#i caught an orb on video

[vanteguccir]

Y/N was in her shared bedroom with Chris, lying on the bed above her favorite duvet while answering some emails from her work on her pink macbook. Her body was already showered and covered in her boyfriend's blue pajamas, comfortable enough to sleep as soon as possible.

At one point, her ears were filled with the sound of voices and loud laughter, which the girl was unable to recognize. Y/N lifted her head, frowning as she focused on the outside, trying to distinguish them.

When she was unsuccessful, she slowly got out of bed, leaving her macbook and phone on her pillow. Her hands turned the handle, pulling the door open and moving her body through the frame.

The girl climbed the stairs in slow, mute steps due to the socks that covered her feet, only tilting her head up when she reached the last one.

Y/N's eyes widened when she saw a group of nine people in her living room spread out across the sofa, puffs, and floor. The conversation flowed normally between them, some comfortably using their phones while nodding their heads to something others said.

Her eyes quickly met Larray's, who was facing the top of the stairs that led to her and Chris room. The boy's face automatically lit up when he realized it was her, a smile expanding across his cheeks.

An excited scream escaped his throat as he stood up from his seat in a puff, running towards Y/N.

That caught the attention of everyone, who raised their eyes and focused on Larray's figure and, consequently, on Y/N as well.

"Hey girl! I missed you so much today." Larray spoke excitedly, pulling the girl into his arms, hugging her tightly.

A laugh escaped Y/N's lips, who wrapped her own arms around Larray's waist, returning the gesture.

"Baby!" The sound of Chris's voice echoed through the four walls.

Y/N slowly moved away from Larray, dodging his body and walking towards her boyfriend, who was almost jumping in place in excitement at seeing her still awake.

A shy smile took over her features as she received so many looks at the same time, focusing her orbs on Chris.

Chris frowned when noticing her tired eyes and slumped shoulders.

"I'm sorry, pretty girl. Did we wake you? I didn't realize we were being so loud-"

"No, baby! No, I was answering some emails before going to sleep." The girl responded in a low tone, shaking her head and allowing Chris's arms to pull her into a tight hug, his lips sealing her forehead lightly, keeping his arms around her.

"Y/N, this is Tara, Jake, Johnnie, Sam, and Colby. Guys, this is Y/N, our confidant, best friend, and Chris's girlfriend." Nick quickly made introductions while still seating, momentarily pointing to each person as he said their names.

Y/N smiled, feeling her cheeks burn in shyness. She raised her right hand, waving briefly at the people there, a small "Hi" escaping her lips.

"Hi, girly! Oh my God, I saw you in several of the triplets' videos, and I was dying to meet you!" Tara quickly broke the ice, standing up from her seat and walking over to Y/N, bringing her in for a quick hug before pulling her to sit next to herself, ready to start gossiping.

The girl glanced at her boy, who was already looking at her with eyes full of love and joy at seeing his girlfriend socializing with his new friends, and people he knew would become important to him and his brothers.

It was just as important for him to have her approval than anyone else's.

༻✦༺ 　༻✧༺　༻✦༺

Just a really little blurb, I stopped for lunch and could finally see the triplets' new posts with the others, and I needed to write something!!

I did it in 20 minutes, so I'm sorry if it sucks 😚😚🩷🩷

[seattlesellie]

i’m sorry but can we PLEASE talk about thigh riding🙏 it’s so underrated

mhmmmm :(( especially if it goes from sloppy makeout sesh to desperately rutting on ellie’s thigh & especially if she hasn’t even seen you go that desperate for her yet, because let’s say it’s only been a week of you dating or messing around.

an: i don’t know why this came out longish i swear its pure horny. btw it’s gamer!ellie 🎮🎀💗

can see this whole thing starting from a stare at her practiced fingers twitching and toying with her ps controller. safe to say it’d usually be a bit tedious to simply be an observer of someone playing a video game… not with ellie though, definitely not with ellie. definitely not with the way she cusses sharply under her breath, the way her palm goes to rest against your bare thigh as she switches up her in game gear, the way that cheeky tongue pokes out of her lips in concentration… you’d be distracted to say the least, nodding dumbly as she notes “y’see how i just did that babe?”

and just because you find it hard to concentrate and ignore the thick tension, filling the room with its obnoxious buzz — doesn’t mean she has it any easier, by no means, she can just mask it better… ish. your doe eyed stares, the way you whine silently as she loses, rest your head on her firm shoulder with a cheerful “yay ellie” as she wins… keep staring at her fingers (for some reason she might or might not pick up on, you do it a lot) — you render her a blushing taut mess, render her palms sweaty and slippery on the round plasticky ball of her controller.

however she masks it, and you don’t — and now you’re staring with those sparkly eyes, and the figures on the screen begin to mush together into one giant, pixelated orb. the corner of ellie’s mouth rises up to an involuntary smirk (that asshole), and she loosens her grip on the red controller. “need something? jheez, you’re staring” murmurs ellie, still teasing you like she did before you got together — except, now she no longer needs to hide her blush with a tilting of her face, because she knows you caught her already. plus, it makes her stomach stir with butterflies. “jus’ looking at your pretty face” says you — silently, sheepishly smiling and arching your brows. it’s so much fun to be able to actually tell her that, cause y’know — that’s your girlfriend now.

ellie chuckles, throwing the controller to the side, adjusting her body from a manspreading position to sitting criss crossed on the couch. she wipes her forehead with her forearm — a sign of nervousness? you lick your glossy lip, she’s so cute.

“you’re the pretty one” ellie notes.

you cock your head to the side, fake pondering. “if i’m the pretty one, what are you then?”

truthfully you’re so cute in your pj shorts, she doesn’t think she knows who she is anymore or if her name’s actually ellie. she sighs, huffing some air out of her cinnamon freckled cheeks. “the cool one”

okay… maybe, but she’s also just awfully gorgeous. you roll your eyes, “well,” — you throw your hands and smack them on your thighs, “i think you’re just pretty” — and she thinks you’re just stubborn.

“don’t think i’m cool?” she snorts, completely ignoring the compliment once again (as it makes her cheeks grow plum red and she’s hating that right now). she signals at the flat screen with her pointer finger, “you’re gonna pretend you didn’t just see me fucking that team up? i mean…” she keeps on yapping, your smack your lips and stare at hers. you’re not pretending to do anything, it’s not your fault you’ve been ignoring the game when she’s been toying with that plastic ball like you dream she’d toy with your—

“can you kiss me?”

you’ve interrupted her completely, but it pretty much seals the deal.

the back of your neck is being pulled by her right hand, and the string of your tank top is being pulled by her left one — not to undress, simply just to bring you closer. her lips on yours feel like heaven, a small gasp released by your mouth. she hums into the kiss, then pulls away. “knew you weren’t paying attention to me” ellie murmurs and it sends shivers down your spine. her voice is husky and cocky and ugh! you almost feel the need to let her swallow you whole. “was paying attention,” you insist, blinking like you’re in panic (or letting your lashes flutter to turn her on), “just not to the game”

“yeah?” she chuckles, caressing your half covered back with slow, up and down strokes. “what were you looking at then?” she questions with a cocky grin. you so want to kiss her again. “dunno”, you shrug innocently, slightly letting your bottom lip fall down into a pout. she so wants to kiss you again — so she does, murmuring a broken sentence of “ohmmmmph — you dunno?” into the kiss.

this time, the kiss is different. she slides her tongue inside of your begging mouth, letting it swirl and twirls over yours, pull it — goddamn, suckle on it with a horny grunt. you whimper, hiccup, cry almost, desperately seeking something more… a relief, to that dull ache that’s sitting or stomping between your legs — all because of a kiss and her grunt and that controllers ball you’re so damn jealous of…

“c’mere” she huffs, but instead of letting you come there, she forcefully grabs you by your waist, making you sit atop her lap. you’re both gasping, you wanna say something, but she kisses the corner of your mouth and… “ellie” is all you can whine, she responds with a squeeze to your waist. she kisses more, planting plenty of pecks to your scorching cheek, letting out shaky breaths to each and every one of your half whimpers half moans. she reaches your neck, and her tongues out again. she licks a long stripe, a confident one, but breaks it in order to look into your eyes and ask for your consent — it’s the farthest you’ve went so far.

“babe?”, she asks, your half lidded eyes and dazed look kind of tell her all she needs to know but she’s chivalrous.

“please” you whisper, nodding then burying your face in the crook of her neck. she grunts to that — jesus how pretty you sound when you beg, you have no fucking idea. another suckle on your neck comes, this time right at your pulse point, making the hairs rise and a clit thump. you let go of a choked gasp, holding on to ellie’s shoulders as she splatters open mouthed kisses on the flesh of your neck. you grab the back of her neck, pull on her bun. “fuuhuck” she exasperates, as if she’s the one getting marked and sucked on. quickly enough, because ellie misses your lips, she kisses you again with a whole lotta tongue.

you don’t even notice when or how you started grinding and rocking on her grey sweat’s covered thigh. in too much of a daze to notice anything at this point — you searched for friction.

she notices quickly enough though (obviously).

“whatcha doing, huh?” she lets her forehead kiss yours. your eyes are fully shut — to be honest, her question sounded like gibberish and the cotton material of your shorts was so thin. you don’t respond, you just… rut. she pulls slightly away, back straightening and leaning backwards, almost as if she was watching a play at the theater. she heavily breathes, scrunches her scarred brows and takes a look — takes a stare — at the way you seem so… concentrated, and horny, pouty and needy and it’s all for her or because of her. she almost places her hands on her head and leans back to keep watching.

her muscular thigh feels good — too good, you wanna bounce on it till you cum and leave a stain on her pants, you want her to bounce you on it — her, with her hands… where are her hands?!

you break right out of your trance, embarrassingly open your eyes and search for ellie… who’s leaning back, mouth agape and eyes coal black as she flexes her thigh. there’s a mixture of pure need and humiliation inside of your gut, but the latter evaporates as she mutters the following words;

“do that again”

[wroteclassicaly]

18+

A/N: Small piece of filth, hope you enjoy ❤️

“Driving me crazy. Don’t know why you do that.” Another bit of babbling you-speak, poured out in waves, interwoven through your whines and moans, Steve notes. Or rather, tries to, given the predicament of being on his back as you use him to your satisfaction.

You’d stared him down like he was prey for the last several months, always shaking your head, clicking your pen until it broke. Then there were the signs that made Steve realize, with a lopsided smirk (that only made it worse), that you weren’t in fact mad at him, not in a serious way anyways. Your hitch in breath every inch closer that he came to you, the way you melted into him if he just brushed by you, or how your legs would tighten, feet would bounce, to the way that you’d chew on your fingertip when he was bent over putting stock out and he knew exactly what you were looking at. When he talked about dates or flirted with girls that came in, you’d roll your eyes and be obnoxious in the background to sabotage unknowingly, but he found it endearing. And when he bought himself his new diamond chain to go with his mustard colored shirt for the fancy dinner in Indianapolis the older kids had all gone to, your public exasperation is partially what led to the moment.

It wasn’t until the following Monday that it exploded in full. Steve was at work on your shift, you were dealing with a sore wrist after his ensemble at Saturday’s excursion. And the stupid bastard had the nerve to wear that blinged out piece of jewelry beneath his button up, all black polo. You slammed a stack of video tapes down and had blew out a rough breath, working your way around the counter to ask Steve ‘what the fuck his problem was?’ And in truth, he’d worn the chain again just to gauge your reaction, before making his move. Sure, you’d been close friends all up in emotional arms for years, but the sexual tension was more alive than ever and could no longer be ignored.

With one hand on his waist, the other propped on the counter, he grinned lazily at you, fresh highlights looking perfect with his grown out tresses under the cheap lighting, jeans tight on his toned legs and perfect ass.

“Oh my god, Steve! You’re just… You’re —“

“I’m what?” He’d said, folding his arms to accentuate his biceps.

Your jaw had dropped rather comically and Steve is pretty sure you whimpered in defeat. You were caught.

“You know what you are, shithead. And I can’t take this shit anymore, it’s too much!” You’d gotten closer, talking with your hands. How Steve loves your hands. And you gave pause, brows pinched. “Wait, is that new cologne?”

Steve had pulled his shirt out to bare thicker chest hair, shrugging. “No, same ol’ stuff.”

“Can you stop, please?” You had sounded completely out of it, your pupils blown, leaving your beautiful eye color a thin ring, nearly transparent to the aroused abyss he’d created.

“Tell me what I’m doing, honey. Can’t stop if I don’t know…” Steve reached out with a finger, his confidence having greatly improved the last year within your friendship, and he traced down your cheek.

“Oh, shit.” Was all you could come up with.

With his thumb pressing at the corner of your mouth, massive hand cradling your jaw, he’d unraveled the knot with, “It’s okay if you say you want me, baby. Because I want you, too.”

~*~

Your hand looks small in comparison to his large girth, shining with what you’d slicked him up in, your babbling from before, slowly fading. His mossy orbs have shattered, their shards prickling you in an electrical stimulation, on you everywhere. His massive hands pinch your plush waist, every tendon visible on his jugular, his throat contracting around a harsh swallow as your fist around his base meets your body - seating him fully inside you. It hurts so bad that you welcome him to see the tears, see the glistening mess of your cunt spread open around his cock, cream bubbling in his base and smeared across his happy trail. You’ve never felt this before, this power, this safety, this want, this love.

Steve tosses his head back as your hips give an experimental rise and fall, sweat soaked backs of your knees feeling the pressure. He’s inside of you so deeply that you can barely move, his length dragging, pushing against every inch of your walls. You’re overcome in the moment and grab his big paws, curling his thick digits around your breasts and holding them together as you begin to roll your hips, never taking your eyes off him. He let out a moan that vibrates through you, his bed beginning to squeak beneath your rocking. His neck is visible again at this, scars beneath the chain, sweat glittering around and beneath the links, every freckle, every mole there, making him Steve.

Your movements have briefly slowed and he realizes, eyes open as you’re staring with this smirk. He gives your nipples a flick and releases, linking hands, to bring yours to his and kiss each knuckle he can get his mouth on. That’s when he’s flipping you with ease, knees sliding underneath your thighs, hands pinning yours to the bed as his nose finds your lashes, mouth planting his words across your lips; cinnamon breath spray, coffee, and cigarettes ghosting with each hot breath, “Don’t get too cocky, honey.”

On the break away, his chain sways forward, links getting caught on your lips. You take the jewelry into your mouth, sucking on the taste of the material, Steve’s chest tufts drag along your breasts as he fucks you on him with an ease so slow, that you can’t find cohesive speech for the rest of the night.

// Eat me paragraph //

[razberrypuck]

fucked up that charlie's stupid one-off characters can still have such a fucking hold on me

like. sir charles is a prince (likely from the middle ages, with all the talk(jokes) about the plague) who fucking murdered both of his parents AND his older brother to take the throne for himself. he's also a streamer playing video game from a scrying orb he bought from a wizard. the reason he got caught is BECAUSE of his streams, where he openly admitted to both crimes several times, and he was promptly arrested and publicly executed (also the executioner is an old friend of his?? I guess??)

like what do you MEAN all of this shit was just for his elden ring DLC streams. what do you MEAN he's probably never gonna use sir charles again. fucked up.

[goldennikko]

I LUVIE YOU — huh yunjin

summary : you're a reveluv, but you love the leader of red velvet a little too much, making someone jealous.

pairing : yunjin x 6th member!reader

tags : idol!au ; reader is '01 liner ; jealous!yunjin ; reveluv!reader ; i'm too sleepy to put proper tags, but dw there's nothing too much in this one. it's just too long T~T

requested: ✔

word count : 5.2k

yunjin knew you were a big fan of red velvet, especially one particular member who everyone refers to as a goddess due to her mind-blowing, out-of-this-world visuals. since pre-debut days, the american has found it amusing to watch you freak out over the one and only bae joohyun whenever you see her on your phone during training. after debuting, your members had grown accustomed to sudden bursts of energy being released following a tiring practice session because you were always bound to listen to red velvet after every tiring session, the soothing voice of red velvet's leader filling your ears.

yunjin has always been a witness to your fangirl-like behavior and found it very amusing to watch.

that is, until yunjin developed the same feelings for the bae joohyun that you did, and the american found herself unable to laugh at your usually amusing antics. well, she tried not to, but she couldn't because you were too cute in her eyes.

yunjin fiddled with her chopsticks as she stared at you from the kitchen with such intensity that sakura, who was busy eating, couldn't help but notice. the japanese frowned at the glare on yunjin's face and followed her line of sight, eventually finding you shaking your poor leader on the couch in the living room. the bad boy music video you were previously watching was now abandoned as you went to bug your leader instead after chaewon made an unintentional statement that she quickly regretted.

"you've met irene sunbaenim?!" you shrieked, betrayal swimming in your shining orbs.

chaewon basically gave up right there, letting you shake her like a doll while silently looking for help from sakura and yunjin.

"correction, y/n-ie. it was chaeyeon, not me." chaewon grumbled.

despite yunjin's best efforts, sakura could hear her annoyed groan, and she cast another glance at the american, whose glare had been replaced with adoration as they watched your shoulders sag in defeat and collapse next to chaewon. yunjin returned her attention to the food, looking away from your defeated form, while sakura decided to assist chaewon.

"and that was during iz*one." sakura added.

"not even kkura unnie met irene sunbaenim." chaewon said, trying to make you feel better, but added more salt to sakura's wound.

the japanese's brow twitched in annoyance, despite her smile, prompting chaewon to apologize before turning to tame your hair. you simply huffed at them and crossed your arms, not looking away from the television.

"unfair."

yunjin snorted, causing sakura to return her gaze, but the american did not meet her unnie's waiting gaze. meanwhile, chaewon handed you your phone, which you used to take a picture of joohyun's overflowing visuals during bad boy era.

"another story? really?" chaewon mumbled from next to you, her eyes twinkling with delight as she watched you press on a bunch of hearts. the sight was not unfamiliar to her, but it still made her laugh because of your unending love for joohyun.

"shush, unnie."

yunjin's phone lit up next to her, drawing both sakura and her attention to it. yunjin didn't bother hiding the notification, which came from you, because she caught sakura's questioning yet teasing look. the american attempted to push down the blush that threatened to spread across her cheeks, but failed, so she hid her face behind her phone instead.

however, the american merely grumbled when joohyun's face greeted her once more, casting you a glance as you let out a high-pitched scream when the same woman who has plagued your mind since pre-debut days appeared on the screen. this time, you were watching peek-a-boo.

"what's the matter?"

yunjin showed her the screen, and sakura laughed at the army of pink hearts before looking at yunjin, who was glaring at her food. the older of the two shook her head at the obvious jealousy, but said nothing as she pieced everything together. while sakura was aware of the glares sent your way by yunjin, she never understood why. now, she did.

"since when?" sakura queried.

yunjin glanced at her, but shrugged. "i don't know what you're talking about, unnie."

sakura smirked. "sure, yunjin. sure."

yunjin ignored her as her gaze returned to you, her heart racing as she wondered if you could get any cuter than you are right now. one thing about yunjin was that she couldn't take her eyes off of you. it was a running joke in the fandom that yunjin was always staring at you with big heart eyes.

similar to what she was doing right now.

after being asked by the fans watching the live, you eagerly danced to zimzalabim, the reveluv within you sparking happily, and eunchae cheered you on. yunjin sat next to the maknae and was silent for once as she watched you with a small smile.

"wah. you were amazing, unnie!" eunchae grinned at you while giving you a big thumbs up.

you exaggerated a bow, which made yunjin laugh. "thank you, thank you, thank you!"

the american motioned for you to come over to where they were sitting. "come on over here, silly."

you smirked at your fellow '01 liner, but complied. you crossed your arms as you faced her, causing the other girl to raise her brows with a smile, while eunchae silently smiled because she already knew what was going to happen, scanning the comments, which were full of fans teasing yunjin's lovestruck gaze.

"are you calling my dance silly, yunjin-ssi?"

yunjin rolled her eyes. "i'm calling you silly, y/n-ssi."

you shook your head. "no, no. calling me silly means calling the dance silly, too. therefore, the reveluv in me is very disappointed and offended, yunjin-ssi."

eunchae cackled while yunjin looked at the phone for help, which the maknae noticed and immediately read the comments in response to yunjin's silent call for help.

"they're saying you're on your own, unnie—"

you grinned happily. "HAH! see? they're on my side!"

yunjin was dumbfounded, sending everyone a look of betrayal. "but her argument didn't even make sense!"

"doesn't matter, yunjin-ssi. now, you shall apologize." 

you jokingly raised your chin at the american, and she mumbled under her breath as she glared at you, but eventually relented. she knew she couldn't win this playful banter because her heart was already pounding in her chest and her mind, which was supposed to think logically, screamed at her to apologize. her very being and existence were vulnerable in the face of your adorable face.

if sakura or kazuha were present, the only other two members who were aware of yunjin's feelings, she would be teased nonstop. it won't be long before the eunchae and chaewon figure it out. 

well, actually, the way eunchae was looking at her right now, yunjin knew the maknae was already aware, but she needed confirmation. eunchae would most likely get one after the live ended.

however, as long as it was you, yunjin didn't mind if her pride suffered.

"fine. i'm sorry, y/n-ie."

you returned your attention to eunchae after you smiled and leaned against the american's body, which yunjin took pride in. the maknae began babbling about something, which yunjin tried to listen to but was distracted by your grip on her. the american grabbed your waist as she leaned in closer to the phone to scan the comments to distract herself, knowing that eunchae was well taken care of by her fellow '01 liner.

her face fell when a comment about a certain idol that you essentially worshipped appeared, which eunchae caught as she squinted her eyes to read the comment before it vanished. yunjin noticed the mischief in the maknae's eyes as she managed to draw your attention to said remark.

"unnie, there's a comment about irene sunbaenim."

"where?!"

at that, you jumped away from yunjin, causing the girl to squint her eyes in disbelief. 

at this point, it was unavoidable for you not to mention joohyun in a solo, unit, or group appearance. you mentioned the woman you adored every time, and it was no different this time, and yunjin had to listen to it all over again, all because of the evil maknae, who planned to torture her.

yunjin glared at eunchae from behind you, and the maknae simply grinned widely in response before they both turned to you because you had begun your detailed explanation of why you adored red velvet's leader.

"alright. first of all, have you seen her?! irene sunbaenim is so gorgeous like—" 

you panicked suddenly when you saw joohyun's face in your mind and waved your arms in the air, almost hitting yunjin. fortunately, she noticed it at the last second and was able to avoid it. as eunchae laughed, the girl glared at the side of your head in distaste, but you didn't notice her.

yunjin resisted the urge to roll her eyes, but she tuned out your irritating rant and tried to distract herself by scanning the comments, which were unfortunately filled with your beloved idol's name, causing her to look away in defeat.

"and her voice! i don't know. it's small, but soothing and really good to listen to?" you hummed thoughtfully.

"that's true, unnie." eunchae butted in, causing you to nod.

"also! she's so caring towards her members and really kind! she's also a good cook, according to what i've heard! not to mention, really generous..." you trailed off, recalling how she gifted her staff some really expensive things, but you shook your head to snap out of your lovestruck trance and resumed your rant.

"i don't know. she's just so… perfect!"

that was your conclusion before you changed the subject due to a fan's mention of food. eunchae joined in, but yunjin remained silent as her mind raced.

when you returned to the dorm, you went straight to your room, while yunjin stayed in the living room with chaewon. while sakura was still out on a schedule, eunchae joined you to get her daily dose of cuddles.

the only other two members awake were enveloped in silence, and chaewon found yunjin's behavior odd, frequently looking up from her phone to check on the emerican, who stared blankly at the wall. the leader, though concerned, waited for yunjin to open up, but after a solid 15 minutes, her concern about the american's unusual behavior only grew.

"yunjin—"

"unnie."

chaewon blinked at her dull voice and almost jumped out of her seat when yunjin turned her head to her leader. chaewon raised her eyebrows, urging yunjin to tell her what was bothering her, which yunjin did.

"am i gorgeous?"

despite being perplexed, chaewon responded to the question. she noticed no signs of insecurity in her eyes, which was a relief. besides, if yunjin was truly insecure, she would be in bed with you right now, not chaewon. however, she still found the american in front of her odd.

"yes, you are, jen."

"is my voice soothing and really good to listen to?" yunjin threw her another question, causing the frown on chaewon's forehead to deepen. yunjin either noticed but ignored or didn't notice chaewon's weirded out expression.

"you're a vocalist for a reason, yunjin." chaewon replied.

yunjin blinked. "am i caring and kind?"

it was chaewon's turn to blink as she wondered just where the hell these questions were coming from, but she decided to join in whatever games yunjin was playing, if indeed this was one.

"yes."

"am i a good cook?"

chaewon sighed, her patience dwindling, as she ran her hand down her face. yunjin, on the other hand, remained unaffected and waited for her leader's response, which chaewon begrudgingly provided after seeing the blank yet awaiting gaze.

"jesus christ, yunjin. yes, you are a good cook. y/n-ie has mentioned numerous times."

a flash of emotion flashed across the american's eyes, causing chaewon to raise a brow, but yunjin didn't give her a chance to respond as she turned around to retire to her room, but not before thanking her leader.

chaewon frowned as yunjin walked upstairs before eunchae appeared with a sleepy grin and sakura made her presence known by placing a hand on chaewon's shoulder.

"what the hell was that?" chaewon asked, perplexed.

sakura chuckled. "chaewon-ah, a certain someone likes a certain someone in this dorm."

chaewon blinked. "eh? yunjin likes someone?" 

sakura gave the younger girl a look, waiting for it to click, which didn't take too long. 

oh. 

chaewon sighed in disbelief as realization dawned on her face. meanwhile, eunchae greeted sakura with a hug while mumbling into the coat sakura forgot to take off after hearing yunjin's strange questions as soon as she entered the dorm.

"yunjin unnie was blushing."

chaewon snickered and rose to assist sakura with her coat, as eunchae refused to let go of the newly arrived japanese girl. "after i told her about y/n?"

eunchae nodded in response, not bothering to mention the words' familiarity. but sakura already knew because she had been watching the live stream, and chaewon was bound to find out soon enough, given that she had been on her phone earlier. she'd later discover your and joohyun's names, along with eunchae and yunjin, were trending.

"how come we never knew?" chaewon queried thoughtfully.

sakura shrugged. "exactly my question."

eunchae rubbed her eyes. "i think kazuha unnie knows."

chaewon and sakura shared an amused look. "of course zuha would."

yes, kazuha knew. even before yunjin told her about her conflicting emotions—conflicting because yunjin didn't even want them in the first place, but she couldn't do anything about it if her heart was fiercely beating for a certain girl in the group.

the poor ballerina, on the other hand, was unfortunately very much aware of what others couldn't see due to her observant nature, but she didn't mind. only that it irritates her to no end to watch some people dance around their obvious feelings, at least to kazuha, rather than acting on them.

but now, kazuha is watching you bounce all over the place due to your excitement. the group would be attending a variety show, and your beloved idol would be there as one of the emcees. your nervousness and exhilaration initially clashed within you, but the latter eventually won. therefore, your members and staff had an excessively happy puppy.

you were not informed that you would be attending this show because they knew you would be overjoyed for days and they wouldn't be able to handle you. yunjin, in particular, who grumbled when told a few days earlier by chaewon and was pouting in the corner at the moment, her eyes following your every move with an irritated scowl.

"I'M MEETING IRENE SUNBAENIM!"

yunjin's glaring eyes were caught by kazuha, but the latter averted her gaze with a click of her tongue before returning to watching you. however, the ballerina could see the affection buried behind the very thin line of displeasure in her eyes, causing her to chuckle, but she stopped when you halted in front of her.

"i'm so excited, zuha-yah." you bounced in front of her.

kazuha smiled and reached for your hand to ground you. "please calm down, unnie."

"i can't!" you whined, pouting.

chaewon came over and attempted to pat your head, but she couldn't reach your height, so she patted your cheek instead.

"you'll get tired if you keep bouncing around, so please sit with yunjin for a while."

yunjin snapped out of her glaring at the mention of her name and panicked internally as she saw you walking up. she yelped, barely catching you as you dramatically fell on her, but she sighed as you nestled up against her embrace.

"you scared me, dumbass."

you chuckled. "sorry. chaewon unnie told me to relax with you."

yunjin scoffed, but tightened her grip around your waist. "relaxing with me doesn't mean falling on me, y/n."

you, on the other hand, did not respond to her. yunjin took a brief glance but ended up staring when she discovered your eyelids had fallen shut.

sakura, who was still sat in front of the mirror, noticed you finally relaxing with the resident american. she smiled at the thought that yunjin was the only one who could ground you. you were always so quick to surrender to yunjin's familiar warmth and soothing embrace, and yunjin was always ready to offer it to you when you needed it.

"they're so cute, unnie!" eunchae squealed, but tried to keep it down as she approached sakura, and the older of the two agreed.

"when is yunjin unnie going to confess though?" kazuha stressed from nearby.

"speaking of." chaewon piped up. "since when, zuha?"

kazuha shrugged. "since forever, unnie! it's actually stressing me out."

the others laughed, and kazuha sighed before joining them. it was peaceful for a while before the group was summoned to the set and you were back on bouncing, but this time in anxiety.

"y/n, please settle down." chaewon sighed.

"i can't stop it!" you whisper-yelled.

kazuha shot yunjin a look, but the american was already approaching you. while you were jumping, a hand grabbed your waist and pulled you into the familiar warmth of yunjin's body. you stumbled, but her other hand darted out to hold your elbow steady.

"calm down please."

you gave her a timid smile, and she rolled her eyes tenderly, squeezing you in assurance. she couldn't feel anything other than admiration right now as she clutched you closely. you enjoyed yunjin's presence while remaining silent, and yunjin did the same before the peace was disrupted once more.

when the chatters were heard, everyone turned, and your eyes widened, meeting the bae joohyun's gentle eyes. you bowed profusely, and she returned it with a wide smile.

although joohyun's bow was meant for everyone, her gaze lingered a little too long on you, which yunjin noticed. her grasp on your waist tightened and she drew you closer, but you were too preoccupied with seeing your beloved idol walk away.

"holy shit, jen."

yunjin resisted the urge to roll her eyes. "yeah, yeah. i know, y/n."

soon enough, the show began, and you spent nearly half of it looking at the woman. you were relieved that you didn't have to speak as much, but whenever you did, chaewon would nudge you out of your daydream and sakura would help you with your words because you seemed to have forgotten how to speak. throughout the ordeal, eunchae was just silently chuckling. 

meanwhile, yunjin was next to you, watching you stare and stumble over your words, sadness in the pit of her stomach physically hidden by a trained grin. kazuha, on the other hand, noticed and patted her on the back.

joohyun didn't take long to notice your dazed stare. she was speaking as scripted, but suddenly laughed, flustered, when she caught your starstruck expression, confusing everyone. you blinked and pointed at yourself, your gaze briefly meeting yunjin's.

"i'm sorry. y/n-ssi, you just look so adorable."

you flushed as crimson as a tomato at the compliment and bowed excessively, words of gratitude stumbling out of your mouth in a hurry. your members teased you as yunjin laughed genuinely this time because she agrees with her senior, heart flipping at the sight of your red face.

"i'm sorry. it's just… i'm a really big fan, sunbaenim." you admitted shyly.

joohyun gave you a wide smile. "seulgi and wendy told me, and i've also seen clips of your… admiration."

you shrieked and used yunjin as your human shield to hide your embarrassment. despite the displeasure she was feeling, yunjin held you while the others laughed before you were pulled out of protection by chaewon.

"and thank you so much for loving me." joohyun said, causing you to bow. 

you were at a loss for words, but the next thing she said prompted you to shut down and flee to hide from everyone.

"but i can say i'm a fan, too, y/n-ssi. your voice is really good to listen to and you're perfect."

you hid among the members of the group's management staff, and yunjin was ready to retrieve you when joohyun beat her to it. with a small frown that she quickly hid, yunjin watched silently as joohyun coaxed you out of hiding.

"i'm sorry, come on. don't hide."

yunjin looked at your joined hands as you practically melted with the senior next to you and in your presence. when the displeasure growing in her chest became too great for her to bear, the american had to look away, but she peered at your flustered state when joohyun successfully drew you back next to her.

the show went on without a hitch except for you being teased for having such admiration for the woman while yunjin remained unusually silent, joining in here and there when she felt like it or when you clutched to her arm.

and yunjin couldn't enjoy your touch as much as she wanted to because your eyes were on someone else. if she wanted your attention, she needed it all. she didn't like sharing. but then again, you weren't hers to share with anyone in the first place.

the show came to a conclusion, and you were swept away by the one and only joohyun. it was obvious that the woman had developed feelings for you, but everyone knew, including yourself, it was joohyun's motherly instincts kicking in.

everyone knew, but yunjin.

yunjin felt she couldn't endure the anguish at the sigh of you being held by another and turned on her heels to flee after seeing how caring and loving joohyun was to you. she attempted to be covert and quick, but as soon as she tried to blend into the crowd, a pair of eyes were trained on the back of her head like a target.

yunjin was soon back at the dorm. she laid in bed, staring at the ceiling. her thoughts was blank, but she was aching all over and wasn't sure if it was because of you or just tiredness. however, she didn't bother figuring it out because your interactions with your favorite idol played out in her head like a romance movie.

yunjin couldn't get it out of her head, no matter how hard she tried.

fortunately, although being out of it at the time, yunjin was able to process the knock on her door. she got to her feet and opened the door, her eyes widening when she saw your hesitant form. her eyes swept over your body, finding you adorable in the pajamas she had bought you at random, and she smiled weakly.

"y/n? it's late."

you shuffled around, refusing to meet her eyes. "i know. i'm sorry, were you already sleeping?"

yunjin shook her head and stepped aside to let you in. "no, no. i couldn't sleep."

you gave her a short smile, and yunjin almost fell over simply to see it again, but she kept her composure as she followed you to her bed. after noticing your hesitation, the american took a seat and motioned for you to do the same.

"is everything okay? did you get a nightmare?" yunjin fussed over you, brows furrowed in worry.

you shook your head. "no, no. i'm fine. i just… wanted to check on you."

yunjin's heart wrenched as you looked up at her, your hesitation spinning in your orbs. the american sighed and reached out to tuck a stray strand of hair behind your ear before caressing your chin to make you hold her stare, which you had avoided since entering her room.

"i appreciate, but why?" yunjin asked.

you fiddled with your thumbs. "i saw you leaving earlier and you were ignoring me."

yunjin quickly shook her head. she wasn't ignoring you, and she didn't mean to. she just avoided interactions with you in order to process the concept of you and joohyun, but she kept an eye on you throughout the craziness of eventually finishing the day.

"i was not ignoring you, but i'm sorry if it felt like that." yunjin murmured softly, leaning down to meet your gaze. "i was just tired."

but you shook your head. "i know you, jen, we've been friends for so long. what's wrong?"

yunjin frowned, ignoring the painful tug on her heart at the term you used, which was true. the american considered the pros and cons of giving you the truth against fabricating a lie, but the way you were looking at her right now with such vulnerability and worry broke yunjin's resolve.

"i…" yunjin trailed off before sighing. "i've always been content to admire you silently."

yunjin smiled as she opened her mouth to spill her inevitable confession after a quick prayer for her soul and you to take it kindly, ignoring the large part of her wishing that you'd accept her confession.

"i've memorized every single habit you've established over the years, no matter how long ago you developed them or how recently it came up. i have liked every single one of your antics, and no matter how ridiculous they were, i always thought you were so adorable." 

yunjin smiled softly, and you returned it shyly, a scarlet hue flashing over your nose, but then her grin faded slightly. you pricked up, worried, and wanted to reach out to perhaps console her, but you hesitated. you weren't sure if she wanted your comfort, so you opted to listen. yunjin, on the other hand, saw the nearly imperceptible movement of your hand and couldn't help the quick smile.

yunjin sighed. "y/n, i swear i tried. i was perfectly satisfied with just admiring you silently. i tried to ignore the negative side of my feelings—the annoyance, the sadness, the displeasure. everything."

"but i can't pretend you don't effect me anymore, and believe me when i say i don't mind, but it just hurts."

yunjin observed calmly as the gears in your brain turned to quickly absorb her words, but you frowned in uncertainty. yunjin knew you understood; you weren't that stupid. she also knew you needed more assurance and simple words since you were concerned you were reading too much into her little statement.

so yunjin gave you a teary grin because she knew her next words would define your relationship.

"i like you, y/n. more than a friend should."

you hung your head, teeth biting into your bottom lip, as the words smacked you in the face. yunjin stared at the top of your head, willing herself to be prepared for your rejection, but every fiber of her being knew she wouldn't take it well. 

when you raised your head again, her breath caught in her throat as she saw your sweet smile and loving eyes, hope flooding her chest.

"i knew."

it was yunjin's turn to be astounded. her eyes widened as she leaned forward, encouraging you to repeat it and making you laugh.

"you weren't subtle, but i didn't allow it get to my head just in case i was reading too much into your intentions." you grinned happily.

"but you weren't." yunjin mumbled.

you nodded. "turns out i wasn't."

"so?"

you laughed again, and yunjin took satisfaction in it as she saw you toss your head back. but when you leaned into her face with a smirk, the softness in your gaze was swiftly replaced by mischief. yunjin's heart skipped a beat as she tried, but eventually failed, not to gaze down at your lips.

"yunjin?"

she glanced up at you. "yeah?"

"were you jealous of irene unnie?"

yunjin's brow twitched at the title you were now permitted to use for your adored idol, and she tried to control herself, although she had no reason to do so this time. so she rolled her eyes so hard that you were scared they'd get trapped in the back, but you laughed in delight.

"i was not." yunjin denied, looking away.

you poked her nose. "looking away is a sign of lying, did you know that?"

yunjin huffed, but complied. she returned your gaze and her breath hitched once more as your palm reached up to caress her jaw. when you leaned in closer, she swallowed nervously, your warm breath hitting her cold lips. yunjin wanted to close the unpleasant gap between you, but decided to give you complete control.

and yunjin couldn't have been more grateful when you captured her lips.

sparks flew, butterflies swarmed, and every cliche she could think of occurred at the same time. yunjin's eyes fell shut as she tilted her head and reached for your neck to lock you in place.

at the same time, seconds felt both too long and too short. yunjin couldn't determine which of the two, but her attention was quickly drawn to the way you rested your brow against hers and inhaled lightly to catch your breath, which yunjin had taken from you.

"took you long enough." you chuckled. "i like you, too."

yunjin smiled. relief washed over her as her heart flipped a few times and she sought for your hand, the other still resting on your neck, refusing to let you go this time.

"you never dropped hints." yunjin panted.

you shook your head with a small huff. "neither did you, jen, but i just thought you were too perfect to even notice me."

"more perfect than irene sunbaenim?" yunjin joked, not wasting the opportuniy given to her. you gave her a look, almost as if judging the american, causing her to grin. "but i notice you, i do see you."

yunjin brought your hand to her lips and a faint smile appeared on her face, prompting you to return it, albeit sheepishly, as she pressed a kiss to your knuckles.

"and i like you so much, y/n."

you laughed at her goofy antics and squeezed her hand, a blush covering your cheeks that yunjin thought was adorable on you.

"i like you, too, so much, yunjin."

she hummed. "what about irene sunbaenim?"

you chuckled and pulled away to flick her forehead, causing her to yelp in pain.

"what the hell?!"

"joohyun unnie knew about you." you said, causing your girlfriend to frown in confusion. "i told her because unnie noticed the way you were glaring at her."

yunjin flushed. her jealousy was evident to the naked sight. to make matters worse, it was joohyun who noticed. the one she allegedly despised saw the look. you laughed at her, and she flashed you a short frown before sighing.

"i need to apologize and clarify some things."

you nodded in agreement. "you do, baby. you do."

yunjin's heart skipped a beat when she looked at you. you returned it until you felt embarrassed, bending in to avoid her sight. before leaping from the bed, you laid a delicate kiss on her lips. yunjin pouted and reached out to you as you approached the door.

"where are you going, my love? you can just sleep with me."

you smiled, red in the face. "i know, but i'm going to the kitchen; kkura unnie is cooking, and i believe everyone has arrived."

you opened the door and gave her one more look before disappearing down the dimly lighted corridor.

"i luvie you, jennifer huh."

yunjin, who was normally annoyed by your reveluv side because you idolized a particular leader, rolled her eyes fondly as she rose to her feet. before leaving her room to follow you, she picked up her phone and smiled at the lockscreen of your face that you had set a few weeks previously.

"i luvie you, too, l/n y/n."

nikko note: I'M SO SORRY IF THE REQS ARE SLOW, YOU GUYS. I'M LEGIT DROWNING IN MY SCHOOL SHIT, SO I'M VV SORRY. I HOPE THIS IS GOOD ENOUGH, I'M SOOO SORRY FOR MAKING YOU WAIT HUHU I HOPE THIS MAKES UP FOR THE SLOW UPDATES AJDJJWJS anyways, i hope you liked this one! let me know if this was okay? and so sorry for mistakes, i'm legit sleepy. thank you, have a great one!

[kcwriter-blog]

Just recently I asked myself an important question. Why do I, a person not usually into angst, continue to romance Solas. It’s not like it’s going to end differently. My Lavellan will always get her heart broken. 

The simple answer? It’s worth it. There is a gentleness in how they treat each other that you don’t find in many real-life relationships much less in a video game. It’s soft, quiet, and tender. It’s what love looks like after years with someone you truly care about.

How can that be? Solas isn’t being honest with her. To Solas’ credit, he realizes that. He takes her to Crestwood to tell her the truth. When he realizes he can’t, he breaks it off. Which in and of itself is an act of love.

What he is honest about is his love for Lavellan. He never denies his feelings. A case in point is the aftermath of the first kiss. It would be so easy for Solas to say that he just got caught up in the moment. He doesn’t. He may say that it’s been a long time and that he thinks a relationship isn’t a good idea, but he never denies that he has feelings for her. Even when he breaks it off, he refuses to lie and say she was a casual dalliance or that he doesn’t love her. 

For her part, Lavellan never pushes Solas. When he asks for time to think, she grants it. “Take all the time you need.” She understands him. He has trust issues. Getting into a relationship with her would be a big step for him. She may not know what made him that way, but she cares enough to let him decide if a relationship is something he truly wants.  She is willing to wait.

This demonstrates a respect for each other and for their budding relationship. They are honest about their feelings. They are willing to take it slow. They talk about it like adults. They go into it knowing there will be risks.

An underrated aspect of the relationship is the conversations where Solas shares his recollections of things he saw in the Fade. Solas isn’t just randomly pulling stories out of his hat. He is telling Lavellan about the things he saw that meant the most to him. He is opening up to her, trusting that she won’t laugh at him or dismiss him. For her part, she actively listens. It’s a quiet kind of loving and, for me, one of the most intimate things you can do in a relationship.

The balcony scene is another place where this plays out. Solas wants to be with Lavellan. He has come up to the balcony to tell her that. He still has reservations. He wants her but he doesn’t want to hurt her. 

Lavellan knows he must be the one to make the choice. Instead of kissing him, she puts her hands behind her back. If he wants this, he will have to kiss her. He balks. She asks him not to go. Many people interpret this as begging. That’s not it. She is telling him, quietly, that if he leaves, she won’t wait any longer. “It would be kinder in the long run but losing you would…” He can’t. He loves her. He decides to take the risk. 

There is also a strong spiritual component to their relationship. Solas isn’t attracted by her physical beauty. He is all about the spirit. To him she is wonderful. Someone wise. Someone who thinks before she acts. He calls her beautiful in Crestwood, but I think he is talking about her soul, not what she looks like. 

There are many other small moments that give us clues as to what their relationship looks like post balcony scene. Solas attempts to comfort her at the Winter Palace by dancing or taking her in his arms. She reassures him that he can trust her. They hold hands in Crestwood. He calls her “my heart” and it’s clear she is precious to him. His voice when he speaks with her in Crestwood is intimate. It’s a vocal tenor we don’t hear anywhere else. He remonstrates with Sera when she jokes about his relationship with Lavellan. 

I find it interesting that even if Lavellan is angry, when Solas finds the broken orb she isn’t fist pumping because he didn’t get what he wanted. She treats him with kindness. 

He goes out of his way to tell her what they had was real – or that she was right to be angry. No matter what happened they acknowledge each other’s feelings. 

Everything paints a picture of an intensely private, intimate, loving relationship. That’s what I love about it and it’s why I keep coming back for more. 

[stories-and-chaos]

Helluva High

AU: Overlord Husk and Angel

[Little one shot inspired by @celestialalpacaron ‘s au of Husk and Angel. Valentino is a sore loser, but Husk has his spider’s back. Enjoy!

Word count 1065 Cw: cursing, emotional manipulation, trauma response (disclosure: I’ve never experienced trauma like this so I apologize if Angel’s reaction isn’t accurate.) ]

***********

Angel was frozen, stuck between fear and desire. His former boss, Valentino, was here. At Husk’s casino. Angel Dust had been working the tables for a couple months now. His looks, charisma, and reputation had him hustling patrons for all they were worth and more.

But despite that reputation (and all the salacious videos of him still being sold) he wasn’t for sale. Not for any amount of time or money. Husk was adamant on that. “You wanna sleep with someone off the clock, that’s your business,” he’d told Angel. “But do it because you want to, not because someone john is paying, got it?”

Now Val was here and Angel could barely help himself. The moth demon had grabbed his arm as he walked past. Now he was pulling the spider close, cooing sweet venomous words at the former porn star. “Angiiiiieee, I miss you baby. That mean old kitty won’t let me win you back. I need you Angel.” Val’s hand stroked up Angel’s thigh, sneaking under the slit in his gown. “I know you want me too, baby. No one can give you what you need, not like me.” One of his other hands grasped another of Angel’s arms. He hooked a finger of his fourth hand under Angel’s pearl choker, “Come on Angel, tell the kittycat to give me a shot at you. Then we can go home and I’ll make you feel so good you’ll forget all this ever happened.”

Angel’s breath caught. Everything about Valentino made him want to just melt away. His voice, his cigarette smoke, the hands stroking his limbs with a hint of claws. But Angel didn’t want to go back. His eyes darted back and forth in panic. He caught a flash of red wings, black fur, and gold eyes. “Do it because you want to…”

“Fuck!” he managed to gasp as he jerked back. The string of pearls snapped at the sudden movement. The iridescent orbs shimmered in the light as they clattered on the table and floor. “No…” he said, voice wavering.

Angel stood up as straight as he could. Valentino’s rage at being denied built quickly. He moved to grab Angel’s arm again but Angel stepped back. “I…I need a break boss,” he said as loud as he could.

“Take the night off babe. You’ve been working hard last few nights,” Husk said curtly as he stepped between Angel and Val. “Thought you knew better than that ‘Tino.” He faced the other Overlord as Angel dashed to the elevator. “Am I gonna have to throw you out?”

“Fuck, just let me play for him again. What do you want a crackwhore like him for anyway?”

“You ain’t got anything worth betting Angel for.” Four members of the casino security turned up to flank their leader. “Get out ‘Tino. If my boys don’t have to drag your ass out, I won’t charge you for the pearls.”

Val spun away, muttering “fucking furry ass prick, that twink bitch, goddamn assholes.” He squeaked in agitation as he stormed out.

Shortly after Valentino’s limo was gone, Husk took the elevator to the penthouse suites. Angel’s door was cracked open. All his arms were wrapped around himself as rocked on the bed. Husk knocked on the door with the top of his cane. The spider demon jerked, eyes blown wide enough that Husk could see the pupils in even the six small ones.

“He’s gone,” the gambler said mildly. Angel took a deep shaky breath. “You did good.” At Angel’s surprised look he continued, “I told you, anyone fucks with you, they answer to me.”

After a couple more breaths, Angel managed to reply. “Thanks boss. I’ll be back down in five.”

“Nah, you’ve got the night off. Call for room service, just go easy on the booze tonight.” Husk didn’t leave right away; he saw Angel retreating back into the cage of his own arms. The catlike demon sighed and strode through the room to throw the doors to the balcony open. “C’mere.”

Angel walked up hesitantly and placed his ringed hand in Husk’s outstretched one. Husk pulled him out into the night air. He smoothly wrapped an arm around Angel’s waist and lifted the lanky demon’s legs up with the other. Angel reflexively wrapped a set of arms around the other man’s shoulders. “Damn Whiskers, you’re stronger than you look!”

Husk gave a huff. He spread his wings and flapped into the sky. “Oh shit!” Angel yelled, now with four arms clinging to Husk.

“I gotcha babe.” He got enough altitude that they could see every part of the Pentagram with ease. “How’s this for a high?” he joked, smirking at Angel.

“Fuck…it’s a helluva view.” Angel scanned the city. His eyes locked onto Valentino’s porn studio. A tiny fuschia line was just pulling up to the street in front of it.

Husk realized where Angel was looking and shifted to block the Red Light District from view. “Nah, we’ve got better things to look at. There’s a lot more in Hell than that shitbag.”

The train of Angel’s gown fluttered in the air. The cool breeze and the sparkling city below, sounds muffled by distance, helped calm him. As the tension started to ease in his frame, Husk spoke.

“Things change quick here, especially between Overlords. You know that, with how fast ‘Tino lost you. So I ain’t gonna make promises I can’t keep. But for now, you’re mine Angel Dust, and no one fucks with what’s mine.” His gold irises gleamed as his smile turned harsh. “I don’t plan on wagering you, ever. Clear?”

Something cracked in Angel, a chip in the despair. “As crystal baby.” He sighed. “Thanks…Husk.”

A few more minutes and then Husk lowered them back to the balcony. “I need to head back down. Call room service, get some rest.” He took Angel’s hand and pressed a kiss to the back. “Let me know how you’re feeling tomorrow.”

Angel ordered food, changing out of gown and jewelry for an oversized shirt while it was arriving. He’d ordered a bunch of finger foods, easy to eat as he lounged. But he was surprised to find his favorite cocktail added to the cart. A card written in Husk’s handwriting leaned against the stem, “Just one tonight.” He snorted before taking a sip. He was starting to like this kind of pampering.

[sleepybbie]

KOI NO YOKAN | nagi x reader

summary: koi no yokan - the sudden knowledge upon meeting someone that the two of you are destined to fall in love. nagi still remembers the day he met you and the day he fell in love with you.

nagi seishiro x fem!reader

notes: from nagi’s pov! h/c - hair color, h/l - hair length, e/c - eye color, f/n - friend’s name <33

a/n: aaahh i love this man sm ! ૮꒰ྀི⊃´ ꒳ `⊂ྀི꒱ა

nagi still remembers the day he first saw you.

it was during one of his football practices at school. his good friend, reo and his other teammates were practicing as usual on the field, the soccer ball being kicked around—same old, same old. it was a hassle to have practices after school when he could just be at home at the moment, play video games all day and have the most relaxing naps alone at his home.

well now that his life had changed after he met the ambitious mikage son, nagi knew he couldn’t go back to that boring lifestyle he used to have anymore.

“nagi over here, over here…!” he hears reo yell from the side. today’s practice was a 5 on 5 match at hakuho high’s soccer club. nagi nonchalantly yet swiftly kicked the ball towards reo without any second thought in his head except of going home early after today’s game. when reo caught the ball, the purple haired boy ran towards the goal, confusing the enemy side with his small dribbling tricks to attempt to distract them, and passed it to a nearby teammate.

nagi almost let out a loud grunt when that same teammate that reo passed to, kicked the ball so high it went out of the field in full speed. “it’s out! someone catch it before it hits somebody!” someone beside reo yelled. reo looked over at nagi and shouted, “nagi quick! get it!”

what a pain…

his legs now running with speed, nagi’s eyes glued to the floating ball failed to notice people standing in his direction. including a group of friends who were now running out of the way. the ball was now heading towards someone..he picked up the pace a little.

“y/n watch out!” a call of somebody’s name echoed into his ears before nagi jumped up high and caught the ball within seconds with his feet. thank goodness he got it just in time, or else it would’ve already hit the person in front of him. the moment he stopped the ball, it was if he managed to stop time, too. nagi’s grey orbs scanning down to see a face just right below him.

a girl

her eyes were looking back at him, filled with surprise and amazement. his white bangs flowed along with the rhythm of the cold wind that hit his face, he could see her properly from his vision. h/c h/l hair, her eyes were a hue of e/c pupils. at that same split second, the earth created a collision between two people for their first meeting, much more different than fate walking pass by—like a painter touching a skin of a canvas for the first time in order to create a masterpiece.

the ball stopped, and nagi swiftly landed on the ground, trying to push himself as much as possible to not hit the girl on his way. kicking the ball back up, nagi kicks the ball back into the field and watches as reo takes it and slammed the ball towards the goal, earning another point for their team. 3-0, it was slightly unfair. there were yells from that same area—saying how that pass was even possible. though, mostly everyone knows hakuho high’s crazy soccer duo.

nagi places both of his hands on his hip, letting out a sigh before he faces the person standing behind him. she’s still there, looking scared of what just happened. “uhmm…” he began, “are you alright?”

she winces. odd..he was at least twice the times taller than her figure. although he knows that there were other girls shorter than her in this school, she was just one of them. “oh…! uhh, yes i’m ok. t-thank you for saving me..” she says, giving nagi a short bow. a shy type of student? she seems to stutter easily upon talking. nagi raises a brow, a little perplexed, “it’s not much of a big deal, anyways…i wouldn’t really call that saving..”

the girl blinks her eyes twice and she chuckles, seeming unbothered of what just happened. she had a nice smile, warm and stitched beautiful across her kind expression. he changed his mind, was this girl the calm type? she’s certainly showing no concern of the trouble his teammate made (and he had to stop it for him). thinking about someone’s facial expression is such a bother, why is he even thinking of it?

“i’m honest. if it weren’t for you i would’ve got hit. so, thank you so much,” she says, quite in a soft tone. maybe she was the soft-hearted type..? she looks studious. she’s probably smart, too. at this point, nagi feels like he’s already judging a person based on their looks, but he couldn’t help it.

“eh..like i said, ‘s not much of a big de—

“y/n! ugh, thank goodness you’re ok!” the sentences were cut off soon when the person who was with her (who is probably her friend) ran straight to her side, concerned expressions on her face as her hands clutch onto her shoulders, shaking them.

“i-i’m fine, f/n..! i didn’t get hit i swear..!”

“i know but still…!” her friend looked over to nagi’s direction, and the snowy haired boy knew he was going to get an earful by this random chick who was defending her best friend. maybe if he just sneaked off, then he’ll be safe..? “hey nagi, could you and your team kindly stop kicking the ball so hard?? you guys could’ve hit someone, y’know?!” she began, and nagi immediately discarded his short plan. yeah, he’s used to this by now.

“oi are you listening?!”

‘ugh, so noisy, what a hassle..and how does this girl even know my name? do i know her?’

“ahh..! f/n! i’m sorry, sorry. about my teammate kicking the ball out of the field,” well about time his savior arrived. nagi watches as reo appeared out from behind and nervously raised both of his hands up as a stop gesture to back the girl named f/n up away from the sleepy genius. f/n scoffs, “reo…hey, it would be appreciated if you tell your team to calm down with the ball or else it would’ve hit y/n right here. if it weren’t for this guy then i’d be seeing her at the infirmary room.”

this girl is so loud, nagi thinks. compared to the girl he just saved from the soccer ball. f/n mentioned her name is…y/n? huh..

“i’m really sorry again. i’ll tell that to them. i’m sorry, too, y/n. i hope it didn’t scare you much.”

“like i said, it’s ok…! you don’t need to apologize, reo. i’m fine, see?”

oh, his friend knows y/n, too.

“reo, you know them?” nagi questions. reo looked over at nagi and raises his brow, looking puzzled. f/n had an offended look over her face while y/n just giggled. did he say anything wrong? he’s sure he asked him right.

“nagi…these two are our classmates..”

nagi blinks. “oh…really?”

“the hell do you mean, really?!” f/n shouts at him, obviously pissed. maybe he should stop sleeping in class all the time…or sneak off during recess to play..? yet again, reo is always finding ways to look for him at break hours.

reo sighs as he rolled his eyes. “calm down…he’s always like this. c’mon nagi, let’s go back to practice. we got another match next week.”

“mm..”

“you better keep your word, reo..! let’s go, y/n,” f/n uttered to the purple haired male, reo waves off as a response while nagi still stood there. f/n calmly took y/n’s hand and walked off the opposite direction, dragging her along.

“ah..! bye nagi…! thank you once again..!” y/n waves to him, with a smile. and then the two friends left.

nagi was a little surprised. it was the first time a girl said goodbye like that to him…exception of his other female relatives and his mom. a classmate of his.

nothing else to say, he raises his hand up, waving back. “bye..?” his voice was soft, only he could hear it, as if there was a lump trapped between his throat.

that was strange

he remembers the first time he had a long chat with you.

it was when reo held a study group for the upcoming exams their school was having. everyone knew how smart the mikage’s son is, so they immediately asked him if he could help them with tutoring. who was he to say no?

however, reo wanted to drag nagi along as well for the group study session. nagi at first, declined; saying it was too much of a bother to even study for an exam (even if it was an upcoming long test) and that he was far too tired to come with them (not to mention a whole group of students he doesn’t know is coming, too). it took the lazy male awhile to just say ‘yes’ to the rich boy after what seemed like an hour of endless pleading for him to tag along. the only reason why nagi decided to, is because reo made a solution of doing the study session at a huge cafe that was nearby an arcade shop.

once the group was ready to stroll, nagi stayed far behind from them as mostly every student talked to reo while walking towards the cafe, he just walked, being occupied by his phone.

“oh! reo, f/n said that they’ll follow by. what cafe are we going to, again? gotta tell her so she’ll know where we’re studying.”

“oh, just the cafe 20 minutes near our school beside the arcade store. tell her and she’ll know.”

oh shit…nagi remembers her. the girl that gave him the stink eye when the soccer ball almost hit…

‘what was her name again…?’ nagi’s thoughts began to sink in wonder. oh right…her name is y/n. it’s been a long time since nagi last saw her. so y/n’s friend was coming by to the study group…great, looks like god wasn’t on his side today. he’s a 100% sure she’ll be irritated if she saw him there at the same table.

when the group entered the cafe, reo easily booked them a large table where all could sit beside one another without any problems. everyone cheered for him. nagi wasn’t able to sit besides reo since it seems like he was seated between two girls who were calling over for his attention, asking how this formula works or how to solve this problem in the most ear screeching voice nagi could ever hear. maths was hell, and reo was a master of all subjects in their class.

it was around 1:58pm when their group studying began. nagi barely paid any attention to what reo was tutoring to them. he’s silently playing on his phone that was well hidden under the desk, while his classmates focused on their books in hand. when he finds reo to be distracted with the tutoring, nagi decided to pretend to excuse himself to go to the bathroom; when he’s really planning to visit the arcade next door instead. the snowy haired male wasn’t interested in the study anyways.

he finds himself going outside the cafe and hurriedly rushed to the arcade door, where at first enter was a glance of neon lights and game-like explosions blasting from the inside. nagi’s eyes sparkled from the sight of one of his favorite games at one of the arcade stalls nearby, he had enough quarters with him, maybe playing a few rounds wouldn’t hurt.

the thing that was a pain, is that there were many players on line. as in many. the game had its reasons of why it was going popular today, and nagi knew that very well.

‘such a hassle…there’s so many people in line…better if i exchange a few quarters first just in case..’ he thoughts to himself as he heads towards to one of the employers in the arcade arena. the aisle was surrounded by a lot of people possibly his age, and some half of them were loving couples who were comfortable enough to flirt with one another in public. displaying affection in areas like this is enough to make nagi sick.

next to him were crane machines (and players throwing slight tantrums when the stuffed animal went back down), ticket counters, and racing car games. his eyes darted everywhere, trying to look for a few exchanges for his whole dollar yen until he spotted a figure in front of one of the crane machines.

h/l h/c hair..a short figure…and the reflection of the glass from the crane game.

ah

oh..!

it was her

her hands were manoeuvring over the crane’s handle, focusing on what stuffed animal she plans to get. however, the stuffed bunny fell back down to where it came from, and he hears y/n groan in dismay. nagi finds himself watching her attempt to get the stuffed bunny for at least two more rounds. although, in those two rounds, the poor girl still wasn’t able to get the stuffed toy she wanted. her pout made her look like a toddler. nagi had no idea how long he was gazing at y/n till he failed to notice she was already turning around and saw him. she jumped in surprise.

“ah..! n-nagi-san..?! is that you??”

“oh…hey,” was all he replied, very casually. y/n’s face shifted into a look of puzzlement, holding her school bag tight in her palms as she tilted her head, “what are you doing here? i thought you were part of reo’s study group..”

“eh..got bored. decided to drop by here instead. what’re you doing here?”

she giggles. “aha, you’re…very blunt and straightforward about it. i’m here because f/n-chan is part of the study group..isn’t reo going to be angry if he finds out you’re here..?”

he shrugs, “don’t know. but i know reo, so i trust he won’t. i think..” he thinks. he’s been playing with the purple haired boy for almost 4 months now, and his talent being used as an instrument for soccer and for his and reo’s dream to bring home the world cup…nagi just wishes he would know how to study expressions more. but now…reo wasn’t with him, instead there’s this girl (who is his classmate at school), looking over at him with a curious stare.

“don’t worry. i’ll talk to him out of this if he did.”

“ah…ok, i see..”

“by the way, are you having trouble getting that plush bunny at the crane machine?”

“eh..?? so you’ve noticed..”

“ ‘ts easy. don’t know why you have such a hard time..”

“i-i’m not an expert..!”

“mm..then, i’ll give it a try..”

“you will..??”

“mm..”

nagi wasn’t quite sure what had gotten into him when he decided to take over the controller of the crane machine, however he did know is that he easily won the bunny plushie for y/n, who gave him the most softest and widest smile he has ever seen. reo had beamed at him like that before, in fact he was the first one who had ever shown nagi appreciation and like towards the boring genius. but, something about how y/n did seemed…a little odd.

“that was amazing..! you did it with no hesitation..!”

“like i said, ‘ts easy..all you have to do is find the right angle and press the button to grab it.”

“how are you able to find the perfect angle so easily though?? nagi-san you must have sharp eyes.”

“you ask a lot of questions..”

“ah! sorry!”

and the next thing he knew, he was sitting next to her at one of the dining tables, licking on an ice cream while y/n continued to talk a lot about her interests. in return, nagi told her about him and reo, and at first y/n mistaken the two of them as a couple due to how close they were. the only reply nagi gave was ‘cringe.’

“i’m not interested in getting into a relationship…sounds like a drag to always have quality time with them just because you like them..”

“though, not quality time is always required in a relationship, nagi-san. there are other languages in love, too…i heard..”

“is that so? well that’s even more of a bother…”

having such a conversation like this with a girl…nagi has no idea what was coming to him.

he didn’t know how long they started talking to one another. all he knew, was that he helped her win a stuffed animal in some boring crane machine, and she followed him when he began to play the game he waited for, and watched him beat every player lined up, then, the two of them went to a dining table at the side and ordered ice cream. however, their convo with one another was cut short when f/n bursted inside the arcade along with reo, and spotted the two of them together eating. reo had this fizzled expression on his look, his face having questions of what the two of them were doing together, while f/n was surprised her best friend was with someone like nagi.

“oh! nagi-san, before we part, do you have line?”

nagi felt his shoulders weigh down a bit. “line id? uhh…yeah.”

“let’s exchange ids…is it ok? i…i wanna keep talking to you.”

head empty, nagi wasn’t sure what to reply for that while her best friend seems to be staring at him intensely.

“mm…sure.”

well, at least it was you who made the first move…nagi thinks to himself.

weird

he will never forget the day…in which the day he fell in love with you.

the news of the blue lock staff members giving the bllk-11 team the order of having a vacation after defeating the u20 team brought excitement over to nagi’s head. he missed his home, ahh he also missed his cactus, he misses his warm bed and…

‘ah…why am i thinking of y/n again..?’

once he got all his stuff back, nagi made the decision of jumping on his mattress and take a nap when he’s back home. he was fetched home by one of the blue lock buses, he bid farewell to the friends he made along the way during the (hellish) soccer project, and by the time he reaches his door, nagi was happy to find choki back all healthy on his window still.

probably ba-ya was the one who returned choki. he did leave it on her hands after all. then again…he remembered what he told reo back during their match alongside isagi and barou. nagi couldn’t help but give out a small sigh once he looked over choki.

‘such a drag…thinking too much is a hassle..’

he left his stuff on the ground before jumping on his bed and bringing out his phone. the weather was nice…comfortable even. the perfect weather where he can do nothing but sleep the entire day away.

if that’s the case…why is he suddenly looking for y/n’s contact number?

when the other line rung, he can hear her picking up the phone, her breath shaky on the side.

“y/n?”

“ah..! nagi-san, sorry if i picked up late!”

“eh..? that was a quick pick up than i expected, y’know..?” she… still sounded the same. during the match with u20, he could actually see her at one of the stalls of the audience along with her friends. he wanted to wave hi, nagi wanted to talk to her even like before after the game. he just didn’t know he only had the courage now to make a call. come to think of it, why did he even call her on the first place?

“ehe…sorry, i was cleaning my room. ah.! also, congrats on your team’s win. i’m so happy for you and reo!”

he frowns. “mm, thanks..”

“how is he by the way? i was texting him after the game but…he’s not responding. is he alright?”

nagi thinks of himself as someone who would just cast everything away aside so that it wouldn’t be a problem for him (or as he’d like to call it, be more of a bother to him). so, he’s so confused on why he’s telling y/n everything of what happened to him at blue lock, what happened between him and reo, and the rush he felt during the progress of becoming the world’s best striker. he was letting all of his feelings out…to nobody but y/n.

y/n listens attentively, humming on every detail he said. giving feedback of what she thinks…comforting him on the other side of the phone.

what nagi didn’t know the most, of why his heart was beating so fast right now.

more…he wanted to talk to her more..

he didn’t even realize it began to rain outside his window. the snowy haired male didn’t realize either he was talking to her for so long. nagi isn’t a chatty person, everyone knows his stoic and unbothered behaviour, however when it came to y/n..he just doesn’t know what’s going on with himself anymore.

nagi feels warm.

“nagi-san…are you ok?” y/n’s voice was soft, like a whisper. she sounded concerned, worried. nagi’s eyes dropped to the cushion of his bed, staring at his socks—feeling the rain patter hard on the window next to him, and his grey eyes painted with a natural dull cover.

“yeah..” is all he replied. “..m just feeling a bit tired. that’s all.”

“i see…i’m glad you called. i was also planning to call you. i just decided to tidy up around first before doing so, yet i didn’t expect you’d call me first..aha..” y/n says, letting out a soft giggle. nagi could hear her adjust her phone, the sound of soft pillows rummaging on the other side. she was probably laying down on her bed right now as it rained.

“you know…after your game against the u-20 team…i wanted to see you.”

just like the moment when reo looked up to him and his boring demeanor, when he first made the scoring goal against the u-20, when he managed to trick rin itoshi back at blue lock…nagi felt like his heart beating ten times faster now. the world pauses for a second, he couldn’t hear the rain outside anymore, only the sound of his heartbeat echoing through. the feeling of warmth that he felt when talking to her…it seemed to be increasing so much he feels the tip of his ears turning red.

this is a new feeling to him. not like any soccer match or anything involved with reo and his other friends, no. all of this fuzzy emotions building up inside of his stomach…all new. there was silence over the phone.

“u-umm..sorry, that was a strange thing to say, isn’t it?”

nagi fixed his posture a little, pulling a pillow close to his chest. “nah…well, maybe a bit. it isn’t much of a bother though.”

badump

“oh really..? well i’m glad then! i thought i might’ve said something awkward…sorry, you were just silent for a moment there i thought you were feeling odd about what i said.”

badump

he hugs the pillow tighter. “no.. ‘s fine..i was just surprised you wanted to talk and see someone like me. you and reo are weird.”

badump

“e-eh? only? i’m really sorry then!”

badump..

“but really though, i really hope you and reo get along again soon. you two are so well known in our school..! popular even, i overhear the girls in the bathroom that you two are amazing that you guys brought a powerhouse school down!”

stupid fucking heart..why do you keep beating so fast? you’re just talking to a girl.

the rain fell a little fainter, although the melodies of his heart didn’t seem to stop whenever y/n continued to talk on the phone. his bangs covered his eyes, only listening to her soothing tone of her sweet voice. she sounded pretty…so fucking pretty.

“hey..” nagi suddenly cuts her off. this strange sensation rubbing through his chest. y/n obliged, and immediately went quiet. “hm?”

“i think i like you.”

maybe he was the strange one after all.

[deiastormborn]

Gale of Waterdeep; A much needed look beneath the surface 

Hey all. This is a script for the video I made in defense of Gale. I never had a place to put the text version of it anywhere else, but... if Tumblr isn't a good place for it, then what is?

Warning: Long Read!

________________________

Hi, my name is Stormborn. I’ve been playing Baldur’s Gate for some time, enjoyed it quite a bit. As much as I can appreciate every companion that the game has introduced, Gale of Waterdeep, a charming lil’ wizard, has caught my attention the most. At glance, he is this sarcastic happy-to-go man, always joking around, trying to do the right thing. But, the more you get to know him, the more you slowly uncover his trauma, as much as he, himself, is trying to deny it.

Honestly, I thought that Gale would be liked by many people, I genuinely expected him to be one of the most chosen companions, and one of the most romanced ones. But, to my surprise, I’ve been seeing him getting more hate than I anticipated. Some people call his way of speaking way too annoying and complicated, some people call him clingy and creepy, mostly due to the glitch that would skyrocket his approval of you, probing him to romance you. Genuinely, it is okay to dislike some companion in favor of the other one. But I could not get rid of the feeling that people just despise his guts unjustifiably. 

One of the main reasons, besides the ones I covered earlier, is that people hate his ‘obsession’ with Mystra, the goddess of magic he happened to romance. I saw people complain that he just cannot stop talking about her, even while you romance him, and I can’t help but wonder if people were paying attention to his story at all. And I cannot blame them, as Gale always portrays his romance with Mystra as something so special, so unique, and as something to be proud of. But, let me explain to why you should be able to judge his story for yourself, rather than simply listen to what he is saying.

Gale is a talented wizard, so talented that he got attention from Mystra herself for his talent of channeling the weave. The story says that he is so powerful, that he could potentially destroy a whole village by basically sneezing in its direction. However, we all need to remember that he got attention from Mystra at the very, very young age. If I am not mistaken, the first time Mystra clawed onto him was when he turned 16. Ever since then, Mystra was feeding him all kinds of praise, prompting him to seek power, ensuring him that he can become Mystra’s chosen, and, mind you, *started romancing him ever since*. It is not a secret that Gale was not the first, however, if you really think of it, such revelation can seriously mess with a mind of a teenager. Not only it might boost the self-esteem, but also make him think that he is better than anyone else. And, I assure you, it is exactly what Mystra wanted. By giving him some form of attention, minimum affection, she had Gale on the hook. And Gale, as a boy obsessed with magic, who has been worshiping Mystra before he even met her, didn’t require much effort in getting hooked. But here comes the problem: as much as it is uplifting to get a praise from a literal Goddess of all magic, it is also as equally devastating to get any kind of critique or a cold shoulder.

Mystra was messing with his mind, making him feel like, no matter how well he does, he can always do better, as he has so much potential. With such authority, Gale would believe her. And it would make him always chase something more to impress her, rather than settle and appreciate what he has. It is also a reason to why the whole mess with the Orb began in the first place. People seem to call Gale power hungry, which, as any companion in the game, it is possible for him to go down that route. But they seem to forget one important detail: Gale thought that the Orb was a missing relic of Mystra’s magic, and he wanted to, yet again, impress her by bringing it back. Please remember that Gale was still a young adult, if not a teenager, when this happened. And it would all be resolved if Mystra would not shatter his self-esteem as much as she did. So, he made a mistake, and the Orb became his burden. And yet again, rather than explain this to her ‘chosen one’, she basically banished him, and left him with no answers for many years to come.

Gale isolated himself to keep people around him safe, with nothing but the books and the cat for the company. I think I do not need to mention on how that can play with your mind, too. But, in spite of all, Gale’s blind loyalty and obsession with Mystra kept him wanting for more attention, more answers, so he kept seeking more power, and more ways to get Mystra’s approval. At the day you first meet him, this is the first time he has been amongst people. Yet he still kept his jolly appearance, messing around with Tav, and appreciating everything that surrounds him.

I do not know if this is obvious just yet, but Mystra has basically groomed the kid. If we look at the very definition of grooming, Grooming is when someone builds a relationship, trust and emotional connection with a child or young person so they can manipulate, exploit and abuse them. And it is most prominent when it comes from the place of higher authority. I think I do not need to explain that, in the fantasy setting, there is no higher authority than the God or a Goddess. Yet, for one reason or another, this seems to not be taken serious. And I think I have an explanation as to why.

When you talk to Gale about Mystra, or when you let him talk about her first, he is still full of admiration, obsession, and the unending pride. There is still some bitterness lingering somewhere in him, yet it Is not as powerful as any other feeling he has towards her. I’ve noticed people basically hating him for saying something like ‘Yeah, I banged Mystra, that’s pretty cool, right?’. But think of it this way: wouldn’t Mystra *want* him to think that it’s ‘pretty cool’? And who are we to say that it was the real Mystra he had an intimate moment with? For all we know, she might have conjured an illusion, to satisfy him and feed into his ego. If the romance between them was as real as Gale thinks it was, do you really think Mystra would just abandon him with no answers for a mistake such as this? After all, Gale was young, and had barely any experience. All he had was wizards, such as him, or more powerful than him, and her. If she truly cared about putting him to a right path, rather than using him for her needs, the outcome would be ever so different. 

I would also like to address that people do not think of it as a simple coping mechanism. Even if you look at the society these days, most of the time, when a man comes with a confession of, say, a woman taking advantage of him, it is often met with ‘wow dude, you got lucky’, rather than with a serious concern. Who are we to say that Gale, rather than simply try to reflect and recognize his relationship with Mystra as an illusion, didn’t just decide to get along with it and be proud instead? Even then, when you romance him further, he is slowly realizing that it was not as real as he once thought. In Gale’s own words: ‘there is no love between us. I was not the first, and I certainly won’t be the last’. Gale finally, ever so slowly, starts to understand that he was simply used by Mystra for his talent. Being a deity means that you are only powered by the followers you still have. It is in the god’s interests to keep people interested in them, or they will loose power. Using Gale, knowing he was an extremely skillful wizard, was in Mystra’s interests. She does not give him answers, but keeps him interested in her enough to keep him in her claws, spreading more words of her, attracting more people to follow her godhood. There was no real romance, she was interested in his power more than himself. And you can help him realize that.

But, with such dynamic comes a price, which also becomes more prominent when you play the game further: Gale never feels good enough. With the first chance he can sacrifice himself for a greater good, he takes it. He has no real appreciation of his life, he does not take it as something valuable. He is deeply depressed and traumatized. When a person moves away from the environment that scarred them, it can become extremely overbearing, difficult, and overwhelming. People also seem to act as if it is weird that, with any kind of hurt, Gale’s first reaction is to ‘blow himself up’. It doesn’t take much to know that he won’t do it if it were to mean that someone can get hurt, but he is saying that because, maybe, partially, he *wanted* to die. He has finally found appreciation amongst other people, who are not wizards like him, people who do not know him well, and people who do not want him to constantly be the best version of himself. He falls in love with Tav, because Tav is showing him kindness, and proving to him that he does not have to be someone that he is not to be loved. In that very vulnerable state, any kind of hurt or rejection hits you more. Not to mention that, the only time he ever says it, was after the night he spent with you. After he opened up, shared his fears, more of his past, even said out loud that, in truth, he does not want to die. He let himself be vulnerable, the most vulnerable he has probably been in years, so it is not a question of his ego being hurt: it is a situation where a man, who always kept to himself, has finally let someone in, and got hurt. I am sure one of us, at one point in life, said something like ‘well guess I go die’ as a joke. This is the only way Gale knows how to respond: joking about his pain. He does not mean it, but says it anyway, because it is the first thing that came to his mind. He has been a very reserved companion through the whole time, always seemed to know what to say, and he acted on an emotion after a very emotional night. 

It is also a fact that, even while he is slowly realizing that Mystra used him, he does not mind dying because she asked him to do so. That does not only prove a point that Mystra does not have any real regards to him other than a tool, but also that she was using him for her own sake. With The Absolute getting more followers, her power also weakens. The Absolute is a threat, not only because of the infection and danger to mere humans, but also to her godhood. And who better to deal with it than the man she has so methodically conditioned to do as she wishes? You would think that, a goddess as powerful as Mystra, could try to take care of things on her own. And yet again, the only time Mystra ever gives him any answers, is when she needs him to be used. That is, yet again, a definition of the grooming.

Gale will do anything for a little bit of appreciation, anything to be noticed, and we cannot blame him. This is why you, a player, as a Tav, have a power in you to make him realize that he, as he is now, is valid. It is almost as if Gale forgot that he is such a talented wizard after all the stuff with Mystra. You, as a player, have it in you to remind him. And once you do, Gale slowly separated himself from Mystra as her ex-lover, and only answers to her as his deity. After all, she is a goddess of all magic, it will be hard to reject her entirely.

Victims of grooming or any kind of abuse often can’t let go of the person who harmed them. They will talk about them, they will mention them, they might even try to grasp onto good things, or make it seem like bad things that happened weren’t really all that bad. Combine that with a constant feeling of never being good enough, and not knowing a genuine kindness outside of his very small circle, and you have Gale. A charming, sarcastic, jolly Wizard, who is also as ever troubled. 

Moving on to other topic that people seem to judge Gale for, is that, once a chance arrives, he starts grasping onto Godhood, wishing to become a God himself. It is also in that situation where he starts to say that he would have the power to completely overthrow Mystra. People seem to criticize him for his hunger for power, and also, altogether, call him ungrateful. I would like to add another opinion on that: while Gale is slowly realizing that he was being used, he went through all 5 stages of grief. But here comes the other one, that is mentioned much less: revenge. He wants to show Mystra that she was wrong about him. He wants to prove to her that, after all this time, he *was* good, if not better than her. On top of that, he is still trying to fix his never-ending self-esteem issues. While he is seeking godhood, he still thinks that, him, as he is now, will never be enough, and only by becoming God he can truly become worthy… of anything. If you romance him, he later apologizes to you, but also asks to let him explain to why the Godhood would be good for him, and you, as a couple. Gale wants to give you everything. The entire world. He wants to be the very best version of himself, for you, his lover. He thinks that he can only achieve that by becoming a God. He doesn’t realize that, maybe, without it, he can still be a valuable partner. He even talks to you about it, openly, saying that you deserve better. It is, yet again, in your power to remind him that you do not need him to be anything more than he is now. And, rather than with anger, he answers to you with a surprise. He truly, genuinely, can’t believe that you would take him as he is now. This is how deeply his trauma runs in his mind. And, once he finally believes you, this is where he finally calms down. This is finally when he accepts himself, and lets it all go. He is not repaired, but he is on his path towards healing. All because you, a player, convinced him, and reminded him of his value.

I think Gale’s approach towards things have deeply changed the perception of the players. Because he is in so much denial, people seem to just go along with what he says. He is proud of sleeping with Mystra - so people take it for what it is. Gale might not be your type, or even the most interesting companion to you compared to others, but I truly, genuinely think, that the hate he has received has been a little too much. Every companion has a burden, everyone expresses it differently, on their own pace. Gale has chosen the approach that makes the most sense in his situation. He is just a guy who was thrown into a mess made by the Goddess he worshiped at the young age. He is just someone who is trying to do good. And I hope that a small essay such as this helped and shed some light on his story. 

Men can be groomed, they can be taken advantage of. I think it is our duty to also recognize it, and show a little patience. After all, Gale is not the first example of such abuse. And, sadly, won’t be the last.

Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HAnZHJtYkcg

[vanteguccir]

── ୨୧ !　𝗜 𝗟𝗜𝗞𝗘 𝗬𝗢𝗨𝗥 𝗙𝗔𝗖𝗘

　　　　　　　　　𝒎𝒂𝒕𝒕 𝒔𝒕𝒖𝒓𝒏𝒊𝒐𝒍𝒐 x reader

SUMMARY: Where Y/N has had a crush on Matt for years but hid her feelings out of fear. She just didn't expect Matt to feel the same way about her.

WARNING: None.

REQUESTED?: Yes, by anon

AUTHOR'S NOTE: That is my work, I DON'T authorize any plagiarism! | English isn't my first language, so I'm sorry if there's any grammar error.

　　　༻✦༺ 　༻✧༺　༻✦༺

The sounds of random music and different audio from TikTok echoed through the four walls of Matt's room.

The brunette was lying in the center of his double bed, his torso lightly supported on the headboard, above his fluffy pillow, while his right arm was half raised and supported on the bed by his elbow.

His hand held his phone up tightly while his thumb scrolled through the screen, double-clicking on it every now and then, liking some videos. His left hand was on Y/N's back, who was in her favorite and most comfortable position; on top of Matt.

Y/N had her body lying completely on the boy's body, her chest pressed against his while her legs rested against the mattress and between Matt's open ones. Her head was lying on his left shoulder, right in the crook of his neck, her hair tickling his jaw and chin every time she moved it, sometimes to watch one of the videos, but mostly just to admire his features.

The girl had a huge crush on Matt and that wasn't news to anyone. Although she never talked about it, everyone saw the way she acted around him through her body language - that spoke louder than any words could -, except Matt himself.

But he wasn't the only oblivious one among the two. Although he didn't make his years-long crush on the girl so apparent as she did - even while trying not to -, he liked her just as much.

Y/N watched Matt's varying reactions closely and attentively to each different video, her eyes scanning his features carefully, getting lost in each line of expression. Her pupils carried a glow that only appeared when she looked at him, shining bright.

Her right hand was raised over Matt's cheek, her fingertips lightly caressing his smooth skin, tracing every line she could see, and the ones she couldn't too - she had all of them already memorized and embedded in her mind.

She was completely sure that Matt was the most beautiful boy she had ever seen; every trait and habit of his captivated her, as much as his aura, which was so calm and sincere that it made her want to never leave his side again. Just the thought made her smile like a fool, and the gesture didn't go unnoticed by the brunette.

"Why are you smiling like that, hm? You're not even watching the TikToks." Matt asked, his voice came out slightly hoarse from lack of use and the laziness that hugged his body like a light blanket, caused by the extremely comfortable and warm position.

"Hm? Nothing, I'm just thinking." Y/N smiled shyly, lowering her gaze, suddenly feeling small under the boy's gaze.

"Want to talk about it?" Matt frowned in a mix of curiosity and concern, locking the screen of his phone and throwing it aside, focusing fully on the girl above him.

“I just…" Y/N paused, a sigh escaping her mouth before her teeth caught her bottom lip in a light grip, mentally pondering whether she should answer him truthfully or not.

Matt remained silent, looking at her with a calming gaze, an almost imperceptible smile on his lips, passing her security and comfort.

The low, yellow lights of Matt's room illuminated him perfectly, kissing his skin so that it glowed, his most beautiful features standing out, taking the girl's breath away. Without even realizing it, her mouth opened slightly in awe, losing her trail of thoughts as her orbs traveled over the boy's little details.

The way his longs eyelashes caressed his own cheeks every time he blinked made her want to pass her fingers over them, while his roguish smile pulled light wrinkles at the corner of his lips, that seeming to call out for Y/N's lips.

"I just like your face." The whisper escaped her mouth before her mind even processed what she was about to say, the tips of her fingers gently caressing the space between his eyebrows, running down the bridge of his nose slowly.

Her eyes automatically widened in surprise a few seconds after hearing her own voice utter the words she had never before planned to even say out loud, her movements stopping abruptly.

Matt's calming smile turned into an amused one, his blue eyes traveling over the small reactions Y/N's features displayed in response. He slightly lifted his chin up, touching the tip of his nose to the tip of Y/N's fingers, which she had lightly moved away from his skin after getting the shock of reality.

"I mean, I don't like your face- no, wait, I do, it's beautiful for you, every detail fits you perfectly, I just-"

Matt rolled his eyes playfully before slightly lifting his torso, sealing his lips over Y/N's gently, shushing her instantly. A surprised sound escaped the girl's throat, her mind racing at high speed, trying to process what was happening before finally giving in.

Y/N closed her eyes tightly, her right hand - which was previously caressing the skin of Matt's face - traveled to the back of his neck, tangling her fingers in the curly strands, massaging the area lightly, eliciting a nasal sigh from him.

The brunette's warm tongue caressed her bottom lip momentarily, asking for entrance, which was quickly granted. Their tongues intertwined in an infectious dance.

Y/N's left palm rested on Matt's chest, lifting her upper body slightly, generating more access to the kiss. Matt's hands squeezed her waist, his thumb running under the fabric of her t-shirt, caressing the warm skin of her bare hip gently.

When the air ran out, Matt slowly pulled away, his blue eyes analyzing Y/N's reactions closely. A smile stretched across his cheeks when he saw her eyes still closed, her lips parted as she pushed her chin forward slightly, searching for his touch blindly.

"I like your face too."

taglist:

@lustfulslxt @ladybunny44 @worldlxvlys @earth2starkey @remussbitch @freshloveforthefit @il0vebeingdelulu @sturniolowhore @mimi-luvzyu @alorsxsturn @urfavgirllyyyyy @domizzzsstuff @sturnizd @hearts4chris @cupidzsq @dracoflaco @leah-loves-lilies @tylerthecreatorsrealwife @rootbeerworshiper @junnniiieee07 @elliesturniolo1 @sstvrnioloo @lightsgore @gidgett11037 @iammattswife

(If you want to be added to the taglist, go to this post)

[polyhexian]

yall gotta STOP saying hunter was trying to kill amity in eclipse lake. he was not. he was going out of his way not to kill her. his goal was to get the key and to get the key only.

lets discuss in detail.

absolute first thing that happens: King wehs Hunter

Hunter gets Flapjack staff

He teleports twice, says 'real staffs are weird' and then amity ties him up. he teleports out of this into the air.

then we has his first actual aggressive non defensive move:

This is an AOE attack. area of effect. its an attack that does less damage but hits a larger area. so this sends bolts of magic scattering and bouncing all over the place. none of them actually HIT her. and this attack does not aim at her. It purely puts her on the defensive because she is now dodging blasts.

she hops off her staff to block one and then hunter teleports in

he is now behind her and she is caught off guard. he does not attack her flank, he just reaches for the key, before king tackles him.

he teleports behind her again, and this time comes in with a swing.

one she easily blocks. again, not a magical attack here. staff bash.

okay now follow this:

hes here, with her shield

he zaps over here, lower, moves to swing but doesnt, zaps again

baps her again after her shield has already moved above her head

she moves her shield left, he comes in right but hes not even swinging.

amity punches his fucking lights out and then orbs him

he hits her with this construction punch that knocks her off her staff before she can escape

and finally he breaks the necklace with his staff.

none of these attacks were lethal. he hits her with an AOE instead of a direct attack- and she didnt have a shield up yet because she had JUST used it to tie him up, then he hops around with, frankly, some staff bashes that are really holding back from what we know hes capable of, he knocks her off her staff and then when he has the opportunity to actually HIT her he hits the key instead.

compare this to the way he fights kikimora!

he nearly gets his head taken off when she scrapes his forehead and the next attack he blocks with his eyes on Kikimora, not the attack. thats like, important. that indicative of skill level.

especially because he does it twice in a row! the second time one handed! Left handed!

look at the completely different posture he zaps in to strike with. the hits on amity he is holding back.

this little bastard does a front flip mid teleport to generate strength behind this strike.

look how effortlessly he does this. imagine how many rotations that is in a single second. hes not even looking at it OR his hands. hes spinning that one handed.

ive trained on a bo staff. this shit is not easy. i trained for two years and couldnt get anywhere near that. just watch this video of noah fort going apeshit to see what this actually looks like irl.

he fucking... hits it back at her....

this little man can spin a staff so fast he can reflect magic and control the direction it fires. he hit kikimora so hard he sent her flying twenty feet.

if hunter had wanted to kill amity she'd be fucking dead dude. amity is a good fighter, like, don't get me wrong. but hunters op as absolute shit. hes a terrifying little man. he also fought her completely differently than he did kiki, and he wasnt even trying to kill her. we've never seen Hunter fight all out like, fight to the death when he was still at full strength. we have no idea what that would look like. but we know that fight with amity was faaaaar from his potential. intentionally. he is seriously holding back and clearly on purpose. its not just that hes exhausted already, its not just that he has a new staff, its that he is holding back. he is not using lethal techniques.

[mt-oe]

its finals season (again..) and huge projects for classes right now. can we get a stressed reader x modern mizu where reader is like actually tweaking out? like I mean pulling our energy shots, shivering hands, 'gotta lock in', hysterically crying on snapchat video and sending it to their groupchat for moral support type of tweaking out and the reader is going BANANAS over all the final papers, and studying for finals and mizu helps comfort reader?? i hope this would be a silly little write but also helpful to anyone going through finals season right now. much love! xoxo <3

✧⋄⋆⋅⋆⋄✧⋄⋆⋅⋆⋄✧

Hey dears!

To start this, I am absolutely sorry for being gone for so long. I had my thesis defense, practicals, laboratory works, deadlines, and my finals all in the span of two weeks AND I fainted twice, got sick twice, and nose bled a LOT.

I was chugging 3 cans of energy drinks a day, eating one meal per day, sleeping minutes less than how long I showered, and smoked quite a lot. Someone even caught me sleeping on the fire exit stairs (istg so embarrassing ;;). Honestly makes me wonder how I'm not six feet under by now.

To those who are going through their finals, please don't follow my lead. Vomiting at 3am from how dizzy you are while some Sepultura song plays in the background is NOT the experience you'd think it was. Try to plan when you'll tackle your work and get some sleep as much as you can, on your free time, on your commute. I swear, answering tests are SOO much easier when your vision isn't spinning or tunneling.

Chose to do this request first to remind you all to take care amidst your finals (or as a reward if your finals are finished, good job dear!).

Hope you enjoy! Mwa mwa <3

warning: not proofread, my corny jokes, she/her for mizu, implied afab reader

Blue orbs watched as you cracked open another can of Red Bull. A small grunt leaving your throat as the fizzy caffeinated drink went down your esophagus. Was this your second? third..no wait..fourth?

Damn.

How are your blood vessels surviving this onslaught of caffeine you've been shoving down your system? She had no clue. But what she did know was that you've had enough. This wasn't healthy at all. Your lips were already as pale as the palms of your hands which were trembling to the point where you couldn't stop writing because that meant you'd feel the quivering of your hands even more.

The two of you had decided to slave off at Mizu's apartment for your finals. It was mostly Mizu dragging you there since your friends have been bombarding her to take care of you since she had the closest to what was considered a free schedule. T'was something about you freaking out and crying over the finals. She didn't have a Snapchat account so she didn't know.

Usually, she wasn't even interested in these stuff, but when Akemi showed her a picture of you with a thumbs up, holding a can of Monster, dark circles under your bloodshot eyes, tear streaks on your face, with the caption 'Boutta pull another Kay Chung tonight', concerned didn't even begin to describe what she felt.

Boutta pull a Kay Chung?

What or who was this Kay Chung anyway?

She knew you were a hard worker, probably one of the most studious people she knew, so she already expected you to be busy studying. What she didn't expect was the mess you were in.

The moment she stepped into your unit, cans of energy drinks, bottles of energy shots, cups of coffee, and random paper strewn randomly littered your apartment. The only source of light was your window and a small dim lamp you had.

Was that cup noodle container growing mold?

Ew.

It was like the Capital Wasteland in here, and she was the lonesome wanderer, awaiting the dangers to come.

And you were a radiated ghoul hunched over your desk with the emptiest gaze she has ever seen. Your head in your hands, as you scrunched your eyebrows together, trying to figure out what the fuck was wrong with your equation.

Now she understood the bombardment of messages from Akemi and the others, and damn was she grateful for the heads up because you looked like you were at death's door and death... Death just thought you looked too pitiful to let in.

The two of you were now sitting on Mizu's carpet, books, papers, and gadgets on the smooth wood of the coffee table. In her mind, she thought a bit of companionship would comfort you like it usually did. But she was wrong.

The shaking grip you had on your pen and the occasional 'what the actual fuck?' or 'the hell?' already told her that you were too locked in to relax even just a bit. You looked like you were losing it.

Her eyes peered over your review sheet before she raised an eyebrow at how scattered your handwriting looked, numbers and symbols italicized to the left and to the right as if they were dancing and your solutions scattered. Add this value here..derive the formula there..problem 3's solution is somehow on the back of the paper even though problem 5 was solved on problem 1's spot. It looked like a shit show.

"What...problem is this for? You did it wrong." Her tongue clicking as a slender finger encircled a formula you derived wrong, making you look at her with a mildly bothered look. Your eyes tiredly scanned your review sheet, looking away to the side to blink the heaviness of your lids away, then looking back at it before letting out a strangled sounding groan, shoulders slumping back onto the sofa as you covered your eyes with your hands before looking at your own solutions again. "I don't fucking know..maybe it's for..umm..for..fuuuuuck," you sighed defeatedly, realizing that you couldn't understand your own handwriting either.

You wanted to strangle yourself so bad right now or like, strangle your professor until they give you a passing grade. Maybe the threat of arson would scare the university admins into passing everyone for the semester???? The prospect of being a sugar baby is starting to sound better than trying to finish this degree.

It wasn't like you were an absolute idiot. You could solve these problems no problemo. However, your vision was already lagging and tunneling. Whenever you tried to read the problem or your own handwriting, it was like your vision was hyper-focusing on one spot and the areas around it were...spinning or it'd focus on everything else EXCEPT the ones you wanted to focus on.

The amount of caffeine you had consumed wasn't even helping anymore. Instead of waking you up, you just felt jittery like a hyper-charged toy. Before you were sleepy and slow, now you were still sleepy but faster.

And when was the last time you even ate anyway? Was that moldy cup noodle your last meal? You didn't even know anymore at this point. You could barely feel anything aside from the fear of your impeding academic doom. Not even hunger was strong enough to stop you.

Mizu's eyebrows furrowed at how miserable you looked before sighing and pulling a sheet of paper out of her own notebook. "Here," she sighed out, sitting beside you and scanning each problem you had printed out before re-writing each question you looked like you struggled with. Her eyes occasionally glanced at you, unseen worry rising with every hitch of your breath and every twitch of your eyebrow as you looked at the questions she rewrote.

"Mizu..I don't want to do those all again," you groaned frustratedly, ruffling your hair own hair aggressively, strands falling to the carpet below. A hand held yours firmly, preventing you from tangling the ends of locks even more. "I'm going to teach you, dumbass. We can't have you failing and dying at the same time," she huffed, grabbing your calculator and placing it in front of both of you. She leaned closer to you, hand on your waist to pull you closer before taking the pencil and pointing to the first problem she rewrote.

"I'm not going to repeat my explanations, so listen well,"

...was what she said.

However, Mizu was a big softie when it came to you. Every time she caught you spacing out or having a hard time in general, she took her time and explained it to you again, even explaining it slower, simpler, or more detailed as needed. She really made sure that you understood the principle of the problems and the process of solving them, handing the pencil and calculator to you to make sure you actually understood her.

After a while, you were slowly starting to understand you earlier mistakes, and with her help, you were able to finally solve the review sheet. Thank god for hot smart women.

A look of amusement crossed her face as she watched you slump back onto the sofa with a loud sigh of relief. Shaking her head with a small lop-sided smile, she took the pen again before grabbing your laptop and searching for similar problems. "Here," she said, turning the device towards you. "Solve these. I'll be back in a bit."

You looked at her in confusion before letting out a tired groan. The exhaustion was starting to let itself be known through the heaviness in your lids. Another problem set was the last thing you wanted to do right now.

Oh wait.

Fuck, you still had to edit your methodologies and results, and you haven't even started on the discussion yet. Oh god...

'Better get started, I guess,' you thought with a defeated sigh. Muttering a string of curses under your breath, you picked up your pencil and calculator and began solving yet another set of hellish questions while the dark-haired woman stood up and walked off somewhere in her apartment. Silence filled the room aside from the aggressive scritching and scratching of lead against paper and the sound of clacking from your calculator.

Every now and then, Mizu would come back with something to comfort you. May it be a cup of water, a bigger pillow, a hair tie, or to charge your phone for you. She didn't really speak though, fully wanting you to focus on your work.

It was like her quiet little way of telling you that she was here and that she cared for you.

Amidst your problem solving, the smell of something being fried hit your nose, making you look up. It was a bit oily, but at the same time, homely and savory. Your stomach growled slightly at the smell, reminding you of that uncomfortable feeling of hunger that you were somehow able to ignore during your study sessions.

Just as you had finished writing your answers, Mizu came out of the kitchen with a bowl of rice and a plate of what seemed to be fried fish. Kinda burnt but maybe that's a charm point...or something. At least she tried.

She set it down on a clear space on the coffee table and gently urged it towards you. "Here," she mumbled, looking at you expectantly. You stared at the food she prepared, snorting a bit at the charred skin, some bits missing which obviously stuck to the pan while she was frying it. "Err..Mizu...?"

"Don't mind how it looks just..just eat, okay?" she groaned, sounding a bit embarrassed, a bit of pink dusting her cheeks. Her eyes looking away as her hand went up to cover half her face. You couldn't help but laugh a bit. Mizu? Embarrassed? God that woke you up, didn't it?

The sound of your laughter made her feel even more embarrassed but at the same time relieved. Your laugh was so fucking cute. She was glad that you were starting to sound a bit more like your usual self. Hell, you were smiling now. A big improvement compared to the face of misery you were making earlier.

Eventually, your laughter subsided upon the realization sinking into you. She really did all this just to take of you. Dragging you to her apartment, tutoring you, fetching things for you, cooking for you...

She really does care. Doesn't she?

Your hands picked up the chopsticks before breaking into the soft flesh of the food in front of you, picking off the bones before taking a bite. It was salty, the char even made it a bit bitter, and for god-knows-why, even a bit spicy?? But it tasted so good to you. Heavenly, dare I say.

As you continued to eat, bite after bite and scoop after scoop, the shakiness in your hands slowly calmed down. You couldn't help but look up at your friend who was now checking your answers, the ghost of satisfaction making itself known through the barely visible smile she had. "Mizu..."

She looked over at you, raising an eyebrow to indicate that she was listening. "Thank you for uh..taking care of me," you said shyly, giving her a small smile. A low chuckle escaped her throat as she shook her head slowly as if in amusement. "At least you're not shaking like a leaf anymore," she joked, followed by you letting out a small 'hmph!', making her chuckle yet again.

Though she wouldn't tell it to you right now, she'd be more than happy to take care of you anytime you wanted or needed it.

The sound of your pen tapping on the paper filled the room again as her eyes narrowed at your answers, checking it carefully. After a while, she handed the paper back to you, looking very much satisfied. "Looks good," she said, eyes watching the proud smile on your face. "How 'bout a reward?...Some rest I suppose?"

Your smile faltered at the sound of rest. "I can't...my manuscript is due in a couple of days and I haven't even finished editing my methodologies and results," you explained, opening the files for each of your chapters. "The data isn't even tabulated in the required format. It looks like shit."

She stood up from her spot and sat next to you, placing a hand on your head to pat it gently as she looked at the screen. Her eyes narrowed again while you scrolled up the file for her before she sighed. "Yeah, it does look like shit," she agreed before suddenly grabbing your laptop and setting in front of her. "Go and take a nap or something. I'll do whatever I can to...whatever this is."

"But Mizu, this isn't even your field. I can't—" She cut you off with a finger to your lips before gesturing towards the sofa behind the both of you. "Nap," she ordered firmly. You sighed before standing up and laying down on the sofa. You knew there was no use arguing. When Mizu makes up her mind, she's deadset on it.

Her eyes scanned your figure for a moment, taking in every curve of your body and the way your face relaxed. Then, she took off her jacket and draped it over you, before giving you a small loving pat. Before you could even open your mouth to protest, she immediately shushed you and turned to your manuscript, scanning over it.

Your eyes observed the way her eyebrows furrowed and the way her eyes darted from word-to-word. The sound of her typing and clicking filling the room, oddly relaxing you.

It didn't take long for you to drift off to sleep. And for the first time since hell week started, you finally relaxed.

No frustration, no stress, just...sleep.

You did nap for hours longer than expected though.

Don't worry.

Your methodologies were now updated, results properly formatted, and ideas in bullet points for your discussion were laid out in a new file. Even your references were fixed.

Damn, you really wanted to smooch Mizu reaaal hard after this.

[dragonfirerogue-writes]

Beck and Call

Wednesday x Kitsune!Reader

Part One|Part Two|Part Three|Part Four|Part Five|Part Six|Part Seven

When Wednesday opens the door to her dorm room, she's greeted with the sight of you and Enid watching those atrocious Kpop videos on her roommate's laptop. Though the music was an assault on her ears, the sight of you two amused her slightly.

Enid was an explosion of color, whereas you shared Wednesday's affinity for dark colors. The only difference was that your darkness was accented with scant bits of color Your dark, thin eyes were lined with crimson and your hair was tipped in blood red.

The sound of the door closing caught the attention of the Kpop fans. Enid waved enthusiastically while you give a nod in greeting.

"Wednesday! This is Y/N. We're just bonding over music!" Wednesday squinted at Enid's bright grin as if she was looking at the sun. "We'll only be a little bit longer, then you can have your time."

A grin spread on your face. "What, Kpop not your roomie's thing?" You already knew full well that was the case.

"The cheerful music and abundance of color should be a crime," the goth deadpanned. "Utter torture to my senses. And not the enjoyable kind."

You turned to Enid with a questioning tilt of your head. "Wait, you haven't tried any song with dark concepts?"

The wolf paused, thinking slightly before shaking her head. "Y'know, I didn't even think about it... Not usually my wheelhouse. Honestly the closest to a dark concept I liked was Boyfriend's 'Witch.'"

A laugh just escapes your lips, sounding very similar to a 'yip'. Your gaze moves back to Wednesday.

"How 'bout it? I show you a proper dark concept song and see if you at least tolerate it."

The dark girl stared for a moment, contemplating the suggestion.

"What's in it for me?" She asked. "I see no benefit in this attempted torture."

You thought for a bit before reaching to grab something. It was only then that Wednesday noticed your arm. The forearm was wrapped in a braided rope. Intertwined within were small beads, matching a larger one that hung from your ear. Your hand hovers over one of the beads and summons it from its bindings.

"Whoa," Enid balks at the action. She leans closer to gaze at the soft glow of the bead. "Is that a part of your spirit orb thingy?"

You nod in response. "We used to have only one big orb we had to hide, but my ancestors figured out a way to split them up. Mainly for easier hiding." You hold out the bead for Wednesday. "I use them as a way to solidify a pact or favor. So, if you watch one video with me, Wednesday, you can invoke my skills whenever you need."

Wednesday's eyes shift from the bead to your face.

"You're a Kitsune. A trickster demon known to deceive for fun or malice. While you have abilities suitable for my investigation, how will I know I can ensure you don't turn on me?"

A grin spreads wide on your face. "Won't that be a fun gamble to have to take, hm?" Your face sobers soon after. "As long as you have this bead, I'm compelled to help you. That's why we normally hide these. It houses our spirit so we can't do much to circumvent that."

"You're offering a lot for a measly few minutes."

"I'm offering you something equivalent to you stepping out of your comfort zone. Even for a measly few minutes."

The dark haired goth took a pause before slowly reaching out and taking the bead. When she touches it, an aura emits out and engulfs her wrist. The shine fades and a black braided bracelet is revealed, the bead set within the weaving. Wednesday looked at her new accessory curiously... You think.

"Fascinating. Now, let's get this over with. I have a schedule to maintain."

With a salute, you reach for Enid's laptop, silently asking if you could use it. When given permission, your fingers fly across the keyboard, typing out the video you were looking for. Wednesday slowly perched herself at the edge of Enid's bed, an arm's length away from the two of you. You let out a soft huff of amusement before rearranging Enid and yourself to give Wednesday a clear view of the screen.

"Obviously, it's a song about love, cuz of course it is," you start explaining. "But it's an obsessive love where you'll do anything for that person, even if it tears you apart."

"Sounds like my parents."

You quirked an eyebrow at that. Maybe you'll ask about that later. With a smirk, you hit play.

A close up of skin appears on the laptop screen, someone drawing lines upon it before cutting with a scalpel. The somber notes of a piano begin to sound as images of gore, voodoo dolls and pierced skin begin to show alongside the idols themselves. Then an electronic screech sounds as VIXX's 'Voodoo Doll' begins to play.

"Ugh, I forgot how gross this video was..." Enid gags lightly and closes her eyes, opting to just listen to the music.

You watch Wednesday as her eyes train on the video playing. Every movement on her face was caught. You knew what parts of the video got the best reactions. It was fascinating to witness. You end up just staring at Wednesday herself, caressing her face with your eyes.

When Ravi's rap begins, you give a start. Wednesday's eyes flick over to you. You hold her eyes and stare at each other. It wasn't until the bridge began that you broke eye contact. You slip off the bed, mimicking the choreography as you trudge to the center of the room. Both Wednesday and Enid watch as you dance along to the end of the song.

"So? What's your verdict, Wednesday?" Your grin was wide. She watched the ending bit of the video with Hongbin before looking at you.

"... It was tolerable. Certainly appealed to my macabre tastes." Her eyes bore into yours. "You haven't caused my ears and eyes to bleed, Y/N. An accomplishment, indeed."

You give an exaggerated bow. "All in a day's work." As you straighten up, you move to grab your things. "It's about time I head out anyway."

Enid shoots up and pulls you into a crushing hug, which you return with the same fervor.

"Mmmm best hugs! Thanks for hanging out with me."

"Anytime." As you let go, you ruffled her hair causing the wolf to squeal and playfully smack you away. You make your way to Wednesday and offer a hand.

"Thank you for going along with this. I appreciate you indulging us for a few."

The goth's eyes dart from your hand to your face. With some hesitation, she takes your hand in a firm grip.

Thankfully, no vision.

With a subtle sigh, she gives your hand a shake.

"I expect a prompt response when I require your services in the future."

A final smirk graces your face as you bow. With your hand still in Wednesday's, you ended up almost kissing her hand.

"I shall be at your beck and call."

With a final goodnight, you exit Ophelia Hall with a skip in your step. You just hope you get to see more of Wednesday.

[akirraa]

Test Results!

Hq Characters comforting you about your scores

Note: Not proofread. I wrote this for everyone who got any kind of grade back and felt like they didn’t do so well. I wrote more of how hq chatacters would comfort u but thats okay. First fic so sorry if this was bad lol!!!

Info: gn! reader!!! A minuscule hint of angst but mostly comfort/fluff

Characters: Hinata, Kenma, Sugawara, Kuroo, Kageyama

Hinata Shoyo

I feel like Hinata would be very reassuring and would be one of those people who would joke a bit by saying his score was lower or something like that. He would be very polite and try to cheer you up if you’re super bummed out.

You glared at the big red mark at the top of your paper. Shock and dissatisfaction filled your body as your eyes scanned for the mistakes you made. As you calculated your score out of a 100%, your orange haired friend appeared, breaking you out of your little trance.

“Hey name,” Hinata greeted with a questioning tone, “what happened ?” He had noticed your distressed state and wanted to check up on you.

“Hi Shoyo.” you quietly greeted back. You looked up at your concerned friend and you felt your heart swell up. You had never done this badly on a test and felt horrible! You couldn’t even imagine how much of a let down you could be to your parents. “I’m really sad because I didn’t get the score I wanted even after all my studying!” You explained with stress evident in your voice.

Hinata looked down at your paper “ Name, don’t feel down, if it makes you feel better I got a way lower score than you.” He pats his hand on your shoulder as a way to soothe your unease. “I know you studied really hard and the next test you’ll ace,” Hinata exclaims, “I just know it!”

“Thanks Sho, I really appreciate it.” You responded to his words, his brown eyes filled with passion and certainty.

“You could also get tutoring with me and Kageyama if you want!” Hinata suggested.

“No thanks,” you chuckled, “I don’t want to overwhelm and burden Yachi even more.”

“Hey!!”

Kenma Kozume

I believe that Kenma would not really be on the comfort side and more of the “idrc I wont judge you for that kind of thing” side. Besides being a super smart setter and strategist, I’m not entirely sure if he would be a perfect score or close to a perfect score type of guy.

The library was nice and quiet, only a few people there besides yourself. You opened up your laptop, biting your nails while clicking for your score. You had heard your professor dropped grades for the quiz that you weren’t so sure on. You studied real hard because of that unsureness. The white illumination from the computer shined onto your face as you opened up your grade from the quiz. Your heart dropped and a feeling of frustration came over you.

“Name.” Kenma quietly called out to you, walking up to your table.

Shoot, you totally forgot that you promised to meet up with Kenma at the library to study for a midterm today. You were too caught up with shock from your results to remember.

“Hi Kozume!” You tried greeting him with some excitement to mask how you were truly feeling. As he was unpacking his study material and getting ready to review, he was talking to you about a new video game he wanted to buy. Usually you would look at him or ask questions to keep up with the conversation, but his observant self noticed something. You were a bit distant today.

“Name,” Kenma asked with suspicion,” are you okay? You seem a bit off.” His vigilant cat-like eyes seemed to catch everything.

You sighed as you hesitantly turned your laptop to face his eyes, the screen showing your quiz score. “I totally bombed that test and I feel so awful about it.” you mumbled as you looked down at your lap with shame.

“Hey,” Kenma stated firmly, “don’t feel ashamed I wont judge or anything stupid like that.” His golden orbs connected with yours. “If you want, we can study together more often so you can feel more confident on tests.” He suggested, genuinely wanting to help you.

“Yeah that sounds really nice.” you said with appreciation. You were really grateful for him saying he isn’t judging you. You thought that was really sweet.

Sugawara Koushi

I believe he is a person who would be super comforting and if you asked him to help you study for next time, he would be on top of it and low-key a bit strict. I love suga smm!!!

You were right next to Sugawara when you got your test outcome. You were so excited and filled with confidence when checking your test. Those emotions all got thrown out the window and were replaced by surprise and panic.

“Oh my gosh!!” You cried out. You didn’t expect to get this low. What should you do now? Should you ask your teacher for any extra credit or something? Many different questions were flashing through your head.

Sugawara had noticed this and wanted to check up on you. “Hello? Name?” he asked, “are you okay?” He saw the dispirited facial expression you had and connected the dots. Sugawara then saw small tears and knew he had to do something to console you. He understood how hard you worked for this quiz so he wanted to acknowledge that.

“Hey,” Sugawara looked into your eyes, both of his hands on your shoulders, “please don’t cry, you worked so hard!” He really felt like hugging you and wanted to propose a really good idea.

His tone was soft and reassuring, “We could study together for the next test, yeah?” Sugawara embraced your downhearted figure and held you in a quick hug. “I wont promise that I wont be a little strict or firm, is that okay?”

You giggled at his statement, “I would love that.” You sniffled and felt that you could really get the score you wanted on your next quiz.

Kuroo Tesuroo

Certified Chem Nerd!!!! Would try to cheer you up with his good flattery skills and he is a good teacher so I think he would be an amazing tutor as well! Love him!

You opened up your laptop, hoping and begging for one thing. That would be a score above a 90% on this midterm test for chemistry. You knew your friend Kuroo would probably get an 100%, so you hoped to get something near or exactly that score. You clicked the test result link and your eyes went wide.

You felt your heart start to speed up and your head felt a bit lighter. You wanted to think that your site was bugged or something, but after the 20th time refreshing, to no avail it was the same super low score you didnt even imagine of getting. You really wanted to ask what Kuroo got because you were so confused on how you got certain questions wrong and needed guidance.

You pulled out your phone and ringed him up. “Hi, this name?” Kuroo asked with a chirpy tone. You could hear some sort of video game ost with aggressive button clicking in the background. He’s probably with Kenma right now.

“Yeah heyy Tetsu,” you quietly responded with a bit of shame in your voice, “ are you busy right now? I really need to ask you about some things from the chem midterm.”

“Ohh that thing? Sure I got you.” Kuroo replied. The next thing you hear is something that Kuroo is telling to Kenma and some ruffling, probably from a bag. “So what do you need help with, Name?”

“Ohh a couple of things,” you said with a bit of hesitant embarrassment, “I got a really low score…” You fiddled with the hem of your shirt as you spoke.

“I appreciate you coming to my name, you’re a super hard worker and I admire you for that.” Kuroo stated with nothing but honestly in his voice. “I could help you since I think i’m pretty good at chemistry,” Kuroo suggested, “wanna meet up later?”

You jumped up and down and felt so lucky to have a friend like Kuroo. “Yes omg thanks!!!” You blurted out, cheeks a but red from how eager you sounded. But honestly you didn’t care and were super thankful for this opportunity.

“Anything for your name.” Kuroo chuckled with sincerity and hung up the phone.

Kageyama Tobio

As much as I hate to say this, with all love, kageyama is not the sharpest tool in the shed in terms of academics. He would do that thing like he did hinata and boasts how he got a lower score just to be competitive. But in all honesty, I don’t think he would care about it because volleyball for life lol.

You got a low score on the entrance exam for high schools. You were super disappointed in yourself, not able to go to your dream school Shitorizawa. You wanted to tell Kageyama and ask him what he got since he most likely got a scholarship for his amazing setting skills.

“Kageyama!” You called and ran up to him. “Hey,” you asked, “where are you choosing to go to highschool?” Maybe he got to go to Shitorizawa and set for the best of the best?

“Karasuno because I heard Coach Ukai is coming back,” Kageyama responded curtly.

“Wait,” you were shocked he didnt say Shitorizawa and wanted to know more, “You didnt get a scholarship?”

Kageyama sighed as he explained his side of his experience “I bombed the academic test ( not shocked btw) and a scholarship never came so im going to karasuno.”

“Ohhh that makes sense,” you said, “I got a pretty low score so I dont even know which one I want to go to.”

“Hah I probably got a lower grade that you!” Kageyama laughed.

“How is that a flex? “ You giggled as you walked home together.

End Notes: really wanted to cram in tsukishima but i might just make a part two with some other characters since it’s one am rn. Ty for reading 🫶

[bluejayscrying]

PT.3 Of Jason Todd highschool fanfic but i write it like how that one Y/N wattpad fanfic you read when you were 11 was written !!

PART 1 & 2

(@ashoss i need ur expert opinion!!)

You froze. That voice. That deep, rugged voice could make even the most fearless person weak in the knees. You didn’t need to turn around to know who it was. It was Jason Todd.

Slowly, you spun around, your heart pounding in your chest like you were about to face the final boss of some video game. He was standing there, hands stuffed in his jacket pockets, his messy black hair falling perfectly over his piercing blue orbs...He looked effortlessly cool, as if he hadn’t just witnessed your absolute humiliation at the hands of Veronica and her gang of hair-flipping mean girls.

“J-Jason…” you breathed, struggling to find your voice. Your heart was going a million miles per hour, and your face was hotter than the Gotham sun on the one sunny day it had every year.

He raised an eyebrow, clearly unimpressed by the scene that had just unfolded. “What was that about?” he asked, his tone casual, but there was something in his eyes. A flicker of curiosity, maybe.

You fumbled with your books, clutching them tighter to your chest. “I-I don’t know,” you stuttered, trying to act like it was no big deal even though you felt like the ground might swallow you up at any second. “Just… m-misunderstanding. N-No biggie.”

Jason’s eyes narrowed, clearly not buying your story. “Those girls giving you trouble?”

Your heart skipped a beat at the fact that he even noticed you. You shook your head frantically. “N-No, really, it’s f-fine! They’re just… they’re just being p-petty. Y-You know how it is.”

But Jason didn’t look convinced. He stepped closer, and suddenly, it was like the entire hallway shrunk down to just the two of you. You could feel the heat of his presence, his intensity washing over you like a tidal wave. (a/n: I’M LITERALLY SCREAMING HOW IS HE SO PERFECT AKSHSDFKJH)

“I don’t like it when people mess with my friends,” he muttered, his voice low and dangerous, like he was one wrong move away from storming over to Veronica and setting her straight.

Your eyes went wide. “F-Friends?” you squeaked, almost dropping your books in shock. Did Jason Todd just call you his friend?!

He smirked, that signature half-smile that made your heart do backflips. “Yeah, friends. We’re partners, aren’t we?” he said, leaning against the lockers like he was posing for a rebellious teen drama poster.

You swallowed, your mind racing. “Y-Yeah, of course, p-partners.”

But before you could say anything else, there was a loud clattering sound from down the hallway. Both of you turned to see Veronica, glaring daggers at you while dramatically throwing her bag onto the floor. She stormed up to you, her high heels clicking aggressively against the tiles.

“Y/N!” she screeched, ignoring Jason completely. “I thought I told you to stay away from Jason! He’s my boyfriend!” (a/n: GIRL, PLEASE, YOU WISH 💅)

Jason blinked, completely caught off guard. “What?” he muttered, looking between you and Veronica, clearly confused.

Veronica huffed, crossing her arms over her chest. “You heard me, Y/N! Stop trying to steal my man! Jason and I are meant to be together, everyone knows it!”

You stood there, frozen, unsure of what to say. Your mouth opened, but no words came out — because really, what could you say? You weren’t trying to steal him, but also… weren’t you? Your heart screamed yes, but your mind was screaming run!

Jason, however, just raised an eyebrow at Veronica, his arms crossing over his broad chest (a/n: IM LOSING IT HOW IS HE SO HOT WHEN HE DOES THATTTTT) “Veronica, we’re not dating,” he said flatly.

Veronica’s face twisted into an angry pout. “Not yet,” she snapped, glaring at you like you were the villain in her personal rom-com. “But you will be, Jason. You just don’t realize it yet.”

Jason rolled his eyes and turned his back on her, clearly done with the conversation. “Whatever. Come on, Y/N, we’ve got a project to do,” he said, and before you could even process what was happening, he grabbed your wrist and started leading you down the hall, away from Veronica and her death stares.

[gachawolfiebloom]

SMG4 Tale

Chapter 2: The Ruins

Upon running through the doorway, he caught Melony heading up a staircase. "Melony ho-" Four immediately stopped as he was instantly hit with awe. A massive place with purple brick walls, red leaves, and a large entrance at the top of the stairs. He was definitely not in the Showgrounds anymore. Not even the Mushroom Kingdom. This was someplace completely different. Then something else caught his eye. A sparkling star by the stairs.

"Hey Melony...what is this?" She didn't answer and walked through the door. That was weird. Melony wasn't the type of person to just ignore her friends and leave while someone's talking to her. Smg4 started to head up the stairs since he didn't want to lose her, but then he felt like that star was pulling him towards it. He couldn't really describe it, but whatever it was, it seemed pretty important. Four cautiously approached it in case it would hurt him like those orbs did.

Carefully, he reached out and touched it for a chime noise to occur directly after. Four felt a feeling he never had before. Thinking about what challenges he had ahead with the hope to achieve his goals, a burning feeling to not give up sparked inside of him.

(The shadow of the ruins looms above, filling me with determination.)

Not only that, but the burn mark on his finger from Niles had healed up nicely. Four took a quick mental note to keep an eye out for these things and continued on. Observing the scenery as he went up the stairs, this place seemed pretty nice for a decaying setting. It was probably Melony who kept it so nice and neat since she was the caretaker. Smg4 entered the next room where she was waiting for him. "Welcome to your new home....uh"

"Smg4?"

"Welcome to your new home Smg4. Allow me to educate you in the operation of the RUINS."

She walked over some specific pressure plates that weren't highlighted and then flipped a switch, causing the door in front of them to open. "The RUINS are full of puzzles. You could come across a doorway or a compartment that might need a key to continue." Four studied the puzzle as Melony continued. "You will have to solve them to move from room to room. Please make yourself aware of them." At least Melony still retained the caring side of her, but something still felt off. Four couldn't quite put his finger on it. Obviously, he was now trapped in some strange world, but why did this place have copies of his friends?

He noticed a sign by the door and went up to read it. "Only the fearless may proceed. Brave ones, foolish ones. Both walk not the middle road." Four smirked and said in his head "Nice try, but I'm certainly not brave or foolish enough for this." He ignored the sign, thinking it was just a cheap joke and up ahead was a bigger room with rivers, vines, and bridges. Melony told him "To make progress here, you will need to trigger several switches. Do not worry, I have labeled the ones you need to flip." She then took off before Four could ask more about this place. "Something's definitely up with her." Another sign stood before him that said "Press [Z] to read signs."

What the heck? Was this a video game or something like the ones Mario got stuck in? Mario...Smg4 wondered how he and Meggy were doing. Hopefully finding help.

...

The crew was chilling in the game room and doing their normal activities. Smg3 was petting Eggdog, Saiko was tuning her guitar while Tari played on her switch, Bob and Boopkins were playing an arcade game, Melony was sleeping, and Luigi was watching TV. Their nice, peaceful day was ruined when the door flew open and they all looked over to see a frantic Meggy. "Guys! We've got a problem!" Before she could tell them what it was, Mario pushed her down and screamed "SMG4 IS GOOOONNNNEEEE!!!" Everyone's eyes widened as Tari asked "What!? How!? Is he okay?" Meggy got up and narrowed her eyes at Mario, who was looking the other way and whistling. Smg3 instantly got the message as he spoke in a cold tone "Mario...what did you do?"

...

"Stay on the path." What was up with these signs? This had to be some kind of sick joke or something. Four gathered his thoughts together as he walked down to where Melony was. "Is this a dream? Am I hallucinating? Or is Mario playing a prank on me?" He looked over to the side and saw a switch labeled with several yellow arrows and notes scribbled that were most definitely in Melony's handwriting. He went up and flipped it. Nothing happened. "Huh? I guess I have to flip another." He crossed over a bridge and saw two switches. One was heavily marked like the last switch and the other wasn't. Four got curious and pointed it out to Melony. "Uh Mel? What is this one for?" She shook her head and said "Oh don't worry about that one. You want to press the other switch."

"Okay then."

Four did as he was instructed and flipped the labeled switch when a loud bang shook the room and Four saw that the spikes blocking the exit were now gone. "Splendid! I am proud of you little one."

"I'm a grown man."

"Let us move to the next room." Melony did the same thing again, leaving right when Four was trying to have a conversation with her. He stood there with an unreadable face like his brain had just caught on fire and died. "What the actual heck?"

The next room wasn't nearly as big as the last, Melony pointing to a cardboard cutout in the corner. "As you are living in the UNDERGROUND with a pure soul, others might try and attack you. You will need to be prepared for this situation. Don't worry though! The process is simple."

Melony went into great detail about entering a FIGHT and striking up friendly conversation while doing so. When she finished, Four scratched his head and said "Okay...but how exactly does that work and what do you mean by the pure soul?" She giggled nervously and said "We can discuss that another time. For now, I want you to stall. I will come to resolve the problem in case you need help. Practice talking to him." She led him up to the cardboard cutout as Four recognized that face right away. "Marty!?"

He looked over to Melony, who signaled him with a wavering hand to go on. As Smg4 got closer, the bright glowing heart came back. "Does this only happen when I fight someone?" He remembered what Niles had said earlier (before trying to kill him) about that being his soul. He then felt kinda funny like his mind was absorbing information.

(Marty - ATK 0 DEF 0, A cardboard heart and beady eyes. When the moon hits your eye like a big pizza pie.)

What the? Was this his character information? Maybe this world really did work like a video game. But that still didn't explain why Four was trapped here. Melony pleasantly waited for Four to say something as he noticed Marty was still in front of him. "Oh right."

"Uh...hello Marty?"

"..."

Marty stood there absentmindedly. It seemed Four needed to say more.

"How's business been? Sorry we had to throw you and Mario in jail."

This didn't really seem much for conversation when he was the only one talking, but Melony seemed quite happy with him. "Ah, very good! You are very good!" A strange compliment for a simple conversation, but Melony was trying her best to help him out here and Four really did appreciate it. They moved on to the next room as Melony waved to Marty.

This next room had more vines covering the walls and a twisty path. This was probably the nicest ruins Four had ever seen. Melony threw her hands behind her back and said "There is another puzzle in this room...I wonder if you can solve it?" Four was still confused as he asked "What even is the point of all these-"

And....there she went again. Four huffed heavily and followed her down the path when a Koopa jumped out at him. Four was a little startled, but not incredibly frightened so the turtle waved his hands around and went "BLAHGARGBAH!!!" As his attempts to scare the man failed, he felt an intimidating presence behind him. He slowly turned to find Melony giving him a death stare which made him back up like a car with his pupils still shrunk. Melony's mood went back to normal as she pressed on. Four followed, ignoring what just happened back there and felt his mouth drop from seeing an entire floor made of spikes.

"How the heck are we supposed to cross this!? Do we swim around?" There was water surrounding the rim of the room, but Four was not willing to take that chance considering what had just happened 30 seconds ago. "This is the puzzle..." Melony said. How could she be so calm about this!? This wasn't a puzzle, it was a death trap! "Wait a minute..." Four thought as he turned to read a sign on the wall.

"The western room is the eastern room's blueprint." Ohhhh that made more sense. He just had to follow the path. Four studied the highlighted part of the west room and memorized it, heading back to Melony with a confident look on his face. "Don't worry Mel! I got it!" She didn't seem to believe that as she softly said "Here, take my hand for a moment." She grasped onto his hand, interlocking their fingers and stepping forth onto the first plate. "Wait!" Four called out, worried if she knew the pattern.

The spikes went down and Melony's foot came down on the now safe pressure plate. She walked straight and then turned as each spike in front of her departed, letting them pass through. Four felt ticked at her. "I thought I was supposed to solve it! Why does she treat me like a child!? I'm perfectly capable of figuring this out myself!"

When they made it to the other side, Melony told him "Puzzles seem a little too dangerous for now." There she went again. Being overprotective of him like a mother with her son. Four never thought of Melony as the caring, motherly type figure to him. Unless...this really was a dream and he actually did think of her that way. Four laughed at that silly thought. This place was probably just messing with his head.

He went after Melony to a long hallway. She seemed quite hopeful at first, telling Four "You have done excellently this far Smg4." Her smile then faded as she said "However...I have a difficult request to ask of you."

"What?"

"...I would like you to walk to the end of this room by yourself." That was it? A simple stroll down the hall. Melony started walking away and muttered under her breath "Forgive me for this."

"Wait! Don't leave me by myself!" Four called out, but she was already gone. Four stared down the long hallway and sighed. "Stop being a baby Smg4! You've handled far worse than this!" He told himself as he put one foot in front of the other. He tried clearing his mind while he walked, but the stress of the situation started wearing down on him.

"Don't worry Four. This will all be over soon. Your friends will come soon to rescue you and then you will-"

"What if they don't!? Oh god, what if they never find me or won't even come looking for me! What if they think I'm dead! What if I am dead!? Is this all just some crazy nightmare!? Am I going to be stuck here forever!? Please just make it stop! Make it st-"

"Smg4? Are you okay?"

Melony's soothing voice made him recover from those awful thoughts as he looked up to see her examining his face, showing concern on her's. Four had realized that he was now at the end and was standing there menacingly which must have really freaked her out. "Don't worry, I did not leave you. I was merely behind this pillar the whole time. I'm sorry if I scared you." Even if Melony was still staying in character, she was actually expressing real worry for her friend. That made him feel a little better as he smiled and said "I'm fine. Just still a little shaken up."

Melony heaved a quick sigh of relief, thankful that he wasn't hurt. "Thank you for trusting me." She slowly retraced her arm and told him "However, there was an important reason for this exercise...to test your independence." Four crooked an eyebrow as she said "I must attend some business, and you must stay alone for a while. Please remain here. It's dangerous to explore by yourself." Four was perfectly fine with that. It's not like he wanted to run off anyway. He then noticed Melony's eyes widen as she must have had a plan. "I have an idea. I will give you a cellphone."

"Actually, I already have- WAIT THAT'S IT! HOW DID I NOT THINK OF THIS BEFORE!?" Four burst out in excitement and hope. If he had his phone the whole time, he could call someone to get him out! Quickly, he reached into his pocket and tussled around, but he couldn't feel anything except... Four quickly pulled out what he thought was his phone to discover that it was actually an old stick and a crusty looking bandage. "What!? How did this get in here? And where is my phone!?" He kept searching his pockets, but nothing. "I MUST HAVE DROPPED IT BACK WHERE I FELL! I HAVE TO GO GET IT!" He started running back when Melony grabbed his arm and pulled him back. "Smg4, I know you want to get home, but you can't!" He stopped and looked back at her with tears in his eyes.

"This is your new home now and I will do all that I can to make you feel safe here okay?"

She slowly released his arm as he stood there, thinking about what she said. Melony pulled out a cellphone and told him "If you have a need for anything, just call." Four took the phone silently as it wasn't one of those modern phones he had, but an old fashioned one that all you could do with it was call. Melony headed off and said "Be good, alright?" Four nodded, not bothering to speak a word. Once she was gone, he walked over to the wall and collapsed down to his knees, sobbing his heart out. He was trying his best to hide it, but he had finally cracked. He couldn't bear to never see his friends again. Everything, the memories, the fun adventures, the funny jokes. Was it all for nothing?

Will I ever see them again or am I trapped forever?