizards to witches which is a stupid idiot decision and frankly the fact that this lordling is apparently enamored by some random deer is hilarious to her, but even moreso is the fact that adam actually defends the lordling to her, like, “wow adam its hilarious that the lordling’s friend thinks that you have charmed the lordling because from my perspective it looks the other way around” “shut uuuup you’re not listening im serious, like, yeah ok he put his foot in his mouth really hard when he talked to you but im telling you i dont think the whole i-wanna-understand thing is an act” “idk if i can trust you through those rose tinted glasses buddy. tell me again about that time he called you princely?” “oh my god” 

this is turning into rambling but. thats the gist of the witches and blue esp thank u for coming if u made it this far here’s a bonus persephone fox 

[mea-laetitia]

remus lupin finally snaps

CW: some bad language 

---

It was cold, and his bones were stiff. When he walked up the stairs to the dormitories it was a slow and painful experience that wasn’t helped by his mood. Every time he stumbled or took too long to take a step up Remus Lupin grumbled. He was not in the mood to deal with his lycanthropy tonight, and why the fuck couldn’t he manage a flight of stairs for Godric’s sake? It had been two whole days since the night of the full moon, a particularly bad one judging from his aches, but nonetheless he didn’t see why he couldn’t manage the stairs. He had been in bed for the entirety of those days and taken every unnecessary potion Pomfrey shoved in his face. So why was he still in pain?

By the time he reached the door to the marauder’s dorm he was thoroughly pissed, and in the mood for a fight. He knew that someone behind that door would most likely oblige him if he only prodded enough, and so, using the last of his energy he kicked the door open dramatically and stalked inside. 

Three heads turned to him briefly, noted his expression, and then promptly turned to face each other once again. Remus could practically smell their confusion, it almost made him laugh. He sat on his bed and shut the curtains violently, laying down and stretching his entire body out. 

And then he waited. 

He knew it was only a matter of time before one of them tentatively peeked through the curtains and tried to ask him what was wrong. If he wasn’t in such a bad headspace he would recognize how nice that was of them, and that really, he had some damn good friends. But now, he thought it annoying, and an invasion of his privacy. He prepared to shout at whoever opened the curtains just that point. 

Anxious whispering could be heard from James’ bed, which Remus rolled his eyes at. God they were so fucking nosy. A few minutes passed and the voices rose to a crescendo, though Remus couldn’t make out any individual words. He heard the dorm room door open and swiftly close, but the presence of one person remained, Remus could smell him. 

A few seconds of tense silence lapsed between the two boys. One who was nervous and had clearly been left with the job of talking to Lupin, the other waiting for him to do so, and ready to rip him to shreds no matter what he said. 

Not the healthiest of arrangements really. 

If Remus was to take a guess at who was behind the curtain he would probably say Peter. If it was James then he wouldn’t have hesitated this long, and he probably would have been the one to start the fight, telling him unless something very wrong had happened he was being a dramatic prick. If it was Sirius he would also not have hesitated, and probably would have just hopped right in and started fighting with him. 

Plus there was the added fact that if James and Sirius both didn’t want to talk to Remus there was nothing stopping them, and Peter would be left to sort the mess out almost one hundred percent of the time. 

It was because of these assumptions that Remus forgot about his anger for a moment when he saw Sirius of all people peer through the gap in the curtains. 

Why had he hesitated?

When Remus didn’t immediately bite Sirius pulled back the curtains more and sat across from him. 

He attempted casualty at first. “Alright mate?”

“Yes everything’s peachy.” Remus snapped. 

Sirius didn’t immediately respond, which Remus found to be strange. Normally he would have an almost instantaneous retort and then the fight would begin. Why was he being so cautious?

“Did something happen or are you just grumpy from the moon?” He pressed, resting his chin in his hands as he watched his friend. 

“‘Just grumpy from the moon’?” Remus growled. “Have you ever transformed into a fucking monster and lost your mind for hours on end and then been in horrible pain for days afterwards?”

He was shouting already, but Sirius seemed unfazed. He actually chuckled at this. “Yeah fair point I guess.” 

Remus felt like he could turn into the wolf again he was so pissed off. He wanted to reach forward and throttle Sirius but at the same time he looked so beautiful in the soft lamplight of their room that an equally strong desire to just kiss him overcame him too, and it made him angrier while also making it hard to stay angry.

“Why can’t you take this seriously?” He snapped. “And don’t you fucking dare say you are Sirius or I swear to Godric-”

Sirius laughed. “I actually wasn’t going to say that but now you’ve done it for me. Nice one!”

Then he had the audacity to reach for a high-five. Remus glared at him and he promptly lowered his hand. “Wow your knickers really are in a twist tonight.”

“My knickers are perfectly fine thank you very much! And stop changing the subject.”

“What?” Sirius smirked. “Trying to stay angry are you? Looks like you’re struggling. What are you even mad about?”

“I’m mad that I’m a fucking werewolf and that I’ll probably die young because of it and that my life won’t even be fulfilling in the meantime because everyone will be unable to see past what I am!”

Sirius opened his mouth to speak but Remus wasn’t finished. 

“And it hurts EVERYWHERE and I’m sick to death of you!”

Sirius blinked at him. “Me?”

Remus didn’t know why he added that last bit, but he knew for sure he was now bordering on dangerous territory. If he wasn’t careful he might just let his feelings for Sirius slip and he would finally have something legitimate to complain about. 

But he couldn’t deny that the fight was already making him feel better, and he was still angry enough that any common sense was long gone. He tightened a fist around the bedsheets they sat on and stared Sirius dead on. 

His voice grew dangerously quiet. “Yeah. You.”

“What did I do?” Sirius matched his tone. Any trace of laughter was gone and he finally looked concerned. 

“Godric you still haven’t fucking noticed have you? You’re so blind and oblivious it actually hurts. Do you have any idea how infuriating you are?”

Sirius clearly still had no clue what he was saying, though he looked almost scared to admit it. “Very?”

Remus threw his pillow at the boy, who swiftly caught it and returned it to its place on the bed without breaking eye contact. 

“You know what? I thought you might have finally caught on this year but you’re still prancing around like nothing’s changed. It’s been four years, Sirius how ignorant are you?”

“Four years since what Remus? Clearly I have no idea what you’re talking about so just tell me!” Sirius said, finally losing his patience with the werewolf. 

But Remus wasn’t listening, he was on a roll and he didn’t feel like stopping anymore. Any punishment that ensued would be worth it because he was finally voicing the anger that had been building up for years. 

“I couldn’t have made it more obvious if I tried! Honestly I drop at least a hundred hints a day, you haven’t seen me with anyone literally ever, despite the fact that I’ve been asked out numerous times.” 

Sirius was speechless.

“But worst of all is that you just haven’t noticed. If James was in my place you would have figured it out the day it all began but with me you just didn’t see. Like it made sense for me to be acting weird around you all of a sudden and flinch at your touch and blush at your gaze. And then when I gained enough confidence to attempt flirting with you for fucks sake you still didn’t notice. ‘That’s just my Moony, best friend, telling me I look beautiful this morning and stumbling over his words.’ I thought that even if you didn’t feel the same way you might have the decency to pull me aside and tell me rather than letting me flounder in my love for you but as time went by I started to realize that the problem wasn’t your lack of reciprocation but rather your complete and utter obliviousness. Even now I bet you still haven’t fucking realized it have you?”

He was finally done, and rather than the soul sucking fear he anticipated he might feel when he finally told Sirius his deepest secret he felt relief. It was over. No matter how he responded now at least there were no more secrets between them. Sirius was staring at him with a look that even Remus couldn’t decipher. There was either a complete lack of emotion behind his eyes or there was too much going on that they looked utterly glazed over. 

And then Sirius spoke. 

“What?”

He was shaking his head in confusion and Remus felt like screaming again. What did he mean ‘what’? Did he need more fucking clarification? What else could he do to make it clear?

Before he even finished thinking that he knew, and he decided to do something very stupid indeed. 

Without thinking about the consequences Remus suddenly lunged forward, ignoring the stabbing pain in his body, and grabbed Sirius’ face, pulling it towards his own. Their lips crashed together forcefully and all of a sudden nothing else mattered. Remus’ anger disappeared, replaced by nothing short of joy when he felt Sirius kiss him back, fisting his shirt and pulling him desperately closer to him. 

Remus chanced a brush of Sirius’ hair, tentatively reaching up to run his hands through the messy waves, and heard a tiny hum of pleasure from the boy in response. He smiled into the kiss and deepened it, and he faintly realized that he should be in pain right now from crouching so awkwardly in front of Sirius, but in fact he was far from pain. Holding Sirius in his arms and having him hold him back was better than any healing potion Pomfrey had ever given him. It was addicting, he was getting high off its effects. 

All too soon they broke apart for air, both panting slightly but grinning nonetheless. 

“Is that clear enough for you?” Remus raised an eyebrow. 

And Sirius actually blushed, looking almost apologetic for not realizing until now. “Clear as day.”

[petri808]

Underneath the Same Starry Sky

My piece for the @fairytailcharityfanzine 💜 we can now share it, please enjoy!

Nalu Reflective piece that takes place during the one year hiatus, focusing on Natsu’s feeling during his training, and Lucy.

Every single muscle in Natsu’s body ached worse than being electrocuted by one of Laxus’ lightning bolts.  His joints screamed like a banshee if he even thought about moving an inch for the rest of the night and he prayed that come morning’s light he could get up to do it all again.  The training routine he’d carved out for himself was ten times harder than anything he’d ever attempted before, but it’s a necessary evil and one that numbed his mind to the reasons behind its mission.  Tartaros was a wake-up call.  A proverbial slap to the ego that brought the mighty Fairytail guild to its knees.  Sure, they won the battle, but at a substantial cost.

He couldn’t afford to lose like that again.  Not when there were so many things at stake.

But tonight, there’s nothing more he can do except lie on his bedroll staring up at the sky.  If someone attacked him now in such a vulnerable state, they might win.  He doubted it.  Even the locals steered clear of the mountain he’d chosen.  Too afraid of the rumors of a crazy fire wielding man who could shake the very bedrock beneath their feet.  No, tonight it’s just him, Happy, and that sky.  A beautiful expanse of darkened heavens with no clouds to dampen its effects.

Ugh!  Nights like this were the hardest.  Each time he opened his eyes and gazed upon those twinkling stars his partner would drift into his mind and throw it back into chaos.  Lucy…. The golden queen who reigns over the celestial world, adored by her spirits, loved by her friends, and treasured by his truly.  

Everything he did was to protect the ones he loved.  And above all, her.

Just thinking about the attractive blonde sent a strange flutter through his core.  Natsu wasn’t immune to the desires created in any hot-blooded male when seeing such an attractive female.  But she’s different, special, not something treated like arm-candy or tied down by anyone unless of her own choosing.  Besides, he didn’t feel worthy of her attention.  Not yet.  Maybe one day, but not until he could truly safeguard her future, even from his own demons.  Besides, there’s still much to do.  It’s only his second month and already the drain on his mind, body, and soul pushed him to his limits.  But Natsu’s no quitter.  Once he set his heart on something, he would move all of Earthland to see it through.  Things would get easier over time as his body adapts to the training, so until then, no pain, no gain, and a blonde waiting at the end of this goal.

‘I really wish you were here Igneel…. Too many questions I never got the answer to….  Even new ones on things I don’t quite know what to do with.’  Natsu lets out an audible exhale.  ‘I miss you….  It’s like a huge part of me’s gone and I know I’ll never get it back.  Will that empty feeling ever go away?’  His eyes close for a moment as he remembers the pain of watching the fight between Igneel and Acnologia.  He’d held out so much hope that Igneel would win, only to have that faith dashed against the rocks like a ship, wrecking along the shore.  It was at that point, when Natsu felt like the small child again, alone and lost in the forest before Makarov had found and taken him to Fairytail.  He’d promised Igneel to keep growing, to keep looking towards the future, and he will.  He will get stronger!  But such pain and sense of initial loss from his childhood had never fully gone away, just sidetracked once he’d met Lucy.  

Again, with Lucy.  That day in Hargeon was the last time Natsu’d gone off on his own in search of Igneel.  Was that meaningful?  It had to be.  How else could one person, who he’d just met, unconsciously change his course in life if it didn’t have some major significance?  What would Igneel have said about her?  ‘Who am I kidding, he would love Lucy!  I bet he would tease me about her if he were here….  I know she would have liked him too….’  She would never be a replacement for his adoptive dragon father, but… ‘Lucy fills some void.’  A concept he couldn’t deny any longer.  

This training mission was the longest they’d been apart since, well, the day they met.  It’s a little weird, Natsu would admit, and he missed her along with all of his friends.  He wondered what they’re up to.  Are they rebuilding the guild hall right now?  Probably to be even bigger or better than before.  ‘Yeah…. It’s gonna be so nice to see it again!’  He should have stayed to help them rebuild, but this is more important.  ‘So, we don’t lose the next time!’  Did Gray miss their fighting, because he kind of did.  He loved to rile that ice queen up!  ‘I’m sure they’re all doing fine.’

But to take the power left to him by Igneel, he needed to strengthen his reserves and that took time.  He really didn’t understand how long he would be away for.  It could be months or even years; hopefully not the latter.  Mastering this new secret art is his primary focus and he couldn’t go back until he’d attained it.  It was his hidden weapon against his brother and it just needed to be perfect.  

Long blistering days had turned into weeks.  Laborious weeks dragged into months and as each one passed the physical pain had morphed into an emotional toll.  Now five months into his training, Natsu sometimes lost track of time itself, and it was only with Happy’s help that he knew how long he’d been at this.  The cheerleading Exceed made sure they had food or other provisions because the slayer would forget.  Even his hair was now past his shoulder blades, but he tied it back when it got in his way.  

Though it wasn’t all that bad, he’d made a lot of progress and was sure that it wouldn’t be too much longer till he could return home.  So, after another long day and a meal of roasted wild bird, Natsu submerges himself up to his neck in a nearby hot pond.  It was one of the few reasons he’d chosen this semi-isolated location.  The broiling waters were a bit too hot for any normal humans, but for a fire dragon slayer, something perfectly suited to soothe away his aches, and maybe some of his anguish.  Lately a few of Zeref’s parting words, “to kill or let live,” were toying with his mind.  “The one to reach me will be you or END…”  He still didn’t fully understand it.  Igneel also told him not to look at the END book.  But why not?  Who is this END person?!  “And what the hell did Zeref mean by passing to me, an even greater despair?!”  Regardless of not understanding, the message was clear.  Trouble was coming.

The steaming waters were making him sleepy, but he wasn’t ready to let it take him yet.  He just need to hash out these thoughts so he could move on because if he couldn’t, then he wouldn’t be able to focus on his training.  To concentrate the residual power, he needed a clear mind.  A long exhale escapes and Natsu closes his eyes.  Killing wasn’t the Fairytail way, so that wasn’t something Natsu even wanted to consider.  There had to be another solution, but it was difficult to figure out what that could be since he didn’t even know who or what this enemy was.  From the scant information they’d given him, END was the most powerful demon Zeref had ever created, one that not even Igneel could defeat.  That meant END could be his most formidable opponent to date, aside from maybe Acnologia.  

Acnologia…  all the hairs along his arm tingle.  The evil dragon born of a by-gone slayer era, is another problem that needed solving.  How were they supposed to defeat a dragon that other dragons were afraid of?  He remembered the quaking fear that all the slayers and dragons felt when Acnologia showed up.  Everyone’s panic and trembling emotions were palpable.  That vile creature had disappeared once more, but he’ll no doubt, show up at the worst time.  “Argh!”  Another beautiful part of being in the middle of nowhere, Natsu could scream all he wanted to.  He relaxes his eyelids, letting the feeling of the steam envelop his senses.  

Words unspoken passed between them as he hung his head whilst the tears flowed, and snot dripped.  Lucy held on tight, her arms wrapped around his middle, her face buried in the crook of his back like she’d done the night they’d defeated future Rogue.  Despite his promises to Igneel, Natsu’s heart had shattered and needed to fit back together like a jigsaw puzzle.  He was thankful that Lucy didn’t prod, just allowed him to feel, to process, like she just knew he would come out of this.  Her silent support meant so much to him, and she didn’t even know it.  

“Can we just go home?” he whispers under his breath.  “I’m tired.”

Lucy nods and moves to let go, but Natsu places his hand on her arm.  “To your apartment, just for tonight?  I’d… rather not be alone right now.”

“Sure, Natsu.”  

It was one of the rare occasions that Lucy didn’t kick him out of bed.  Maybe she was too tired.  After a shower, Natsu crawls under the covers.  Her calming scent of strawberry cream providing him some satisfaction, a reassurance that he wasn’t alone, and reminded him he still had a lot to live for.  And as his eyes close, the vision of her sleeping form, so peaceful, sends him off into a dreamless, yet fitful slumber.  

When light filtered through his closed lids the following morning, Natsu opens them to a fully awakened mind despite the pitiful amount of sleep he’d gained.  Through the night, Lucy had latched onto his side, keeping him pinned to his back.  She sighs, mumbling at his minute movements, before licking her lips and drifting away again clutched to his arm.  He exhales, turning to his side to gaze upon her better.  ‘Lucy…’ Natsu sweeps away some tendrils that had fallen over her eyes.  ‘How am I to protect her when I couldn’t even save my father?  How can I protect any of my friends from the dangers coming call?’  It wasn’t a matter of if he could, but a must.  He places a kiss upon her slightly furrowed brow.  ‘I promise you Lucy.  I swear on Igneel I will protect you at any cost!’      

Even though he’d decided that morning to leave on a training quest, he just couldn’t tell her, not in person knowing the pain it might stir back up for both of them.  All he could hope for a week later when he clutched the letter in his hand, that she would understand.  “Wait for me,” he whispers as he places the letter on her coffee table…    

Natsu opens his eyes.  Ugh, why was he dreaming about that now?  He twists his body in the steaming waters to rest his head on his arms on the edge.  How long had he fallen asleep for?  Couldn’t have been long since the position of the moon had only shifted slightly.  Maybe he was feeling a little guilty for leaving that letter the way he had.  It was a copout.  ‘Yeah…’ he sighs, ‘she deserved better from me, but I just couldn’t face her.’  Too late now to do anything about it.

It was almost over; he runs his hand over the new tattoo on his arm, reminiscing about the last 8 months.  All the power condensed in his body thrummed like a child excited to play with their new toy.  But it would have to wait and lay dormant for now.  Until the time was right, behind the symbols it shall remain.  This whole journey was one of self-recovery, through down-right struggles of the heart and mind.  So, unleashing the full power of the Fire Dragon King too early would be a waste of all that he’d fought to attain.  And that was okay, for through this self-discovery Natsu had become a lot stronger.  The control over his element was down to pinpoint accuracy, and whether as a stream of fire or as a conflagration, it was all by his manipulation.  He was giddy about showing this off and according to Happy, the perfect opportunity was coming up in just two months.  All the more reason for him to buckle down and finish his training.          

Lucy had hoped some of her friends would attend the games, even just to watch but no one did.  It was sad to think, ‘I’ve been looking this entire year…’ she breaks down against the wall filled with all the information she’d dug up on her ex-guildmates.  She knew where some were, while others…  Sigh, ‘Still nothing on Natsu.’  There’d been wild rumors that could be him.  Nothing concrete and they were always stories passed along from a friend of a friend.  But it was enough to comfort her sometimes, to know they were still under the same starry skies.  Ugh!  Lucy missed them all so much.  “Well, no point in crying about it tonight,” she laments to Plue.  Tomorrow was the finals, and she needed her sleep.  Lucy steals away to her bed and lets happier dreams bring her solace.            

Ten grueling months has passed by, but they’d made it!  The sun had yet to rise, but the pair arrived just in time to see the last day of the Grand Magic Games tournament.  Natsu turns his nose to the wind, scenting from atop a hill overlooking the large city of Crocus. “Happy, I think Lucy is here!”  

“But, why would she be here?” the Exceed queries.  “Could she be here for the games?”

“Probably.  We should look for her as soon as we can!”

“I thought you’re gonna challenge the winners?”

“Oh right,” Natsu smirks, “Imma go kick their asses and you look for her.”

“Aye sir!!”  

Morning’s light came and Lucy already knew it wouldn’t be very exciting.  The games only stirred up more pain from the loss of her friends and Fairytail, so it took a lot of self-motivation just to care.  Sure, there were exciting moments during the tournament but nothing like the year they won.  All the big guilds, their friends, no one took part this year saying it wasn’t worth it without Fairytail to compete against.  Lucy couldn’t blame them.  She takes one last longing glance at her wall and heads out the door.

‘Such a farce…’ Lucy stood there in the press box bored out of her mind.  Sure, Jason was excited after she’d pointed out Scarmiglione’s plan not only to win but to rake it in with the brokers.  Odds of 100 to 1 would pay out handsomely for anyone that bet on their win.  To her it was cheating and a blight on the games.  But no one had even noticed what they were doing.  Sad.  Then again, with none of the more powerful guilds in attendance, she guessed there wasn’t anyone around who could sense their true power levels except for her.  Surprise, surprise, she rolls eyes.  The crowds all jump to their feet when Scarmiglione’s last opponent falls, but Lucy is just happy it’s over.

But what’s this?  A rumbling murmur filters through the crowds.  She and Jason look over and see a heavily cloaked man walking into the arena.  Who is that?  What is this?!  So much power!  The hairs on her neck stand on edge.  “Evacuate the arena….” She cries out, but…  “Eh!”  The power and heat radiating off of the figure is burning her top off!  “Kiyah!”  Her arms frantically wrap around her bust, forgetting all about the danger.  As the smoke clears enough to see, she sees the culprit.  Her eyes widen.  “Natsu?!!!”

Screams of his name bounce around her.  Everyone is excited to see the slayer!

“Long time no see, Lucy!!!”

She turns around to see the flying Exceed.  “Happy?!!  What are you doing here?”

The other participants rush out to challenge Natsu but when his power and heat spikes even higher, they turn tail and run, screaming monster.  How hot does his power get?!  This was a lot stronger than she remembered him to be!  

The Exceed chuckles, “Natsu always tends to overdo things.”

But by then Lucy had stopped paying attention to the chaos going on around her.  The stadium was melting, members of Scarmiglione were out cold on the arena floor.  And all she could do was stare at the man she’d been wanting to see for so long.  It was really him and not a figment of her imagination!  A deluge of emotions floods her mind so quickly that there is no processing any of it.  Happiness, sadness, anger, nothing.  It was simply, in shock.  

With the rest of the challengers running in fear, Natsu finally realizes something.  He looks up and they lock eyes for a moment.  So fired up from his entrance, he’d almost forgotten she was here.  

“Yo!” his grin so wide it covers from ear to ear.  “Been a while, huh?  Lucy!”

Same old Natsu, she sighs, what had she expected?  With a crinkle of her eyes and a softening of her expression.  “How’ve you been?”

[adiwriting]

(gif by the lovely @darlingnotso)

PSA: As I’ve stated before, I will be putting money towards the Navajo Nation COVID-19 Relief Fund every time that I post Malex fic. 

********Please don’t reblog*********** 

This is going to be the last Sunday Morning fic for awhile. Leaving it untagged with the hopes that it remains just for my followers and doesn’t attract more harassment. If you want to comment, reply or DM me please instead of reblogging.

Week 16

When the puppies start barking at their usual 6:30am time, Alex instantly regrets all of his life choices. His head is pounding, his leg aches, and his stomach is a mess. It doesn’t help in the slightest that Michael is plastered to his side, hot as hell, and making Alex sweat. 

“Why did we get a dog?” Michael grumbles, nuzzling his nose into Alex’s neck and making him feel even worse. 

“Why did you let us get four?” he asks, pushing at Michael’s body. “And why the hell are you so hot?” 

“‘s cold,” Michael says, throwing his arm over Alex’s stomach. 

Alex pushes him away. “You’re a thousand degrees and I already want to die. Roll over or something.” 

Michael groans and Alex swears he hears him curse under his breath, but he thankfully rolls over and Alex feels like he can breathe a bit as cool air hits his overly heated skin. The relief he feels is only temporary though as his mind then zeroes in on how much his stomach is swirling and twisting. 

The puppies continue to bark. It’s too loud and the sun streaming in through the window is too bright. Everything is just too much right now and Alex needs it to stop. The mattress shifts as Bell jumps up onto the bed, making the world spin and Alex’s stomach does a dangerous tilt. He’s not even sure if he could make it to the bathroom fast enough to throw up if he had to, and so he prays he doesn’t need to. 

Michael loves him, but he doubts Michael would love it if Alex threw up in their bed. 

Bell pushes her head against his shoulder, demanding cuddles. Any other day, Alex would be more than willing to give into her demands. He loves cuddling with Bell in the mornings. But right now, he can’t focus on anything aside from not vomiting. She gives up and moves to do the same to Michael, who lifts his arm up and allows her to crawl on top of him and lay down. 

“Please tell me you’re as hungover as I am,” he complains, closing his eyes against the sun and willing the world to stop. He regrets not springing for blackout curtains when Michael was redoing their bedroom.  

Michael chuckles and it makes the bed shake, causing Alex to groan. “No, but I had about five beers and six shots less than you did,” he says. 

Alex cracks his eyes open just enough to give him a doubtful look. 

“Hey, I’m not the town drunk everyone thinks I am,” Michael protests. “And somebody had to make sure that everyone got home okay. Liz and Max were a mess. Only one of you guys who held their liquor with any dignity was Maria.” 

That’s probably fair. Alex doesn’t remember a lot of last night after the first two hours. Isobel had challenged him to a drinking game that he outright refused to lose on principle. But even the first two hours, he could tell that it was going to be one of those nights. He can’t blame his friends. It’s been a long few weeks of one alien drama after another but yesterday had been a surprisingly drama free Halloween night for them and they’d all just let loose. What he can remember of Michael though, is that he’d taken things slow most of the night, taking on the role of caretaker for everyone. 

“You had fun though, right?” he asks, worried that Michael had perhaps seen it as his duty to take care of everyone else instead of partaking in the fun himself. Part of the argument for having the party at their place was so that they could both enjoy the party rather than having to worry about getting home or taking care of the dogs. 

“Yeah, it was nice,” Michael says with a smile, running his hands over Bell, who looks perfectly content. Alex is jealous. He knows that there are few places more comfortable than Michael’s chest, but right now the thought of being anywhere near the furnace that is Michael sounds awful. 

“Don’t tell Isobel I said that,” Michael adds. “I already told her we are not having Thanksgiving here under any circumstance… Which probably means I should start working on making that table I’ve been wanting to build for out back, because I’m pretty sure my protest means that we’re having Thanksgiving here.”

Alex laughs before it causes his head to pound even more and whines. “Don’t make me laugh. It hurts.” 

“I bet,” he says. “I’m not sure why you thought you could out drink my sister. On her lightest days she polishes off two bottles of wine a night.” 

“Because she gets annoying and smug when she wins and I refuse to put up with it,” Alex says and Michael just laughs. “Is Bell still wearing her wings?” 

Michael runs his hands over the fairy wings that Bell had worn yesterday as part of her Tinkerbell costume. They’d dressed all the dogs up in Peter Pan costumes to match their namesakes. It had been adorable, if Alex does say so himself.

“She didn’t want to take them off,” Michael says with a shrug. 

“Oh yeah? She tell you that herself?” he teases. 

“As a matter of fact, I tried to take them off last night and she whined and moved away, so yes she did,” Michael says. “And the puppies were asleep when I came back inside so I left their costumes on as well.” 

Alex reaches over tentatively, careful not to move too much of his body so that he doesn’t reignite the nausea, and pets Bell. “She does make a really cute fairy.” 

“Of course she does. She’s the most beautiful fairy in the world,” he agrees, lifting his head to kiss Bell’s nose. She licks his face in return. Michael turns to look at him, “Look at what Rosa taught her yesterday when they were both hiding out in here.” Michael looks back at Bell and says, “I do believe in fairies.” 

Bell howls twice as if to say, ‘I do, I do.’ 

Alex smiles, holding back his laugh for fear of making his stomach twist even more. Bell’s howl causes the puppies to go crazy from their spot in the kitchen though and suddenly everything is far less cute. Alex’s head pounds and he’s back to hating the world and wanting to curl up and die. 

“I guess I should go walk them since you’re clearly useless today,” Michael says. 

Alex throws his arm over his eyes and doesn’t bother arguing. 

He hears Bell protest before the bed shifts again, making Alex suck in a breath as he fights against his body’s urge to hurl. “Why don’t you try and shower? I’ll bring you breakfast in bed when I get back from walking them.” 

“Can we spend the entire day in bed?” Alex asks, hopefully. 

“I’ll even let you pick the movies we watch today,” he promises, placing a kiss to Alex’s forehead. 

“You smell like a distillery,” Michael says. 

Alex has a flash of Isobel breaking out a bottle of whiskey as they played Two Truths and a Lie with Maria. He’s sure that he’s got liquor coming out of his pores at this point. He doesn’t even remember the last time he drank this much. Perhaps the one time he’d gotten plastered before shipping off to Iraq the last time? The time they’d gotten into that nasty fight over Alex’s decision not to tell Michael he was being deployed again. Michael had had to hear it from Maria and had been none too pleased. 

Michael flips on the light and Alex whines. “I regret all of my life choices.” 

“Surely not all of them,” he teases. 

“Why didn’t you stop me last night?” Alex asks. 

Michael snorts. “Oh, I tried. Several times. You told me that you were a grown ass man who didn’t need a babysitter.” 

Alex grimaces, he doesn’t remember saying that, but he’s sure he probably did. “Sorry.” 

“You’re fine,” he says. “Max was way worse and far less cute while telling me to back off. You’re good.”

“It doesn’t sound like you had a good night,” Alex says, pushing Michael despite his earlier words, wanting to make sure that he truly did enjoy himself and wasn’t miserable.

“I promise, I enjoyed myself,” he says. “Rosa and I had a nice long talk. She’s gonna start working at the junkyard for me. I wouldn’t mind having somebody help run the office side of things. She loves her dad but needs some independence.” 

“That’s understandable,” Alex says. 

“Yeah, then Liz and I nerded out over science before Max stole her away. Kyle, Maria, and I played poker and I won $150. And I ended up watching Hocus Pocus for the first time and making cookies with Rosa once everyone got too shitfaced to form coherent sentences.” 

“You’ve never seen Hocus Pocus?” Alex asks, shocked. 

“Okay, first of all, why does everyone react like that when I say that? I watched it last night with Rosa and it was cute but it does not deserve that reaction out of people,” he says, grumpily. “And second of all, you know that I didn’t have any of that shit growing up.” 

“You’re right, I’m sorry,” Alex says, kicking himself for always doing that. Always reacting to experiences Michael says he didn’t have growing up with shock. Alex knows better. He himself grew up in a home void of normal childhood experiences. But he had the Ortechos and the DeLucas to help give him happy holiday memories. He always assumes that Michael had that in the Evans family, but he’s regularly proven wrong. 

“Hey, listen, go walk the dogs,” Alex says. “I’ll hop in the shower. After breakfast we can watch all the holiday movies you never got to see growing up.” 

“Can we start with Home Alone?” he asks, that light, happy tone back in his voice. 

“Of course, followed up by A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving,” Alex promises. 

Forty-Five minutes later, the entire family is piled in their bed, warm and comfortable. Alex is slowly eating the pancakes that Michael prepared him, keeping his plate away from Peter’s thieving paws as best he can. His stomach is starting to settle and his headache is muted thanks to the ibuprofen that Michael left for him before he took the dogs on their walk. Home Alone is playing on the TV screen and Michael is curled up with a sleeping Bell and John, smiling soft and content. 

And right here, in this exact moment? Life feels utterly perfect.

[chloebeale]

would it be cool if u wrote a fic on the gif with kendrick pulling the dude’s shirt 👉👈🥺

(Yes! Thank you for this; it got a little longer than intended, so you can read it below or on AO3.)

EVERY TIME I DON’T, I ALMOST DO (1/1)

RATING: T. PAIRING: Bechloe. WORDS: 2.1k. AO3 LINK: here!

***

It happens a lot, this almost thing. It happened for the first time in college, on Beca’s very first day at Barden University. Amidst a buzz of annoyingly vibrant chatter, Beca almost told the girl in the blue dress, the one with the far too chipper voice, just how distractingly stunning her eyes were. She almost told her again in the shower a few days later, too.

At her first—or was it second?—Bellas rehearsals, when soft fingers wrapped delicately around her wrists and helped to guide her through the incredibly simple dance moves she was intentionally not putting any amount of effort into, Beca almost told Chloe how much she liked the scent of her floral perfume as it began to fill her nostrils. (Weird, really, considering floral is totally not Beca’s thing.)

Sophomore year, when Beca officially moved out of the campus dorms and into the Bellas house, the one where she finally felt as though she had found her place. The girls were discussing room assignments, and Beca almost told Chloe she wanted to room with her. She almost did.

The same way as, following their flight to Copenhagen, when Chloe fell asleep with her head resting gently against Beca’s shoulder, then began to blink herself into a wakeful daze just before landing, Beca almost told her just how adorable she looked. She almost told her she has never seen somebody wake to look so effortlessly beautiful, so breathtakingly perfect. Really, she almost did.

Almost, almost, almost.

Ten minutes ago, fresh off of her overly elated performance high, when Chloe stood with her arms looped protectively around her middle, watery gaze, bright and familiar, meeting with Beca’s, Beca almost told her something then, too. She almost told her something she has almost told her a hundred times before, but in the end she just…didn’t. Chloe’s fallen gaze, the sympathetic smile on her subtly pouted lips, felt like something of a finality to Beca. The way Chloe’s expression wordlessly told her, “It’s okay, I get it. I always get it,” felt like a missed chance, a chance Beca has missed so many times before.

She doesn’t know when, exactly, she is going to run out of chances. But she can feel it, she can feel it falling from her slippery grasp.

Beca is not going to let it pass her by any longer; she can’t.

Perhaps it is the adrenaline still coursing throughout her body from the euphoria of performing for a crowd, her Bellas surrounding her, or perhaps it is the finality in Chloe’s silent stare. Whatever the reason, Beca’s feet carry her with unfamiliar confidence, in search—much like she usually is—of Chloe Beale.

I wasn’t actually afraid of the girls hating me for accepting Khaled’s offer, she is going to tell her, I was afraid of accepting because I’m afraid of what it could lead to. I’m scared to leave, to not see your face every single day. I’m scared of being without y—

Beca stops abruptly in her tracks, gaze widening and heart sinking as she drinks in the sight before her, the sight of Chloe’s arms wrapped around their tour guide’s neck, his lips crashing against those lips Beca’s gaze had drifted to only moments before.

It is like a train wreck, like an excruciating, horrific sight that Beca does not want to look at, but that she can’t even tear her stare from.

By the time they part—Chloe and Chicago—Beca is still staring, still watching with frozen limbs and widened eyes. There is a smile on Chloe’s lips, one that doesn’t quite meet her eyes, but that is distinctly a smile nonetheless. It falls as she straightens up, though, familiar blue eyes drifting toward Beca. Chloe opens her mouth, as if to say something, maybe to explain herself… But Beca cuts her off with a brief shake of her head, and a smile that silently tells her, “I get it. I always get it, too.”

*

The next time Beca sees Chloe, she is standing at the door of her hotel room. No longer is Beca wearing her sequinned dress and faux leather jacket, dressed to the nines like the professional performer she has just somehow managed to trick everyone into believing she is. Instead, she wears a baggy, oversized sleep shirt, make up removed and hair no longer neatly styled.

Chloe, on the other hand, looks just as she had all night; her black dress hugs her waist perfectly, red waves popping brightly against the backdrop of her black leather jacket. Beca tries her hardest not to stare.

“There you are,” Chloe states with a relieved sigh. Beca notes the way her shoulders seem to drop slightly, and it is as if she is watching the tension leave her body. “I’ve been looking everywhere for you.”

“Well,” Beca responds with momentarily raised brows. In spite of herself, she steps aside, silently motioning Chloe in. “Looks like you found me.”

It seems to take a second or two for Chloe to take in Beca’s change of clothes. Auburn brows tug slightly, gaze sweeping over Beca’s torso. “You know everyone is, like, partying still, right?” Chloe says, head tilting slightly. Beca is not actively looking at her, though she cannot help but steal glances here and there. The way Chloe’s nose wrinkles is kind of adorable, she has to silently admit. “It’s kind of all for you.”

Lamely, Beca shrugs a shoulder, proceeding to fold her dress to lay neatly down in her suitcase. “I don’t really feel like it.”

Chloe pauses for a brief moment. “Okay… Well,” she begins in her usual cheerful voice, “You were incredible out there, Bec. Seriously, it was like watching a superstar.”

All Beca does is grunt in acknowledgment, continuing to busy herself with halfhearted packing.

Chloe’s repeated hesitance is obvious in response. “Um. Beca, are you okay?”

“Fine,” Beca responds dryly, hands planting against her hips as she straightens her body. Her back is still toward Chloe, though she can hear familiar footsteps approaching.

“You don’t seem fine,” Chloe retorts.

Slowly, Beca drags in her top lip with her bottom teeth, turning on the spot to face Chloe. She notes the look in Chloe’s eyes, the one that tells her she is trying to properly read her. All Beca does is shrug.

“You know, you’re kind of impossible sometimes,” Chloe says through a small yet obviously exasperated sigh.

Again, Beca simply shrugs. She sucks in her cheeks in thought, head shaking gently. “Just leave it, Chlo.”

Despite so many almosts, so many words left unsaid, it is like, somehow, Beca and Chloe are always on the same page. No, they don’t voice as such, but they know each other well enough to know the other’s mind. Beca is willing to bet that Chloe knows exactly what is wrong with her, the same way Beca knows that Chloe knows it.

“You know,” Chloe murmurs, tone a little more defeated this time, “There are two people in this…” She trails off.

“In this what?” Beca questions, words leaving her almost without prior thought.

“Friendship,” Chloe continues cautiously.

It is not fair really, the way the word causes Beca’s heart to sink. Because that is what this is, it’s a friendship. She and Chloe are friends—just friends—they’re nothing more. In spite of everything, of those looks and those desperate, yearning stares, those wordless admissions, all they are is friends. Beca is resigning herself to the fact that that is all they are going to be.

Beca doesn’t intend to say anything more—what more is there to say? Though, apparently her expression betrays her, the way her mouth opens as if to begin reeling off a whole speech, words dying on her tongue, would say otherwise. Chloe sees it, too.

“No,” Chloe says, evidently noting the way Beca has stopped herself short already. “Say it.” Beca stares with knitted brows. “Whatever you were going to say,” Chloe clarifies, “Say it.”

“I…” Beca begins, though just as quickly cuts herself off. Rather than proceed, she instead softly shakes her head, dry chuckle leaving her lips.

“Beca,” Chloe says, feet carrying her forward, until there is barely a gap between them. With Chloe in heels and Beca barefoot, she feels ten times smaller than usual. She stares up at Chloe, blinking through her own silent emotions. Chloe stares expectantly in response. “What are you afraid of?”

The question causes Beca to pause, causes her to swallow thickly. Before seeing Chloe and Chicago together, Beca was ready to pour her heart out, to tell Chloe exactly how she feels, exactly what she is afraid of. She thinks she was going to tell her, anyway. Now, though, with Chloe standing before her, just the two of them with no distractions, Beca suddenly loses access to her voice.

Chloe doesn’t push at first, not with words. She just continues to stare, to scan Beca’s expression, to try to read her mind. Beca notes the way Chloe’s gaze lowers slightly, the way Beca’s lowers, too. She watches as Chloe’s tongue flickers out momentarily between the part in her lips, takes note of her now faded gloss.

“What are you afraid of?” Chloe echoes, voice a little quieter this time.

God, Beca wants to say, so many things. She is afraid of the way her heart has begun to race, of the way her hands have begun to shake. Beca is afraid of how closely Chloe is standing to her, how badly Beca wants nothing more than to close the small gap between them and press her lips to Chloe’s. She is afraid of how much she wants to show her that kissing Chicago was a mistake, and it should’ve been Beca she was kissing all along.

“You’re just so…” She tries instead, tone a little more annoyed than intended. Beca’s lips purse, gaze burning harshly into Chloe’s face.

“I’m just so what?” Chloe questions, evidently taking in the expression, watching the way Beca looks as though she is about to inexplicably explode. She clearly notes Beca’s frustrated groan. “Beca—”

Perhaps it is the adrenaline again, the thing that has Beca stepping forward. Yeah, she decides, that’s it, it’s adrenaline. It is adrenaline that has Beca reaching forward to grasp firmly onto the fabric of Chloe’s dress, that has her stretching up onto her toes and wrapping her other arm around Chloe’s neck. It is adrenaline that has Beca tugging Chloe forward, and she assumes it is adrenaline that has Chloe so easily complying.

Before she even realizes what she is doing, Beca’s hand releases its grasp on Chloe’s dress, arm instead looping around Chloe’s neck, until the feeling of Chloe’s lips crashing against her own causes Beca’s eyes to flutter shut.

Beca has imagined kissing Chloe before. She has imagined small pecks, deep make out sessions. This is certainly no small peck, she realizes as Chloe’s fingers grasp needily at her waist, hastily tugging her body closer. Beca’s lips part to deepen the desperate, long overdue kiss, and she notes the way Chloe’s do the same.

Chloe’s palms curl against Beca’s back, Beca’s arms tightening instinctively around Chloe’s neck, and it is as if neither ever wants to let go.

“You’re so frustrating,” Beca finally murmurs breathlessly against Chloe’s lips, though she has no intention of pulling away. Instead, her tongue slips between the gap in Chloe’s lips, some form of release crashing over her at the feeling of Chloe’s tongue moving expertly against her own. Beca tightens her hold further, while Chloe begins to guide her backward and toward the bed.

Already, Beca finds that she is fighting for breath, that her chest is rising and falling faster as her back softly hits the mattress. Though her arms remain in place, she pulls back to stare upward at Chloe hovered over the top of her, drinks in the darkened look in Chloe’s familiar stare.

“Is that what you wanted to tell me?” Chloe asks, words somewhat breathless already, too. “On stage, you were going to say something. You almost did. Is that it?”

Beca stares. She stares in a way she has stared at Chloe so many times before, drinks in the sight of every pale feature, the familiarity of the bluest eyes staring back at her. In place of a verbal response, Beca lifts her head to push her lips against Chloe’s again, a motion Chloe eagerly reciprocates.

Beca doesn’t know what is happening, not really. She just knows that there are no more almosts; there is no room left for almost.

[ladyreapermc]

Fic: Play to Win (Keanu x F!Reader)

Summary: you make a bet with Keanu. Whover loses has to get naked. The only problem? You had no clue on how to play pool.

Pairing: Keanu x F!Reader

Author’s notes: this one came to me after seeing those gifs of baby Keanu playing pool in a interview. Feedback is greatly appreciated.

Wordcount: 2108

Warnings: alcohol; smut (unprotected sex)

This had to be one of the worst ideas you had ever had in a very long time. Challenging Keanu to strip pool? How could that ever end well? Especially when you barely knew how to play. You used to watch your dad play when you were little. All your knowledge came from there. It definitely didn’t give you any ability to pull this off.

You could blame the alcohol and the building sexual tension that you had been trying very hard to ignore whenever Keanu came over. He was friends with the owner so he would hang at the bar, talking to Owen while you served tables. Whenever you took a break, he would buy you a beer, chatting you up.

You didn’t usually do clients, but it was really hard to resist that boyish smile, warm brown eyes, and dark hair that kept falling over his face. Plus, he was the perfect gentleman, sweet and funny. It was hard to resist.

So here you were after the bar was closed and Owen went home, playing pool against Keanu and losing shamefully. You could barely stay standing without swaying from side to side. The world seemed to be spinning because you just had three shots of tequila. One for each lost match. One for each piece of clothing that left your body.

First your boots. Then your belt and your button-up. Keanu had lost one – probably out of pity – and had ditched his own boots, but that was all.

“Your turn.” He flashed a smirk, taking a step back from the table after sinking three balls at once. You stumbled forward, setting the cue on your shaky hand, your vision blurry as you tried to aim your play.

“Here, let me help.”

Your body was engulfed by the heat of Keanu’s as he draped over your back, large, strong hands covering yours, steading them, his cheek pressed against yours and you could smell the sweetness of the agave in his lips.

He guided your arm, pulling it back and hitting the white ball with perfect strength for it to roll smoothly over the green felt until it hit ball five, sinking it in the right corner pocket. Keanu’s small, victorious chuckle vibrated all through your back and you felt the loss of his heat the second he pulled away.

“Let’s make this more interesting,” you said moving to the table and pouring yourself another shot. Liquid courage for what you were about to propose. “Loser takes off all.”

“Alright,” Keanu agreed with a smug smile, stealing the shot before you could take it and swallowing in one go, barely making a face. “Winner gets to pick the song the loser has to strip to it.”

“Deal.”

“Still your turn.”

Setting the bottle aside, you moved back to the pool table, evaluating your shot despite the dizziness fogging your brain. You had to come up with the perfect angle to get the white ball at least in the vicinity of the sixth ball, but it was a shot you couldn’t make it sober, let alone half-drunk. Might as well throw the shot.

You lined your cue, hitting the white ball and watching as it missed the right ball by several inches and you groaned, standing back and letting Keanu make his play. You watched as he bent over the table and couldn’t help but tilt your head to get a better glimpse of the perfectly shaped ass and the muscled legs clad in tight jeans.

The noise of a ball hitting the pocket made you snap to attention, gaze returning to the game just as Keanu straightened up, cue in hand, one eyebrow arched at you. He had just sunk the ninth ball.

“Ops,” he said almost as an afterthought, putting his cue away, hands coming to the buttons of his shirt “Guess I lost this one. Wanna pick the song?”

“This one is fine,” you said, hanging your cue too, lower lip caught between your teeth as you watched glorious golden skin being exposed inch by inch at every button undone.

Keanu was taking a step towards you with each motion until he had you cornered against the pool table as his shirt hung open framing strong, chiseled chest, marked by a vertical sunken scar on his middle.

You let your hands slide up the plains of his torso, until their reached his shoulders, pushing the fabric down his arms and to the floor as Keanu bent down to kiss you, mouth hot and demanding, tasting sweet and sour as his tongue tangled with yours, his long, nimble fingers coming to the hem of your top, tugging up slightly.

“Nops!” you pulled away from the kiss with a smirk, stilling his hands. “You get naked and then I get naked. Maybe.”

“Pretty sure you will.” He smirked too, taking a step back from you and kicking his socks off.

“I wouldn’t be so cocky,” you commented as Keanu undid his jeans, making you nearly choke when he pulled it down and showed he wasn’t really wearing anything underneath.

Your eyes landed on his large erection, nestled among dark hairs, standing proud and heavy, despite being only semi-hard and it enough to make your mouth water and arousal pool between your legs.

“You were saying something about being cocky…” he teased smugly, and your glare lacked any real heat because all you wanted was to have his dick in your mouth. “Now you.”

You couldn’t help the shyness that overtook you as you reached for the hem of your top, hesitating slightly. Here you were, standing in front of a real Hollywood hunk and what exactly did you have to offer?

Maybe Keanu sensed you sudden uncertainty because he closed the distance between the two of you, his palms closing over yours and when you tilted your head up to look at him, his mouth found yours for a deep kiss that chased away all thoughts from your head as he undid your jeans and shoved down your legs.

You were still lost in the heaven of his mouth as you kicked the garment aside, your arms coming around his neck as Keanu pulled your closer to his body, kneading your ass, making you moan against his lips at the feel of his hard cock pressed against your belly. You only broke the kiss when he tugged your top off, pausing to look at you on your underwear, his lips drawing into a smile, his eyes softening.

“So, fucking beautiful!” he whispered, before claiming your mouth again, hoisting you up until you were seated on the edge of the pool table and Keanu stood between your legs.

“You know I’ve wanted you from the moment I met you?” his mouth was hot and harsh against your neck and chest, biting and sucking, leaving marks all over your skin.

“Why didn’t you say something?” you asked, leaning back to give him more room to work, his teeth scraping over your belly, making you jolt and giggle.

“Because Owen said you didn’t date customers,” he mumbled against your center, his hot breath against the soaked fabric of your panties making you shiver.

“I usually don’t,” you replied, your hand coming to his dark mane, tugging just enough to get Keanu to look up at you, meet your gaze and see your smirk. “Not unless they are Johnny fucking Utah.”

And how did he managed to sound adorable with that embarrassed little laugh when he was about to eat you out, you didn’t know. One of the many wonders of Keanu, you guessed.

“Besides, this isn’t dating,” you said as you laid back and he pulled the cotton of your panties aside to expose your folds to his hungry gaze and wandering digits. “This is fucking.”

That last word dragged out like a curse at the first touch of his tongue against the heat between your legs. Keanu dragged his tongue over your slit, the broad muscle gathering your juices like it was the sweetest treat, before coming to flick on your clit.

Should you be surprised he was this good? Not really, from what you heard, Keanu was great at everything he put his mind to it and right now he seemed keen in bringing you to the brink as fast as possible because he was working your pussy like a starved man faced with his last meal.

Rivulets of pleasure gathered at your center, building up like a dam ready to burst; You could feel the surge starting to overtake you, you just need a little more, a little harder. You needed to be filled and stretched and taken for all that you were worth.  

“Fuck me,” you gasped, tugging on his black locks so you could meet the darkened eyes. “Right now. Please.”

“Turn around,” he commanded, voice throaty, eyes hooded as he manhandled you in position, your chest pressed against the green felt, your ass in the air as Keanu pressed two fingers inside you, making you moan. “Damn! You so fucking tight.”

“Ke, I don’t want your fingers, I want…”

“I know, darling,” he cut you off, lips pressing against your back as he fingered you hard and fast, once again chasing away coherent thought. “But I don’t wanna hurt you.”

Your body responded for you, moving back against his fingers, trying to chase the high that they offered. You could feel the small cracks eating away your self-control, leaving you at Keanu’s mercy.

A pathetic little whine fell from your mouth when Keanu pulled his fingers away, but before you could muster the will to complain, you felt the head of his cock finding its way between your folds, pushing inside and you had to bite down your arm to muffle the loud cry threatening to leave your mouth.

You felt speared in half, his thick length pulsing and twitching against your walls as you tried to acclimate to the intrusion. It hurt a little, but the good kind of ache that you welcomed and signaled the beginning of bliss.

Pushing back against him, you babbled pleas for Keanu to move and when he finally did, all of your senses were reduced to the feel of him, fucking you, his pace slow and steady at first. His strong arms pulling you against his chest, one hand coming to caress your throat, teasing you with the possibilities of what it could do to you, the other moving south, swirling your clit as Keanu started to thrust faster, harder. He panted, cursed and grunted against your ear, his hips slapping and slamming against your ass, his digits rubbing fast, slick with your wetness.

There it was it again, the surge, wavelike, building and growing.  All you could focus on was it. On the way it spread through you, making your body tense and shake, tearing a breathless cry from your lips as it swallowed you, blinding and deafening you to everything else.

“Yes! Just like that…” Keanu growled, mouthing your jaw, his voice sounding distant in the depths of your orgasm. “You’re squeezing me so tight. Fuck!”

You were barely aware of the way he sped up, pushing you down again, one hand on your back, the other on your hip as he fucked you hard and fast, chasing his release against the pulsing walls of your pussy. You were still too lost in your own bliss that seemed to stretch and evolve, building all over again, even faster this time.

Keanu cursed harshly as he stilled and spilled inside you with a long groan, his cock pulsing and twitching inside you as he kept working your clit, flickering and swirling.

“Come on darling,” he asked breathlessly. “Give me one more.”

And like your body was just waiting for that request, another orgasm rushed through, making you cry out and your fingers dig into the hard surface of the table as your pussy throbbed around him and Keanu groaned and chuckled against your sweaty back.

“That’s it,” he sighed. “You feel so fucking good.”

He pressed soft kisses against your spine as both of you tried to recover from your high. You were thankful he was holding you down because, your knees were weak, and you were pretty sure you would slide to the floor if Keanu let you go.

“We should play pool more often,” he mumbled against your back, making you giggle and turn your head to try and look at him.

“Are you gonna let me win again?”

“If it’s in my best interest…” he smirked, resting his chin on your spine. “Probably. Yeah.”

xxx

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[redrobinhoood]

the lakes | chapter 2, how the mighty fall

AO3 Link | 3,100 words (approx) | Chapter 1, Chapter 3

A/N: Please mind the rating! Mature content really starts after the *s for those who would like to read up to there.

Chapter summary: Fox and Riyo consult with a doctor on the state of Fox’s injury [M rating]

Riyo’s eyes wandered around the small clinic as she leaned against Fox’s shoulder, waiting for the doctor on staff to call them in. She remembered now why they had not chosen to live in town. The paranoia that some being would recognize Fox would have killed her. The scruff of a beard that he was growing helped to conceal his identity, but nothing could be done for his eyes and the set of his brow. Even if it could, he still presented himself as a soldier in his stance and demeanor. She would never be able to truly hide him.

“Do you think they do hypertests?” Fox murmured, moving his arm that wrapped around her waist to a more comfortable position.

“I don’t know, Fox.” She muttered back. She had never seen a hypertest, but she had been in Fox’s office when Rys had returned from a physical. She’d watched him fall asleep hunched over against Fox’s desk, exhausted and unable to keep his eyes open anymore. Then she’d watched him to make sure he was safe as Fox ran off to respond to a prison breach. She’d even leant a hand when Stone had come in and begun to stack some of Fox’s loose datapads across Rys’ shoulders. The memory brought with it an immense sadness. Not because it was sad, but because she would never see those men again. “Do you remember the time that Stone started a betting ring on us kissing on camera?”

“You mean, do I remember shoving Kilo into a trashcan? How could I forget.” He said coolly. But he was smiling. “I could have fit Stone in there too, but he had too much dirt on me.”

“Any you care to share?”

“Well, he was there the first time I puked from stress. So that’s one.”

Riyo scoffed in disbelief. In the time she had known Fox, he’d carried his stress with grace. Or at least he had when he was around her. “When was that?”

“Geonosis. About six minutes after I received my assigned command.” He sighed and tightened his grip around her waist. “I never wanted to be in charge. The burden would’ve been too much if it wasn’t for Stone and Thorn.”

“You never talk about Thorn.”

Fox went silent, and for a moment Riyo thought that he wouldn’t answer her, but he did, speaking deliberately. “I don’t have the words to tell you what Thorn meant to me. He kept me alive, Riyo. He kept me human, even when being human hurt. When he died, I didn’t feel anything. I’ve still never felt anything for his death. I don’t think that’s healthy.”

“No, I don’t think it is either.” She agreed. “If you ever find the words, Fox, I’ll be there for you.”

“About that, Ri, I think that we sh-.”

“Chuchi?”

Fox and Riyo looked up at the medic called them.

“We’ll talk later.” Fox said quietly as they stood and approached the medic.

“Are you Fox Chuchi?” The medic asked.

“Just Fox.” Fox corrected. “Your system wouldn’t let me leave my surname blank.”

The medic looked to Riyo. “Are you family?”

When Riyo hesitated, Fox answered for her. “Yes. She is.”

Riyo kept any surprise off her face- she’d be thinking about this moment for days- as she nodded in agreement.

If the medic wasn’t convinced, they didn’t show it. “Follow me.”

Riyo wrapped her arms around Fox’s elbow as they followed the medic to a small room in the back. It would add credibility to their claim of being family, and, if nothing else, it brought her comfort. She let go when the medic gestured Fox towards the exam table, taking a seat in the chair beside it.

Once they had been seated, the medic was gone, replaced a moment later by a Bothan, who introduced himself as the head doctor and leaned against the counter opposite Fox as they explained why they were there. The doctor waited for Fox to finish before he spoke. “If you wouldn’t mind, would you take off your shirt so that I can examine the scar tissue?”

Fox hesitated a moment before nodding and slipping the shirt over his head. Riyo knew that memories of Kamino and the treatment that he and his brothers had previously received at doctors’ hands must be going through his mind.

The doctor’s eyes scanned up and down Fox’s torso. “You were a soldier?”

“Yes.” Fox’s impassive expression didn’t flicker.

“Then you must have fought in the Clone War. May I ask which side?”

Fox shook his head. “I don’t know anymore.”

“Fair enough.” The doctor laughed. “Let me take some readings before we discuss this new injury.”

Riyo watched as the tension in Fox’s shoulders drained with every gentle hand the doctor lay on him as he began to quietly take note of Fox’s health. Finally, he spoke again when he had lain his stethoscope against Fox’s chest. “Have you ever had any lung injuries?”

“No.”

“Considering the array of scars you have here, that’s quite lucky. Any broken bones?”

“My cheek, once. When I was very young.”

“And how’d that happen?”

“My brother was much stronger than I was.” Fox smiled nostalgically, and Riyo finally allowed herself to fully relax with Fox at such ease.

“And this new injury, what caused it?” The doctor stroked the back of his finger against the scar in the center of Fox’s chest as he spoke.

“I took a hit from a sniper rifle three months ago,” Fox paused for a moment, then turned to Riyo, “to save her.” As was the official story. Officially, Commander Fox had died of sepsis after bravely throwing himself between Senator Chuchi and an assassin. The infection hadn’t been caught in time to save him. Only four beings knew the truth.

“You must be very proud of your husband.” The doctor said.

Riyo’s hands gripped the arms of the chair, and even her practice in the halls of the Senate was not enough to hide the look of shock that briefly crossed her features. Then she had her face back under control, and she was thankful that the doctor hadn’t turned to look at her as he spoke. “I am.” She managed.

If her voice shook, the doctor didn’t comment on it. “Did they do a bacta flush of your system?” The doctor asked as he traced his fingers across the surgical scar around the wound.

“Yes. For three days when I was in the bacta tank.”

“How long were you in the tank?”

“About a week.”

The doctor was quiet as he continued to examine the scars. “The army doctors didn’t care for aesthetics when they stitched you up, did they?”

Fox didn’t answer.

“Well, best I can tell, you’re fine. But you should’ve been in that tank for longer than a week, and I have a feeling they ripped up your liver when they were securing the bacta flush system. We can do a soft tissue scan to make sure everything is healing if you’d like, for peace of mind.”

Fox glanced over at Riyo, who nodded in agreement. “I would like that.” He decided.

The doctor nodded and stepped out of the room to fetch a medical droid. In his absence, Riyo stood up and walked over to Fox, placing an arm on his thigh. “I told you they took you out too early.”

Fox reached over and pressed his curled fingers under her chin, lifting her head ever so slightly with his touch. “Yes, you did.” His hand fell when the door began to slide open again and the doctor returned with a medical droid in tow. Riyo stepped back, returning to Fox’s side when he had lain down and standing beside his head as she watched the medical droid run a small imaging array over Fox’s stomach. She glanced over to the monitor displaying the visual but turned back to Fox when she realized that she wouldn’t be able to make sense of it all without the doctor’s explanation.

“How much of your liver did you lose?” The doctor asked as he looked at the monitor.

“I don’t know.” Fox admitted. “I never cared to ask.”

“Well, it’s healing, but I’d stay away from alcohol and other liver stressors for another three months or so to keep any strain off it until it’s fully healed. Your stomach appears to have healed, it probably received more bacta from the flush than your liver did, and I wouldn’t be surprised if you’d received more liver damage from the flush than you did healing.”

“He’s going to be okay?” Riyo asked.

“He’ll make a full recovery.” The Bothan assured her. “However, let me give you some senoti cream to help with the scarring.” When Fox and Riyo laughed, the doctor gave them a questioning look.

“We have a history with senoti cream.” Riyo explained. “It’s probably the reason we got together in the first place. Applying it was a good tension breaker.”

The doctor smiled. “I see. Then I don’t need to worry about any reactions if you’ve used it before. I’ll have a medic bring it in here, then you are free to go. I wish you the best of luck in your recovery, Fox.”

“Thank you.”

“Doctor?” Riyo called before the Bothan could step out of the room. “How did a medical expert like you end up in the middle of nowhere?”

The doctor hesitated, then sighed and turned back to them. “For the same reasons that many of the beings in the settlement did, including you, I’m sure. I spoke out against the Empire. And they don’t take kindly to that.”

She nodded solemnly. “No, they don’t.”

---

Riyo watched as Fox raised another spoonful of soup to his mouth. If he noticed her stare, he gave no indication of it, keeping his eyes locked on the sunset over the lake. His body was curled perfectly in the mossy roots of the tree, the mug of soup resting in the curl of his torso. Riyo had already finished hers, despite having drawn more from the pot than Fox had drawn, and had set the empty mug aside on a flatter portion of root.

“What was it you wanted to talk about earlier, at the clinic?” She asked once he had set his mug aside as well.

“Can we talk about that tomorrow?” He turned to look over at her, causing the fading light to catch against the scars that cut through the sides of his neck and through his lips.

“Anything for my sun god.” She smiled reassuringly.

“Blasphemy.” Fox scoffed before turning back to the sunset, the ghost of a smile lingering on his lips.

Riyo stood up from her own root hollow and made her way to Fox’s side, sinking down into the moss beside him and laying her head on his shoulder. “I wish it were.”

When Fox wrapped an arm around her waist and pulled her into his lap, she didn’t protest, wrapping her legs around him and leaning over to kiss him. She hummed as she felt his hands slide up under her shirt to grasp her waist, then rest warmly over the top of her hips. This could have never happened on Coruscant. For one, there was no nature there. But even if there had been, she and Fox would have never had the privacy to kiss in this way due to their positions in the Republic, or Empire.

“It’s not anything life changing is it?” She asked when Fox had broken away to breathe.

“Ri.”

“It is.”

“It’s something I want to think about how to say for a while longer.”

“You’re breaking up with me?”

“You’ll find out tomorrow!” But the twinkle in his eyes kept her at peace. She had seen Fox be cruel, and this was not it.

“It’d better be worth the wait.”

“I think it is.”

“And I trust you.” She leaned down to kiss him again. This time, she was the one to break it. “Let’s go home, I’m cold.”

“Am I not warm enough for you?” Fox asked.

“You’re a furnace, Fox. Maybe I just want to go home.”

“We can go home.” The words sounded right to her, coming from his lips. Home. Their home.

She slid off his lap before standing and offering a hand to Fox to help him stand with her. They gathered their cooling mugs and set back down the path that led to their home from the lake. As they stepped back into the trees, Riyo cast one last look over her shoulder at the fading light on the water.

When they’d returned home, they set their dishes in the sink before Riyo shooed Fox off to go apply the senoti cream to his wound while she washed the dishes. After they had been rinsed and dried, she walked over into their bedroom, then the bathroom to check on Fox. She found him leaning over the sink, head hanging low with the unopened container of cream beside him.

“Are you okay?” She padded over to him and lay a hand on his shoulder blade.

“Just nausea.” He assured her. “It’s fading.”

“Here.” She took the container from the counter and slid her hand up to grasp his shoulder, gently tugging him upright and steering him towards their bed. She pushed him down so that he was sitting on the mattress before setting the senoti cream beside him and sliding her arms into his shirt, gently lifting it over his head and shoulders. Opening the container and dipping her hands into the cream, she reached towards his torso and began to rub the cream into the scar tissue. Fox’s breathing fluttered with her touch and she hoped that the cause of it was not pain. When the new scars were thoroughly covered, she gathered the excess on her fingers and brought it down to the long, thin line that crossed through Fox’s abs. A reminder of a time she had nearly lost him. With Fox sitting patiently before her, she climbed onto the bed behind him before dipping her fingers in the jar once again and pressing her fingers against the clean, faded scar that sat between his shoulder blades. One of the two he had received when he saved her life. The other sat at his waist, just as faded as the first, and was the last one that she rubbed the senoti cream into.

“This brings back some old memories.” He said when she had pulled away.

She screwed the lid of the container back on and tossed it towards the head of the bed before she spoke. “Like this one?” She moved to wrap her legs around his waist and placed her hands against his neck, beginning to rub the skin in slow, circular motions.

Fox let out a light moan. “That’s just the one.”

When she had moved down to his shoulder blades, she leaned her head forward and began to press kisses down the side of Fox’s neck as she continued to work her fingers against his skin.

Fox leaned his head back, allowing himself to go limp against her. “Never mind, this is better.”

“You have always been a sap for physical contact.” Riyo said against his skin. When she could no longer leverage her body weight against his, she wrapped her arms around his torso and continued to place kisses along his neck. “Want me to do the rest of your back?”

“In a few minutes. I want to stay like this for longer.” He tangled his arms in hers and took her hands in his.

“Okay.” She went back to pressing kisses against his neck, settling herself over his artery when she heard his breathing hitch as she passed over it. She could feel the vibration of his vocal cords when he moaned under her touch. “How the mighty fall, Marshal Commander.”

“No titles.” He begged.

“Is that an order, Commander?”

“Riyo, please.”

She smirked against his skin before sucking against the soft flesh over Fox’s artery until he was gasping underneath her.

“I changed my mind. I’m getting you back for this.”

******

She let her lips pop when she pulled away from his neck and straightened up to look down at him. “I don’t know what you mean.”

Fox pulled her arms away and stood up from the mattress to look down at her. “Riyo, do I have your permission to make you suffer as I have suffered tonight?”

Riyo could practically feel the green arcs on her cheeks darkening. “You have my permission, Marshal Commander Fox.”

“You’re going to give yourself a complex, Ri.”

“I think I already have.” She laughed. “Just give me you and your kama any day.”

Fox set his hands on the bed and leaned over to look at her. “And who’s the one wearing the kama?”

“I haven’t decided yet.” She closed her eyes when Fox wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her over to the edge of the mattress. His hands slid up into her shirt once again, this time pulling the material with them until Riyo’s chest was bared. Riyo rested her arms on Fox’s shoulder blades when he bent down to kiss across her breast. Her eyes snapped open when Fox pushed her down onto the mattress before shutting once again as he began to trail kisses down her torso, pressing his face into the contours of her body with his hands leading the way down. She pushed her hips up when he reached her stomach, allowing him to hook his fingers around her waistband and pull down her pants and underwear in one fluid motion.

Fox reached an arm up to lay across her hips, pinning her to the mattress. “May I?”

She lifted her head to look down at him. The playful twinkle that had lit his eyes earlier had transformed into an eager gleam in his dark gaze.

“Yes.”

She watched as Fox gently tugged her legs apart and lowered his head to the inside of one of her thighs. Any further hopes of watching were gone the moment his lips brushed against the soft skin and she let her head fall back with a sigh as he worked inwards. When he buried his face between her legs she couldn’t help the low moan that escaped her lips as he brushed against her. With his arm across her hips, she couldn’t move to relieve the frustration he was beginning to build in her. But she knew one thing. She liked the beard. She really liked the beard.

[writethehousedown]

In My Head, We Belong (Crystal/Gigi) Chapter Three -- Zyan

a/n: hiya! here I come with chapter three :D we’re getting there, folks. For the ones that follow me on my side-blog ( @chachkisalpaca ) and read the mini-fics I’m constantly posting, there might be a familiar bit in the middle of the chapter. ;)

Frey remains the best beta even if she’s tired of my bullshit, love you 🤠

“Let me see if I understand correctly,” Jan says as Gigi takes her measurements. Gigi rolls her eyes, completely embarrassed at Jan’s slightly mocking tone. “You had the perfect opportunity to tell Crystal you like her due to the irony of her comment.” Jan pauses and turns to face Gigi, who groans and tells her to be still. “And then you didn’t?”

“And then I didn’t,” Gigi repeats, staring back at Jan.

Jan snorts as Gigi finishes taking her measurements. The blonde rolls her eyes and walks toward the table, adding the measurements to the sketch of Jan’s dress.

“Y’know, you’re the last person that should be making fun of me,” Gigi points out in an accusatory tone. Jan immediately shuts her mouth, knowing exactly what Gigi’s talking about, but refusing to acknowledge it.

She wanders around the room, trying to look interested in the many mannequins with half-finished dresses. Gigi looks at her over her shoulder, and her face softens up a little.

“Jan, if it helps in any way, I think she definitely likes you too,” she says softly with a smile, and Jan sighs a little before coming closer.

“Is it true? That everyone knows about us already,” she asks with a small voice. Gigi chuckles with a nod and Jan’s cheeks turn red. “Oh my God, it was Yuhua, wasn’t it? She went around spreading it. I knew I saw someone behind the door, but Jaida didn’t believe me.” Jan folds her arms with a pout and Gigi laughs loudly.

“She’s a loud mouthed bitch; you can bet everyone knows already. I think there’s also a bet on when you two are gonna become official, ‘cause, y’know, you usually look at Jaida with heart eyes. Even if Yuhua didn’t discover you two, you kinda just give it away with the way you look at her, which is ironic because everyone but her seems to notice.”

Gigi laughs and Jan hides her face in her palms, her face getting redder with each second. She squeals a little and Gigi goes over to her to pat her shoulder.

“Same,” she merely says as she keeps on patting Jan’s shoulder.

When Jan’s embarrassment washes off, she looks at Gigi bashfully.

“Do you really think she likes me?” She wonders, her voice is small and there’s a tinge of hope in her tone.

Gigi smiles warmly; she knows Jaida, they’ve been friends for years now —Jaida got her the job at the restaurant, actually— and she’s never seen her friend so infatuated with someone. She’s naturally deadpan most of the time, but it took Gigi a total of five seconds to put two and two together, having noticed the way Jaida is more cheerful around Jan, how, when they have night outs, Jaida turns down everyone to dance with her, and she remains sober to take good care of her, how sometimes she smiles at the things Jan does or says when she thinks no one is watching her.

Gigi is positive her friend’s feelings are beyond a simple liking. But she’ll let Jan discover that herself.

She feels a twitch of jealousy when Jan leaves with a promise of asking Jaida out per Gigi’s advice and telling her how it goes. Gigi knows that Jaida will say yes.

She’s happy for her friends, really; she knows they’re good for each other and will make a lovely couple. But she can’t help but want what they have, or will have, anyway.

Gigi starts constructing Jan’s dress and tries, for the love of everything holy, to push Crystal to the back of her brain.

*

The next week Jan calls her and screeches so loud Gigi has to put her phone away until she stops.

It goes without saying that she has a date with Jaida. She pretty much just starts rambling about what she’s going to do now, where she’s going to take her, what she should wear; Jan is freaking out because she asked Jaida out on an impulse and hasn’t planned anything.

At work she’s got Jan being all giggly around Jaida, and talking to her in hurried whispers, asking for her opinion on various restaurants she thinks Jaida will like. Gigi merely tells Jan to send her a photo of the place later and she’ll judge it, all while juggling her orders.

It’s already confusing as it is, and then Crystal steps into the picture.

“Hey G, have I told you that you look stunning tonight?” She begins with a sing-sang tone and Gigi scoffs, already knowing she needs something.

Gigi’s hair is tied into a bun that is starting to fall apart four hours into her shift, her baby hairs are plastered across her forehead with sweat, there are various stains in her uniform, and she’s not wearing an ounce of make-up; Gigi thinks she’s many things, but right now ‘stunning’ isn’t one of them.

“Yeah, right, and Silky doesn’t cheat in Uno. Spill, what do you need?” She replies bluntly, hearing how Silky complains a few feet away. Crystal acts offended and Gigi chuckles.

“Why do you think I always compliment you when I want a favor? Jeez.” Crystal folds her arms and Gigi cocks a sly brow. “I was gonna ask you to let me borrow the dress you wore at Brianna’s birthday party anyway, compliment or not.”

“Absolutely not,” Gigi replies  without a second thought.

The dress Crystal’s talking about is one of her favorites, not only because she made it, but also because she looks nothing short of a goddess when she wears it. Gigi thinks for a moment how Crystal would look wearing it, and though it’d compliment her strawberry blonde hair, she refuses to give it away, just so Crystal can try to impress a man that doesn’t deserve her.

“Please, G! I’ll take the Sunday shift if you let me borrow it!” Crystal begs, putting on puppy eyes, a pout, and all that jazz. Gigi huffs, tapping her foot on the marble floor waiting for her order.

She knows Crystal has a date with this guy she’s been seeing for the past month, and to be honest, she doesn’t like him. He looks dodgy, he has bad breath, and his eyes seem to scan every girl in the room despite having Crystal hanging from his arm. Gigi can’t wrap her head around why or what does he have that attracts Crystal so much.

(Gigi would give everything she got to have what he has, but that’s not something she’ll ever say out loud.)

“You said that the time I lent you my orange skirt and I’m still here on Saturdays. Save your breath, Crys,” she replies as Dusty hands her order and she leaves.

But Crystal is insistent; she quickly grabs her order from Dusty’s hands and goes after her.

“Please! I’ll go talk to Widow right now if that’s what you want; I swear this time it’s for real!” She puts the clients’ orders down and speaks hurriedly to Gigi, who bites her lower lip. Having Sundays free does sound like a good deal…

(She tries not to think about the part where Crystal adds an extra day to her shift for a guy she’ll eventually regret going out with.)

She gives in with an annoyed groan as they make their way back to the kitchen.

“Fine! But, bitch, I swear, I’ll haunt you down if you return it like you returned my green blouse,” Gigi warns, pressing her finger on Crystal’s chest. The green blouse affair had been with a different man; to this day Gigi feels the stickiness on the fabric. Why hadn’t she thrown it out yet, she doesn’t know.

“Thank you! I’ll go talk to Widow right now, love ya!” Crystal kisses her in the cheek, near her lips in a fast move that leaves Gigi breathless for a couple of seconds before Heidi tells her another one of her orders is up. “Oh, and Gigi?” Crystal says before she goes.

Gigi looks back at Crystal and her heart might just stop right there and then at the sight of her happy smile.

“You do look stunning.” She winks at her, and though Gigi is used to Crystal saying some variation of it whenever she complies with her wishes, it still makes her heart flutter.

The rest of the night goes uneventful, or, well, as uneventful as it can be on a full night; Jan still asks for her opinion in the most mundane things regarding her date, Crystal looks radiant, Jaida tries to keep her cool with asshole customers, and Dusty, Heidi and Silky decide to do their famous Who Can Cook Faster competition in the heat of the night, earning either an eye roll or a cheer from the girls, no in between.

*

“Are you done yet? It’s not that hard to tie the laces!” Gigi asks leaning against the doorframe.

It’s the day of Crystal’s date and she’s trying on the dress for the first time, part of Gigi knows it’s because that if it doesn’t fit her, Gigi is capable of wiping out a dress for her in the blink of an eye — also because she has a massive wardrobe and they’d for sure find something that fits Crystal.

“You say that because you designed it,” Crystal whines and Gigi chuckles. “Can you teach me how to tie it?” She inquires, opening the door and peeking slightly from behind.

Gigi swallows thickly and nods. The dress is made from a shiny black fabric and Gigi could’ve just turned it into a standard black mini dress with thin stripes, but she likes to stand out, so she deepened and widened the cleavage… A lot, and then did a pattern with stripes so the front resembled a corset. It fits her perfectly because her breasts are almost non-existent, but Crystal…

She steps into the room and her breath gets caught in her throat when she looks over at Crystal; she’s untied the stripes and is holding the dress in place, looking at her with a bashful expression. Gigi inhales deeply and comes closer to her, indicating to move her hands aside so she can tie it.

Gigi takes the ends of the stripes and narrates the whole process. Her fingers brush against Crystal’s warm skin while she’s working her way up the dress, and if she hears Crystal inhale sharply and feels her muscles tense under her touch, she doesn’t mention it.

She reaches the end and she’s careful when she tugs at the stripes to tighten the dress.

“… And then you can make a bow with the ends, like this, see?” Gigi instructs, trying not to let her voice quiver as she ties said bow.

When she’s done, she takes a step back and admires Crystal. It’s safe to say she’s lost the ability to speak completely.

When Gigi doesn’t say anything, Crystal heads to Gigi’s mirror and checks herself out. She lets out a little excited squeal that absolutely melts her heart.

“Gigi, it looks beautiful!” She exclaims with a toothy smile, admiring herself in the mirror.

“You are beautiful,” Gigi says without thinking it twice, looking at Crystal as if she’s the reason the sun comes out every day.

Crystal turns to look at her, and Gigi witnesses how her expressions change slowly.

A cold sweat runs down her back when Crystal squints slightly at her and inhales sharply. Has she noticed the way her fingers twitch after touching her skin? The way she looks at her with such yearn; longing to be the one she has a date with?

If she notices she doesn’t say it, and though Gigi is relieved it makes her heart tighten a little.

“Thank you so much, G,” she says softly, a smile blooming on her face. Gigi smiles widely. “You’re a great friend.”

Gigi freezes the smile on her face and nods. Though, on the inside she feels as if she’s wearing socks and just stepped into a puddle.

[thelazyhermits]

A New Furry Friend

So, my original intention was to just write a cute little drabble to go along with something that was brought up near the end of the first chapter of @euan112358‘s, A Bright Celebration, but I just kept writing until I got over 3000 words. Oops lol

I hope y’all enjoy it! ^-^

After preparing and eating a light lunch with Class 1-A, you find yourself cleaning up in the kitchen while the students are practicing their super moves that they have to have ready in time for the provisional license exam. Several of the students wanted to help you out with the cleaning, but you told them it’d be wiser to spend all their available time practicing rather than worry about taking care of some dirty dishes.

Besides, you don’t really mind being on cleanup duty since it gives you something to do. Aside from helping Hagakure improve on her hand-to-hand combat skills, you haven’t really been able to contribute much to the special training, meaning you’ve had a lot of free time on your hands.

So, right now, you’re perfectly fine doing anything that keeps you preoccupied since the last thing you want is to be stuck on the sidelines with nothing to do. Even something as mundane as washing dishes is more preferable to you than that.

Still, it’s not like you have a lot of cleaning up to do, so it doesn’t take you very long to take care of everything. As a result, it’s not long before you find yourself with nothing to do again.

Deciding you might as well see what’s going on with the students rather than try to find something else to do at the dorm, you head outside and make your way to the auditorium where Class 1-A is currently practicing. Not long after you start walking, a sound you’re not used to hearing on campus reaches your ears.

Your brows furrow. Am I hearing....barking?

Confused, you turn toward the direction the sound is coming from and see a brown and white bulldog running toward you at top speed. All you can do is stare at it with wide eyes. A dog?! Where in the world did a dog come from?!

As you’re mentally questioning his origins, the bulldog finally reaches his destination and starts running around you, giving you a little woof every so often. By the looks of it, the animal seems very excited to see you.

Once you realize that, your shocked expression fades, replaced with an excited one. “Awww, you’re so cute! Come here, boy!”

When you kneel down and outstretch your arms, the dog doesn’t hesitate to accept your invitation. You start giggling as he licks your face. “That tickles!”

For the next several minutes, you just pet the animal while showering him with compliments. Eventually, once you get over your excitement caused from meeting and interacting with a dog for the first time, you remember how strange this situation is. “It’s not unusual to see cats on campus since cats can pretty much get anywhere, but the same can’t be said for dogs. How in the world did you get here? You have a collar, so you’re obviously someone’s pet. Do you belong to someone here on campus?”

Unsurprisingly, you don’t get an actual answer from the bulldog just a soft woof. Thankfully, it doesn’t take you long to realize there’s someone who could get a proper response from the animal.

Smiling, you rise to your feet and motion for the dog to follow you. “Follow me! I know just the guy we need!”

Fortunately, you have no issues getting the bulldog to come along with you. Despite how enthusiastic he was to see you, you had thought he might not want to follow you to the gymnasium, but by the looks of it, the pet has no problem with accompanying you.

It’s when you both eventually come to a stop right outside the gymnasium that an idea comes to mind. “I wonder if you know any tricks.”

Deciding it wouldn’t hurt to try, you face the bulldog and hold out your hand toward him with your palm facing downwards. “Sit!”

A grin forms on your lips when the dog immediately sits down. “Good boy! Now, roll over!”

When he does just that, you clap your hands together before holding out one to him. “Shake!”

Your grin grows when he places his paw in your hand. “Amazing! You’re so well trained! What a good dog you are! I really wish I had some treats to give you!”

After you say that, the bulldog gives you a look that can only be described as being disappointed, making you feel really guilty. “Aw, please don’t look at me like that! I’m not used to meeting dogs, so I never thought to have dog treats on hand!”

Since your words don’t seem to appease the animal, you come up with an idea to hopefully cheer him up. “How about I learn how to make some doggy treats? I’m pretty sure I’ve heard that they can be made at home, so all I’d need to do is look up a good recipe. Once I find one I think I can do, I’ll make a batch and bring them to you. How’s that sound?”

Considering how the dog is now energetically circling you, you think he likes your idea a lot. Giggling, you move to open the door to the gymnasium, allowing the bulldog to enter first before you follow after him.

Shortly after you walk into the gym, you hear Aizawa’s voice addressing you. “Care to explain why you brought Vlad’s dog to the gym?”

You do a slow blink. “This is Vlad-san’s dog?”

He raises an eyebrow. “You didn’t know whose dog it was? Then, how the hell did you find it?”

While Midnight and Yagi take turns petting the bulldog, you move to approach the underground hero. “I didn’t find him. He found me. I was just walking over here from the dorm when he suddenly came running toward me out of nowhere. Since he’s not wearing any tags, I thought I’d ask Kouda who he belonged to, but I guess I don’t need to now.”

Aizawa sighs, “Not quite. We still have no idea why the dog is running free when Vlad should currently be off campus for hero work.”

Guess Kouda’s assistance will be needed after all. Before you can offer to go find the quiet boy, Ectoplasm says one of his clones has already told Kouda to start heading your way. How convenient.

Not long after that, a confused Kouda comes to a stop in front of you and Aizawa. He takes turns looking in between the two of you and the bulldog which is currently being doted on by the other teachers much to your amusement and Aizawa’s exasperation. 

The corners of your lips curve upwards. “Sorry to take you away from your training, Kouda, but we were hoping you could shed a little light on this situation. I found Vlad-san’s dog running free on my way here, but according to Aizawa-san, Vlad-san should be off campus right now. So, we’re wondering how his dog got out. Do you think you could ask him for us?”

Nodding, Kouda walks over to the bulldog and kneels down in front of him. You watch fascinated as the two hold a conversation that you can only understand half of all the while wondering what exactly the dog is saying.

A few minutes later, Kouda pets the animal’s head before rising to his feet and turning to face you. “Wally says that Vlad-sensei left his class in charge of him while Vlad-sensei was gone. Since it’s such a nice day, Vlad-sensei didn’t want to leave Wally cooped up inside all day, so he asked Class 1-B to look after him.”

Aizawa raises an eyebrow. “Obviously, they’re doing a great job at that considering where he is now. Did he explain how he ended up with Y/N?”

Kouda scratches his cheek. “It seems he ran away from Class 1-B while they were distracted. Wally said he smelt a delicious scent and went after it which eventually brought him to Y/N-sensei.”

An amused huff passes your lips. “I guess he smelled what I made for lunch and wanted a bite for himself.”

Wally barks in response to your words, making most of the teachers snort. Kouda hides a smile behind his hand as he nods his head to show that the bulldog is agreeing with you. 

With a sigh, Aizawa tiredly runs a hand down his face. “Most likely, Class 1-B is currently running around campus frantically looking for him, hoping to find him before Vlad gets back.”

Midnight laughs, “Oh yeah definitely. Those kids are in for some hellish training if he comes back and finds out they lost his dog. His training will make yours look like a walk in the park.”

Taking pity on Class 1-B, you decide you should ensure that doesn’t happen. “Then, I better hurry and get Wally back to them before it’s too late. I really don’t wanna see what training that’s more hellish than Aizawa-san’s looks like.”

A large scary grin appears on the underground hero’s face. “I dunno. Might be good inspiration for what I can do next for Class 1-A. Maybe we should just sit back and watch the show.”

As Kouda goes pale, you shake your head before gently patting the quiet boy’s arm. “It’s alright, Kouda. That won’t happen ‘cause I’m gonna take Wally back now. Thank you for translating for us.”

After giving you a shy smile, your student hurries back to the pillar that he was training on earlier. Meanwhile, you approach Wally who appears to be enjoying all the attention he’s getting from the teachers. “Alright, Wally, let’s go find Class 1-B. I bet they’re going crazy looking for you.”

Ectoplasm chuckles, “I think that’s an understatement. They’re likely looking for him like their lives depend on it.”

Cementoss nods, “Thankfully, Vlad should still be off campus, so if you hurry, I think you’ll be able to return Wally to his class before he can find out.”

Midnight smirks as she rises from her crouched position beside Wally. “Of course, that is if no one here tells Vlad.”

A frown forms on your lips as you wag a disapproving finger at her. “Midnight-san…”

She pouts, “Come on, Y/N. Let me have a little fun. I wanna tease them a little bit.”

While the other teachers shake their heads, Yagi sighs, “I don’t think that’s something a teacher should be saying, Midnight-kun.”

Her pout deepens. “You guys are no fun! Live a little!”

Aizawa just rolls his eyes. “Hurry up and get the dog to where he’s supposed to be, Y/N. The sooner this mess is taken care of, the better.”

Nodding, you motion for the bulldog to follow you out of the gymnasium. Once you’re outside, you decide to head for the 1-B dorm, figuring you’re more likely to find some 1-B students there even though you’re sure a lot of them are currently running around campus looking for Wally.

Not long after you start walking toward the dorm, you hear familiar voices shouting in the distance.

“Wally! Here boy!”

“Wally!”

You give the aforementioned dog, who remains at your side, an amused look before heading in the direction of the voices. That’s how you eventually find a frantic Tsuburaba and a strangely calm Honenuki. 

When they notice your approach and see who’s walking beside you, both boys’ eyes widen in surprise. Relief quickly replaces the surprise as they immediately run over to where you’re now standing.

“Miracles do exist! We’re actually gonna live to see tomorrow!”

“See? I told you things would work out in the end.”

“You were the only one who thought that, Honenuki! I still don’t know how you could be calm while I was literally starting to see my life flash before my eyes!”

The corners of your lips curve upwards. “Lose somebody, boys?”

Honenuki sheepishly smiles as he rubs the back of his neck. “Yes, actually. Vlad-sensei asked us to look after his dog today, but he slipped away while we weren’t looking. Has he been with you all this time, Sensei?”

Nodding, you crouch down so you can pet the bulldog. “According to Kouda, Wally ran off ‘cause he smelled a delicious scent which happened to be coming from me. Apparently, he was very interested in what I made for lunch.”

While the taller student chuckles, Tsuburaba snorts, “Can’t say I blame him. But, I still wanna complain about him almost giving me a heart attack.”

An amused huff passes your lips. “Well, just let this be a lesson to you guys that whoever’s in charge of watching Wally better keep an extra close eye on him from now on.”

Both boys quickly nod their heads at your words. After you see that, you bring your gaze back to Wally. “And, you be a good boy and don’t run off anymore, okay, Wally? These kids are too young to be having heart attacks, you know.”

Wally gives you an acknowledging woof which hopefully means he will. Figuring you better let the students take over from here, you bid goodbye to the boys and turn to head back to the gymnasium.

Those plans are quickly derailed when, rather than stay with the kids, Wally follows after you and starts running around you. All you can do is stare at the dog with obvious confusion. “Uh, Wally? You’re supposed to go back with Honenuki and Tsuburaba, not me.”

Tsuburaba tries to grab the bulldog but is unsuccessful. “Come on, Wally! You gotta come back with us! Haven’t you already played enough with Sensei?”

With a bark, Wally evades capture again all the while remaining close to where you’re standing, watching the events unfold before you with a mixture of confusion and amusement. Meanwhile, Honenuki rubs his chin thoughtfully. “I guess Wally wants to hang out with her more. In that case, Sensei, would you be willing to come back with us to the dorm? Maybe Wally will be more willing to part with you if he got to spend some more time with you first.”

Since you don’t have any other plans this afternoon, you don’t see the harm in agreeing with his request. Besides, you wouldn’t be opposed to spending time with Class 1-B and Wally.

Just as you open your mouth to agree, an idea comes to mind that makes you grin. “Actually, I have an even better idea in mind.”

You quickly turn around and start walking in the direction of the front gate. “Come on, boys! We’re going shopping!”

Wally barks excitedly before quickly running after you. Meanwhile, the two surprised students share a confused look. 

Shrugging, Honenuki calmly follows after you. “I have no idea where this is going, but I guess we’ll be finding out soon enough. Better text the others so they’ll know they don’t need to keep searching for Wally.”

As his taller classmate is pulling out his cellphone, Tsuburaba just sighs, “Sometimes, I worry that you’re too flexible in your thinking, Honenuki. At least, consider questioning where the hell she’s taking us.”

A grin appears on Honenuki’s face. “Rather than worry about that, maybe you should think about how the rest of the class we’ll react once they realize who we’re with, especially one particular classmate of ours.”

There’s a brief pause before a matching grin forms on the other boy’s lips. “Oh hell yes. This is gonna be hilarious. I cannot wait to see his reaction.”

Because you’re preoccupied with searching for something on your phone, you completely miss the students’ conversation. You eventually don a triumphant grin when you finally find what you were looking for on the Internet. “Got it! Now, all we need are ingredients!” 

Tsuburaba raises an eyebrow. “Ingredients for what exactly?”

Your grin grows. “Doggy treats! Since I promised to try making some for Wally earlier, I thought I might as well give it a try while hanging out at the 1-B dorm. Learning how to cook something new is always a fun way to pass the time!”

As if to show his agreement, Wally woofs as he excitedly runs around you. Seeing this, Honenuki chuckles, “Well, Wally seems to be all for the idea.”

His classmate snorts, “Can’t say I’m surprised. Considering how good Sensei is at cooking human food, I bet that dog is about to get some of the best treats he’s ever had.”

You reach over to ruffle his hair. “Aww, thanks, Tsuburaba. I’m flattered you think so highly of my cooking.”

While a flush colors Tsuburaba’s cheeks, Honenuki grins, “You won a lot of people in our class over with those eclairs you made, Sensei. Awase was just the most vocal about it.”

With a laugh, you clasp your hands behind your back. “In that case, we’ll need to buy more ingredients so everyone at the 1-B dorm can have a tasty treat.”

You wink at the two boys. “I’ll let you boys be in charge of deciding what we make for your class. You can request whatever you want.”

Both students’ faces brighten at your words. A large grin quickly forms on the brown haired boy’s lips. “Hell yes. This is gonna be awesome. I take back all the complaints I made earlier about losing Wally. That near heart attack was totally worth it.”

Honenuki smiles, “Things worked out even better than I expected. I always love when that happens.”

Your expression turns amused. “Just don’t make a habit of losing him, okay? You managed to avoid Vlad-san finding out this time. You might not be so lucky next time.”

Tsuburaba quickly shakes his head. “Don’t get me wrong. I love how this turned out, but I am never allowing myself to be put through that torture again. If we ever have to babysit Wally again, I’ll keep an eye on him the whole time myself if I have to.”

While an amused Honenuki nods his head in agreement, you look down at Wally and giggle, “You hear that, Wally? No more disappearing acts for you.”

Wally barks before breaking off into a sprint. You blink in surprise as the dog runs off into the distance while a cursing Tsuburaba chases after him. 

“Dammit, Wally! That wasn’t a challenge! Get back here!”

As the brown haired boy goes after the bulldog, who is thankfully still heading in the direction of UA’s front gate, you turn to give a strangely calm Honenuki, who remains at your side, an amused look. “Looks like you guys have your work cut out for you.”

Honenuki huffs in amusement. “I think those dog treats you plan on making are gonna come in real handy in the near future.”

His response makes you laugh. “Guess I better make a lot just in case, huh?”

At that moment, the sound of Tsuburaba’s voices reaches your ears. “Wally! Quit chasing that squirrel! You’re going the wrong way!”

The taller boy scratches his cheek. “Yeah, the more, the better.”

All you can do is shake your head. Oh well, you were looking for something to keep yourself preoccupied today, and this situation definitely fits the bill.

At least, now you won’t have to worry about being bored.