#i find this conversation funny because it never occurs to me to ask unless it directly contradicts something in the narrative

[ellatholmes]

"uh, does this character really need to swear?" fuck yeah she does. next

[electrozeistyking]

I am so incredibly curious about N and Uzi before…. N had to kill her…

What was life like as a married drone couple? How did they do their wedding? How awkward was the conversation about having a kid?

I’m also curious about V in this AU, what are her thoughts on all that’s going on… N killing Uzi, N having a kid, N being fricken’ depressed… She was a broken individual in the canon, is she still just as broken here? Has she healed from all that the solver’s but her through?

sorry for the many questions, but as an obsessive individual you have crafted the perfect thing for me to obsess over and i am dying for more content lol.

p.s. are there more fics to come? Ik ya only have the one prologue rn, are more chapters on their way?

Hey, no need to apologize for being curious! I quite like the amount of questions! Tells me you're interested in the AU, y'know? Anyway, let me dig up some old notes!

These aren't the full notes, though. A lot was cut, especially if they involved spoilers and/or if they made this go on for too long.

Everything was as fine as it could possibly be on this frozen, toxic exoplanet. Hell, this stretch of fine-ness went on long enough that one of them decided to propose to the other.

And by one of them, I mean Uzi. 

This is based on some observations (aka the hand holding thing in Episode 6), but N was a major fucking dork when V asked him if he was thinking about proposing to Uzi — y’know, saying things like “I don’t know if I should” and “maybe she doesn’t want to go that far” and “maybe we’re fine as is?”

Then meanwhile Uzi’s been drawing up plans on how the hell she’s going to propose to this tall ass robot.

In the end, she kinda threw it all to the wind and decided to do so with no big events or plans or anything. She kinda panicked, though, so she said “Do you wanna marry me?” instead of “Will you marry me?”

N nearly short-circuited trying to say yes. He was kind of having a “Oh my goodness, this is happening????” moment and a “OH SHE DOES WANT TO GO THAT FAR” moment at the exact same time, so something may have literally sparked.

[...] there was a funny period of time where the duo kept very suddenly realizing they’re married, like it didn’t actually sink in until that moment. 

In fact, N exclaimed “oh my goodness” and leaned against something every time it occurred to him.

Unfortunately, the good fluffy times couldn’t last forever. 

You see, one way or another, our beloved robotic dorks somehow found themselves on the topic of having a kid. The conversation itself was fine, if slightly awkward at first (what with N being unsure he’d be good at parenting, anyway). However, just as they reached the peak of “hey, would they be more disassembler or more worker” jokes, Uzi started coughing. 

Which is not normal for any kind of drone. Unless they accidentally swallow something wrong, or if the air’s a bit too thick for whatever reason, drones don’t cough for seemingly no reason. And yet, despite how odd it was, both of them tried to brush it off.

In a brilliant moment of jumping to conclusions (even if they’re the right ones), Uzi realized that The Solver was trying to take over her body.

In a panic, N tried to help any way he could, but felt like he was doing nothing in the process. Uzi just kept getting worse, and every time they landed up empty-handed, the thought he was failing her stung even more. 

V tried to help as well, out of fear over what that thing would do if It took over (and because she did think of Uzi as a friend, even if she’d never admit it to her face).

When The Solver started hijacking her body during one such search to find a way to stop It, Uzi realized it was all over for her. 

Whatever this thing was — whatever It wanted — wasn’t good. And so, in a moment of desperation and panic, she came up with a plan to destroy It. Hopefully, if everything worked in their favour, It’d be gone once and for all.

Of course, its success banked on N’s cooperation. Since V split off from the duo this time, he was the only disassembly drone who could possibly carry it out. Predictably, he tried to decline at first, seeing as the plan was to kill Uzi and destroy her core.

However, when Uzi explained that this was the only way to get rid of this fucking thing, N reluctantly agreed. Despite being incredibly painful, he brought out his laser gun (which is what I think it is, shut up) and the couple had one last heartfelt goodbye.

But then, just as N went to shoot her, the laser turned an awful shade red he’s never seen before and started malfunctioning — something that’s supposed to rarely ever happen. N panicked, calling out Uzi’s name... right before the weapon exploded.

V felt the vibrations of the explosion from where she stood and immediately rushed to N and Uzi’s location. She assumed that something went wrong, but what she saw was not what she expected.

Uzi was dead. 

There was a Fatal Error message on her visor, as clear as day. She was in multiple pieces, with a hole in her chest right where her core was supposed to be — having most likely imploded, thanks in part to The AbsoluteSolver’s weirdness.

While N was alive, his body was in rough shape. He’d been split in two due to the blast, and his chest had been cracked wide open. Judging from how dark smoke billowed from where one of his hands should’ve been, something had gone completely wrong. 

But how? There was a very small chance their weapons could malfunction, and yet... what the fuck happened?

V chose not to dwell on it too long. N’s body wasn’t regenerating on its own fast enough for some reason, and he was losing a shit ton of oil at an alarming rate. 

Fuelled by pure adrenaline, V somehow managed to carry both of N’s halves and all of Uzi’s pieces back to the Outpost.

[bluflamingo]

There's been a post going around about the 118 not realizing Buck was bisexual and Buck not coming out because he thought it was obvious, which mirrors a scene in my queer platonic fic, so have a snippet:

Eddie’s still kind of frowning. “You’re not queer, though.”

“I’m – it’s not queer like we’re both queer, it’s queer like – I’m bi, though?” Buck’s pretty sure he’s making the same face Eddie is, but Eddie sounded really sure about Buck not being queer – unless maybe he just means he doesn’t think Buck uses queer to define himself.

Eddie’s still frowning though. “No you’re not.”

Speaking of the conversation getting totally derailed… “I feel like the last guy I slept with would probably disagree with you,” Buck says, trying for the joke. It doesn’t land. “How do you not know I’m bi? We’ve known each other for years.”

“How would I know that if you’ve never told me?” Eddie sounds genuinely kind of upset, which Buck’s sure he’ll find funny when he’s not in the middle of the most confusing conversation he’s had in a while.

“It never occurred to me that I needed to, I don’t know, sit you down and explicitly tell you,” he says honestly. “I mean, you’ve seen guys give me their numbers on calls, you know I go to Pride every year. I told you about Maddie trying to set me up with Josh, and guys I’ve been with. You -”

“You’ve definitely never done that,” Eddie says, like he’s conceding the rest, maybe.

Buck can maybe understand assuming that Sam and Alex were women, but – “How did you think Peter was a woman’s name?” he asks, genuinely baffled in a way he never is with Eddie. “Or Toby?”

Eddie’s at least stopped frowning, though he’s sort of tilting his head a bit, like that’s going to make Buck look – whatever it is that Eddie’s looking for. “I think I thought you said Petra,” he says after a beat. “And I didn’t – Toby was a date?”

Toby was a guy who needed rescuing from a tree, slipped Buck his number, and then called the firehouse to ask him out for drinks, which turned into running into the rest of the 118 at the bar Buck picked because he thought they were going somewhere else, which turned into Toby actually just wanting to hook up with a firefighter, which ended badly because Buck actually had wanted to get a drink and get to know each other, and Toby, it turned out, hadn’t been into that, or great at taking no for an answer until Buck pointed out that one of the people drinking with his friends was a police sergeant.

“Kind of,” he says, instead of explaining all that. In retrospect, it does make more sense now that Eddie didn’t really seem to understand why Buck was upset the next day. Especially since Buck, embarrassed at having misread the situation, didn’t mention the whole hookup thing.

“Huh.” Eddie tips his head the other way, then says, “You know I’m bisexual as well, right?”

Buck laughs, a little shaky with relief he doesn’t really understand. “Yeah, Eddie, I remember you getting drunk after signing the papers and telling me. And then telling me again when you sobered up.” It remains the only time Buck’s ever seen Eddie anything other than mildly tipsy, as well as the only time he’s seen Eddie cry, all while talking, slightly confusingly given the weeping, about how him and Shannon getting divorced was the best thing that could have happened for both of them.

“Okay.” Eddie blinks, like he’s fitting Buck being bisexual into his worldview and then mentally moving on. “Go back to the queer platonic thing.”

[random0lover]

(Some info on my dad: he is Christian but he is very respectful towards people that are part of the lgbtq+ community and has never tried to force his religion on anyone. He does freely talk about the fact that he believes in god but he doesn’t really talk about his beliefs and things like that unless someone asks him his opinions. These are conversations that occur in the privacy of our home. This is all just to vent)

One of the most annoying things about being the only one in my household that truly supports the LGBTQ+ community is that any time I say anything about a women there’s this immediate look that my dad gets and it means “I’m worried that you’re gay” 😒

Cause for some reason in his brain the fact that I say a woman has pretty eyes or just say anything about a women being remotely pretty it connects to the fact that I have to be gay cause why else would I support them unless I am part of them 🙄

Anyways this leads to a conversation that happened a few weeks ago where my dad was once again giving me that look and it pissed me off and we started arguing because right now in life I’m very sure I’m straight and it’s completely fine for me to be able to support the community without me being part of it but what’s (kinda funny) really dumb is my brother (lord help his soul) thought he was helping by saying “omg she’s not gay, if anything she’s bi!”

My dad looks me directly in the eyes and says “yeah that’s what I’m more worried about”

Like what?!? 💀💀

But cue me thinking it would be funny to bring up the fact that all I do is think about fictional men and I brought up cod and I started listing off some of my favs or ones that I like and I got to König and I said that he was 6’10 and it pissed my dad off so bad (I though it was hilarious that he was so mad about it btw) and he was all like “what are you going to bring home some super tall mother fucker?” And he started mouthing off and all I could think is the fact that he wouldn’t like the fact that the person I end up with could be bigger/taller than him and it’s so funny to me cause he’s the type of guy that’s confident he could beat anyone in a fight (he talks about it all the time and it’s annoying af)

Anyways he finally chills the f out and things are all good again but then a video comes across his phone and it has Shemar Moore in it and I very much love that man and I was dumb and said something about the fact that I find him attractive and my dad once again got pissed off

So in conclusion my dad doesn’t ever want me to be in a relationship, I’m not allowed to be apart of the community even if it’s what I want, and he gets on my nerves. Thanks for coming to my Ted Talk 🙂👍🏼

[artronenergy]

it’s really funny actually that The Doctor, who is often characterized by their desire to be accepted by humans and tries very hard to not be too alien (multiple times basing their entire presentation upon seeming happier and younger so as to not come off as an unpalpable time god) literally does not care whatsoever about their companions seeing them act sweet and vaguely romantic towards the TARDIS. 

They go out of their way to avoid mentioning regeneration, anything about their species, the number of hearts they have, other companions, etc. unless directly asked (and even then tend to dodge the question) but they’re always shamelessly one step away from making out with that box and everyone just has to play it off as if it’s not the most ??? thing about the Doctor.

Graham/Ryan/Yaz are introduced to the TARDIS when the Doctor runs up and starts stroking the door and whispering to it. The third Doctor compliments the TARDIS’s intelligence and Mike goes “you make it sound like it’s alive” and he’s like “yep” and then promptly leaves forever without clarifying anything. Romana sees him kiss the console within 5 minutes of meeting him. Amy witnesses him calling it “dear” right off the bat. Mel’s like “yeah, not sure what’s going on but they’re basically an old married couple” in one. 

I mean, Bill has to ponder this conversation all the way to the wardrobe:

the way companions have to put up with how defensive he gets over the TARDIS’s feelings

 "Well, that's the best I can do." He patted the console. "The rest is up to you, old girl!"  Ace could never quite get used to the way the Doctor treated the TARDIS like an intelligent living being. "You're letting the TARDIS decide where we go?"  "Not entirely. I'm using the time-path indicator to lead us into the right spatio-temporal segment, and leaving the TARDIS to do the fine tuning."  "How will it - "  "She!" whispered the Doctor. "If you hurt her feelings she'll sulk."  Ace gave him a look. "How will she know?" 

(Timewyrm: Exodus)

The Doctor spread his arms out across the restored console, pressing his cheek against the warm metal. ‘I was worried about you for a while,’ he whispered.  ‘It worries me when you talk to the ship,’ Jamie said. ‘Sssh, you’ll hurt her feelings.’

(The Nameless City)

Evelyn (and certainly many others) even has to listen to him go on about how much he loves his TARDIS and is at the eye rolling stage over it

EVELYN: Doctor, what are you doing? DOCTOR: Tinkering. EVELYN: Tinkering? DOCTOR: That is what I am doing. You just can't beat the satisfying sound of metal on metal. EVELYN: You're quite the busy preoccupied bee. DOCTOR: Really focuses the mind. Besides, she likes it, don't you, old girl. There, you see? I swear she understands every word I say. EVELYN: Good heaven, you talk of her as though she's your favourite pet dog or something. DOCTOR: More like a constant hand to hold. She's always been the woman to me. EVELYN: Oh, thank you very much. DOCTOR: Oh, come now, Evelyn. I didn't know you cared. EVELYN: Doctor, behave yourself. (Both laugh.) EVELYN: Well, I just mean to say, how's a girl supposed to feel when a rickety old blue box holds more attraction? DOCTOR: This rickety old blue box, as you call her, has been the only fixed point in my ever-changing world. Even my own people have let me down. You, my dear Evelyn, will let me down one day. Oh, not in a drastic way, perhaps, but you will find your own path to walk, and you will walk it without me. EVELYN: Oh, here we go. DOCTOR: Companions come and go. Some leave deeper imprints on my hearts than others. But you all go eventually. But not my old girl. She's the only one that shares all my memories.

(Medicinal Purposes)

The important part is that the Doctor never explains shit about this. There’s never a “oh by the way the TARDIS is alive and sentient and that’s why I keep talking to her like that” (possibly because everyone is too bewildered to even try to figure out how to ask why they keep whispering to their ship so it never occurs to the dr to say anything). All of this is just a one hit KO for anyone who knows them, every time it happens, which is pretty much all the time, until they either realize she’s alive or just settle into some form of acceptance that this guy sometimes calls the spaceship “sexy”. 

The five stages of realizing your alien friend is actually for real in love with their time machine (... which the viewers go through as well)

[manonblaqkbeak]

Dating and Goodreads

Back for Day 8-Blind date (how the hell do u guys come up with good title fics i struggle so bad lol). I wasn’t really going anywhere with this one, but when i read all of the others and saw how fun the fics were, i decided to finish this one.

also for Summertime and Fresh Strawberries, I deliberately left it blank but I can’t hold onto the secret bc two people were curious as to what happened, so i’ll let the rest of you know that aelin and rowan decided to keep summer and be a cute little family, bc im a sucker for happy endings lol (unless its angst, it’s safe to assume that all my rowaelin fics have happy endings bc they’ve all ready been thru so much and even in alt fics i need them to be happy lmao)

anyway, on to the next one. hope you enjoy!

1.8k words

cw: none

Aelin was a confident woman, something that she was proud of. But that didn't mean that there weren't times she didn't feel self-conscious or awkward and full of doubt.

Because right now, all those negative feelings were swimming inside of her.

And those feelings were just magnified today, especially since she had gotten fired only a few hours beforehand. It was utterly unexpected, she had never received any prior warnings, and while she was a fighter, Aelin didn't feel like stepping into the ring for this one. Not when her boss was a demon from hell that made life unbearable and she had to physically push herself into entering the work building.

Aelin told herself that it was for the best. She was miserable there and hated working in an office typing up the worlds most boring reports and working in a space that was entirely too drab.

But she wasn't looking forward to job hunting. Aelin was aware that she could ask her friends for favours, but if Aelin did something wrong, she didn't want it reflected back onto whoever helped her.

And she was still a little peeved over the damned argument she had online again with that haughty prick on Goodreads. Aelin wasn't sure why those arguments kept going, but each time she would post a review, White Tailed Hawk would respond, telling her that she read the book wrong and this and that and blah blah blah.

Aelin repaid the favour each time, telling him how he was wrong and he had no reading comprehension skills. And on and on it went until Aelin or whoever the fuck that guy was went back to their own lives.

Depressingly, it was the most fun she had some days.

Shaking her head, Aelin forced herself to think of the now and not of her shitty day. Still she sighed, not quite believing that she had agreed to this blind date. Couldn't believe that she had let Aedion convince her it was a good idea.

Aelin had said no at first, after Aedion had voiced his offer, and her cousin left it at that. But days went past, and he would bring up the topic of Rowan, about the things he had said that day, how his dry sense of humour took some time to get used to but once you figured it out, he was actually pretty funny, how he had finished a project perfectly and this and that.

But it got to her, annoyingly. So the other day when he was helping her out with some housework that was a two person job, Aelin told him to set up this date. Aedion cheered as if it was the best thing he had ever heard, telling her how she and Rowan were the perfect match for each other.

Aelin rolled her eyes, but didn't say anything of the assessment.

She had only agreed because it was getting frustrating being asked at every family event if she was dating someone, when she was going to give her parents grandchildren (that question pissed her off the most, as if Aelin was nothing but a birthing machine and that was all Aelin could contribute to society), and who was going to look after her when she was old if she didn't have children (because apparently carers didn't exist).

Aelin was also lonely—she could entertain herself just fine, but she did like the idea of coming home and talking to someone that could respond. She loved Fleetfoot and her enthusiasm when Aelin came home, but human companionship would be nice.

But Aelin didn't have high-hopes for this date because the universe liked to kick Aelin's ass from time to time, she suspected that they were going to hate each other.

Taking a deep breath, Aelin got out of her car, smoothed down her romper and went inside the restaurant, head held high.

X X X X X X

Rowan couldn't believe that he was about to go on a blind date. That Aedion had convinced him to go out with his younger cousin. He hadn't dated anyone since Lyria and he knew that his dating skills were going to be rusty as hell. He had been with Lyria since they were nineteen, married at 23 and divorced at 31; he had been single for the last two years.

It had been...fine, a little strange, after being with someone for so long to find himself a bachelor. Rowan never thought that he would apart from Lyria, but their relationship had just faded. Long before the divorce, it had been more like a housemate relationship than a marriage. He wasn't surprised when his ex-wife had come home after work with divorce papers. He had only stared at the paperwork for an hour before he signed the forms. Truthfully, Rowan was just glad that he was still on good terms with Lyria, that they could still talk to one another from time to time.

Rowan had almost called her earlier today, to ask how the hell dates went, but felt that it would have been crossing some invisible line, so he didn't call and instead had Googled the questions instead.

They didn't really help.

Rowan drummed his fingers against the steering wheel, telling himself that if things went wrong, then it wasn't the end of the world. That if he had to be a bachelor for the rest of his life, then that was fine. He had plenty of ways of keeping himself busy—he had a good career, a nice house, plenty of books to read and to argue online about them with.

He had one earlier today, actually, with Queen of Wildfire about a new release that Rowan had eagerly read within days of its release. And once again, he ended up with an argument with the woman about the messages and themes within the book.

It was stupid, he knew, to be at his age and to be fighting online with a stranger, but something about this woman just had his fingers flying over the keyboard.

Some days he looked forward to it, as embarrassing as that was to admit. He didn't really want to look into himself to figure out what it all meant.

Eyes drifting to the dashboard, Rowan realised that his date was about to start. Popping a mint into his mouth and smoothing out his clothes, Rowan took a deep breath and left the car and went to his first date in twelve years.

Hopefully, it wouldn't be too bad.

X X X X X X

The date had started out a little awkward, but that wasn't a surprise to Aelin, because what blind date started smoothly?

It picked up after Rowan admitted that he was divorced and that he had no idea what the hell he was supposed to do. Aelin appreciated that stark honesty and admitted that she too had no idea what to do.

Since then, the conversation went well, the food was good and Aelin had even swiped a few bites of his dinner because it just looked so much better than hers. Rowan had playfully grumbled underneath his breath, but smiled as he said it.

It was going really well. Maybe the universe had decided to give her a break for the rest of this evening. There was a part of her that maybe wondered if they would have sex, because the man did look fucking fantastic, but at the same time, she didn't want to rush anything in case this actually turned into something more.

“What's the dumbest thing that you've done recently or in the past?” Aelin asked. There was no such thing as small talk between them—Aelin had all ready asked if he believed in aliens and was glad when he said yes, because “it's ridiculous to think that we're alone in this wide universe of ours. It makes sense that there'd be other lifeforms out there.” Which was pretty damned close to Aelin's reasoning as well, so asking him about stupid moments felt like nothing in comparison.

Rowan smirked at the question and took a moment to think before answering. “I engage in online arguments.”

“Really? About what, exactly?”

“It's stupid. But my all my arguments occur on Goodreads of all places. Not Facebook, or YouTube, or Twitter, but Goodreads. It's never anything insulting but just arguments about how wrong some people's in depth reviews are.”

“Fair enough,” Aelin said, “I've been known to do the same thing as you. There's this one user on there, White Tailed Hawk—a stupid name if you ask me—and he just never...” Aelin stopped when she noticed that he stopped eating and was just looking at her weirdly. “Rowan? Are you okay?”

“Do you, by any chance, go under the name of Queen of Wildfire?”

Aelin blinked, and then blinked again, and once the pieces fell into place, she knew right then and there that the universe really hated her. She let out a harsh laugh, the sound echoing throughout the space. Aelin wasn't really sure what to say, because it was true what he said; it had never been insulting, but ending up on a date with the man she had regularly arguments with was just...she had no words, other then, “It really is a stupid name.” She took a sip of her wine, needing to do something other than wanting to bang her head against the table.

“I couldn't think of anything else to write.” And it wasn't also his favourite animal, he had told her that earlier.

They lapsed back into the awkward silence of earlier, both picking at their food.

But Aelin didn't want this night to go to waste. “It'd be stupid to let something as small as this get in the way of whatever this could be,” Aelin said, deciding to be blunt.

Rowan nodded. “It would be. Although I have to be honest, you really have no idea what you're talking about when it comes to Call of the Wild Winds.”

Aelin just about stormed off when she noticed his playful smile, his eyes sparkling bright. Laughing, Aelin threw a bread-roll at his handsome face, and once he caught it and split it in half for them to share, they went back to their earlier conversation.

And when Rowan walked her to her apartment door and kissed her on the cheek goodnight with a promise to text her later, Aelin couldn't help herself by telling him that all his opinions sucked and that he had no idea what he was talking about—all with a big smile on her face as Rowan sputtered as she closed the door on his face.

They spent the rest of the night texting, and all of Aelin's earlier woes faded away. And she looked forward to tomorrow, despite the horror of job hunting. Maybe the universe will finally let things turn around for the better for her.

Aelin went to sleep with a smile on her face, all because of White Tailed Hawk.

And on the other side of the city, Rowan also fell asleep with a smile on his face.

[phoebeprufrock]

Chapter 8: Something Is Rotten In The State Of Denmark

Pairing: F/M, Midge/Lenny (The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel) Rating, Chapter(s), WC: Rated M, Chapter 8/22 is 3.7K Tags: #Romance #Medium-speed burn #Mild Hurt/Comfort #Fluff #Humor #Canon-adjacent Warnings: #canon-typical drinking and smoking #mentions of drug use #Palladinos-typical chaos #Susie-typical swearing #self-indulgent descriptions of Europe Chapter summary: Unpleasant traveling occurs, Midge and Lenny have a conversation, and a lot of food is discussed. Previous chapter | Chapter 1

Read on AO3 or see commentary and author notes after the break.

This chapter marks the beginning of the angstier part of the story, Midge and Lenny have a lot of stuff to work through and they haven't really faced any of it yet... But rest assured, it won't veer into particularly more angsty than the show has been so far, and it will still be funny (though that's mostly dependent on my writing, lol). They're off to London next chapter, and it's something a little bit different - but I've had a really great time writing it, so I hope you'll like it too.

Here's a picture of the Nyhavn harbor (where they have gløgg on their first night) in 1958:

And today, so you can see the colorful houses:

The first picture - the only one I could find of the time - is taken a bit further down from where the bars are, so the second one is closer to where they actually are. It's a truly beautiful place, and it's the most photographed place in the city for a reason. I had to put them somewhere nice to compensate for the Rostock-Gedser ferry, which is the absolutely worst place I've ever been in and unfortunately also the most convenient way to go from Germany to Denmark without taking a plane.

Onto my food rant!

Danish(es?): Okay, technically, they do have danish pastries in Denmark, but a) it’s not what they’re called; b) they’re fairly different from what you’d get in the US when you ask for a Danish (why you would even put cream cheese on puff pastry is beyond me…); and most importantly c) clueless Midge is my favorite Midge.

Frikadeller: the burger/meatball they’re eating is called frikadeller. It’s not strictly a street food, though most hot dog vendors also have them, and it’s genuinely delicious and the healthy kind of greasy.

Gløgg: listen, gløgg/mulled wine in general is a very polarizing subject, but I am firmly in the camp that the best one is the Danish one (don’t @ me Germans). The spice blend is exceptional, and getting to eat the boozy nuts and raisins at the bottom is an excellent treat.

Smørrebrød: alright, I’ll just say it: smørrebrød is disgusting. it’s not just that danish bread is gross and frankly, shouldn’t count as bread (it’s a moist patty of grains?! It’s brown and has like, four different consistencies?! THAT'S NOT BREAD), but there’s not a single topping that’s acceptable food. There’s like a weird fried fish thing that’s not too evil, but then all the sauces are either sour or generally gross. 0/10, would not recommend unless you've lost your taste buds.

Roast duck: my Danish friend’s mom made it for me once and it was the absolutely most delicious thing I’ve ever had. I’m talking crunchy skin, layers of nice melt-in-your-mouth fat, and tender, savory meat that goes perfectly with that sweet berry sauce. To this day I have no clue what kind of berry Danes put in their sauce - or rather, I have no idea what they're called. All I know is, they're red and I've never seen them outside of Scandinavia. It’s a shame traditional Danish restaurant in Copenhagen are all ridiculously expensive or bad, because their dinner food is really, really, really good.

Bonus, a pic of the famous Malmö windmill:

I have no idea why it's there, but everyone always goes, "Oh, a windmill!" like it's the most incredible thing they've ever seen. Although it's probably because it's just sitting there in the middle of a city park.

As always, thank you for reading, and I'll see you in London!

[baecvlt]

This Night Has Opened My Eyes

Kazuichi Soda X Reader

• smut !

• fem reader

• requested by my irl lmao (they also wanted some hcs so)

“That asshole.. always getting in the way of Miss Sonia and I”

You smacked Kazuichi’s arm, scolding him,“You need to be nicer to him. He hasn’t done anything wrong”. We were in the Hotel Restaurant and it was obvious that Gundham and Sonia had gotten closer since the last trial. Kazuichi didn’t like that one bit. He sighed, taking another bite of food,“Look at him, though!”. He points at Gundham, who is allowing Sonia to pet his hamsters. “Only likes him because he’s a magical cult freak”. You shook you head, trying to explain.

“You think maybe it’s because, I don’t know, he isn’t weirdly obsessed with her?”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“What I said”

Kazuichi growled, his expression toning down when Gundham approached you both. “You and Kazuichi seem to be two peas in a pod. Tell me, are you both partaking in an intimate relationship?”. Kazuichi was about to get defensive, you just knew it. “What’s it to you?,” he said, fist clenched. Taking a step back, Gundham explains,“I have no such interest in such topics. Rather, Sonia was curious”. Kazuichi’s eyes lit up,“Sonia’s asking about me?”. Gundham cringed and scoffed.

“You’re getting ahead of yourself over pure gossip. Pathetic”

“Watch it, Houdini. I’ll fuck you up”

“Bring it then, you penniless, mediocre mechanic. I’m awfully frightened”

“MEDIOCRE?! I’M A FUCKING ULTIMATE”

He launches himself toward Gundham, knocking him to the floor. Gundham gets a few small, yet hard punches in before Kazuichi lands the nastiest sounding backhand on his left cheek, making heads turn. As gasps can be heard around the room, Sonia runs to Gundham’s side as Kazuichi couldn’t handle himself afterward. “You! How could you?!,” Sonia scolded him. For the first time in forever, Kazuichi wasn’t having it. “How could I?! Fuck you!”. Kazuichi got up, leaving a hurt Gundham and an appalled Sonia on the ground. Gundham turned to you.

“Control your lab rat or I will”

You felt shitty, seeing Kazuichi go off that way. It wasn’t good at all, but by the looks of his response to Sonia, it seems to me like she won’t have to worry about him for a while now. He looked that mad. You thought to check on him, even if you were severely disappointed in him. You had no clue where to look for him and made a mental note of possible places where he might be: his room, Rocketpunch Market, and Electric Ave.

And so began the quest to look for him.

Checking in his room was too simple. When he didn’t respond, it didn’t surprise you that he wasn’t there. You knew he wouldn’t be. I headed off to the Rocketpunch Market. Even if he wasn’t there, you wanted to use the opportunity to buy him a bottle of Ramune. When you got there, there were voices present. That’s when you made them out to be the voices of Nagito, Fuyuhiko, Hiyoko, and Ibuki. “So we’re just not gonna discuss what happened back there?,” Nagito intrigued. Everyone sighed in relief. “Finally, you ask something smart,” Hiyoko said,“Yes, we should definitely talk about it! Kazuichi was totally out of line!”. You got closer to hear, without them seeing you. “Are you kidding me?,” Fuyuhiko spat,“I heard the whole thing. Gundham was being a dick. Had I been the one he disrespected, I would’ve killed that bastard!”. “Well, what did Gundham say?”.

“He called him ‘mediocre’, ‘penniless’, and ‘pathetic’. Kazuichi hadn’t once insulted him. If anything, Gundham approached him!”

“I don’t know,” Ibuki said,“That’s still no reason to be violent! Violence isn’t the answer, only heavy metal!”. “Ibuki, what?”. Ibuki shrugged. Nagito thought for a minute,“Did you even hear why the argument began?”. “Well, Gundham pressed him about his relationship with Y/N,” he said,“but Sonia had asked. He made a comment, hopeful Sonia was slightly interested in him. That’s when Gundham called him pathetic”. “Well, it is pathetic,” Hiyoko said,“But harsh”. The conversation then shifted to something completely different. “Why was he so defensive in the first place,” Hiyoko asked, adding,“he could’ve said ‘no’”. Nagito laughed, shaking his head. “Woah! A laugh like that implies, you believe there’s something going on there!”.

“Ibuki, always knows what to say. Always knows what I’m thinking”

“They belong together,” Fuyuhiko muttered,“Its obvious she likes him”. “Is it obvious or did Sonia tell you?,” Nagito asked,“Everyone, in 3..2..1”... and in union:

“Sonia told me”

Hiyoko laughed. “Yeah, but do you see how they look at each other when Kazuichi isn’t thinking about Sonia?,” she asked,“It’s funny, really”. You decided to come out and without saying a word, grabbed the drink and left. No one said a word as you walked by them. Pussies, all of them. Lastly, you took the long walk to the third island’s Electric Avenue.

Sure enough, there he was, putting together a computer (or a different device with a very small monitor of some sort; it looked handheld). You didn’t want to alarm him, for he might still be tense. You lightly tapped his shoulder. “Hey, Kazu”. He wiped his eyes rather fast, removing what appeared to be glasses. You knew he did this so he wouldn’t be seen crying. “Hi”. His voice was quiet and tired. You handed him his Ramune, making him smile. “What are you doing?”.

“Tinkering”

“Can I watch you?”

“You don’t wanna talk about anything?”

“Not unless you want to”

“Alright,” he said, continuing to modify the device,“Let’s talk”. “What are you doing to that computer-thingy”. He snickered. “‘Computer-thingy’...you’re cute”. Blushing, you were left dumbfounded. “Don’t say that!,” you scolded,“So what is it?”. “I’m making a radio,” he said,“The computer monitor part displays any words that have been picked up by the radio signals. I’ll also make it possible to communicate with them”. You were actually impressed by it.

“That’s so fucking cool”

“Thanks”

There was a bit of silence, then he sighed. “Look, Y/N,” he began,“I’m really sorry about what happened earlier. I don’t know what got into me”. You shook your head. “You shouldn’t be apologizing to me,” you explained,“You need to apologize to Gundham.. and Sonia”. He nodded and mouthed an ‘okay’. He agreed that as soon as he saw him and Sonia, he would apologize. Now that Sonia was in the conversation, he got onto that topic. “Sonia and I can’t be,” he said,“I’ve always known this”. You raised a brow and asked why he pursued her for so long.

“She’s a princess. She’s perfect and kind. She never full on said she isn’t interested in me, so I figured she’d go out with me out of pity”

“But wouldn’t that be a loveless relationship?”

“Not everyone deserves to be loved. I don’t. What I fear more than not being loved is being alone”

“You’d rather know someone is there than to be loved by them?”

“Yeah, it’s fucked,” he admitted,“but that’s over now”. While you were screaming internally, you still felt terrible about what he said. If only he knew how you felt. The question is if he feels the same. “By the way,” he began,“I made you something”. There was a small box next to him wrapped in old newspapers and a ribbon bow. “You and Hajime have been my only friends- well, comrades, on this island. So, I made you both these communication devices!”. You opened the box and a small walkie-talkie device was placed. He further explained.

“They work anywhere on the island. Hopefully, when and if we make it out of here, it works everywhere else. So, y’know, we don’t lose touch”

“I won’t let that happen”

He smiled, warmly. He didn’t say anything else. You were both in a trance, looking into each other’s eyes. “Hey!”. Ibuki suddenly came running towards the two of you. You both snapped out of it, seeing what she needed. She fell in front of you, dusting herself off. “No time to waste!,” she said,“Sonia planned a party at the the Titty Typhoon, what a name for a club, don’t ya think? Anyway, its mandatory, so we’ll see you there at six. Ibuki, out!”. Before you could say anything, she ran off. “Well,” he began,“At least now I could apologize to Gun-dumb”. You sighed as he laughed at his nickname.

Parting ways, you headed back to ensure you could shower and ready yourself a little. As you did, you were grateful for the small moment with Kazuichi. Him not wanting to lose touch? Getting over Sonia. It all made you feel so good and now you were head over heels. Finally, you were ready. You opened the door and there he was waiting for you. “Hi, Y/N,” he began,“I was thinking we should show up together, y’know? Avoid awkwardness from earlier”. You smiled and nodded. “Great, come on!”. He grabbed your hand, dragging you along with him.

You got there a minute or two late. When you stepped inside, the music blasted as loud as possible. You noticed the stares from Nagito and Fuyuhiko. “You should find Sonia, then we can deal with Gundham”. He agreed, checking out the room. Finally, he spotted Sonia near the stage. Cautiously, we approached her. “Hello, Miss Sonia,” he said. She turned around, her rather happy expression turning into something bitter. “What do you want?”.

“I just wanted to apologize for what happened earlier”

“It’s not me who you should be apologizing-”

“I also wanted to apologize for my behavior towards you that’s occurred from the time we’ve arrived. It was really inappropriate, so I’m sorry”

Sonia was no longer bitter, even if she had the right to be. She smiled, nodding,“Well, I guess when you’re being so nice about it.. yes, I forgive you. However, I really think you should apologize to Gundham”. Kazuichi agreed and explained to her that he was trying to find him. “Well,” Sonia began,“He hasn’t gotten here, but he will have gotten back any minute now!”. As if on cue, the doors burst open.

There he was, as tense as ever.

“Tanaka! I’ve been waiting for you,” Kazuichi said. Once in front of him, Gundham was appalled. “You again? I thought I’ve made clear that I was through with you!,” he scowled, shoving Kazuichi into the stage. “Gundham, let him finish,” Sonia pleaded. “Now you’re on his side? What’s wrong with all of you being so pathetic this day?”. Kazuichi got up, trying to explain.

“Just let me finish–”

“I have no reason to further discuss anything with a lowly, degenerate, and pathetic subhuman such as yourself”

“Wait-”

“God, Y/N, I thought you were smarter, but now you’ve fallen for him? You are equally as pathetic!”

“Y/N has a crush on me?”

“God, yes, she does! She is in love with you, you fool!”

“She... loves me?”

Heads were turning and the eyes belonging to them all faced you. There were gasps at first (like this morning), but now there were whispers and small chatter. “Ugh! What’s with you?!,” Sonia yelled,“Kazuichi was only trying tl apologize to you!”. Gundham was the embodiment of the phrase “a face of regret”. “Y/N,” Kazuichi began,“Is this true?”. Your breathing was starting to get worse and worse as you just stood there with an answer, but no courage to confess. You had no other choice, but tear up and say “Kazuichi, no, I-”. You were at loss of words. Then, you ran all the way back to your room.

Once there, you slammed your door shut and locked. You paced around a little, attempting to calm down. When you couldn’t do that, you simply collapsed onto your bed and screamed into the nearest pillow. Your throat hurt and despite having screamed into a pillow, it was still loud enough to hear the scream bounce around the room. You cried into it, for about 5 minutes, moped for 45, then cried again for another 10.

Bing-bong, Bing-bong!

It was time for bed, now realizing that if you didn’t die in your sleep, you’d have to face tomorrow. That was something you didn’t want to do. You began to get ready for bed. Suddenly, there was loud and demanding knocking on your door. You prayed, hoping it was someone here to put you out of your misery upon opening the door, so you opened it without hesitation. To your dismay, it wasn’t the next blackened.

It was Kazuichi.

Your face was all red again and before you could say anything, he spoke. “We need to talk”. You tried shutting the door, but before you could, he forced his way inside. He locked the door behind him. “What?!,” I yelled,“Why are you still here? I don’t want to see you! I can’t-”. He grabbed your face and pressed his lips against yours. “You aren’t one for words are you?,” he asked and after seeing you blush, added,“Guess I’m gonna have to show you”. He lay you down and began kissing you; you didn’t hesitate against him and wanted this to happen for so long. His lips felt amazing on yours. He began to kiss your neck, stopping at your chest. He lifted your shirt up and pulled down your bra, sucking roughly on your tits. He then made his way down. All that was left was-

“Kazuichi, what are you..?”

He unbuttoned your shorts and pulled them down tossing them aside. Looking up at you, he moved your panties to the side and began to work his mouth on your pussy. You whined at the feeling, shifting a little. He held you down, his tongue focused on your sweet spots. “You like that?”. You hummed, nodding frantically. His arms were locked around your thighs to hold you down. You took off his beanie and pulled his hair. He sucked your clit, whining from his hair being pulled. You knew he enjoyed it as he began to be sloppy. He moved away and wiped his mouth before kissing you again. “Sit on my fucking face,” he growled. You saw the fire in his eyes as he said so. “Are you sure?,” you asked him.

“Yes”

You straddled his face and he didn’t wait. He went at it, desperately this time. You moaned as your legs shook. You didn’t just want to sit there and feel stimulation. Noticing the bulge growing in his suit, you grabbed his zipper and pulled it all the way down. You pulled down his boxers and his hard member sprung out. You stroked him gently and spat on his cock. You heard his muffled voice grunt, finally deciding to blow him. “Oh, fuck,” he moaned, his nails digging into your thighs. He thrust upward as you enjoyed him even more. This wasn’t your first time, but it was the first time it felt so good. You stopped riding his face and lay down. He took off his entire suit and boxers, positioning himself between your legs. You’d given a blowjob before, but never actually had sex. You wanted it so bad. He pulled out a condom, slipping it on. As he did, you wondered where he managed to get one. He teased you with his cock in hand, pushing only his tip in, making you whine.

“Oh, you’re so wet”

He shoved in, stretching you out. “Fuck me,” you cried,“Please.. fuck me so hard”. He thrust into you hard, just as you had asked. It hurt for a minute. You shook, attempting to overcome the pain. Kazuichi gasped, feeling your pussy spasm around him. “H-Hey, are you okay?,” he asked. You nodded, your eyes watering; the sensation was overwhelming and in a really good way. His cock grew harder inside you, twitching. His thrusts were rhythmic at first. You can tell he was holding back, he didn’t want to hurt you. He wasn’t hitting your spot like before, so you wanted to help. “Baby, i-it’s not- fuck!”.

“I know, I know. Let me just-”

His hips went from a direct thrust motion, to motion as if his hips were scooping upward. You arched your back as he hit deeper and deeper. “Oh, you like that, don’t you?”. You moaned a little louder, covering your mouth as you were embarrassed and afraid someone would hear what went on in your room. He fucked you harder and asked,“Why don’t you scream for me baby?”.

“Someone’ll hear us-”

“Rooms are soundproof, be as loud as wanna be”

With that, you begged him to fuck you harder. He lifted your legs over his shoulders. His trusts were so sloppy, so messy it hit all areas of your walls, tightening around him. Your eyes rolled back, near frothing at the mouth. “H-ah! I needed this!,” you cried. You put your legs to his sides, grabbing him by the throat and shoving your tongue into his mouth. He moaned when you did, your grip on his throat tightening. The asphyxiation only further excited his cock.

You felt the butterflies in your stomach grow, you knew you were close. “Hh-oh, God, I’m gonna cum,” he groaned. Your kisses grew more aggressive as you wrapped your legs around him, pushing his pelvis deeper into you. “Harder, please,” you whined. He nodded, pounding you mercilessly. Once again, you choked him, dominating him with your kisses. Your pussy tightened around him. You bit him, feeling his dick twitch again. He was shaking and gasped, shooting his load into his condom. He collapsed on top of you, pulling out of your dripping pussy. “Oh my god...,” You sighed wrapping your arms around his neck, playing with his pink locks. His head lay on your chest and his arms were wrapped around your waist all tight.

“I’m sleepy”

You smiled and kissed him. “Thennnn... sleep?”. He shook his head. “We just had really good sex imagine if I go to sleep after that?”. You snickered, making a deal with him. “Fine,” you said,“I’ll forgive it if you hop into the shower with me”. He got up so fast.

“Say no more, princess. Let’s go”

Afterward, you gave him a place in bed, snuggling up with him the throughout the night.

Third person POV

The next morning, Hajime walked out of his dorm. He thought to check up on Kazuichi, seeing how abrupt he left the party last night. He knocked on his door, waiting. Oddly enough, there was no response. Hajime looked around, noticing someone in the distance. There he was, Kazuichi, walking out of a girl’s cabin? Now, the cabin belonging to none other than Y/N! He saw them laughing by her door, Kazuichi smacking her ass as she walked in front of him. Hajime backed up fast, hoping he wouldn’t be seen. He then noticed that they were not headed to the Hotel Restaurant. Now, it was starting to get strange and he had to tell the others. Once they weren’t in sight, he ran to the stairs then all the way up.

“Someone’s late”

Hiyoko stared at him. Hajime, out of breath, shook his head. “Don’t be too hard on him,” Nagito said sympathetically,“It looks like he had something to say”. “Well, I was gonna say something first,” Hiyoko was defensive as she cleared her throat,“I think rather than worry about the next blackened, we should worry about who’s fucking is gonna keep us up at night because I could barely sleep”. “Fucking? You mean, like, I don’t know... sex??,” Hajime asked. The girl’s nodded. “See, last night,” Sonia began,“None of us could get any sleep due to such erotic noises that went on till early in the morning. “Ah, yes,” Nagito said so casually,“Then I do know what you’re referring to”. Hajime decided to bring up what he’d seen.

“Kazuichi walked out of Y/N’s cabin this morning”

Everyone was paying attention now. “Oh my god???,” Hiyoko yelled. “There could be an explanation to that, y’know?,” Mikan whispered. “There’s only one explanation when you see him groping her and he doesn’t get punched”. Suddenly, two people stepped in. “So sorry we’re late,” Kazuichi said,“Y/N needed help..with...a busted pipe!”. “Aren’t you the Ultimate Mechanic? I never heard plumber,” Hiyoko scoffed.

“I do it all. Tinkering with stuff here and there”

“Right”

Kazuichi sat down, Y/N sitting at a completely different table. “So,” Nagito began,“That was quite the eventful night, right, Soda?”. Everyone looked around, having thought they had a world-less mutual agreement that it would be avoided as much as possible. “You mean with Gundham? I already tried apologizing, but-”.

“No, this isn’t about Gundham. This is about last night, last night”

“Nagito, what the fuck are you talking about?”

Nagito laughed, his hand motioning that he gives up and thats he’s over it. Gundham bit his lip, wanting to say something, eventually it came out. “Soda,” he whispered. “Yeah?”.

“You know for a room to be completely sound proof, not a single door or window should be open, right?”

“Uh, yeah?”

“Go outside and let me know if Y/N’s window was closed last night”

It finally struck him. His face instantly became flustered. “Oh,” he mumbled,“You guys heard all that?”. Everyone nodded. “Don’t be embarrassed,” Nagito attempted comfort,“If its in any consolation, it sounded like it was good. Hell, even I’m a little jealous”. Y/N still had no idea. That was the case until Sonia had talked to her. “So, Y/N,” she sat down by her,“Are you and Kazuichi together?”.

“Why would you think that?”

“Well, last night we all heard, um, something”

“Huh?”

“Well, it’s not that serious, but I do have a question”

“Yeah?”

“The rooms are soundproof, right? Well, are you sure you didn’t leave a door or a window open or something?”

Y/N choked on her own air. “H-How much did you hear?”. Sonia smiled nervously, laughing in a tone that was just as anxious. “Um, everything?”. Y/N put her hands over her face and screamed. Kazuichi approached her and kissed the back of her neck. “So, you fucked and that’s it?,” Hiyoko asked,“Like, nothing comes next?”. Before Y/N could answer, Kazuichi butt in. “T-That’s not true! I’ll take good care of Y/N and I’m gonna love her forever!”. He rushed his lips to Y/N’s, making her gasp. The tension and temperature grew within the room, as Kazuichi promised he wouldn’t let a thing hurt her.

[spook-central]

So you know how I said I was gonna write a short Ray fic based on that garage kiss in Some Kind of Wonderful?

GUESS WHAT I DID IT

I’ll be posting it here and on archive of our own! Find me there at egonspenglersnose and give it some love!)

It’s based on this scene and this song if you need a little more context! Enjoy!

•••

She Loves Me

Word Count: 2939

Warnings: none it’s fluffy!

The day had started off normally enough, aside from the usual craziness that often occurred around the firehouse. Spring was in the air, and after what had felt like a bleak and oppressive winter, it was finally time to open up the doors and air the place out.

It felt good, letting the spring air in, and it made your overtime far more bearable.

You often stayed late a few times a week to make sure everything was caught up on for the next day when things got busy during the work week, something which Janine always appreciated greatly. Tonight was no exception, but the sun staying out for a longer time in the evenings definitely made it more enjoyable.

It also helped that Ray had lingered behind this evening to work on the Ecto. You had always been incredibly fond of him, and it was obvious to just about everyone that a crush had blossomed on your part.

You recalled the day you had met him; they had hired you on the spot mainly because they needed the help but also because you had a fairly impressive resume, and Ray was one of the first of the guys you had been introduced to.

He was quite honestly one of the best looking men you had ever met, and so incredibly sweet. You immediately liked him and got a good feeling about him.

You loved how passionate he was about the Ecto, and his overall knowledge of cars had always impressed you. Even if you didn’t know much about them, you loved his enthusiasm for them and it easily rubbed off on you.

Now, as you finished up the last of your paperwork for the evening, you could hear him tinkering away not far from you. Ecto had her fair share of problems, but there was nothing Ray wouldn’t do for that car. It was like another member of the team, and you couldn’t imagine the guys doing anything without it.

Ray would occasionally come in from where he was working for something he needed, and your eyes would meet on occasion. You had never had the guts to tell him of your feelings. Ray was just so cute and enthusiastic about what he did that it was hard NOT to give him heart eyes 24/7.

From time to time, you would hear him shuffle in for a drink of water or a missing wrench that he had left in the lab, smiling at him as you took in the sight of his wild brown hair and big, sweet eyes. How was it fair for one human to be that cute? You felt like you were sixteen again with the way you wanted to fawn over him.

However, restraint was a quality you possessed as well, and you hoped that you had been able to be somewhat subtle around him.

Oh well, maybe someday you would have enough courage. Sighing as you finished up your paperwork for the night, you stood to stretch your back, adjusting your jeans, purse and blouse as you made your way towards the door.

“She still down and out?” You asked Ray as you came to stand carefully beside the lovely car he had so caringly constructed and repaired. It really was his baby, in a funny way, and you respected the work that had gone into it a great deal. Ecto kept the guys in one piece, and you gave the vehicle a sweet little pat on the roof as if to say thank you.

“Not if I have anything to say about it,” he said, his voice echoing off of the metal interior before attempting to stand up too quickly and bumping his head on it. “Ow!”

“You okay?”

“Yeah, it always gets me like that,” he chuckled, rubbing the spot on the back of his head that had been bumped and smiling that sweet, bright smile of his at you that always made you melt. “Are you headed out for the day?”

“Yup, unless you need anything else from me that is,” truth be told, you would’ve gladly stayed all night just to hang around with him. Ray seemed hesitant to fully say Goodnight, and you couldn’t help wondering if he was thinking the same thing.

“Well, uh...hand me the socket wrench?” You had gotten a fairly decent rundown of which tools were which upon receiving your first car as a teenager thanks to your father, so luckily you knew exactly what he needed. “Thanks.”

“Sure thing,” adjusting your purse on your shoulder, you couldn’t help asking about a case that had piqued your interest. “How did that class 5 turn out?”

“The one from yesterday?”

“Yeah, that one sounded nuts!”

“It was,” he laughed, “Venkman’s aim is getting better, he didn’t make any chandeliers explode this time.”

“I thought that one was Egon?”

You both laughed, and part of you was thrilled at how naturally conversation came for the both of you.

Needing a socket wrench turned into needing pliers, but soon enough Ray ran out of tools to need and it was clear that he really just wanted to spend time with you. You weren’t about to object in the slightest, comfortably sitting on a nearby stool and watching as he worked.

Truth be told, he had liked you ever since meeting you on that first day. You were always kind to him, and listened to anything he had to say no matter how out there it was.

He also couldn’t help thinking that you were incredibly pretty and very smart, but his own shy nature prevented him from saying so the way he wanted to.

A long time passed with you talking to Ray as he worked, and it was quite nice. The sun was setting now, the light golden as it streamed in from the open door beside the Ecto, but you didn’t mind.

“So Venkman seriously busted up this woman’s entire China cabinet?” The conversation had strayed back to Venkman now, and you couldn’t help laughing. He was such an odd duck, and you always got a kick out of him and his wild antics.

“We were able to blame it on the ghost being rowdy, but my god, it was a mess!” Ray tried to smooth back his messy hair as he laughed again, his hands covered in engine grease and not helping the situation much.

“He seems like he can be a real peach when he’s not causing trouble,” you rolled your eyes, smiling as Ray closed up the Ecto’s hood.

“He teases me plenty, that’s for sure, but I love him. He’s one of my best friends,” Ray was clearly fond of Venkman, and you didn’t doubt that their bond was a special one.

“What on earth does he tease you about?”

“Mostly my luck with women. Not that his is anything to go by,” this got a gut laugh out of you, and you were surprised by how witty Ray could be at times.

“No kidding. What, does he think you haven’t got game or something?”

“He tells me women won’t want to kiss me since I smoke so much.” Ray rolled his eyes, and you couldn’t help thinking about how far from the truth that actually was. “Or he acts like I don’t know how to do it at all. I mean, sure, I spend a lot of time at work but I’m not a complete hermit.”

You both laughed again, and you sat your purse on the ground as you got a rather cheeky idea. Was it even smart to try and approach things like this? Would he go for it? God, you hoped so.

“I’m sure you know how. I mean, everybody has a general idea of how to lay a proper smooch on someone if they want to.”

He raised an eyebrow at this, thinking the phrasing was humorous and wanting to hear more from you on this subject in particular.

“A ‘proper smooch’?”

“Yeah, you know. The kiss that kills. Butterflies and rainbows and all that stuff.”

He watched you as you took a few causal steps toward the Ecto now, the gears visibly turning in his head. Was this some subtle attempt at flirting?

The nearby radio, which had been playing softly in the background the whole time, played a song that perfectly fit the mood, the lyrics softly ringing out as you contemplated what to say next.

‘Who made the rule

that I should always play the fool?

All the nights I suffered

when I need not have bothered…’

“I don’t think I’ve ever had one of those, now that I think about it,” he admitted with a half smile.

“I uh...I think I’ve gotten close, but never all the way there,” you tucked a bit of hair behind your ear, watching as Ray adjusted his uniform, which he still had on. It had smudges of engine grease on it now, and you found it endearing.

He realized that this chance was now or never, gauging by the look in your eyes that you wanted what he wanted and deciding to go for it.

“How would it work? I mean...you seem like you know more about it than me,” he took a step closer, and you knew your eyes were shining in an undeniably flirty way.

“Oh you—you want me to show you?”

“I mean...if you feel up to it. I’m no expert and I could use the help.” Cheeky man, you thought. You could certainly show him if that was what he wanted.

“Do you have your eye on somebody, Ray?”

He wiped his hands on a nearby rag, the tension heightening as you watched them and then met his eyes again. You had always had a thing for those wonderful hands of his.

“I guess you could say that, yeah,” he nodded, his big brown eyes warm and sincere and you knew what he wanted to say but didn’t right then.

Instead of pressing further, you nodded, thinking this might be the most fun lesson you ever had the pleasure of teaching anyone as you got right into it.

“Well...I mean, first you have to start off in a stationary position. That helps,” he was closer now, and your cheeks flashed a soft tinge of pink as the space between you lessened. You didn’t usually have it in you to be playful, but decided to gently hop up on the hood of the Ecto in an attempt to bring him closer. “Come a little closer than that. Can’t do a thing from that far away.”

You moved to scoot nearer to the edge of the hood, willing Ray closer and practically beaming as he closed the space between you both more and more with each step.

Had anyone else sat on the hood like this, Ray might have gotten finicky, but the sight of you so close to the car he loved so much actually only ended up getting him going even more.

“It definitely helps,” he rubbed the back of his neck now, seeing that this had clearly turned into something beyond just a lesson in kissing techniques. You could smell his cologne now that he was so close, which only seemed to set your senses on overdrive even further.

“Now, uh...do you know where your hands go?”

His eyebrows raised in what seemed like a mix of curiosity and confusion, and you couldn’t help the way your breath hitched now that he stood directly in front of you.

“My hands?”

“Yeah. They go on the hips of whoever you’re kissing,” the mood had certainly shifted now, and you felt more daring than you ever had before. A timid smile crossed your face as Ray allowed you to guide his hands to the appropriate place, and the realization that this was definitely about to happen made your stomach do leaps.

“Hips, got it.” God, his hands were so strong and steady and you didn’t even care if this got engine grease on your jeans, it was just thrilling to have him this close.

“Okay, now look into my eyes. Eye contact is important.” The both of you gave a shy, breathy chuckle as your eyes met, and you playfully shoved Ray’s chest. “Come on, we’ve gotta take this seriously if you want to learn anything.”

“Sorry, I get a little skittish with these things,” he admitted, and you shook your head with a smile.

“It’s okay, but the lesson isn’t quite over yet,” you said, your cheeks noticeably warmer. The tension was enough to make your heart race.

“Alright, and uh...after that?”

“Well, uh...my hands go here,” you reached up to loop your arms around his neck, inevitably bringing him directly between your legs and causing Ray to clear his throat.

“How do you, uh...I mean, how do you know that that happens every time?”

“I watch a lot of TV, I guess,” you managed a soft laugh with this, “now, uh...close your eyes.”

Ray’s heart was pounding. Was this seriously about to happen?

“Close my—? Oh, yeah, okay.” He nodded a bit, doing as you said and knowing he had wanted this for what felt like forever. He was so handsome up close, and you couldn’t believe your luck.

It was time to go in for the kill, and you didn’t waste a second.

Leaning in, the first contact was soft and exploratory, and it took Ray a moment to figure out exactly how to respond. But once he got the angle right, it was everything you had described and more.

The music swelled on the radio nearby, and you thought you could’ve melted right then and there.

‘The minutes that we missed

idle lips that should’ve kissed

and now gently together

The first kiss lasts forever

She loves me, she loves me

Oh and she loves me, all the time…’

Tilting his head a bit, Ray found just the right angle, and one kiss turned into what felt like a million. Your hands made their way into his hair, that hair you loved so much that often seemed to fly out in all directions.

His lips were soft and very pleasant to kiss, and it occurred to you that he must use lip balm of some kind. Ray himself couldn’t believe this was happening. He honestly couldn’t fathom how he had been lucky enough to end up kissing you like this, but he was, and he was putting everything he had into it.

Ray’s mind moved at a million miles a minute. All he could think about was how it felt when you moved in a rhythm with him, how soft your lips were, your soft body, and how GOOD you smelled—

He nearly sighed as he felt your leg brace around him to bring him in as close as possible, gripping your jeans to pull you close by your hips in return.

You nearly melted into a puddle on the floor at the feeling of his grip, so strong and firm on you like he couldn’t bear to leave any space between the two of you at all.

He must have shaved that morning, you thought, having expected him to have at least a little stubble and feeling surprised that there was none. Where on earth had Ray learned to kiss so well? Boy would Venkman have egg on his face if he knew about THIS.

Unfortunately for you both, you had to break away and breathe at some point, just looking at each other until you finally managed to speak.

“Well, uh...Venkman was wrong. Way wrong. Wow.”

“It was...I mean, was it like you said? Butterflies and—and all that for you too?”

“Are you kidding?” You laughed, “sheesh, I didn’t know you had that in you. You wouldn’t have any trouble hooking any woman you wanted if you kissed her like that.”

He seemed surprised and incredibly flattered, looking down and then back up at you with a grin and eager brown eyes.

“Was it obvious at all that I was referring to you?”

“I kind of hoped that was the case,” both of you grinned then, the final chorus of the song fading out in the background as the spring breeze blew in once more.

‘She loves me, she loves me

Oh and she loves me all the time…’

You couldn’t resist leaving a sweet peck on Ray’s cheek just because you could, earning a bright smile from him as he got a somewhat playful gleam in his eye.

“The guys are gonna be gone for the rest of the evening, and I don’t have anything else planned...would you want to grab some dinner with me?”

“Sure, but only if we can do more of this afterwards,” you giggled, and Ray helped you off the hood of the Ecto to stand you up and kiss you so that he could press you flush against him now. You were sure you looked like a cartoon character with birds chirping around your head as he pulled away.

“You drive a hard bargain,” Ray said, unable to keep from grinning as he took your hand, “but you’ve got yourself a deal.”

What a lesson to teach with anyone, you thought. He was a fast learner, that was for sure.

Picking up your purse, the two of you headed out, and you couldn’t help humming that lovely chorus to yourself one last time.

‘She loves me, she loves me

Oh and she loves me all the time…’

[awhilde]

kaeya as your boyfriend!

seeing all these hc’s for genshin is making me sob like god damn all these enemies to lovers for childe and lumine is making me simp for him. also i’ll never shut up about kaeya his yoho in the manga reminds me of oikawa and that just throws me into a whole other world of hurt

&& this is potentially the last piece of genshin content that i’ll post in a while bc i don’t just want to write purely abt genshin however !! if someone asks for it who am i to say no?

neways,,, kaeya as ur boyfriend!

the beginning of your relationship would have originated with his confession to you

despite being a huge romantic, kaeya confessed to you with no prior planning, nothing spectacular like a mysterious note leading to a tree caked in snow despite the rest of the world enveloped in a still night

in fact, kaeya hadn’t even come to terms with his true feelings when it occurred, he simply knew that he found you fascinating and of good company. besides, you easily bounced back his roundabout way of talking and your banter provided him good humour

so when the two of you were casually patrolling the streets of the city on the lookout for potential hazards, he’d dropped the bomb mid conversation when you guys were talking about your family

“yeah, i totally get that.” you had said in reply to his advice. “i’m just anxious i guess, on what i should do. after taking so long, is my brother even still alive?” after a shaky inhale, you laughed off the suddenly sombre atmosphere. “sorry, i didn’t mean to bring the mood down. i suppose i just felt a bit alone in this whole situation. its like no one is taking my brother’s disappearance seriously and its being overlooked because of all this dragon business.”

kaeya hadn’t been sure as to what to say for he felt slightly guilty for forgetting the reason why you ended up here as well. he felt an odd pang in his chest at your crestfallen expression, more so at how much you tried to cover it up with a smile.

he’d suddenly turn from walking beside you to standing in front, gauging your expression and successfully halting you in your step

he’d confess with a smile, clearly not expecting a response and solely in hopes of letting you know that he cared for you and you weren’t alone. he wouldn’t be nervous ion think, he knows his worth and would be completely comfortable with only being your friend. he’d let the news comprehend in your mind before turning around, wishing you a goodnight and a slight pun about how the early bird gets the worm

oh boy, kaeya’d would have never expected you to return his feelings but you did anyway, replying in a similar, quiet tone, expressing the emotions that you felt around the ice man and only THEN did he blush. he’d hid the majority of his reddening face behind his palm, looking off the right slightly to try and hide his face from you. the fluistered look on his face sent you out of this world

neways, the night ended in a limbo between awkward, flustered glances and timid silence, and finding the situation hilarious because well,, it just was to you two

the day after that, your relationship was relatively the same

except, kaeya no longer hid his lingering looks at you anymore which made 1). you blush and 2). everyone suspicious

but i mean they called it so,,,

everyone, that is, except paimon who exists only to be the biggest cockblocker you’ve ever met. no like seriously, did almost drowning cause the last sliver of common sense to escape from her?

regardless, paimon was on your ass every. single. time you and kaeya talked whether it be in private or within a group

like that one time when kaeya managed to get you alone in the library, having not had the opportunity to talk to you privately all day

he had stood a little too close to you (bc kaeya is a : dom and towering over you is something he would find pleasure in doing) as you talked. clearly, he wasn’t paying attention to your attempt at small talk instead opting to inch you closer to the wall with a smirk

you’re not completely dense, you knew exactly what he was doing but he was hot so you let it slide, finding the situation kinda addicting to be in

“anyway, amber was telling me something about cleaning up the aftermath of stormterror, something about barricades and the like, are you going to be helping us this time?” you had asked him, eyebrow raised over the book you had clutched to your chest

kaeya smirks and steps closer again, causing you to back away slightly. “and if i don’t?”

“go ahead and find out yourself, pretty boy, see how well that turns out.”

the bored challenge in your voice disappears when he closes the gap between you two, placing a forearm easily above your head and tilting your body in that respective direction, easily caging you in

“caring for me? where did your tsundere act go?” he whispered, breath tickling the hairs framing your face. by now, you were sure it was obvious that you were blushing

your eyes flick to his lips and back to his eye, his own catching the movement and you swore his lips stretched further into that smirk. his face edges closer to yours, a still silence in the form of an inhaled breath tense in the air and just as kaeya’s lips touched your own

the door to the library slams open

kaeya immediately brings his head up and checks behind his shoulder, body still encasing yours but this time in order to protect you

and you can’t see because,, well,, kaeya’s body was obstructing your vision so you turn to look around him but he moves that way too, protecting you from the intruder’s sight

but well, you didn’t need to see the person to know them because their voice was a dead give away

“kaeya!” paimon exclaimed and you hear kaeya’s short huff of exhaustion. “have you seen name? she said she was around here but,,, paimon hasn’t seen her anywhere. why are you looking at paimon like that?”

convinced that she wasn’t a threat, kaeya sighs and leans his forehead against yours. you giggle slightly

paimon finally sees you, at least your figure anyway and gasps. “wait a minute, is that a girl paimon is seeing? kaeya, what are you doing with this girl? unless,,, omg are you cheating on name?”

and without looking at the floating human, kaeya tells her to leave in a firm voice. clearly, he didn’t like any of this bullshit

and paimon gets a little scared before she huffs, telling him that she was totally going to tell you what he was doing

and the door slams after her with extra intended force and with the help of a few icicles

kaeya opens his eyes and gazes longingly at you, frustrated and annoyed at well,, being cockblocked. the moment of intense sexual tension is over and being flustered is well past you know. besides, you kinda wanted to clear up the misunderstanding before paimon spreads some nasty rumour. and sure, kaeya couldn’t care less about his reputation, but you cared about his

so you laugh at his misery and give him a quick peck on the lips before ducking under his arm and exiting the library

kaeya would be a little stunned at your move on him, but he was well aware of your cheeky side. for the rest of the day, he would declare war on you, trying to get you flustered again (bc its funny and cute). he’d do things like cooling his skin when you accidently touch him, standing way too close to you in group discussions and !! breathing down your neck (bc mans has cold breath) and just generally looking at your direction  

you’d fight back bc he’s being ridiculous, winking when you caught him staring, squeezing his hand when he walks past and jokingly avoiding his attempts to get you in private

bc i mean, there was a dragon terrorising the world so romance shouldn’t be your first priority

a shame that kaeya thinks he’s all that and confident in his abilities that he’s like yes i can juggle saving the world and winning over my girlfriend in my sleep wym

when this silly “fight” is over, you finally let kaeya drag you into an alleyway, pressing you up against the wall and kissing you without words

and you smile into the kiss bc frustrated kaeya is so cute

and that’s the relationship, just a mix of pure fluff (bc kaeya really does care for you a lot), stupid banter and sexual tension!!

wow!

[writing-on-standby]

time of dreaming (pt one)

Summary: Soulmates meet in their dreams from the age of 16 until they meet for the first time. Once they meet, they share their physical and emotional feelings with one another until they die. Tom Holland was just starting to learn how to take over the family business and ignore the urge to find his soulmate when everything changes and he’s found face to face with you. You’ve always wanted to meet your soulmate and spend the rest of your life with them, until you actually meet yours and life changes forever.

Warning: blood, language, violence, angst (this story is gonna be dark so prepare yourself)

                                          part one: the encounter

Tom knew from a young age that his family’s business was dangerous. He knew that he needed to keep what his family did a secret because his family could get hurt if outsiders knew. His father engrained it into Tom’s head that the family business went ahead of everything ever since Tom was a kid. Tom vividly remembered the time he asked his father to come to Career Day at his school. Tom’s father had never hit Tom harder.

When Tom turned thirteen, his father began teaching him how to conceal his identity in dreams in preparation for meeting his soulmate. Tom knew never to argue with what his dad wanted and instead started to train with his father and experts in the field of dream manipulation. He learned from a young age that even though he wanted to meet the person he was destined to be with, he couldn’t, not unless he gave up his family’s business, but he wouldn’t turn his back on his family. It was all he had.

On Tom's sixteenth birthday, he prepared to see his soulmate. He tried to ignore the butterflies that he felt as he fell asleep, excited to see the person who he'd meet every night. Despite knowing that he could never be with his soulmate, he was still shamelessly excited for the possibility of having a friend in his dreams, no matter what he did when he was awake.

He didn't meet his soulmate that night.

In fact, Tom didn't meet his soulmate until a couple months after he turned eighteen. He figured it was due to an age difference, but he didn't care to focus on the why or the logic of dreams. All he could focus on was the excitement of meeting his soulmate even though he knew he shouldn’t feel anything.

"hello?"

Tom felt as though he was floating. He knew he was standing on the familiar pink floor he always stood on when he dreamt. His dreams were lonely, but tonight, he heard you for the first time. He knew that your voice wasn't distorted and he had to ignore the slight flutter he felt when he heard your timid voice. He focused all of his available energy into masking his voice. "Hi."

He turned around, looking for you. His dream world was always the same, but he never knew how to describe it other than being in a soft pink cloud. He stood on a flat pink surface and was surrounded by a warm pink haze. He turned, one more time, and stopped when he saw his soulmate standing in front of him.

He couldn't make out details, but he didn't care. He could see your hair cascading around your face and falling beautifully. The color of your hair was fluctuating and your face was foggy, but he could see your vague features shift into a smile. "I can't believe you're here," you whispered.

"Likewise," Tom spoke, but he didn't recognize his voice. He knew it was the voice you heard, yet it still sounded weird. He ignored the slight tinge of guilt that rang through his heart at the thought of disguising himself from you. He knew he had no choice, but it still hurt him.

"I've been waiting for this moment for years. What took you so long?"

Tom did his best to ignore the ding his heart echoed. He tried to ignore the sadness that ricocheted out of your vocal cords and into his heart. "I've been here."

A soft sigh escaped the vague lips Tom could see. "Me too."

Tom awoke the morning after first meeting you in the best mood he'd been in in what felt like years. He had to physically fight the urge he had to smile as he walked down the stairs for breakfast. He felt light, airy, and happy. Your voice was angelic and the conversation you had echoed around his heart for the rest of the day.

The two of you didn't always meet every night. Tom chalked it up to different sleep patterns or just not being able to remember every dream he had. He could tell that you wanted to meet him, but he kept brushing those hints off. Usually the two of you were only together enough to say a few sentences back and forth, but he cherished his time with you just the same.

It had successfully been almost six years since you first appeared in his dream without meeting you. Tom had officially decided that you didn't live in London. You couldn't have, he reasoned, but the nagging thought in the back of his head reminded him that your accent was exactly the same as his.

Tom eventually came clean to his family that you had met in his dreams. Tom's father was stressed, but Tom assured him that the pair would never meet, despite every part of Tom's body aching to touch you. Tom knew that his family and his business came first. It also wasn't a secret in the Holland Mansion that the reason why his father was so adamant against soulmates was because of the death of their mother, but no one talked about it.

No one talked about anything.

Tom was just starting to learn how to take over the business when everything changed. He was barely getting the hang of ignoring the pain of getting his ass beat. He was barely getting used to ignoring the guilt of killing enemies and breaking the law. He had just figured out how to ignore the thought of one day meeting you and had just stopped craving the small interactions he'd get with you every night.

But the universe was funny in that way.

"Tom," Harrison breathed, heavily. Tom looked up from the computer he was typing on and looked at his best friend. His blue eyes were burning into Tom's. "It's your dad."

Tom knew the tone was too distraught to be anything good. He knew Harrison wouldn’t barge into the study without reason. Tom ran his rough, calloused, and dry hand over his face with a sigh. He tried to prepare himself for the news he expected to get ever since he had started taking over the business. HIs body grew stiff and cold as he tried to prepare for what he knew was coming, but it wasn’t that easy. Life was never that easy.

“He’s dead.”

*

“I saw him again last night,” Jazmin hummed as she carefully stabbed the lettuce in her bowl. Her brown hair fell over her shoulders, despite her being on call for a shift at the emergency room, downstairs. Her brown eyes looked up to you as she smiled. Her eyes were always warm, but somehow always pierced through the defense layers you built. “Have you seen yours in a while?” She carefully raised one of her arched eyebrows as she waited for your response.

You rolled your eyes, not wanting to remember the fact that you hadn’t seen your soulmate in three weeks. “No,” you whispered. “I know he doesn’t want to meet me. Every time I ask for any information, he leaves.” You picked at the leftover pasta you brought for the impromptu date you and your best friend could fit in your busy schedules. The nagging voice in the back of your mind reminded you that not only did your soulmate refuse to give you information to find him, but he also was hiding his face and his voice from you. It wasn’t uncommon for soulmates to be able to hide parts of their identity, but it was difficult to master the ability to disguise both your face and your voice. When you noticed that your soulmate had disguised both features, you reciprocated by disguising your face to the best of your ability. You hadn’t told any of this to Jazmin, though, because you were embarrassed at the thought of your soulmate refusing to even show you his face or his voice.

“I know he wants to meet you, y/n. Why wouldn’t he? He’d be absolutely lucky to have you,” she spoke, matter-of-factly.

You shrugged. You had always loved the idea of having a soulmate and being meant to spend the rest of your life with someone. It was always a goal of yours to be able to meet your soulmate, but after the first few dreams with your soulmate, you could tell that this wasn’t his intention. The two of you rarely met and it was usually once a month that you would have an overlap in time and meet. “I don’t know, Jazmin. I just -“

Before you could finish, you were interrupted by the scream of an ambulance. You looked out the window you sat by and sighed. By the time you looked back at Jazmin, she was already getting called into her shift. The two of you had both started internships at the same hospital, but in different departments. You usually had a laidback schedule in the Psychiatric Ward, but Jazmin was always busy with her shifts in the Emergency Room.

“Sorry, y/n. I’ll see you later, okay?”

You nodded and began packing up your things. Your shift ended thirty minutes ago, but you stuck around to be able to spend time with your best friend. Once all of your belongings were stuffed into your purse, you stood up and began walking to your car.

Since you worked downtown, you almost always had to park a couple blocks away from the hospital. You usually welcomed the walk as it gave you time to prepare for your shift and decompress afterwards.

Tonight, the sun was setting over the horizon, painting the world a hazy pink. You smiled, softly, thinking of the dream world you always seemed to meet your soulmate in. Every place that soulmates met was unique to the couple. You were shocked when you met your soulmate in a beautiful, warm, pink world. Seeing the real world mimic your dreams caused a tug in your stomach.

As you entered the near-empty parking lot where your car sat, you noticed a tense exchange occurring. Three men stood, facing another man not too far away. You saw your car on the other side of the group of three and began making your way towards them. You pushed away any feelings of anxiety and tried to push forward to your car. It was a long enough day and it didn’t need to be longer.

“Tom, now is not the time or the place,” the man on the left spoke. He had piercing blue eyes, but you quickly looked away from the group and instead pretended to send a text.

“I don’t care,” the man named Tom snapped. You could hear the pain in his voice, causing your eyes to find him. You recognized the grief that screamed through his words. His large brown eyes were bloodshot and tears were stained on his cheeks. His hands were clenched into tight fists and you noticed the blood caked on his knuckles. Your heartbeat sped up as you slowly walked closer.

“What’s wrong, Tommy boy? You not ready for the crown? Pathetic,” an Irish accent mocked from behind you. You were close enough to the group to now be in the middle of the commotion. You tried to pick up your pace, not wanting to be in between this intense exchange.

“Shut the fuck up, Luke,” Tom growled as he took a step forward.

“What’re you going to do, Tommy boy? Shoot me? Try. I dare you,” Luke chuckled. Before you could register what was happening, rough hands gripped at your arms and you were pulled roughly against the Irish man, identified as Luke. Fear danced from the man’s fingers and up into your chest. Your heart pumped the fear through your veins and into your bloodstream. The man gripped you tighter as you felt a cold metal dance along your arm. You tried ignoring it, but the fear was bubbling up your throat and into all of your thoughts.

You closed your eyes, trying to think of the man you had met in your dreams. The man you were destined to spend the rest of your life with. The man that was your soulmate. “Let her go, Luke.” Your eyes opened and your gaze was locked with the man named Tom. His eyes were cold and calculated, but you noticed that him and his two friends took a step closer to you. Your heart was racing and you tried to say something, anything to get this man to let you go, but the fear swallowed any attempt to speak.

“Come and get her, Tom. Or are you going to let another poor innocent person die today?”

Before you could process what was said, a searing pain exploded from your chest. You looked down and saw a large and deep gash that started from the center of your chest and followed the line of your collar bone to your shoulder. Blood began pooling out of the wound as you cried out in pain. Your head began growing lighter as you shut your eyes in pain. You heard the men in front of you yell various threats and insults to the man who was holding you hostage. Your brain began to process that you were in a life-and-death situation. Without thinking, you threw your foot into the stranger’s knee and kicked as hard as you could. The man groaned as his grip loosened. You threw your elbow back into his stomach, causing his grip to completely disappear. You took a few steps away from him, but your brain was clouded with the pain of the massive gash on your chest. Blood was dripping down your arm and onto the cement, but you didn’t care. All you could think about was getting as far away from this man as fast as possible. 

Despite moving as fast as you could, the man caught your right shoulder and yanked you back. You heard a pop as more pain erupted from the same shoulder he had cut. You knew it was dislocated, if not broken. Panicking at the thought of being killed, you started throwing your fists at this man, but your vision wasn’t focusing on anything as the blood was pouring out of you. You knew that it wouldn’t be long before you lost enough blood to be damaging. The man gave you sickening laugh as you felt his knife sink into your stomach. You screamed in pain, feeling his knife pierce through your skin and into your organs. You had enough training in the hospital to know that pulling the knife out would cause more damage, but your hand still groped the handle of his knife as you stumbled back. A warm feeling danced up your throat as you coughed blood on the cement.

You turned and stumbled further away from the group, but your feet were heavier than cinderblocks. You began to fall to the cement. Before your shoulders and head could hit the ground, you were caught. You looked up at the man who had stopped the impact and saw those blue eyes you had connected with earlier. You blinked a few times, growing tired and pained. “Hey, hey, look at me,” the man whispered. “It’s okay, you’re safe. Just focus on me and nothing else, okay?”

You opened your mouth to speak, but you were instead interrupted with another cough. You knew it was blood so you turned your head and spit onto the cement. Sure enough, a dark sticky substance hit the ground next to your head. You looked back at the man in front of you. Your head was spinning and you were struggling to ground yourself in reality. You lifted your hand and put it on the man’s cheek. You noticed the blood that covered your hand and your arm. You gasped at the sight and dropped your hand to your side. The man chuckled, but the sight wasn’t comforting since you had covered half his face in your blood. “It’s okay, hon. I’m Harrison, what’s your name?”

“Y/n,” you croaked. Speaking hurt, breathing hurt, everything hurt. Your eyelids slipped shut and you heard the man above you asking you to open your eyes. You forced your eyelids apart and looked back into his piercing blue eyes. “So hard. So sleepy.”

“I know, y/n, help is on the way, okay?”

You looked up at Harrison’s blue eyes and felt safe. You nodded, slowly. “I never met my soulmate,” you murmured. “I don’t want to die.”

“You won’t,” Harrison spoke with a smile. “We won’t let you.”

You slowly nodded. Before you could respond, the man referred to as Tom sat down next to you and Harrison. “EMT’s are about a minute out. Luke’s taken care of.” Tom’s voice was beautiful and strong as he spoke to Harrison. He looked at you with his bloodshot and pained eyes. “You’ll be okay.”

You sighed and slowly gave up on the fight to stay awake as your eyelids slipped shut. Maybe you would meet your soulmate. Maybe you wouldn’t.

                                                     part two

[mc-lukanette]

All Marinette wanted was to have a nice time at the festival with her friends. Play games, eat some snacks, and maybe win a prize or two. It was simple and exactly what was reasonable to expect from a festival.

She didn’t know what part of that included being stuck in a haunted house attraction with Luka. She’d tried her hardest to avoid that area specifically, yet she’d somehow been shoved into it alongside Luka the moment she’d let her guard down. It wasn’t that she’d hated the idea of getting one-on-one time with him, but the location wasn’t exactly ideal.

As they walked into the next room, trying to find their way out, something leapt out at them from one of the fake walls. When Marinette had originally imagined she and Luka harmonizing, she thought it might be them singing along to one of Jagged Stone’s albums, but instead, it was them screaming in unison for the nineteenth time as they bolted ahead.

They stopped in the following room to catch their breath, with Marinette whining at nothing in particular, "How big is this place?"

"I have no idea," Luka lamented. Taking in a large breath, he added, "I’m so sorry, Marinette. It’s just like Jule to do something like this."

"What?" She spun around to face him. "No, it wasn’t just Juleka!" She paused, noting, "I-I mean, I know that’s not really better, but don’t apologize for it! You didn’t do anything!"

He let out a noncommittal hum, looking away with an embarrassed blush dusting his cheeks. "Not directly, but I’m sure Jule wanted to see me freaked out."

Perplexed, she tilted her head. "Why would she want that?"

He sighed. "Because I can usually play perfectly, so people like to see me miss a note or two."

Marinette frowned, having never thought about that. Hoping it sounded somewhat comforting, she chimed in, "People do the same to me, but—ah—not because I ‘play perfectly,’ obviously." She toyed with her fingers. "I think they just think it’s funny to see me react to things."

He gave her a sympathetic look and she vaguely wondered if this was really better than trying to get through the haunted house as quickly as possible. They were technically delaying the inevitable next - and hopefully last - scare, but at the same time, it was still nice getting her alone time with him.

A thought occurring to her, she pointed out, "I didn’t know you hated anything horror-related. O-oh! Unless you told me and I didn’t remember, in which case—"

"I never told you," he confirmed. "Jule was always watching horror movies late at night when it was dark. I guess I was too—" He glanced off at the side, his modest self probably finding his words weird to say. "—nice, to ask her to turn it down."

"Having siblings sounds terrible," Marinette half-joked.

Luka snorted, though his frown didn’t fade. "She’s great, but once she figured me out, she liked scaring me every now and then."

"Really?" She’d never taken Juleka for the type.

He shrugged. "I never said anything because—" He paused, and she could see that he felt like he was being ridiculous. "—I didn’t want it to change how you saw me."

"Change—" Marinette blinked, a mix between confused at what he meant and charmed that he cared so much about what she thought of him. "—how? If anything, I’m relieved!"

He straightened, giving her a weird look. "Relieved?"

"Yeah!" She threw her arms out in dramatic fashion. "You’re human!"

Luka’s eyes went wide, then he jerked forward, stifling a chuckle.

"I’m serious!" she insisted, even while smiling herself. "I thought you might’ve been a perfect angel descending on us mortals!"

He chuckled again, nearly breaking into a giggling fit. Looking up at her with a fond expression, he waited until he was calmer to reply, "I could say the same thing about you."

She blushed. He seemed to realize what he said, given the way his brows rose, but he didn’t take it back either. She was only now feeling all the romantic atmosphere in the room, knowing very well that this was not the place to be having it.

"A-ah—so!" She leaned forward to take his hand in hers - okay, maybe that wasn’t going to help anything - then turned away. "We should get out of here! The longer we stay in here, the worse it’s going to be!"

She could sense his smile. "Yeah, let’s go."

She was glad he didn’t misinterpret what she’d said. He’d always had a way of reading her that she really admired.

They continued on, the room cluttered and with multiple diverging paths. It seemed like a perfect place for someone to pop out or make some spooky noises, but Marinette was thankful to be not as "on edge" as before, a lot of tension drained away from her conversation with Luka.

Then, the already-limited lights went off.

Marinette jumped, feeling Luka clutch her hand tighter as he flinched. She blindly reached out, but abandoned the idea immediately, not having the courage to try and feel her way around.

"It...it’s okay!" she tried to reassure, turning to him even if she couldn’t see anything. "We’ll just use what we remember seeing before to figure out which way to go! Um—" She looked around, trying to envision what the room had looked like. "I-I think there was a break in the curtains this way?"

She hesitated, waiting to see if maybe Luka had any other ideas. He was oddly silent, however, and she was starting to worry that the hand she was holding would end up not being his.

"...You’re incredibly brave, Marinette," he suddenly said.

"Huh?" She was briefly thankful to the darkness for hiding her dumb surprised face. "No, I’m really not! This is terrifying!"

"That just makes it all the more impressive," he argued. "You're scared, but you don’t stop. You keep going no matter how many times you think you slip up. Even with Adrien, you never quit. That takes a lot of courage."

She blushed red, now thankful to the darkness for a different reason. She wasn’t sure whether to thank him or brush off the compliment, but—

"Wait," she began, squinting. "With Adrien?"

"Hm?"

Realization hit a moment later, embarrassing her. "Oh. That’s right. I never told you. I guess—it just never came up?" She shrugged, knowing that he might at least feel it through their joined hands even if he couldn’t see it. "I...I moved on from Adrien a long time ago."

"Really?" he asked.

Without the light, she only had his voice to work off of. It almost made it easier, as his face often didn’t give things away unless he wanted it to. She could hear a hint of hope in his voice that he clearly tried not to make known.

Staring down at their hands, she confirmed, "Yeah. Um, I love someone else now."

He didn’t respond verbally at first, but just by the way his grip on her hand lessened, she imagined that the hope died out.

"They're very lucky, Marinette," he said, voice quieter than usual. "Have you tried telling them?"

She paused, swallowing her nerves and hoping that she wasn’t imagining things. After all, he did flirt with her earlier, unless she was just reading too much into it. Outside of how long it took her to realize her feelings, she didn’t have any reason to believe he didn’t still feel the same.

Squeezing his hand, she whispered, "I want to - I don't even have an excuse for holding back, since they already confessed to me - but..." She breathed up, adding quickly, "I can't see their lips when it's this dark."

His fingers twitched against her hand; another nonverbal reaction. She squinted at him, hoping to see any hint of his reaction, but she couldn’t even make out his silhouette.

It hadn’t even occurred to her that they haven't been jumped by anyone for a while.

Finally, Luka spoke up, a clear lightness in his voice. "Do you think you could remember what you saw before to figure it out, Marinette?"

"Remember—" She stopped, realizing what he meant, and her heart did a flip in her chest at how happy he sounded. Absorbing the moment, she looked down and ran her thumb along his hand, needing a few seconds to confirm to herself what was happening.

She felt his other hand fall upon her shoulder, the feeling alone letting her use her memory to visualize him in front of her: his casual attire, the earrings he never took off, his gorgeous highlights that she'd daydreamed about feeling between her fingers, and his vibrant blue eyes that sent waves of calm over her.

She reached up. On her first try, her hand found his cheek and her thumb slid gingerly over his lips. Luka giggled in response and she shuddered at the way his lips twitched, like he was tempted to kiss her thumb just for effect.

They both leaned towards each other, exchanging a long overdue kiss. It never occurred to them that maybe it wasn’t that no one had tried to scare them, but that they’d just been too into their own little world to notice it.

[mccall-me-maurice]

Goddamn another long ass post, don’t ask me why

So as I’ve noticed, a lot of people have come to see or have even started shipping Mauram. And whether this is linked to me oR NOT i want to explain why I ship it, because apparently I haven’t done that yet. [Under the Cut]

okay so mauram is a ship name for maurice and sam. so canonically maurice is more of a jokester. he kicks sand in peoples faces and then acts like a fool to make them happy again. because while maurice may be a hunter and by technicality, a “savage”, he still feels empathy. he definitely follows jack, but clearly isn’t the smartest (ie the squid conversation) and while he enjoys being a hunter, he seems to be in it for more of the fun side of things and being a child. Sam is also more childish because he was younger at the time and is easily scared by stuff like the beastie or the fucken. man with a parachute. however, he joined the hunters by force and was tortured, and yet he still helped ralph, so he is by default, a less “savage” person canonically. however, if you jump into general headcanons regarding the two, the twins AND maurice are both very mischievous and pull pranks on people. their personalities are oddly similar to most people when creating traits for them because a) they’re not really described in the book all that much and b) when they are, their actions end up leading to a similar personality. usually the twins are considered smarter than maurice, seeing as in a lot of text posts hes the one cracking jokes that are pretty dumb or having a lack of knowledge. their headcanoned personalities match together so well because of their similarities and their differences, what maurice lacks, sam makes up for. theoretically it’s like two pieces of a puzzle if you dive into how people headcanon them.

CANONICALLY however, they have very limited to no interactions that are written but that’s because the book is from ralphs perspective, making ralph be the protagonist so you never really get to see any of the hunters interactions with the twins while they’re being tortured. Or even if maurice is there. but they were still alive and the question is why. because jack would gladly have them dead, two other people have died. and roger really doesn’t give a shit, let’s be real. he would gladly kill the twins AND they have enough hunters. so that means that theoretically, someone that jack trusted or at least would listen to had to speak up against killing them either because the hunters aren’t as mad as jack and roger or because there was an established relationship with the twins that made them feel sympathetic. and the only person who has nearly as much power over jack as roger is maurice, seen earlier in the book during hunting. maurice had to be the one to speak up about the twins because he’s the only one with enough leverage over jack to get him to convince roger that killing the twins is unnecessary, and they should be kept alive because they could be “useful” when in fact, they were not useful to the tribe because they helped ralph.

and in modern aus, the twins are usually still ralphs friends and maurice is jacks because there’s typically the split between the two as there was on the island. but most of the time, maurice isn’t really involved because it’s a jalph fic or a rogermon one and maurice just isn’t there. furthermore, maurice tends to be a second option to his friends canonically, most of them bothered by him unless he does something funny or is needed for work. guess what? so are the twins. and the boys played around a lot on the beach, so maurice and the twins more than likely had interactions that just weren’t mentioned.

Fics/ Headcanons

so the choir usually exists in modern/no island aus because they need simon to know the boys so he can be a good boy like simon usually does. the twins usually have some of the biggest vendettas against the choir in the fics i’ve read because the choir gets oddly physical with them. however when fights occur, jack gets ralph, roger gets simon ((if hes even being responsive)) and maurice usually takes the twins. also the twins are usually straight in the fics which i think is just a way of having internalised homophobia because they are. way too straight. nobody is that straight, you bring men up and they’re like HAHA ANYWAYS, WOMEN. in a lot of fics, eric is the one who has the worse anger for the choir and is like. super pissy at all of them. and to me it’s because sam sees himself in maurice a little bit due to their usual similarities and hes just more soft spoken and doesn’t want to confront anyone about it. which leads to the perfect setup for a crush on maurice that he doesn’t even realise is there because he was so caught up realising how similar they are and how much more popular and, in theory, better maurice is that instead of doing what he sees people like piggy or eric doing, which is saying “i wish i could be like the hunters and walk around like i own the place”, he doesn’t want to be like maurice, he wants to be with maurice. however, because of his usual internalised homophobia, he convinces himself that he wants to be maurice and talk like his friends do, but he doesn’t really use the same bitter language, as he’s usually written nicer and even though he’s mischievous, he’s the kinder hearted twin most times. so he obviously isn’t fond of the choir members, but he still wishes he was like them to an extent and everything just kind of falls into place logistically that he, at some point, has a crush on one of the choir members

so why maurice? why not ralph or someone else?

well because all of his friends had never displayed the amount of similarities to him that maurice had. and none of them had displayed the empathy maurice undoubtedly did in the scenarios where things got physical. maurice himself was canonically never as physical as everyone else. he never really hurt anyone that was serious and not a joke. while ralph was kind to him, ralph was very disinterested in people, which i don’t even need to delve into canon for that, he was bored of people like every other line. simon is very introverted and spends most time with ralph and the choir typically, not seen with the twins as often. and piggy himself is just whiny in an endearing way but doesn’t reflect sams own personality. and while people think “opposites attract” (ie ralph and jack or roger and simon), that isn’t always the case. and with how sam behaved and spent time around those who he matched up with personality wise, he would, in theory, only like people who have fragments of his mind in theirs. back to the pieces of a puzzle thing. they have to be pieces of the *same* puzzle, not different ones.

so what about maurice?

maurice’s decisions are influenced by the choir, because he follows them around a lot when it comes to making big choices. he’s less violent by nature and more joking so when his friends bully ralph’s, he probably doesn’t take it as seriously as he should. but he doesn’t really like being angry and that’s on canon, when he kicked sand into percival’s eyes then joked around to cheer him up. maurice doesn’t like other people feeling bad because of his own actions. so he’s probably nicer to ralph’s friends than anyone else just because he has a tough time handling consequences. which leads to his nicer personality meeting sams less aggressive to the choir vibe and even though he is less observant, he still notices how similar they are. and unlike sam, he wants to be *like* sam because he is less vibrant and less out there and blends into a crowd better. and deep down, he doesn’t want to be a “bully” because he still has a heart and empathy. however, the feeling of “i want to be him” switches over to “i want to be with him” once he starts really looking at sam’s actions more than he did before because of how much they could, and would, click with each other. but of course if he were to ever talk to anyone in the choir about it, he would face horrible consequences so he, in turn, gets worse with the teasing and while he doesn’t get physical, he gets meaner as a defence mechanism so nobody else finds out which is what could’ve happened canonically, as of his descent into savagery.

[charming-charlie]

Like Father, Unlike Son

Title // Like Father, Unlike Son

Pairing // Evan Buckley x Reader

Warnings // Mentions of absentee parents. Mentions of sex. Maybe some other little triggers, especially toward our man ☹

Summary // Buck’s parents are in town. Are you sure you want to meet them?

Word Count // 2.7k

Prompt // Hey! Hope you're doing good! I don't know if you ccurrently do requests or not or if this is where to ask for them but I have one in case you do take them. Evan Buckley x reader where his parents come to town and they are really passive agressive towards him, complaining about his work and that he's "not as nice of a boy as he used to be" but he doesn't tell them to stop. Eventually they remark on his birthmark, hitting an old insecurity and reader comforts him? Thank you for your time! <33

Author’s Note // Okay listen writing this broke my heart. Someone fix it by sending me cute little Buck gifs <3

“What are you doing?” you asked your boyfriend, firefighter Evan Buckley, as he pranced around his loft apartment. Armed with a duster in one hand and a broom in the other, you would’ve made a bet with Maddie that he was dressing as Cinderella for Halloween. It was a weird sight to see because he was cleaning. The man was actually cleaning and you could not get over it.

You took your phone out and secretly snapped a few photos of Buck. He was dusting the top of the fridge and it just occurred to you… is that an area people are supposed to clean?

This was getting more and more strange.

You sent the photo to Maddie, who instantly replied, ‘all he is missing is an apron!’ with a few laughing-crying emojis. You smiled at her response, letting your brain picture the sight of Buck prancing around in an apron, holding various cleaning tools, like some 1950s housewife. You would’ve hung onto that ridiculous thought if Buck didn’t decide to speak up just then.

“I told you. My parents are coming. This place needs to be spotless,” Buck started dusting the undersides of the kitchen cabinets and you continued watching him. Your face was scrunched up as you followed his hand movements. Did Buck ever clean like this before?

For as long as you’ve known him, he never really mentioned his parents and that was not something you wanted to ask about unless he brought it up. Maddie mentioned a few things to you, in order to prepare you for the day, but it wasn’t much. Both Buckley parents were absent in their children’s’ lives, forcing Maddie and Buck to rely on each other while growing up. This would be the first time you’ve met them, and the first time Buck has seen them in who knows how long. This was a big deal. You thought you should be the one who is nervous. This would be the first time meeting the boyfriend’s parents and you needed to make a good impression. But Buck… he was acting like the world was going to end if the spout of the kitchen sink wasn’t properly polished. He was nervous enough for the both of you. Your job, which you were trying to settle into without overthinking, was to be calm and level-headed enough for the both of you.

That still didn’t stop the butterflies from moving full speed in your stomach.

When Buck started to pull out all the Tupperware containers and begin rearranging them in a new, organized, and super unnecessary way, you decided to intervene. Standing up, you made your way to your boyfriend and you slipped your arms around him, essentially hugging him from behind. Your head rested between his shoulder blades as you just held him in a comforting way.

Buck froze for a second and you could feel how tense and stiff he was. However, he instantly relaxed in your arms, like a weight had been lifted and you could sense a grin that splashed onto his face. He turned around in your arms, facing you while you hugged him at the waist.

He was taller than you by a good foot. Even if you stood on your tippy toes, you would not reach his lips, and damn did you want to right now. It was a good thing he knew you well enough to read your mind because he was thinking the same thing. He leaned down, much to your happiness, and placed the sweetest, softest kiss upon your lips. It was perfect, the way he dangled himself in front of you, leaving you wanting more and knowing you couldn’t reach him. He teased you in a way that made you both frustrated and excited.

“I know I’m acting crazy. I’m sorry. I’ll make it up to you,” Buck said as he captured your lips with his one more time.

The second kiss caught you by surprised, but you welcomed it. You leaned into him and your fingers instantly tightened and gripped his white shirt. You tried to let go, knowing his pressed white shirt and black blazer were for show and he wanted to make a good impression on his parents, but if you didn’t hold onto him, you were going to melt into a puddle of goo.

Imagine Buck trying to clean that up.

You grinned into the kiss as the new image that popped into your head, but it was short-lived. There was a knock on the door, five concise raps in a row. Buck instantly pulled away, and you caught a small, tiny look of fear in his eyes. He masked it by putting on a brave face but you knew him better than that.

“Go get the door, I’ll clean this up,” you told him with a gentle smile. You firmly nudged him toward the door and Buck reluctantly went to open it. You hurriedly put all the Tupperware containers back in their original cabinet, with organization going out the window. The door opened just as you shut the cabinet door, and you turned around on your heels and leaned against the counter, trying to act calm and casual.

You could hear the greetings and see the hugs before you saw the people. Buck’s parents appeared into view, smiling at their son, who you would’ve guessed they haven’t seen in such a long, long time.

First, you saw a woman. Her hair was tightly pulled back into an updo and she dressed in a business suit, paralleling her son in a semi-formal way. Following her was an older gentleman, dressed nearly identical as Buck. Apparently, looking proper was part of the Buckley charm. You must have missed that memo, since you were wearing jeans and a nice shirt, more casual than the Buckley family.

“You must be the one my son is so smitten with,” the woman replied with a smile. She made her way across the living area and into the kitchen, pulling you into a weird and awkward one-armed hug.

“I didn’t know firefighters could afford places like this,” the older gentleman said as he looked around.

You looked at Buck, who’s smile seemed to twitch with slight offensiveness. You knew he was proud of his job and you remember telling him that he loved his job more than you. Naturally, Buck denied that but played along and said his job kept him satisfied in ways that you couldn’t. You took it as a challenge and the two of you had mind-blowingly incredible sex that night. However, you were now cursing at your brain to abandon this train of thought at the station. You didn’t need to think about your sexual life with Buck while his parents were right there.

“I’m doing well for myself,” Buck said with a proud smile.

You nodded in agreement. Buck was doing good. He had a semi-stable job, he was healthy (especially after those blood clots in his leg that gave everybody a scare), and he was happy. Life was pretty good for him, and you could see how he was taking things all in stride.

“I thought you would have made something of yourself by now, Evan.” His mother spoke up. She was standing right next to you and it took every ounce of your strength to pull yourself together and not flash her a ‘what the hell did you just say????’ look. Instead, you kept your eyes on Buck, showing an obvious emotion of confusion.

Buck was certainly caught off guard by his mother’s words and seemed to be rendered speechless when his father chimed in with agreements.

“Firefighting is not a career, you know. I thought we raised you better than that,” his father said so casually, like he was making normal conversation and not offending his son by his choice of employment.

You felt a sense of dread swirling inside. You were longing to meet Buck’s parents and now you could not wait for them to leave.

“He does a very good job as a first responder. He saved countless people. Maddie also helps. It’s pretty great seeing the two Buck siblings take on the world together,” you said, trying not to cringe at how pathetic you sounded. Buck wasn’t speaking up, which meant that you had to take the reins and defend him. He deserves to be treated better than that.

“And to go so long without a phone call, or a letter, or even an email!” Buck’s dad was rambling as he walked around the apartment, staring at how immaculate Buck tried to make it, “would it have killed you to let us know what you’ve been up to? Seems like you just dropped off the face of the earth!”

If that wasn’t disgusting enough, the laugh that Buck’s dad gave shortly after sent your blood boiling. Was he finding this funny, calling his son out like this?

“You used to be such a nice boy,” Buck’s mother said as she approached her son, “but now it just feels like you and your sister enjoy ignoring us.”

How Buck was still standing was impressive to you. If it were you, some deep-rooted anger would have shot out right now and slapped his parents across the face. Buck told you bits and pieces about his parents. They were never there growing up. Their careers were more important than their children, leaving Buck and Maddie to sort of raise each other and look out for one another. It was not an ideal situation, and it broke your heart when Buck told you. He was visibly upset when it came to sharing details about his parents and you didn’t ask further questions.

But when Buck received a phone call from his mom, saying that both mom and dad will be in Los Angeles for a conference, you saw how excited he was. Hell, he was waltzing around the apartment, cleaning and tidying things up all week, after his mom mentioned that she would stop by for a visit with his dad. What was it all for? To be continuously kicked while he was already down?

“And this thing,” Buck’s mother said as her face scrunched in disgust, “you should get this removed. You would look much more handsome.” Her hand brushed against the birthmark on Buck’s face, and Buck instantly pulled back at the touch.

If you weren’t paying attention, you would have missed the part where Buck’s father actually nodded in agreement without having said anything. Your hands were shaking, and you stuffed them into the back pockets of your jeans, trying to keep your nerves in check. These people were Buck’s parents? This is how parents act toward their children?

Buck’s jaw clenched as he inhaled deeply, sending the worst disguised smile in his mother’s direction. “I wonder what’s keeping the food. I’m gonna check, be right back.”

He left the apartment, and you immediately felt like you were swimming in awkwardness. With Buck gone, they might pick on you next, and you were not going to let that happen. Racking your brain for an excuse, you settled with a simple one.

“Shoot, he forgot to grab the money to pay for lunch. I’ll be right back,” you flashed a friendly yet passive-aggressive smile in their direction and took off after your man, who was outside in the fresh air and taking deep breaths with his eyes closed, like he needed to practice meditation in order to calm down.

“Hey,” you said, grabbing him by the arm gingerly. He pulled back quickly, and his eyes popped open, but once he saw it was just you, he relaxed. “Sorry.”

He shook his head at your little apology. “Don’t be. Are you glad to have met them now?”

There was anger laced in his voice and, while you knew it wasn’t directed at you, it still stung a bit to be talked to like that. He could see it on your face and his features melted into pure apology as he reached for your hand. You let him take it, and he slowly tangled his fingers through your own. You let silence wash over the two of you, because that was what was needed right now. Sitting through lunch with those two people was going to be hell, and you wanted no part of it, but you needed to be there for him.

“You know,” you said, leaning into him a little. You couldn’t help it; he was like a magnet that always pulled you in. “You don’t need them. You have a loving, supportive family at the firehouse. Bobby and Athena can be your new parents. They already act the part.”

Buck let out a soft, sweet laugh. The fact that he found your little quip to be entertaining was music to your ears. “You don’t regret dating me, do you?”

You stared at him, unsure if he was being sarcastic or not. The look on his face told you everything you needed to know. He was really asking. Apparently, his parents verbally beating him up made him question a lot of things. You frowned, thinking at how just a fifteen-minute conversation with Buck’s mom and dad could change almost everything about him, you, and your relationship.

“Of course not,” you responded evenly, without even having to think about it, “I love you for you. You can sometimes be dumb, you know this, but you have a true heart of gold. And honestly, Buck, you are hot as hell.”

He laughed again, this time deeper and genuine. He let go of your hand and pulled you into a sweet hug, holding you tightly against his chiseled physique. “I needed that, thank you.”

You pulled away from him just enough to look at his handsome face. “I mean it. You are perfect. Your parents haven’t seen you in years, they haven’t seen how much you’ve changed. I see you every day. I’ve seen the progression. I’ve seen the pain you went through to be who you are today, and I love you so much for it. Let’s just get through this lunch and send your parents on their way, and you never have to think about them again.”

It wasn’t the greatest speech, but it comforted him. His smile never wavered as he looked at you, soaking in the words as they left your mouth. He nodded in response, feeling a newfound sense of bravery seeping inside. “I’ll do it if you are by my side.”

“There’s no place I’d rather be,” you said, knowing exactly how cheesy that sounded. But you didn’t care.

Buck leaned in, claiming your lips against his own in a welcomed surprise. You went back to leaning on him, his arms snaking themselves around you as he kissed you. Your heart was beating erratically as adrenaline pumped through. Your head was slowly filling up with fog and you were losing all sense of direction. If he wasn’t holding you like he was now, you would have no way of knowing which direction was up. Everything was blurry and out of focus, and it was a state of euphoria that you loved being in.

“Excuse me, I’m looking for the Buckley residence? I have eighty dollars’ worth of Chinese food here,” someone’s voice squeaked into your thoughts, taking root much to your annoyance.

You pulled away from Buck’s lips, looking surprised. “Eighty dollars’ worth of food?” you couldn’t help but ask in shock.

“Okay listen, I was planning ahead,” Buck retorted with a smile. He shrugged like he did nothing wrong, like he was not guilty of spending so much money on a Chinese feast.

“Planning for what?’

“You and I aren’t going to leave the apartment for a couple days. The food is to help us replenish our strength.” He winked at you. Since when did he start winking at you?

“Are we working out or something?”

“Yeah, in bed.”

You slapped his arm with a gasp as he laughed and went to the deliver driver to collect the food. God, he was so good to you, and you had to smile at how happy he made you. The two of you could do this. You could both get through one afternoon with the Buckley’s because afterwards, it would be just the two of you again. No worries, no stress, no fear. You wanted that more than anything.

Despite a rocky start, you had a newer outlook on his parents. After all of this, there was one thing you knew for certain. Evan Buckley was not like his parents and you have never been prouder of him.

[fishmongeringstudies]

scene three: every road not taken takes itself, eventually, to the bar at the end of the lane

one: losing the rings. one was a gift from a friend and another was an old convenience store gimmick but the third was my grandmother's engagement ring. 'you're going to lose that ring', said my mom, stuffing alcohol wipes into a ziploc bag two weeks before my flight. 'i won't,' i replied. less than a month into the semester, it was gone.

two: leaving my vans at home. they're extra cool too, from the van gogh collection that dropped in the fall of 2019. i ran to the sneaker store after class the day they came out, my backpack tearing at my shoulders and my hands hot with excitement and even then there were only three sizes left in the style that i wanted (sad, sad self-portrait of a man with holes for eyes), none of them mine. they're way too big for me. they're awful for walking long distances. they're my favorite.

three: filling out my dorm preference form at four o'clock in the morning. i made a less-than sign with the dots, thinking it looked funny and that i might as well fuck around and find out since none of these names meant anything to me. it was true that none of those names meant anything to me but they really should've. i really should've been more of a student by then, one semester into the year, one semester away from the rest of the world.

four: not paying enough attention to the snow. it was gone by the time i looked up from the anxious fuck of my temporary, half-baked life, melted into the ground like blood seeping into the wet earth. in the second week of the semester i remember laughing while talking to a friend from washington over the phone. 'yeah i don't have any friends but at least this campus is fucking beautiful,' i said, kicking up a flurry of white with the toe of my boot. even then, i wasn't really looking.

five: taking a month to finish inception by christopher nolan. when i finally got around to those last fifteen minutes, netflix had taken it down. bye, saito, wherever the fuck you are.

six: kissing the wrong person. then kissing another person, thinking a plus and a minus would cancel each other out, and realizing i'd kissed two wrong persons. two mistakes. two bodies outlined in white chalk on the tarmac that hadn't done a thing for me, even when they were breathing.

seven: telling someone i'd invite them to my dog shower when i adopted a dog in the future and realizing, several weeks later, that i hated them.

eight: not telling him all my poems were about him before he stopped being the you i used to talk about sometimes, delirious with soft monarch daydreams, lying sleepless in bed with my fingers on the keyboard and my heart on a stake. hey, you. all those poems are yours. come get them, i don't want them anymore.

nine: not asking for help.

ten: not asking for more kindness.

eleven: believing in the fundamentally good nature of human beings so much that when you stepped all over my face it only occurred to me to cover my eyes with my hands and get up when the old wounds had healed and scars had formed in their place. this is a different you. this is at least five different you's, carrying six different versions of sin. no one's perfect. but only some of us are bastards.

eleven: i spend the afternoon scrolling through chatlogs with friends from home and working on the puzzles i once promised i'd finish with her. we don't talk anymore, but she was there when i dug the hole in the dirt and planted the idea, so in a way some part of her will always be here. you don't have to tell me i'm being dramatic. but everyone i've met in america has been twice as dramatic as me. they're all in love with the idea of promises, rich with textual detail and lacking in faith. they either want too much or too little so it's never enough, whatever you've laid out on the kitchen table, whatever you've scrounged together from the two suitcases you brought to this country. sure, there's amazon, but jeff bezos is going to die one day by the hands of someone sadder and angrier than me, and besides, there's something about objects that follow you across three planes and two oceans, and don't go missing.

twelve: i miss the idea of hope. not hope itself, which i still have plenty of. but the idea of something so lovely it has to bring out the best in everyone, of hands held around an indigo fire, of solace.

one: someone told me that in the first few weeks of the fall semester people would sit around on the grass with their food and talk, and because it was only the beginning of their long and virtuous college lives they hadn't formed those hard metallic cliques and groups that reflect light in a sharp hyperbolic arc yet, and you could sit down with any of them and be welcomed into the group with the kind of warmth usually reserved for a favorite niece or a long lost friend. i'm imagining the scene as i type this love letter to yesterday, the sun setting behind a girl's head as she laughs at a stranger's joke which wasn't all that funny, we're just nice to each other when we're afraid; each circle a loose connection of bodies, each shape liable to a moment's change. at first there's only polite conversation, what spaceships you've been building, what monsters you want to take on when you're thirty-five, but eventually the scaffolding falls away to reveal the genuine thing underneath, and then numbers are exchanged, words scrawled on whiteboards, plans made. these images haunt me. visions of a lawn full of possibility, faces which haven't yet closed themselves to the idea of the new and the bizarre. i try to paint myself into the picture, beside the guy with the green hair and the my chemical romance shirt and the person who's talking in a loud voice about metaphysics, but it never works. already, the sun has slipped beneath the trees and the conversation has faded to a blur. it's too late for another round of authenticity. everyone is going home.

0: it's not loneliness unless you actively choose to reject yourself. after all, you are company too. you are all that has endured through the years, in spite of the regret clawing at your ankles and the girls laughing at you in the trees. when the world eats itself for a couple of dollars and all the birds lie down in a heap at your feet, you have to stop and think to yourself: maybe this is enough.

0: one day it will be. one day i will be everything i told you i'd become, and you will stand on top of the hill they built this school on, your eyes glued to the ceiling of the sky, and when i crest that writhing blue mass of hope you will whisper, like someone who's been touched by an angel:

you're fucking beautiful.

05.23.2021

[azucanela]

DIVINE INTERVENTION [PT 3] OIKAWA TOORU

DIVINE INTERVENTION MASTERLIST

SUMMARY: Everything is perfectly fine. Aside from the fact that Iwaizumi cannot know by any means at all. Ever. Oikawa isn’t looking to die. 

WORD COUNT: 2.2k

WARNINGS: unedited, arguing, 

A/N: i know exactly where i want this story to go but i have no idea how im going to get there. anywho, enjoy some of this 

RULE #1

The rules were simple. And if Y/N was honest, their establishment... made sense. In fact, it had been one of few things Oikawa had done that was actually intelligent— though this excluded volleyball; even if Y/N was annoyed by his antics at times and considered him a fool, his skill in the game was practically unparalleled. And for that, she respected him

Not that she would ever admit it, of course.

The whole purpose was to set boundaries for this little thing they agreed to do— because yes, Y/N had managed to convince Oikawa to go along with her plan. These boundaries would ensure nobody was uncomfortable with the arrangement and hopefully preserve Y/N and Oikawa’s friendship. They’d both seen this trope in an endless number of romantic comedies, and decided that they would be the exception, especially since they were just movies, right? Right.

If Y/N was honest though, she had no idea how she convinced Oikawa to agree to this. But, she’d managed it. However, their little agreement had come with... a few other issues that had to be handled, especially if things were to go as planned. Said plan being to fake the end of their equally fake relationship in one of the coming months and hope nobody ever found out about it. Unless Y/N decided that a little more... divine intervention was called for of course. 

After all, that’s how they got into this mess. And she sincerely doubted the break up would keep away his psychotic fans. Y/N was fairly sure there would be a few home wreckers as well; people trying to ruin their (fake, something Y/N reminded herself of once more) relationship. And those who wouldn’t wait even a week before trying to make passes at Oikawa when they did break up.

So, maybe Y/N would search for ways to extend the fake dating, but only for Oikawa’s sake. Until they found... a more permanent solution.

Right.

Regardless, that wasn’t the only issue they had. This very plan of theirs is how they ended up avoiding Iwaizumi Hajime like the plague.

Seeing as he was both their best friends, there were a few problems here. The first being the simple fact that no matter how hard Oikawa tried— Iwaizumi Hajime had always been capable of reading him like an open book. It was funny, really. Someone so talented in manipulations meets someone who can see past all that, the only other person he’d encountered with such abilities happened to be the one he’d been handling this with. Y/N. 

Her problem was similar. She and Iwaizumi had always been close, meaning he would know. If they slipped up just once, then it would be abundantly clear that they were in fact, not dating. 

It had been one of few rules that they both had agreed on almost instantaneously. Though Y/N found herself curious as to why Oikawa had been so complacent with it, seeing as Iwaizumi was his best friend, she’d been fairly desperate in the moment to maintain her reputation. That and the fact that Iwaizumi likely would’ve bullied her rather relentlessly, and if he did know, he’d chew them both out for being stupid.

Oikawa’s reasoning was similar. Kind of. He had a decent idea of what awaited him if he told Iwaizumi. One thing being a fist to the face, the second was a long conversation that followed said violence. 

Which is how their little fake dating operation became a hide-everything-from-Iwaizumi operation.

“What do we do?”

Y/N looked to him incredulously, shrugging her shoulders awkwardly as she struggled for words, “how am I supposed to know?” She exclaims, still seated in his driveway. Soon, Iwaizumi would walk past to find that Y/N had already arrived and then they’d have to start their walk to school.

This would be more difficult than anticipated.

“I don’t know Y/N, maybe because this is your fault!” Comes Oikawa’s response, hand threading through his hair. “You have the story down right?”

Y/N raises a brow at him, they’d discussed a few possible stories as to how they’d begun dating in secret. Most of the ones that Oikawa had pitched ended up rather... cliché. “You are not making me tell Iwaizumi that Hallmark bull—”

“Well you didn’t offer a better story, did you?” He snaps, throwing his hands up in exasperation. “

Y/N offers him a tight lipped smile, “because I happen to excel at improv.”

Okay, maybe the whole fake dating thing had caused a small rift between Y/N and Oikawa as well. Or just, the entire friend group. Seeing as the pair was at odds, and their mediator was out of the loop, things had become rather chaotic. Very, very fast. 

“You are horrible a acting Y/N.” Comes Oikawa’s response, bringing his hand to the bridge of his nose as he exhaled deeply. “We’re screwed.”

Y/N scoffed, “with that attitude we definitely are.” Though Y/N almost frowns, Oikawa had become significantly... meaner ever since this had occurred. And though Y/N understood that she’d messed up, his behavior was just... off. In an attempt to shake her mind of these thoughts, she grabs Oikawa’s backpack from off the edge of the sidewalk, opening it to pull out a bag of chips he’d brought, “we just need something consistent and simple. Like, you’ve been in love with me since we met and confessed after a lot of contemplation.”

Now, Oikawa was well aware of his new attitude, though he hoped it could be written off as simple annoyance of the situation. He was just looking for a way to handle the simple fact that he was not prepared for this, at all. The thoughts in the back of his mind, the ones he’d buried—or more accurately, thought he’d buried— were resurfacing. And what better way to combat them then by starting a small rivalry until this was over.

“Yes, that makes perfect sense, thank you.” 

Sadly, Y/N had already proved to be one who didn’t really handle such attitudes well. As seen with the girl that she’d punched in the face just a few days earlier. So naturally, any thoughts of avoiding confrontation, went out the window at the sound of Oikawa’s tone. “What is up with you Oikawa, you’ve–”

“Hey guys.” 

Leave it to Iwaizumi to mess up a perfectly good confrontation. Though Y/N can’t help but feel simultaneously relieved by this fact, and stressed as Iwaizumi is here. 

“Iwa-Chan! Iwaizumi! How are you, buddy!” Oikawa exclaimed, making his way over to his friend to pat him on the back.

It felt as though they’d have to be walking on eggshells. Something that had never really been evident in their friendship until now, seeing as they’d all been fairly open. Of course there were a few things, that Y/N couldn’t help but feel reminded of now, almost wincing at the painful reminder of middle school. 

Their group hadn’t been doing so well then. And it had quickly become apparent to Y/N that she was out of the loop, and seeing as she’d been the new addition to the pair... it hadn’t been a nice feeling. 

“Let’s go then?” Y/N asked, looking between the two boys with a tight lipped smile on her face as she rose from her spot on the sidewalk. Opening the bag of chips as she pulled her backpack over her shoulder. 

Maybe it was wrong, but she also felt nice, knowing that for once— she was on the inside. Even though middle school was years ago, Y/N could tell there was something the pair still hadn’t told her. It’d been bugging her ever since they’d arrived at Aoba Johsai.

Alas, now wasn’t the time for that.

“We should probably discuss some things first.” 

There it was.

Oikawa exhaled deeply, opening his mouth in preparation for whatever conversation they were about to have, attempting to decide which explanation was most plausible. But, Iwaizumi beats him to it. 

“I’m happy for you guys.” 

Y/N blanks for a moment before saying, “what?”

Iwaizumi looks to her incredulously as he responds, “what? Am I not supposed to be happy that you two have finally handled the clearly unresolved tension and that—”

“Alright that’s enough, Iwa-Chan.” Oikawa exclaims, laughing breathily as he brings a hand to cover his friends mouth, only for Iwaizumi to look at him dully before shoving him away. 

Rolling his eyes, Iwaizumi adjusts his backpack on his shoulders, “anyways. I just wish you guys had told me sooner but...” He shrugs, turning around to begin their walk down the street and to their school. “It is what it is, now let’s go.” 

Y/N and Oikawa exchange looks, eyes wide as they do so. Both their mouthes gaping open as they scramble to follow Iwaizumi, who finally says, “just don’t let this change anything. And I guess you two can act—” He awkwardly gestures between the pair, “couple-y around me. Just don’t do anything pervy, Shittykawa.” 

Oikawa brings a hand to his chest, feigning offense as he comes to stand beside Iwaizumi, “why would I do anything pervy? Honestly you would be shocked by my dear girlfriend’s actions—”

“I don’t want to know, Oikawa!” Iwaizumi exclaims, shoving his friend away.

Y/N can’t help the way her cheeks warm as Oikawa is launched her way by Iwaizumi’s attack, he stumbles slightly, ultimately walking between her and Iwaizumi before throwing an arm over her shoulders. Though Oikawa’s eyes meet hers momentarily when he does so, a silent question within them. All it takes is a nod and his arm is resting completely on her shoulders and he’s back to his conversation with Iwaizumi as Y/N contemplated all her life decisions. 

Oikawa wouldn’t deny that it had gone better than anticipated but he already knows it’s coming when they arrive at the school and Iwaizumi is practically yanking him backwards as Y/N makes her way inside to speak with her other friends— who’d begun to swarm her almost immediately, questions leaving their mouthes rapidly as they searched for an explanation. 

Y/N can’t help but feel overwhelmed as her actual friends; the ones that are both curious and concerned, seeing as Y/N swore she would never date Oikawa Tooru and fall for her best friend. It wasn’t that there was anything wrong with Oikawa— aside from the fact that he had numerous insecurities and emotions that he refused to discuss even when it was clear everything overwhelmed him—it made sense that so much of the school was practically in love with him when you thought about it.

He had manners, decent grades, was a star athlete, and even Y/N could admit he was attractive. But... he was one of her closest friends and the idea of dating him just seemed... 

Wrong.

Aside from the shock from her real friends, there was the nosiness from the fake friends, the ones she’d never spoken to, the ones who had suddenly decided they were the best of friends and yet spoke trash about Y/N in their free time because she stole their precious Oikawa.

Yeah, the school was just a tad toxic. As if the grueling pressure of academics and intense obsession with Oikawa wasn’t enough of a red flag.

Sometimes, Y/N wishes she had gone to Shiratorizawa. 

“I feel like you know what I’m going to say, Oikawa.” Iwaizumi mutters with a sigh, leaving Oikawa to panic as he meets his friend’s eyes. The grip on his shoulder unnecessarily tight. “I don’t necessarily know what’s going on with you two— just that it’s weird. But I swear if you hurt Y/N in any shape or form—”

“I would never do that Iwaizumi.” Comes his reply, almost instantly. 

Iwaizumi pauses, eyes falling on Y/N who nervously laughs in the distance, her eyes pleading for his help before returning her attention to the group of people surrounding her. “I thought we got past this in middle school.”

“Me too, Iwa-Chan. Me too. But hey, lucky me.”

Iwaizumi rolls his eyes, uncapping his water bottle, “yeah. Lucky you, I’ll forever wonder how you got her to date you.”

“Good question.” Oikawa’s eyes fall onto Y/N, and he turns to Iwaizumi, “now. If you’ll excuse me, I need to go save my girlfriend from all of my psychotic fans.” Oikawa would never admit it, ever, but it had only been a week since Y/N pulled her little stunt and it had become evident that a relationship really was what Oikawa needed to get people off his back.

Things had definitely improved for him, and Oikawa could only wish that he could say the same for Y/N. 

 NOBODY CAN KNOW— NOT EVEN IWA-CHAN.