#i have more sketches i wanna finish before i lose interest and they go back in my massive pile of wips

[bleedingmochi]

🦋(˶❛△❛˶)!!

[buckys-black-dress]

inked

a/n: here she is!!! while i work on afl, here is my crackfic on tattoo artist bucky!! if u haven’t caught on yet, most of my writing is au’s because of all the possibilites in terms of scenarios and storylines. anyways, i hope you enjoy, lovies!!! xoxo, ali <3

wc: 2.8k 

[tattoo artist!bucky x fem!reader]

-

It was like an addiction. 

Your first tattoo you got was simple. It was a dainty, small one on your wrist.

But now, it was slowly developing into a sleeve.

Not that you minded, though. Your forearm was slowly becoming filled with designs that you kept going back and getting here and there.

And at the tattoo parlor near your apartment in Brooklyn, you had become a regular at this point.

It was called B&R Tattoo Shop, and it was run by two of the kindest, but most attractive men you’ve ever met. 

You’ve come to find out after getting to know the owners, that they opened the shop a bit after they returned from their second tour in the army and wanted to settle back in their hometown.  

Steve and James were hospitable to you, especially when they first met you. Steve was the one to meet you and speak with you at first, but he handed you off to James, or Bucky as he asked you to call him, because he was the artist at their shop that specialized in more of what you were looking for in terms of style. 

As far as first tattoo conversations go, you and Bucky got to know each other pretty well in one session. The tattoo itself took less than an hour, but it felt like Bucky was... prolonging it in a way, like he wanted to keep you there longer.

As you swung open the door of the shop, you were greeted by their piercer, Natasha. 

“Hey, back for another already?” She smirks from her spot behind the desk. While she wasn’t piercing, she usually worked the front if there was no one else free.

Your first tattoo had been done by Bucky, and you instantly fell in love.

With the tattoo. 

Well, Bucky too. Just a little bit.

He was extremely soothing and eased you into the process of tattooing you. He told you when something was going to happen, and as soon as you got used to the feeling of the needle against your skin. 

The more he talked to you, the less pain you felt. It was already not that painful, but you almost forgot about it with him talking to you. When he looked up to you as he finished, you looked like a confused puppy.

“Okay, all done, doll.” Bucky looked up at you, moving to turn off his machine.

“Oh... that was fast.” You furrowed your brows.

“Well, yeah, we moved pretty fast since it was a pretty small piece.” He explains, grabbing a paper towel and the anti-bacterial spray.

“Do you mind if I take a quick picture of it? I usually do, for my portfolio.” Bucky asks, inspecting the tattoo closely once again.

“Oh, yeah, that’s fine.” You wait for him to pull out his camera, take the picture, and he comes back with a piece of plastic film in his hand.

“Okay, so this saniderm has to stay on for about three days. This is how it’ll heal, and when you take it off just wash it up with a gentle soap and use a cream without any fragrance or any of that crap. I can give you a little of that spray if you wanna use it to clean it up if you ever feel like it’s dirty.” Bucky explains, giving you a mini bottle of the antibacterial spray.

“Thank you,” you say, moving to sit up in the chair. “How much do I owe you?”

“Uh, just about $40.” Bucky says without eye contact, heading to the computer at the front counter.

“$40? That’s it? When I signed the waiver it said the shop minimum was $75...?” You wonder out loud.

“Let’s just say you get a special discount, doll.” He smirks, typing something into the computer and only sparing you a glance.

“O-Oh. Alright.” You say sheepishly, handing him your credit card.

“Okay, you’re all set. Hopefully I’ll see you again soon.” He tells you with a gentle smile. It really contrasted his aura; a big, beefy guy with a metal prosthetic arm, covered in probably hundreds of tattoos. But here he was, smiling like sunshine.

“I think I will be. Have a nice day, Bucky.” 

“You too, sweetheart.” He gives you that smirk again, making you feel like you might actually pass out. And not because you just had a needle jabbed into your skin for almost an hour.

“Uh, I already talked to Bucky for my session today. I know I’m a bit early, I can wait if he’s still working on someone else.” You tell Natasha with a smile.

“Sure, let me get you your waiver.” She says, and you plop down into one of the chairs at the front and pulling out your book to pass time after filling out the form.

After a few minutes, Bucky emerges with a girl from his little tattooing corner.

You hear his voice first, looking up from the book while he talks to her.

“Okay, since this was your first piece and pretty small, I’ll only charge ya $55 for it, doll.” Bucky tells the girl with a smile, and you immediately feel a pang in your chest.

You didn’t want to say you were jealous, but goddamn it, your breathing became just a little more shallow at the sight you were currently witnessing.

Even Natasha and Steve turned their heads to him, confused looks on both of their faces.

“Oh! Y/N, you’re here! C’mon back, I’m sure Nat already set you up with your waiver.” You nod, not saying a word as you follow him to the familiar chair.

“So, are we still doing what we discussed on the phone?” Bucky asks, setting up his area to tattoo you.

“Actually, I was thinking something different.” You say sharply.

“Different?” The shock is evident on his features. 

“Yeah. Different. Just want a little something on my collarbone.” You say, sitting down. 

“O-Okay... what were you thinking of?” He asks, pulling out his sketchbook.

“I want an olive branch, going from here to here.” You show him where you want it to start and end. It was a bit of a stretch right across the left side of your chest. “Something simple and minimal. I’ve been thinking of starting the top of my sleeve, this might be a good way to transition into it.” You say nonchalantly.

“Uhm... alright. How does this look?” Bucky asks, showing you his sketch. “I would, of course, add more detail to your liking, just let me know.” 

“Yeah, I want some more shading, please.” You say shortly. You honestly weren’t trying to be mean, but you were irritated.

But in the end, you really had no right to be. 

After almost ten sessions with Bucky, he hasn’t made any indication that he likes you the way you like him.

Sure, he calls you pet names, but he does that to everyone. Even discounts. You weren’t special. He was just being nice and doing his job.

So honestly, you had to cut the act here.

“Are you sure this is what you want? Are you saving the other design for our next session?” Bucky asks, growing more and more concerned with your odd behavior. Usually you would talk to him about your day, how work was, really anything. 

“I don’t know. I think I might ask Steve to do that one instead.” You say out of spite, more than anything. You would never take a design that Bucky made specially for you to another person to tattoo on you, even if it was his own business partner.

“Wha- Why? Did I do something? You’ve been acting really weird today...” Bucky questions you carefully. “Talk to me, doll. Did you have a bad day at work?”

But that, that right there, was your breaking point. Doll. 

“No, I’m fine. Let’s just get this done.” You huff, laying down after nodding to the sketch that Bucky drew out. 

Bucky’s brows furrowed even further, but didn’t ask any more questions. He laid down the stencil and asked if the placement was alright. You looked in the mirror he handed you and nodded briefly. 

The entire time Bucky had the machine in his hand, neither of you spoke a word. He tried to make brief conversation, but you only responded with a hum or nod. 

When he finally finished up, you got up and headed to the counter without a word after looking at the finished tattoo in the mirror. 

Your face was blank, emotionless, and Bucky was truly lost. 

After you paid the full price of your piece, you walked out of the shop, not even sparing anyone a glance. 

Once you left, the shop was dead silent. Everyone either just finished up with a client or didn’t have any at the moment, and the shop was blanketed in an extremely uncomfortable silence.

“What the hell was that, man?” Sam’s voice broke the silence, making Bucky’s head snap towards him. 

“I-I... I have no idea. She was acting so...so weird today.” Bucky looked more confused than ever.

“You’re an idiot, you know that?” Natasha’s voice cuts through the palpable silence.

“Wh- What the hell did I do? I asked her too, and she didn’t give me an answer...” Bucky mumbles.

“Do you like her?” She fires back with a fire in her eyes.

“W-Well, yeah. She’s a regular.” Bucky answers, looking at his fiddling hands.

“Not like that, you dunce. You know what I mean, don’t act dumb.” Natasha rolls her eyes.

Bucky sighs, not making eye contact yet again.

“I-... I do like her.” He says. “But I don’t think she feels the same.” 

“Jesus fucking Christ... You really are a dumbass.” Sam sighs out.

Steve snorts at his words, nodding in agreement.

“Buck, she got jealous.” He explains, shaking his head at his best friend’s obliviousness.

“J-Jealous? Of what?” Bucky scoffs in shock.

“That girl you had right before her. Gave her a discount, called her pet names. The whole shabang.” Natasha points out to him. “Also, you gotta stop giving out discounts like that. You’ll lose more money than you’re makin’.” Natasha scoffs. 

“Wh- But... She never said anything...?” Bucky thinks back to all the times you’ve sat in his chair. You never made any indication that you were outwardly interested in him.

“I think she said enough today without actually saying much.” Steve laughs. His friend was a real idiot.

“I... But, why didn’t she say anything before?” Bucky asked.

“Buck, you never said anything either. I guess that when she heard you talk to that girl like that, she thought you really didn’t like her like that at all. You treated that girl the same way you treat her.” Natasha explains to Bucky, who had a look of realization on his face.

“But... I was just... being nice...” He says with his head in his hands. 

“Well, now she thinks you do that with all you clients, so...” Sam says, making the brunet’s head shoot up.

“Fuck. Fuck. I fucked up everything!” He exclaims. “I-I do like her!” 

“Well, don’t tell us that, tell her!” Sam shouts back to him, and before Bucky can process, he’s pulling out his phone and dialing your phone number.

“C’mon, pick up, pick up,” He mumbles repeatedly, but the call goes to voicemail. “Fuck.”

“Not pickin’ up?” Steve questions, coming to the front and picking up the shop phone. “Gimme her number, she’s doesn’t have to shop saved to her phone, right?” 

“No, I don’t think she does.” Bucky says, watching as Steve dials your number.

“Hello?” Your voice sounds annoyed as it filters through the phone. “Who’s this?” 

“Uh, Y/N! Hi!” Steve speaks, looking at Bucky in a panic, his facial expression screaming, ‘talk to her!’ 

“Steve? What’s up?” You ask, wondering what he needed. 

“You uhh... you forgot your book here!” He blurts out, trying to find an excuse, but quickly found one upon seeing your book resting on the seat where you were waiting. 

“O-Oh... I guess I’ll just turn around. I’ll be there in a few. Thanks, Steve.” You say, ready to hang up.

“O-Okay. Bye, Y/N.” He clears his throat, hanging up. “You have like, ten minutes to get your shit together and talk to her when she gets here. Good luck.” Steve pats Bucky on the shoulder, ready to haul Natasha and Sam to the back to give you two some privacy.

Bucky thought that this was the longest ten minutes of his life, and he was trying to conjure up a speech in his head to confess to you.

Finally, when you did appear through the doors, you looked lost. You only saw Bucky, which made you even more aggravated from the fact that you had to turn back around.

You were ready to head home and wallow in peace, but alas, you wanted your book. 

Bucky just watched as you picked up the book from his grasp across the desk, your eyes not meeting his while he kept his gaze on you very intently. 

Just as you turned around to leave, Bucky’s voice cut through the unbearable silence.

“Y/N?” He simply asks, and you feel like the wind’s been knocked out of your lungs at the sound of his small voice. This wasn’t the Bucky you knew and... loved.

“Yes, James?” You simply respond, and Bucky cringes at the sound of his first name being used. 

“Can I talk to you for a second?”

“...Why? Is everything alright?” And although your voice didn’t give it away, you felt your heart drop to your stomach. Any possible scenario popped into your head. He has a girlfriend. He’s gonna tell you he doesn’t wanna see you anymore. He-

“E-Everything’s fine, doll. Just wanted to tell you that... That I...” Bucky’s voice sounded strained, like there was something caught in his throat.

“Bucky, just spit it out.” You say, wanting to leave already.

“It’s just- I like you. A lot. And I’m so sorry for earlier with that other client. I was just trying to be nice, but I realized how that looked to you, and I never thought anything of it because I didn’t know if you liked me back or-” Bucky was rambling, and your eyes were wide as saucers.

“Bucky, Bucky stop. Let me talk before you drive your own head in with conclusions,” you say, resting your hand on top of his on the desk.

“I like you a lot, too. I didn’t think you like me either because of that girl before me. You just- you treated her the same way you treated me, and I got jealous. I know I didn’t have the right to be, but it just made me think that... that you didn’t feel the same way about me, that I was just another client to you. I’m sorry for jumping to conclusions, and also for being kind of a bitch to you...” Now you were the one rambling, your hands flying all over the place in explanation.

“D-Doll, I never wanted to make you feel that way. I’m sorry, too. I should’ve told you before, before I almost blew everything with you that we’ve been building these past months.” He says placing one large tattooed hand and one metal hand on the sides of your face. “But I’m not gonna miss my chance again. Y/N, would you like to go on a date with me?”

“I-I would love to, Bucky. Took you long enough to ask me.” You giggle, holding onto the hands on your face.

“Yeah, well, I’m kind of an idiot, if you haven’t already noticed.” He laughs, gazing into your eyes with a look that almost turned you to mush in his hands. 

“Do... do ya wanna go now?” You ask, nodding your head to the door.

“Sure, let me go grab my jacket from the back.” He tells you, and you nod, watching as he keeps his eyes on you until he disappears to the back.

“My man, who would’ve thought you’d finally man up?” Sam ridicules him as soon as Bucky appears.

“Dude, shut up. I got a date to get to, see you losers later.” He rolls his eyes, moving back out where you’re smiling at him.

“Ready, angel?” Bucky asks, slipping his hand into yours.

“Ready, handsome.” You reply, and as soon as you step out into the fall air, you plant a kiss on his cheek. “Where to, lover boy?”

[just-some-random-blogger]

Death By Bagel

NCT Culinary Student!Mark Lee x Fashion Design Student!Reader Summary: Mark makes a cake cause he's realized he can't lose you to some f-boy. Word Count: 3k+ Warnings: Fluff, childhood au, college au, slowish burn, slight cursing, reallllly fluffy, some broksi-dude action, typos sksksksks, etc.

R E Q U E S T my friend: mark lee, slow burn, friends to lovers

A/N: I wrote a fic that already had like 1k+ word then I LOST IT (i think i deleted it) thus this. It took me 10 years to write this msmsmkskskks. PLEASE TUMBLR IS MESSING WITH ME AND MIXED UP THE ORDER OF SOME OF THE DIALOGUE

“As a doctor, I don’t think you should be doing that,” Mark says, not even bothering to look at his patient seated rudely on the floor. Oop, he’s lying down now.

Mark huffs and looks up from the clay block he was molding on his tray, “YOU’RE SO UNPROFESSIONAL!”

Mark’s mother nearly spits out her coffee upon hearing the words of his five-year-old son. Her husband snorts, “He got that from you.”

The woman throws a look at the man and was supposed to give a snarky retort, up until the sound of the doorbell ringing. She grins from ear-to-ear and dashes to get the door.

When she comes back to the living room, she’s accompanies by another woman and a tiny version of her.

“Markie! Say hello to your Auntie!” Mark’s mom calls.

Mark from the carpeted floor looks up and blinks, examining the stranger-woman and its human-ling. Mark turns to his father who was sat on the couch and receives a nod of approval almost. Mark purses his lips and waves at the woman.

The woman waves back and then crouches down to the little girl, “Baby, say hello to Mark.”

Unwilling, she shakes her head.

“Aw come on, baby. Don’t be shy. Mark over there is a really sweet boy. I knew him when he was in his mommy’s tummy, just like Mark’s mom knew you when you were in mine. You’re the same age so you’ll get along just fine.”

With the unnecessary explanation that gave no justification to the scene whatsoever out of the way, the girl was fooled into peeping up, “Hi, Mark.”

“Hello,” Mark says, not particularly interested, as his patient was still in the midst of dying in his office. He turned to his stuffed toy called Mr. Lion and attempted to stand him up once more.

At this point, the girl makes her way to Mark.

“We’ll be back in two hours, honey. Keep an eye on the children,” Mrs. Lee tells his husband who had been occupied with TV the entire time.

“Yeah. I got this,” he smiles to his wife then goes back to watching.

The bumble bee clad figure sat down to Mark in blue and watched him play.

Mark ignored her for a few seconds, needing to assert all efforts on standing that dumb toy up. Once successful, Mark turns to her, “Do you play doctors?”

Mark was then met with the same lack on enthusiasm. She hums, “I like playing baker doctor.”

All at once, Mark gasps, “ME TOO!”

It was unbeknownst to the children it was oddly specific and the chance of this happening was pretty slim.

And in a blink of an eye, excited giggles erupt in the room, as if they had been having so much fun before this scene. It was here and there the two would become best friends to the very end.

... so I guess it means the reckoning is upon us.

“MARK LEE I SWEAR TO THE FU--” “WHAT! WHAT!?” Mark laughs.

"YOU ATE MY BAGEL! AGAIN!" I growl in a loud whisper, throwing the wrapper at him and his flat head before he could think to dodge it while he annoyingly laughs.

"I asked if I could have it though!" he says, fully knowing his sins.

I glared at him and say lowly, "I thought you were referring to my notes, bread for brains."

Mark snorts loud enough for our teacher to wake up from his nap. Once the class notices, we all pretend to be doing something productive and Mark plays it off with a cough.

"Mr. Lee." Mr. Kim says sternly, clicking his tongue, blinking his eyes rapidly.

Mark finishes coughing and turns to our seated professor, "Yes sir."

"Don't go to school if you're sick and going to cause a racket with your coughing."

Mark nods firmly and Mr. Kim closes his eyes again, mumbling, "page 65 is due tomorrow."

The entire class grumbles. Mark beside me scoffs and makes a face, "Yeah, yeah, Doyoung."

I turn to him and elbow his side.

"Whatever," Mark shakes his head, "professor bunny-teeth won't hear me."

Once class ended, we both get our things and head out for lunch. We walk to our canteen, fussing over assignments, deciding we should do it together later in our mutually free period.

I groan and narow your eyes at him as we have an argument over how he hasn't finished the essay for English, "That's not the point."

"Yo Mark!" a voice calls from afar. Mark and I turn, looking for the voice, and I spot the dimpled senior, Jung Jaehyun, in a table with the rest of his squad.

I nudge Mark and point at the pale guy seated by the corner.

Mark throws him a smile and waves. I follow closely behind him as he walks over to the table. "We're going to sit with them?" I say in some sort of gasp.

"Yeah." Mark replies simply, not bothering to turn to me, "they're cool."

I knit my brows at that and nod, "Yeah I know. But I'm not cute today."

Mark stops in his tracks and throws me a confused look, "what?"

"I didn't put any make-up on today, also I'm pretty sure there's a visible stain somewhere on my jacket, I just don't remember where."

Mark scrunches his face up again, even more confused. "What? How do you... forget a stai-- that's not the point. Why do you wanna look cute today?" He scoffs and continues lowly, "hardly as if you ever look cute."

I let out an annoyed groan and punch Mark's shoulder. "Like when you panicked when Seulgi came over and asked for notes."

Mark openes his mouth, "That is so not the same! Jaehyun's a fuck bo-"

"Just shut up already," I snap and shove him forward so he'd continue walking. "Let's not keep him waiting," I add and mumble, "also I know. Dong Sicheng however is very cute."

Mark chuckles, "he's dated every girl on the dance team."

"Okay, maybe not that cute."

"Ya, Mark," Jaehyun grins and greets the said person with a high-five and chest bump. He turns to me and speaks my name with a smile. I smile back politely and wave.

I'm about to sit next to Sicheng, but Mark shoves me and so I end up sitting on the other side of the bench table with Jaehyun. I turn to Jaehyun with a small, non-awkward smile and shoot Mark a glare. He seems unbothered though.

"So, you up for a round later?" Jaehyun asks Mark.

Mark talks over me, "you know it, dude."

Jaehyun flashes his dimple smile all the stupid girls fall for. I'm only half falling for it cause I'm only half stupid. He raises his brows, "you bought the dough, right?"

This makes me knit my brows.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. I really did this time," Mark mumbles quickly. "It's my turn anyway."

Jaehyun gives an off look, "that's literally what you said last time bro."

"Yo, no for real. It's in my bag, if you wanna check."

Jaehyun shakes his head when Mark begins to scramble for it, "no, Lee, it's good. We wouldn't want you friend to get dirty."

Is it just me or do you feel slimey all of a sudden?

Jaehyun then gives me a somewhat, somehow sincere smile, "so. I hear you're in fashion design."

I give a soft chuckle, "yeah. That's me."

"I could tell from a mile away. Mark looks horrible next to your getup."

I look down at my sweater and ripped jeans. Mark exclaims in protest, "shut the hell up, Jae."

I give a soft smile at Jaehyun, "don't know where that comes from but thanks I guess."

Jaehyun chuckles, "I'm kidding," he eyes Mark, "I saw your Fashion Design pin on your bag when you sat down."

"Oooohhhh, haha, okay, that makes sense."

"Ya, Jeff," Sicheng calls for Jaehyun, "it's almost time."

Jaehyun turns to his friend and nods. He turns back to me and Mark, "well, it's nice to meet you. Mark won't put a sock in it even if I beg. See you around, fashionista."

He stands and slaps Mark's back, "see ya later, broski."

"Yeah, bruh," Mark replies.

Once it's just Mark and I, I snap at him and blurt out in a whisper yell, "YOU'RE ON BROSKI LEVEL WITH JUNG JAEHYUN?!"

Mark gives me a weird face, "bruh, I think he calls the principal broski, for real."

I smack Mark, making him whine, "you know what I'm talking about, Mark! And what, are you doing drugs?!?"

He shakes his head in confusion, "Wait, what!? Who the hell told you that?"

"Uhhhhh you were talking about dough and showing up later. Sounds like you owe him money for drugs, Mark."

"??? In what universe did we even mention drugs?? Does this," he slaps his face, "look like a face of a drug addict to you?"

"A gullible idiot maybe."

Mark's jaw drops, "oh wow, okay. I'm done with this conversation." He proceeds to stand attempt to walk away. I scoff, "not on my watch bitch."

Like the true idiot that he is, Mark begins to legit run away from me, like a criminal who stole my cookies. It's embarrassing that he, a man much taller than I, could not even outrun me. I suppose I should be grateful, but this just fortifies my thoughts of him being an idiot even more.

But okay... I wasn't actually expecting this... like... Mark and Jaehyun... like... actually baking bread after school with dough Mark premade at home. Also, uh, Jaehyun looks super cute in an apron that I'm having a mental breakdown. And what's new, so does Mark.

"I can't believe you thought I was a drug dealer," Jaehyun says in a soft pout as he rolls out dough on the marble counter of his friggin large kitchen in his friggin large house. Like dang, I knew he was rich, but he's like Rich™ Rich. Rich with a golden diamond encrusted Rolex watch rich that's in a glass display rich-- wtf.

Mark wheezes in his telltale high pitched laugh as he opens a pack of unsweetened chocolate pellets, "she thought dough was some sort of metaphor or something."

"Cute," they say at the same time. Mark turns to Jaehyun in slight surprise and Jaehyun turns to me. I roll my eyes, though I feel my neck burn. I avert my attention to the scene I was sketching on my pad, Jaehyun and Mark baking croissants. I clear my throat, "I'm just making use of the single braincell between us, cause if he doesn't die falling down the stairs, he's gonna pull some idiotic stuff like baking with Jung Jaehyun."

Oddly, it's Mark that reacts to that with a, "hey!"

Jaehyun rubs his chin on his shoulder, "I also can't believe you think so little of me.'

I break a sweat but decide to answer honestly, "... ... ... You have a reputation."

"Of being a fuck boy?"

Mark loudly transfers the chocolates into a metal bowl, making the two of us snap at him. Mark makes a face, "oh gosh, sorry."

Jaehyun sighs, "well. I admit I get around, but that's only because I get dumped every time."

I raise a brow.

Jaehyun purses his lips, "nah, let's not make this weird. The croissants will be flat."

"Dude," Mark turns to him, "that's literally only because you messed up the recipe."

Jaehyun grits his teeth, "no. It's because Kun's a little teacher's pet and sabotaged me so he could get the best grade."

"No, but like Kun is really nice, he helped me with the fold techinique."

Jaehyun scoffs, "He stole me vanilla extract, Mark. Who does that?!"

"No, listen, he's cool, like, for real--"

"No, you listen, he's a little shit and--"

The two begin to bicker like a married couple, and I begin to draw inspiration form the scene to design some random sketches of wedding dresses.

I look back to the two and still can't get over the fact that I learned Jaehyun was a culinary arts major with my best friend, and that I was currently in the Jung's boojie home because I thought Mark was buying drugs from him. Not what I was expecting at all my day to go like, but I'm not mad this is how it went.

"No, no, no, no," Jaehyun says. He turns to me and points, "let's just get an outside opinion. Babe, what's your favorite color?"

"BABE?!" Mark barks.

I take a moment to reply. I blink slowly, "uhh... pink?"

Jaehyun bites his lower lip and claps his flour covered hands, "Right. Pink croissants it is."

Mark shoots him a glare and turns to me, back to Jaehyun, "she has a name."

Jaehyun nods, "yeah, and she wants pink croissants."

Mark makes a face and Jaehyun examines it, chuckling under his breath. "Wah, you two are something, huh."

No one really responds.

We began to always eat lunch with Jaehyun and his friends. It's funny cause I realized Jaehyun, although I still firmly believed he was out to get nasty with every other girl he sees, he was actually just like Mark. A total loser with a love for cooking.

"Hey," Mark says with a snippy tone.

I give him a look and suddenly receive a paper bag to my face. Mark sits on his chair next to me, as per usual. I smell the thing before I realize what it is. It's a freshly baked bagel. I perk up and smile, "Aw, you baked me a bagel?"

Mark raises his upper lip, "no. Jaehyun did."

I knit my brows, "what? Why?"

Mark narrows his brows, "do you, like, like him?"

I give him a look. I take a bite of the bagel, making Mark look at me in disbelief. I answer, "You do know I only hang with him cause you do, right?"

"Then why'd you eat the bagel then?"

"Uh, a number of reasons. 1) it's a bagel, 2) free food, 3) I'm starving, 4) it smells amazingggg."

Mark does a face, "fair. I've been meaning to ask how he does his seasoning for a while now too." He releases a breath, "and anyway, I'm pretty sure he made a bagel cause I told him you liked them. Never talking about you to him anymore though."

I look at him, "why do you talk about me so much to him anyway?"

"Uh because you're amazing," Mark says instinctively.

I feel my heart skip at that. I coo and place my hands on my chest, "wait that's really sweet."

Mark looks at me. His face begin to shift, "too bad it's a lie- haha."

I give him a look and rebut, "jerk."

"Loser."

As quickly as I found out about Jaehyun being Mark's friend, that's about as quickly as I found out he didn't like hanging out with him anymore. It's kind of a shame I never got to go back to his boojie house.

There was this one encounter I had with Jaehyun though... which was a little weird, not gonna lie.

He was waiting for me outside my Tailoring class, smiling and waving when he saw me. I Reluctantly reciprocated and walked over to him.

He releases a breath, "I've been waiting for about 20 minutes for you. I didn't know when your class would end."

I raise my brows, "you could have asked?"

"Well I would need your number for that, and that would have ruined the surprise," he pulled out a brown paper bag, reminiscing the same one Mark chucked at my face.

"I made you two this time," he smiles.

I take a moment to reply, "you don't have to make me bagels, Jaehyun."

He grabs my hand, "yeah, but I want something out of ya," he places the bagels in my hand. He proceeds to lead us off and we begin to walk down the hall.

Truth be told, it's a little scary that his ulterior motive is up in the air. Jaehyun places his hands in his pockets, "I like your dress, by the way."

I smile, "thanks. I made it."

He smiles and nods, "right. That makes sense as to why it suits you well."

I can't help but blush at that, and simultaneously feel conscious when I realize a bunch of girls in my course are looking at me and Jaehyun as we strut down the hall.

"So, what did you want, Jaehyun?"

"Well, I clearly wanted to ask you out."

"..."

"..."

Jaehyun smiles and give a soft laugh, "is it so ground breaking?"

"... Uh..."

He sniggers, "hey, you can say no. I mean I hope you don't but you can." Jaehyun leans in and raises his hands, "I won't like it, but a man should take rejection from a lady well."

I turn to him as he straightens up. I turn to the bagels he made me and bring it back to him. He laughs, "no, I made them for you really. It's not poisoned, in fact it's made with love."

I visibly react to that, which makes Jaehyun wheeze. I can't help but laugh back, "that was hella tacky."

"Worth a shot though," he says. "Good luck with Mark."

I look at him with silence and he chuckles, "ya, you can't fool me."

I'm about to retort but then Jaehyun gets called by one of the frats dudes I identify as Johnny Seo. Jaehyun does a curtsy and clicks his tongue, "see ya later babez."

"You know, I would have said yes if you didn't do stuff like that."

Jaehyun purses his lips, "no you wouldn't."

I shrug, "worth a shot though."

Jaehyun places a hand on his chest, dramatically calling, "Uh, rejection hurts, man."

Yeah, I never went to Jaehyun's boojie house ever again.

Silver lining though was Mark's dorm smelled equally as nice because of all the food he cooks, although it came with a whiff of axe body spray from his roommate, Lucas. It's cool though, he was almost never around for me to smell it in its whole intensity.

"Aite," Mark calls from his side of the dorm. I perk up from the two seater dining table they had and turn to Mark who was covering the cake he was making for his finals.

"Don't, like, peek, okay. I want you to see the cake all at once and give me your honest reaction to it. Please, like, all my lives kinda depend on it."

"How many lives do you have?"

"9, I'm pretty sure."

I stand from my seat, "not you faking your life as a cat, but get it I guess."

Mark raises a hand at me as I walk over, "can you not, I'm high-key panicking right now."

"Over what? You literally made a box of donuts for your midterms and it looked better than Misty Mreme! I'm sure your cake is hot."

"It was in the minifridge for a day. I mean it barely fit cause of all of Lucas' mountain dew."

I groan, "just show me it, Mark Lee!"

Mark whined and dashes over to me, grabbing my shoulders, "okay, but like, don't be mean about it. I swear, I might cry."

I give a sound and fake cough, "it's ugly."

Mark doesn't respond to that particular jab, "I'm serioussss. Please be kind, okay?"

I look at Mark's nervous face and give a soft pout, "Markie, please, not that I think it would be ugly, but I promise you don't have to be nervous about my reaction."

He isn't soothed by that, but he does release a sigh, "okay. So for context, Mr. Moon wanted the cake to be one or two tiers, but I went with one, cause there aint no way I'm going to the other side of the campus to freeze a two tiered cake. Then, the theme was something from your childhood, so, I, uh, thought this was fitting. The exam is 60 percent decoration, 40 percent taste by the way."

Mark gives me a hesitant look, but steps way for me to see it. I then see a heart shaped, medium sized cake in my favorite pastel pink color. By the top there's a little boy on the floor playing with a toy oven set and little girl in a bumble bee dress, holding a stethoscope. At the bottom of the cake, there were jelly letters spelling out, "I like you."

I cup my cheeks at the sight of it and feel my eyes start to well at the sentiment.

Wait... was this really happening?

Mark heaves in and out, "okay, so like when Jaehyun began to like hit on you, that sucked pretty hard because he's known for getting girls and I thought maybe he'd get you too and I got panicky. Anyway, I....... have liked you since we were kids... And... I know you probably don't feel the same way but I have to try, you know.... Yolo."

My feel my tears retract from what I hear. I rub my eyes. I turn to Mark and find his nervous face. "Did you just say yolo in your confession, Mark?"

He looks like he's about to throw up.

I can't help but chuckle and pout, "dude..."

I prolong the moment. Mark gets even more nervous as he repeats softly, "dude..."

"We could have dated in grade school all this time."

It takes a moment to register in his head.

Like, a really long moment.

I sigh, "Mark! I like you too, dummy."

He freezes and blinks. His face begins to burn. He breaks into a soft smile, "nice."

I break into a laugh.

"... Uh... So... Can I like... Kiss you?"

I snort and feel my own cheeks begin to burn, "I think you should refrigerate your cake first."

Mark snaps out of this trance, "oh shoot, you-" I give him a quick peck on the lips.

He is dumbfounded.

I feel butterflies go wild in my stomach.

"I'll wait over there for when you've fixed that."

Mark watches as I walk away, "yooo.... That's not fair though."

[high-functioning-lokipath]

All About Eavesdropping - Loki x Reader - Words: 1,835

“You want us to what?” You yelled. 

“I need you and Elsa here to go to Greenland for about a month,” Tony said. You stared at him from across his worktable in his lab. 

“Why in Valhalla would we need to do that, Stark?” Loki retorted. “And don’t call me Elsa.” Tony had called the two of you in there right after breakfast saying that he had a very important job for you. This, however, did not seem to be all that special.

“For purely scientific purposes, of course,” He replied, mouthful of blueberries.

“And those would be?” You sighed, facedesking. 

“The new winter stealth suits I designed. I need them tested in the field. I’ve run as many lab tests as possible but,” Tony shrugged. “Field tests are absolutely necessary. Everything you’ll need is either in these boxes or in the house in Greenland. If you want to take any other personal stuff you’ll want to grab it before you leave.”

“And you think we’re the best for the job?” You asked.

“He’s already a popsicle so if it gets too cold he can deal with it and you can heal yourself or him anyway,” Tony said like it was the most logical thing in the world. Loki tensed at his words but didn’t say anything about it.

“Fine,” Loki grunted. He grabbed the box Tony had marked for him and headed for the doors. 

“You leave at 6! Don’t be late!” 

“I wouldn’t dare disappoint you, Stark,” Loki sassed before finally stalking out. 

“Have fun!” Tony grinned at you, wiggling his eyebrows. 

“First of all, perv. Second of all, ain’t gonna happen!” You replied. “Why are you doing this? This whole thing is a direct attack on a part of him he doesn’t like to address!” 

“Well I figured he has to grow up one day and deal with it. We all have inner demons to fight. I figured I’d help him.”

“A bit not good there, Sherlock.” Tony snorted in laughter and shook his head. 

“Would you rather I send him with Steve?” Your eyes widened comically.

“Nope!” You exclaimed, popping the p. “I think we’ll do just fine.” You grabbed your box and headed out as well.   

By 6 o'clock, the two of you were flying out on one of Tony's jets. "So, what do you think of the new suits?" You asked Loki, trying to make some conversation.

"They are no match for true Asgardian leather and would be greatly improved by at least a cape," He replied sounding rather bored. 

"Oh," You said. "How exactly are we to be testing the suits again? I forget what Tony said."

"He said nothing, darling. It was all in his infernal little packet." You blushed lightly at the pet name and nodded. 

"Alright, well, I guess I'm just going to," You paused, unsure of what to do. It was obvious Loki was not interested in conversation but there wasn't much to do on the jet. "I'm just going to sit over there," You said, getting up quickly and moving to the other side of the jet. The rest of the flight was quiet, Loki only speaking up to alert you that you were about to land. 

"Surely the man of iron could not possibly want us to stay here," Loki said, getting out and seeing the small house.

"Maybe it's bigger on the inside," You said hopefully. Gathering your few things, you both headed in. "Oh this is so much worse," You groaned. The large main room consisted of the dining and living rooms and the kitchen. However, it was very sparsely decorated. You could see a stack of groceries in the kitchen along with a note. Loki wandered off to explore the bathroom and bedrooms, you assumed, while you read the note. 

"Find anything of interest?" Loki called out, surprising you.

"Just that Tony said if we didn't like the food or somehow ran out there's a grocery store about 10 miles away."

"And just how does he expect us to go there?" Loki yelled, getting increasingly frustrated. 

"The note says our transportation is out back." You walked down the small hallway to the back door and looked outside. Stifling a laugh you called out, "Hey, Loki! I think your ex is here!"

"My who?" Loki replied, very confused. "I have no 'exes', as you call them, on Midgard." You smirked and moved aside so Loki could look. When he saw what was in the backyard, a strange look crossed over his face. "Run," He said in a dangerously calm voice. 

"I beg your pardon?" You replied.

"Run if you don't want to lose your phone," He smirked back. You laughed but you did take off running. He chased you back out to the main room but you ran out the front door. "Don't think you can escape me!" He called out. 

"Wanna bet?" You called back, running to the backyard. You quickly jumped on one of the two horses you had seen and took off. 

"Oh, you'll regret saying that, my dear," Loki grinned, getting on the other horse and taking off after you. 

The next few days continued in a similar pattern. There wasn't much to do so you and Loki would often spend your time exploring the woods behind the house or riding the horses or just talking. Loki had warmed up to you quite a bit, pun intended, and you were quite happy. Of course, you recorded the events of each day in your diary. Well, it was less of a diary and more of a collection of special moments you wanted to remember and sketches you'd made. You had just finished writing today's events when you heard a loud clatter and Loki call you from the kitchen.

"Y/N!" He said. "Can you come here please?" You quickly put your notebook in the nightstand drawer and hurried out to the kitchen.

"What in the world happened, Loki?" You exclaimed, holding back a laugh. Loki was laying on the floor, covered in a mixture of flour and eggs it seemed, with various cups and bowls around him. 

"I was attempting to reach a mixing bowl on the top shelf when I slipped on an egg and pulled the shelf down," He admitted.

"You're telling the truth!" You gasped, openly chuckling at the situation now.

"Of course, love! I couldn't lie to you." You blushed brightly, as he often made you do with those pet names. 

"Uh, well," You stuttered. "Why don't you go wash up and I'll finish," You paused, glancing around. "Whatever you were making."

"I was attempting to make breakfast," He grinned. "But I think I should make myself clean instead, hm?" 

"Yes, you should," You smirked. "Wouldn't want anyone thinking you were greying early."

"You-" He exclaimed, standing quickly. For a moment you thought he was truly angry, but his eyes sparkled with mischief. He reached onto the counter and threw a handful of flour at you before running off to the bathroom. You laughed, dusted yourself off, and got to work on breakfast.

About an hour later, he came back out and sat across you at the counter. "Your breakfast, my prince," You smiled, presenting him his plate. He smiled and you ate in silence for a time. 

"I've been reading a lot lately," He commented. 

"Mhm," You replied, mouthful of syrupy pancakes. 

"The last book I read had some rather interesting sketches in it too."

"Really?" You asked, truly interested. "I love art. Can you show it to me?" You took a large gulp of milk as he replied.

"My dear," He said, setting down his fork. "I read your diary." You coughed, almost choking on your ill-timed drink. 

"You what?" You screeched. "How dare you invade my privacy like that and-"

"Don't you care to know what I thought?" He interrupted.

"Why? So you can laugh at me, oh Mr. High-and-" He cut you off by leaning over the counter and kissing you earnestly. "Oh, that's nice," You said once you pulled away. 

"Just nice?" He smirked. "I guess I'll have to work on that." He kissed you once more before you pulled away, cheeks flushed and eyes wide.

"I just remembered something!" You gasped. 

"What's wrong?" You quickly pulled out the pamphlet Tony had made you about the suit testing. You then gestured to a paragraph under a subheading of RECORDING ANY AND ALL TEST RESULTS

ALL TEST RESULTS MUST BE RECORDED BY THE TESTERS USING THE STEPS LISTED. TO ENSURE NOTHING IS MISSED, HOWEVER, THE HOUSE WILL ALSO BE UNDER 24/7 SURVEILLANCE TO TRACK ANY UNRECORDED RESULTS.

OUTSIDE - AUDIO/VIDEO

INSIDE - AUDIO ONLY

Loki grinned and leaned into you, lips brushing against your ear. He whispered something and you giggled. "Loki!" You gasped. "We can’t do that here!"

"Oh, yes," He purred. "We can do it anywhere we want if we're creative enough." 

"But outside is so much more exciting," You grinned. "So," you paused, struggling to find the right word. "Freeing!"

"Please do not do anything outdoors where I can see!" You heard a loud voice yell. You both quickly realized it was coming from the monitoring system.

"Steve? Is that you?" You called back with a chuckle. 

"Yeah, Tony insisted I take a turn on guard duty," He grumbled. "Look, I'm sorry I interrupted," He paused awkwardly. "Whatever you were doing but could you please not do it outside? Outside has cameras." Loki laughed loudly and you did too. 

"We really didn't mean to prank you, Cap. I thought Tony was on the other end of that mic."

"I however have no objections to how this turned out," Loki added. You whacked him arm lightly and shook your head. "Truthfully, though, we were only speaking of testing another aspect of the suit. I whispered to Y/N my idea and-"

"I get it," Cap replied quickly. You couldn't see him but you could tell he was embarrassed. "I'll make you two a deal. Behave yourselves, finish the tests, and get home early and I'll help you prank Tony here in the tower. Ok?"

"You have yourself a deal, Captain," Loki grinned. 

"Alright. I'm going to take a nap now. Don't do anything stupid."

"Oh we won't," Loki smirked, wrapping his arms around you and planting light kisses on your neck.

"Loki!" You squealed.

"Do you want to prank Tony or not?" Steve yelled. "I can't see you but I can hear you! And that didn't sound like suit testing. Get to work! If you do as you're supposed to, you'll be done in a week."

"Yes, sir," You both grumbled. Loki, ever the mischief maker, wasn't about to let up. He grabbed a towel and twirled it, smacking your backside with it as you walked away. 

"What was that for?" You asked.

"Loki, did you just-"

"For purely scientific purposes, I assure you," He replied. Steve groaned in frustration.

"This is gonna be a long week."

Loki Taglist

@lucywrites02

@delightfulheartdream

@serpentargo

@khena

@nyx2021

@kaz11283

@weasley-main-lover

@up-to-mischief

@lokislittlesigyn

​Marvel (all characters) Taglist

@bartv21

@another-crazy-fangirl

@whatafuckingdumbass

@ladylulu143

@lokislittlesigyn

[becausethathappens]

i love the way you write. can you tell me something nice to calm my nerves? my day has been awful and the way you write takes me out of it, instantly. *currently rereading everything you've written on ao3 ignore the kudos that might give this away 👀*

anonnnnnnnnn. 🤚💓

something nice: rhett and link have been together longer than i’ve been alive. (i’m more than three decades old. 😩)

and something short for you, because this made me blush:

-———————-

needs no conversation

1k - Rhett and Link duet for the first time.

songs referenced: yesterday’s wine / islands in the stream

-

Over a year passes after Rhett's voice dropped before he starts using it as regularly as he used to. More than once, trying to sing along to whatever's on the radio and having his voice crack and squeak has led to teasing from friends and family alike. He's gun-shy to hold a tune until he's sure the baritone that his register has changed to is permanent.

Poor Link's voice has only gotten higher, since around the same time, but the elasticity and charm of it suits his personality.

It's years into being grumpy, monosyllabic teenagers before they feel happy enough to sing aloud, let alone together.

One night, while they’re stuffed with pizza and sketching tree forts (they're sick of lugging all their things to the river, every time they swim and want a place to store belongings in the woods, closer by), Rhett finds himself singing along to Yesterday's Wine with a full-throated joy that makes Link's insides swirl. It's certainly the most he's used his voice, confidently, since it's settled on this octave.

Rhett's voice sounds good. Objectively good and better than it's maybe ever sounded.

Link, shyly, joins in because he's sure the longer he sits and listens, it'll become a problem for his head or his heart or both. It unsettles him.

He's not more than three seconds into the chorus, singing along with George Jones' section, when he notices that Rhett's set aside his writing instruments, as well, and is looking over at him.

In near the same way that Link was looking at him.

It's then, right that second, Link hears it.

The natural harmony they've stumbled across.

The song's over too soon. 

With busy eyes and unsteady hands, Link scrambles over to the tape deck to switch out to another song. The next up was a solo b-side from Merle's early work that won’t showcase what he’s just heard.

He picks the first tape with a duet he can find.

Dolly Parton and Kenny Rogers.

It's just to prove a theory, the song choice. Selected because Link knows it has two distinct singers. Not much thought going into it beyond that.

He pops the tape into the player and hits play. He feigns looking down at his drawings for a moment, like he's merely changing the background music and returning to them.

But after a few seconds, he can't withhold his interest and looks up. 

Rhett's still staring right at him.

And he doesn’t seem to have stopped this whole time.

As the music fades in softly, his eyes are soft and doe-y. 

To Link’s surprise, he starts to sing, clearly begging Link, wordlessly, to do the same in the next verse.

"Baby, when I met you there was peace unknown I set out to get you with a fine tooth comb," Rhett begins.

Link stares at him, takes it in. He lets his ears adjust and come to grips with the fact that Rhett's voice really sounds that smooth and adult, overpowering Kenny's easily in the quiet room with the volume purposefully low.

They both know the lyrics.

"I was soft inside There was something going on," Rhett sings.

Link’s smile breaks wide, an outburst of shocked elation that Rhett sound only improves. He really sounds this good. Professionally good.

An idea bubbles into his mind, one he'd never dare to think if not so immersed in the candied daydream of hearing his friend's beautiful voice echo around the small bedroom for what feels like the first time. He's picturing Rhett singing this for an audience, his unused hand holding a microphone, as Link watches Rhett drum a steady one-two rhythm along with the beat into his thigh.

Link does the same and then immediately jumps in on the first harmony.

"You do something to me that I can't explain Hold me closer and I feel no pain Every beat of my heart We got something going on," they sing together.

Link's eyes dart back and forth, feeling zapped by the electricity of how their voices sound paired together. 

It’s not just Rhett.

He takes in that, to his ears, his voice sounds much deeper than it has in years. When he sings with Rhett, trying to match the key change, it feels like Rhett is sharing some of his baritone. His own lifts up, as though to meet Link halfway.

Their words tumble out over each other in a kind of velvety sophistication that makes Link picture them both on a stage performing. It makes Link's heart leap, how natural it would seem, were it to be like this.

"Tender love is blind It requires a dedication," Rhett belts out, getting into it.

Link grins and nods. They could lead the choir at church.

They both sing, "All this love we feel needs no conversation We ride it together, ah ha."

Rhett wiggles back and forth to the beat, Link joins in.

"Making love with each other, ah ha," they sing, blushing. 

Rhett laughs, inaudibly, in respect to the music, at how silly that line sounds, when sung by the two of them. 

"Islands in the stream That is what we are No one in between How can we be wrong Sail away with me To another world And we rely on each other, ah ha From one lover to another, ah ha," they harmonize.

Link's eyes shine. They could start a band.

Link sings, "I can't live without you if the love was gone Everything is nothing if you got no one And you did walk in the night Slowly losing sight of the real thing."

Rhett's eyes are also shining back. Link is already sure that he'll agree to the idea. He hardly ever says no, in Link's experience. 

They sing, "But that won't happen to us and we got no doubt Too deep in love and we got no way out And the message is clear This could be the year for the real thing."

He pictures their names on a marquee.

Link closes his eyes and sings, "No more will you cry Baby, I will hurt you never."

He imagines their album cover, posed like Lionel or Merle.

Rhett joins him, "We start and end as one In love forever We can ride it together, ah ha Making love with each other, ah ha."

Link nods along, lost in fantasy.

"Islands in the stream That is what we are No one in between How can we be wrong Sail away with me To another world And we rely on each other, ah ha From one lover to another, ah ha," they recite in tandem.

Link opens his eyes again and is struck by the fact that Rhett's eyes are also open or have still never closed. 

Once again the ZING of amazement bolts through him at how strongly the affection and pride on Rhett's face beams at him.

They sing, "Sail away Oh come sail away with me."

The chorus repeats twice, both of them staring like that the whole time, and Link fights the urge to reach out and join their hands as if in prayer. He's seen duets do that before, like Sonny and Cher. He understands the impulse, now. He wants nothing more than to chase this connected, harmonious feeling, now and perhaps the rest of his life.

Entertain himself and others, alongside Rhett.

As the song finishes, they sing, "Islands in the stream That is what we are No one in between."

This is their ticket out.

A solo track ticks on next and the spell is somewhat broken. 

Link leans back and laughs, covering his mouth with both palms at once. 

Rhett settles, blushing, and hides his mouth with the back of his right hand. It also masks the smile growing fast at Link’s reaction. 

It feels like they've just discovered a secret too great for them to know.

"That was so good," Link tells him, honest.

"I 's just thinkin' that," Rhett agrees, chuckling. "Don't think I've ever been able to hold an melody like that. You hit the high notes dead-on."

"And that was some professional-grade crooning," Link assures him.

"Oh, don't know about that," Rhett dismisses.

"No, I'm serious. We should start a band," Link says, earnestly.

Rhett watches him for a few seconds, trying to judge whether or not he's serious. When he sees no hesitation, finally, he smirks.

"Okay," Rhett agrees, looking thrilled.

Link grins back at him.

"It's like it was written about us, too. We've got an island in a stream. If you could count the river as one. How’s that for song choice?" Link asks, playfully.

Rhett frowns. "That's... not what the song - it's about - " Rhett looks at Link funny, then continues, "It's not about that. D'you even listen to the lyrics?"

"No," Link answers, easy and truthful.

"You really wanna start a band with me?” Rhett’s eyes fall and he scratches the back of his head. “If you got distracted while I was singing?"

"Rhett, I got distracted by your singing," Link explains.

Rhett looks down. "Oh."

There's a long pause.

"Well, I got distracted by you, too."

Link's eyes widen.

"By your singing," Rhett adds, hastily.

Link rolls his eyes and shakes his head. Unsure how else Rhett would've expected him to take that.

The blush that warms his chest also brings with it a smile.

He rewinds the tape so they can begin again.

[robinrunsfiction]

It’s A Love Story - Part 1

(YN) was sitting at the kitchen table working on her algebra homework when the music that had been coming from the garage for hours finally stopped. A few minutes later five sweaty teenage boys burst through the door.

"You guys are finally starting to sound good," she complimented, albeit slightly sarcastically.

"Thanks kid," Gerard said, ruffling her hair with his sweaty hand.

"Ew get off me," she whined, swatting at him. "And don't call me that."

"Gerard, don't pick on your sister," their mom said, walking into the kitchen. “Ray, Frankie, Bob, would you boys like to stay for dinner?”

“I told my mom I’d be home for dinner tonight, thanks anyway. I’ll see you guys at school tomorrow,” Ray answered with a wave before heading for the door.

"He's my ride," Bob mumbled, following him out.

“Frankie?”

“I’d love to, Mrs. Way,” Frank replied overly sweetly. Gerard and Mikey rolled their eyes as (YN) tried to stifle a giggle.

Frank had been in the same kindergarten class as (YN) and Mikey, and they quickly became friends. They all grew up together, playing in imaginary worlds with Mikey and (YN)'s older brother Gerard and his friend Ray. Even though she was the only girl in their group, (YN) was never made to feel like the odd one out or forced to play the damsel in distress.

Eventually playing make believe gave way to only slightly more realistic pursuits when the boys started their band. Having absolutely no desire to be on stage, (YN) turned her attention toward her interest in fashion and design. She spent hours sketching haute couture gowns and jewelry she could only dream of one day making and wearing.

"Hey Frank, did you start the algebra homework yet?" (YN) asked as the family, plus Frank, sat down at the dinner table.

"Yea I got it done in study hall, do you need help?"

"Yea, I'm stuck on a few on problems."

"It's only the second week of school, you're not falling behind already are you?" Her mom asked.

"No," (YN) mumbled, turning her attention toward her plate, pushing the food around with her fork.

"Are things alright? You've seemed out of sorts when you got home the last few days.”

(YN) looked toward her brothers, who tried to avoid her eye. "It's nothing," she mumbled.

Luckily the boys started talking about the band, and (YN) was relieved to have the attention pulled off of her. Ironically, that seemed to be the theme of her sophomore year.

~

The trouble began the week before the new school year began. Her friend Christine lived in a massive house with a beautiful pool and backyard, so she had invited a ton of kids from school over for an end of the summer pool party. The event was such a big deal, there were even upperclassmen besides her older brother attending.

(YN) found a lounge chair to relax in while she waited for more of her friends to arrive. She pulled off her t-shirt and draped it neatly over the back of the chair and when she turned back around she noticed a few guys looking her way, but she didn't pay them much mind. She had just settled in, eyes closed, when a shadow blocked out the sun

"Hey (YN)," she heard someone say.

"Oh, hey Adam, what's up?" She said when she opened her eyes. Adam was in Gerard's grade, and he hadn't really talked to her much before, especially if it meant having to go out of his way to do so.

"Nothin much. You're gonna be a sophomore next year right?"

"Umm, yea."

"That's cool,” he nodded. “Getting your driver's license soon?"

"Yea, me and Mikey both got our tests scheduled on September 12th, right after our birthday," she grinned.

"Nice, so you're gonna be running wild all over town?"

(YN) burst out laughing at the absurdity of the question. "I doubt it, I'm not the wild type."

"Aw, come on, I bet you could be if you tried," he laughed, leaning down so he was looking in her eyes. "I was wondering, have you ever-"

"Lazzara!" Gerard shouted, cutting him off. Both (YN) and Adam looked over at Gerard who had a strange expression on his face. She wasn’t sure what the look was exactly, but (YN) was certain she’d never seen him like that before and it was a little scary 

"I'll be right back," Adam said with a sly smile and a wink before walking off. 

It took a while, but eventually (YN) was certain that Adam was not coming back. In fact she didn't see him at the party at all after that. However she really didn't mind, because shortly after Adam disappeared Frank arrived and sat down on the lounge chair next to her.

"Sup? Soda?" He said, offering her a can.

"Ooh, yes please," she nodded, taking the beverage from him.

"Hey (YN), did you bring sunscreen?" Mikey asked, seeming to appear out of thin air behind them.

"No, and that reminds me I forgot to put any on too. I hope I don't burn," she grimaced, exchanging looks with Frank and her brother.

"You should cover up then," Mikey said, holding out her shirt that she had left on the back of the chair.

"Oh right," she agreed, a little confused at the level of concern Mikey was taking regarding her skin health as she pulled the shirt over her bikini top. "I bet if you ask Christine, she probably has some sunscreen we could use."

"Yea maybe," Mikey said, draping a towel over her bare legs.

"Stop it," she said, kicking the towel off. "Why are you being so weird?"

"I'm helping," Mikey replied.

"Go away," she snapped, throwing the towel at him. Mikey retaliated by draping the towel over her head and when she pulled it off, he was gone.

"So annoying," she grumbled.

"If we find some sunscreen, I could help you put it on, if you want," Frank offered. "You wouldn't wanna burn."

She couldn't help but blush at the idea of Frank putting his hands all over her back and arms and... "Thanks, umm, maybe," she laughed nervously before quickly changing the subject.

(YN) spent the rest of the afternoon talking to Frank, but she couldn’t help but feel like she was being watched. Whether it was one of her brothers hovering obnoxiously close, or other guys at the party staring at her unabashedly, she had to wonder what the hell was going on.

~

The school year started as usual, but the same feeling of being watched overwhelmed (YN) as she walked down the halls of Our Lady of Sorrows Academy. At first it felt like she was being sized up like a piece of meat and the guys who were looking her up and down were hungry dogs. But as the week progressed, it was as if they couldn't avert their eyes away from her fast enough. When she tried to strike up a conversation with any guy other than her brothers, Frank, or Ray, they were abrupt and cold toward her.

"Can I tell you guys something that’s probably gonna sound crazy?” (YN) asked as she sat down in study hall with her friends Christine and Marie.

“Of course,” Christine nodded, leaning in.

“I know I’m not like hot or popular to begin with, but I feel like almost every guy in school is avoiding me."

Christine and Marie exchanged glances. "Umm, so you haven't heard?" Marie asked.

"Heard what?"

"Well first of all, I don’t think you’ve looked in the mirror recently because sweetie, the summer was very kind to you. You're totally hot, and that’s the problem,” Christine replied. 

“Hot? I'm not even doing anything different,” (YN) mumbled, feeling herself blush as she pulled the cardigan of her uniform around herself more tightly. “And what do you mean, that’s the problem?”

“I heard that Gerard told Adam that if he so much as looks at you, he’ll put a hit out on him. I guess word has gotten around to all the guys in school,” Christine shrugged.

"Are you kidding me?!" (YN) blurted out and the other kids in the quiet study hall looked over at her.

"Miss Way, do you have a problem?" Mrs. Simon, the teacher supervising the study hall, asked from her spot at the front of the room.

"Nope! I, umm, am just surprised at the answer to this equation. I really love chemistry," she lied, trying to cover up for her outburst.

"What are you gonna do?" Marie whispered when everyone in the room turned their attention back to their own work.

"Nothing," (YN) shrugged.

"Wait, really?" Christine asked, totally surprised.

"Yea, because the guy I like is one of the few that won't be intimidated by Mikey or Gee."

"Who?!" Marie asked excitedly.

"I'm not telling anyone, because if it gets out, my brothers will lose it."

"Oooh, star crossed lovers," Marie grinned.

"Hardly," (YN) replied. "I doubt he even likes me like that."

~

"So you're coming to our birthday party, right?" (YN) asked as she and Frank sat at the kitchen table after dinner that night. The algebra homework was mostly finished, but forgotten for the moment.

"Have I ever missed it?"

"No," she rolled her eyes, but smiled. She knew she could always rely on Frank to show up for their birthday.

“Are you gonna make a super big deal out of it because it’s your sweet sixteen?” His tone was a little teasing.

“Oh yea, if I don't get a brand new BMW, I’m gonna throw a tantrum," she deadpanned.

“So you’re finally gonna start acting like a true OLS Academy girl?”

“Ugh, hell no,” (YN) groaned, rolling her eyes again. "There's a reason why Christine and Marie are my only girl friends."

"And it’s not because you spend all the rest of your time hanging out with us nerds?" He smirked.

"You nerds have always been my favorite people to hang out with. You're more interesting than 99% of that school."

"All of us, or just me?" He trailed off, suddenly becoming very interested in the pencil in hand.

"Yea, you're like in first place, then Christine and Marie, then Ray, Mikey, and Gee, then everyone else in the world."

"Damn, that's a lot of people to be ahead of," he replied with a goofy smile.

"Well you're really cool and always nice to me so yea," (YN) blushed.Silence hung between them, and for a moment she thought he was about to reach over and take her hand.

"Umm... (YN), ya know I’ve always-"

"How's the homework?" Gerard asked, bursting through the door from his basement bedroom.

"It'd be easier if you weren't always barging in," (YN) snapped. She hoped the blush on her cheeks wasn’t too noticeable.

"Don't do your homework in the kitchen then," Gerard shrugged.

"It's where the snacks are," she whined, but then a thought struck her like a bolt of lightning. "But I guess that’s fine, Frank will just have to go up to my room where we can shut the door and work in peace and quiet."

"I'll tell mom," Gerard replied.

"Tell her what? That you're annoying and distracting me, her long suffering youngest child, her poor, only daughter, from her studies?"

“Yea I’m the annoying one,” Gerard muttered before grabbing a soda from the fridge and retreating back downstairs.

“I should probably get going, it’s getting late,” Frank said, stretching his arms overhead. His shirt pulled up to show just a sliver of skin under the hem and (YN) couldn’t help but stare.

“Yea, umm, thanks for staying late and helping me,” (YN) said, getting up to walk him to the door.

“Just say the word and I’ll be here,” he smiled.

(YN) nodded, wanting to ask him what he was gonna say before Gerard interrupted him, but couldn’t find the courage to do so. “I’ll see you tomorrow then,” she smiled, holding out her arms for a hug.

Frank smiled back and wrapped his arms around her. She worried for a moment that she was holding on too long, but he wasn’t in any hurry to pull back either. When they finally did part, he waved before heading out into the cool New Jersey evening. (YN) shut the door behind him, and leaned against it with a dreamy sigh, the lingering feeling of his arms around her would be wonderful to fall asleep to that night.

Part 2

[felassan]

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

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

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

Some paraphrasing.

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

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

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

Melanie Faulknor (Lead Producer for MELE)

Crystal McCord (Producer for MELE)

Fred Tatasciore (Saren)

Seth Green (Joker)

Kimberly Brooks (Ash)

Ash Sroka (Tali)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Some funny anecdotes/stories:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

[source]

[thelastspeecher]

Curing a Curse?

Here it is, the third part in my ongoing Nixie Scenario that has honestly turned into its own separate AU at this point.  And in keeping in line with the cliffhanger that the first part ended on, this one ends on one as well.  Anyways, enjoy.

(By the way, here’s the first part, and here’s the second part.)

——————————————————————————————

              “I’d like to see the actual process of your transformation,” Ford said.  Angie groaned loudly, kneading her forehead.  After spending two days hiding in the lake, she had shown up at the house out of the blue to answer questions from the nerds.  Only five questions in, Stan could tell she was regretting leaving the lake.

              Can’t blame her. Ford’s gone full scientist mode and Fiddlenerd’s even more overprotective than when he found out I was seeing Angie.  

              “Look,” Angie sighed, “I learned the hard way not to be in frog form with clothes on.  The slime ain’t easy to clean off.”

              “Slime?” Fiddleford squeaked.

              “Have you ever held a frog in your life?” Stan asked. “They’re slimy.”  Fiddlenerd frowned at him, but before he could scold Stan for being a smartass, Angie spoke again.

              “I transform while nude to avoid destroyin’ my clothes.  Bein’ unclothed in front of folks while I’m in frog form ain’t a problem, but I won’t let ya see me naked and human, Stanford.”

              “It’s purely for scientific-” Ford tried. Angie glared at him.

              “No.”

              “Fine,” Ford muttered.  Angie got up from her chair.

              “I’ll go transform ‘n come back.”  She left the living room.

              “This is thrilling,” Ford said excitedly. “Finally, a chance to see a nixie up close!  Granted, she’s not a full-blooded nixie, but morphologically, there should be few differences.  Well, other than the fact that she can switch between nixie and human forms.”

              “What do you mean by ‘full-blooded nixie’?” Stan asked.

              “Angie was born human, only turned into a nixie upon exposure to nixie venom, and can switch between two different forms.  A full-blooded nixie would have been born one and stuck in that form.”  He paused. “I wonder if certain people are more likely to become a nixie when exposed to nixie venom.”  Ford looked at Fiddlenerd.  “Fiddleford, do you know if there are any fae in your family tree?”

              “I don’t know of any, but I wouldn’t be surprised,” Fiddlenerd said after a moment.  “We were told ‘bout the fair folk from a pretty young age.  And in Ireland, where my Pa’s fam’ly came from, the fair folk do tend to interact with mortals.”

              “Interesting,” Ford said quietly.  He rubbed his chin thoughtfully.  “If fae blood runs in your veins, that could explain why Angie transformed into a nixie with a kiss, but Stan didn’t.”

              “I think the more likely reason is that, like ya said, she ain’t a full-blooded nixie,” Fiddlenerd said.  “Maybe she has less potent venom or even less venom overall.”

              “Good point.  Once I’ve collected some venom to study, I can determine whether that is the case,” Ford said.  Slapping footsteps, like someone wearing flipflops too large for their feet, sounded. Angie came back into living room, in her full nixie form.

              “What’s this about venom?” she asked.  Like it always did when she was in nixie form, her voice had changed, becoming cooler and more melodic, as well as losing her thick southern accent.

              “I’m going to collect some from you.  If you don’t mind,” Ford said, getting up from his chair.  Angie shrugged.

              “Sure.  That would be the easiest way to come up with an antivenin for the next time I kiss Stan.”

              “Yes, but I feel that finding a cure for your situation will go much faster if I can study your venom,” Ford said.  An uncomfortable look settled on Angie’s face.

              “Uh.  Sure.”

              “I’ll go get a jar to collect your venom in,” Ford said eagerly.  He rushed out of the room.  Fiddlenerd got up and walked over to Angie, looking her up and down.

              “This is the first time I’m properly seein’ ya like this,” he said idly.  He smiled. “Hopefully, it ain’t the first of many. I suspect that Stanford will be able to cure ya pretty easily.”  Angie’s uncomfortable look worsened.  She looked down at her elongated, webbed feet.

              “Yeah,” she mumbled.

              “I’m surprised by how tall ya are,” Fiddlenerd continued, apparently not noticing Angie’s discomfort.  Angie grinned, quickly wiping away her tense body language.

              “It’s the frog legs,” she said.  Fiddlenerd chuckled.  Ford ran into the room, carrying a glass jar.  He handed it to Angie.  Angie looked at him, confused.  “Do you want me to spit in this or something?”

              “Yes.  Technically, you should secrete your venom from your skin as well as your salivary glands, but that only happens when you’re under stress.  So a saliva specimen would be best.”

              “Do you really think I’m not stressed right now?” Angie mumbled.  Ford’s eyes widened.

              “Do you think you might be secreting venom from your skin at the moment?” he asked.  Angie held the jar next to her shoulder.  Ooze slowly seeped into the jar.  Ford’s eyes widened even further.  “Remarkable.  Would you mind spitting into this one, so that I can compare the two samples?” Ford held out another jar.  Angie rolled her eyes, but spat into it.  “Thank you.”

              “Yeah.”  Angie handed him the jar with her skin venom in it.  “By the way, I had an idea.  Now that you all know my secret, I was hoping that I could move again.”

              “What do ya mean?” Fiddlenerd asked.

              “I don’t really like living in a human house. I mean, I have to keep leaving it to go to the lake.  So, I want to live in the lake full time.”

              “Wh- Angie-” Fiddlenerd started.  Angie held up one of her large, webbed hands.

              “Let me finish.  I’d like to live there, but keep my human stuff here, since I’ve got a lot of things that I want to hold onto.”

              “I’m fine with that,” Stan said, shrugging. Fiddlenerd nodded.  “Ford, it’s your place.”

              “Hmm?”  Ford looked up from the jar of ooze, which he had been staring at intently.  “Oh, yes, feel free to store your belongings here until you are cured.”  Angie abruptly became uncomfortable again, shifting her feet anxiously, her eyes darting around.

              “Sounds- sounds good,” she mumbled.  She cleared her throat.  “Stanford, did you want to sketch me?”

              “Oh, yes, that would be excellent!” Ford enthused. He handed the jar of slime and jar of spit to Stan.  “Come outside, please, the lighting will be better.”  Angie followed Ford out of the house to the backyard.  Stan set down the jars.  He looked at Fiddlenerd.

              “Angie seemed a bit nervous,” he commented. Fiddlenerd shrugged.

              “Given Stanford is lookin’ at her the same way he looks at them gnomes, I don’t blame her.”  He got up from his seat.  “Now, if ya don’t mind, I’ve got an idea fer a way Angie can stay here instead of in a dirty lake.  I’m goin’ to work on some blueprints.”  He left.

              Maybe he’s right.  Maybe Angie just seemed upset ‘cause Ford was looking at her like that.  Stan sighed. Who knew falling for a frog-lady would cause so many problems?

-----

              Stan sped all the way to the lake, praying that he had properly secured the babies in the back seat.

              Maybe Fiddlenerd was right.  Maybe Angie should start staying at the house and sleep in that tank he made for her.  Having her close when the lab exploded woulda been nice.  The Stanleymobile peeled into the lake parking lot.  Stan parked it right next to the water.  Thankfully, the unseasonably cold day had scared people away; the lake was deserted.  Stan slammed the car door open.

              “Angie!” he shouted before even taking a step out of the car.  There was a splash.  In nixie form, Angie’s head popped up by the pier.

              “Stan?” she called.

              “Get your gorgeous ass over here!”  Angie blinked in surprise, then disappeared back underwater.  After a few moments, she resurfaced in shallower water and walked ashore.

              “Next time, a ‘please’ would be nice,” she scolded, coming over to the Stanleymobile.  “Now, what’s…”  Her gaze landed on the babies in the back seat of the Stanleymobile.  “Oh, Lord.”  She kneaded her forehead with her webbed hands.  “Stanley.  Please tell me that you didn’t steal these children.”

              “No.  They’re our brothers,” Stan said.  Angie stared at him.

              “Pardon?”

              “There was some sort of explosion in the lab.  I went to check it out just in case it was some spookum again.”  Stan gestured hopelessly at the babies.  “I found them like this.”

              “How did this happen?” Angie whispered.

              “Hell if I know.  I tried to look at their notes, but I don’t speak science.  I also know jack shit about taking care of babies.”

              “Luckily, I know plenty.”

              “Wanna grab your clothes and we can head to the house?” Stan suggested.  Angie sighed.

              “Just give me your shirt for now.  My clothes can wait.”

              “Got it.”  Stan pulled his T-shirt over his head, obscuring his vision.  By the time he could see again, Angie was fully human and nude.  He handed the shirt over.  Angie slipped it on.  “Good thing you’re so tiny.  You look like you’re wearing a dress.”

              “Shut up,” Angie muttered.  She got into the back seat with the babies.  “Aw.  They’re cute.”  As if on cue, one of the babies started to cry.  Angie grimaced.  “Never mind.”

-----

              “Shh, shh, Little Sixer,” Stan whispered desperately, gently rocking the infant Ford.  After getting to the house, Angie had taken charge immediately, instructing Stan how to take care of the babies.  Only once they were both sleeping in makeshift cribs in the living room did she finally go into the lab to figure out what the nerds were doing. Unfortunately, Ford had started to fuss. Stan continued to rock Ford, praying that Fiddlenerd wouldn’t wake up, too.

              “Aw.”  Stan looked up.  At some point, Angie had come up from the basement.  She smiled.  “The two of ya are quite adorable right now.”

              “Yeah, yeah,” Stan said, rolling his eyes.  “Did you find the nerds’ notes?”  Angie’s smile vanished.

              “Yes, I did.  They should revert back to their proper ages before the day is over.”

              “That’s great!”  Stan frowned.  “Why do you seem so bummed about it?”

              “They were studyin’ my venom.  They turned into babies ‘cause they were lookin’ to cure me of my frogginess.”

              “Don’t feel guilty about it, Ang.  This isn’t the worst thing they’ve been turned into. It’s not even in the top five.”

              “Yes, but…”  Angie walked over to the “crib” that Fiddlenerd was sleeping in.  She sighed.  “I don’t think I want a cure.”

              “I know.”  Angie’s head whipped up to stare at Stan.  “The second Ford and Fiddlenerd starte talking about curing you, you get nervous.”  Stan shrugged.  “I don’t really get the appeal of being a frog.  But if you like it, then don’t get cured.”

              “Fidds won’t be happy,” Angie said quietly.

              “So?  You’re the one who wants to stay a frog, not him.  His opinion doesn’t matter.”

              “I guess…”  Angie sighed again.  “I really do like bein’ a nixie.  It didn’t start out that great, but I’ve come to love it.  I feel so free and in tune with the world around me.”

              “Also, you have venom,” Stan pointed out.  Angie managed a small smile.

              “Yes.  I have venom.”  She looked down at Fiddlenerd.  “If I was always stuck in frog form, maybe I’d want a cure.  But I can turn human, too.”

              “You don’t have to explain yourself to me. It’s your life.”

              “Well, you are my boyfriend and get drunk every time I kiss ya in frog form.”

              “Cheaper than beer,” Stan said.  Angie snorted.  Ford squirmed in Stan’s arms, fussing again.  “Dammit, can’t you just sleep?”

              “Have you ever watched a real infant?” Angie asked.

              “You already know the answer is ‘no’.”  Ford’s squirming increased.  “Do you want me to drop you?  Stop wiggling around like one of Angie’s snacks!”  A faint glow began to emit from Ford.  “Uh.”  Then, in a split second, Ford was back to his proper age, still in Stan’s arms.  Ford looked up at Stan in confusion.

              “Stanley?”

              “Uh…”  Stan looked at Angie for help.  She shrugged.

              “I told ya the effects would wear off by the end of the day.  I’m goin’ to find myself some proper clothes so’s my brother don’t have an aneurysm when he’s back to normal.”  She glanced over at Fiddlenerd’s “crib”.  “Speakin’ of my brother, ya might want to let him out.  Sooner rather than later.”

-----

              Sitting on the couch in the living room, Stan idly paged through one of Angie’s guidebooks on amphibians.  Normally, he wouldn’t be interested in something so science-heavy, but he was missing Angie.  He hadn’t seen her for about a week.

              And I don’t know why.  Stan frowned at the page the book was open to, an entry on some kind of toad.  She told the nerds she wanted to stay a frog ages ago, and even after that blowup, she didn’t go AWOL.  He sighed. At least this book’s got pictures.

              “Stanley?”  Stan looked up.

              “What is it, Ford?” he asked.  Ford stood in front of him, his hands clasped behind his back.

              “Do you still kiss Angie when she’s in nixie form?” Ford asked.

              “Uh, yeah.  Why?”

              “I’d suspected as such,” Ford sighed.  He sat next to Stan.  “You do realize how dangerous it is, right?”

              “Look, at first, yeah, it got me drunk or high or both.  But not anymore.”  Ford stared at him.  “Angie’s theory is that I’m building up an immunity. She said that sometimes if you expose yourself to a poison, it stops affecting you.”

              “You haven’t been feeling the effects of Angie’s nixie kisses as strongly?” Ford asked.

              “Nope.”

              “That makes me more worried, not less!” Ford burst out.  He pinched the bridge of his nose.  “There’s very little likelihood mithridatism applies to nixie venom.”

              “Mith-what?”

              “The process of gradually exposing yourself to a poison to become immune is referred to as mithridatism.”

              “Huh.  Weird.” Stan shrugged.  “Maybe you’re just wrong.”

              “The term is-”

              “Not about what it’s called.  Maybe you’re wrong about whether I can build up an immunity to Angie’s kisses.”

              “I highly doubt that,” Ford said firmly.  “Haven’t you noticed your skin becoming more sensitive lately?  Your voice changing?”

              “It’s allergy season.”

              “You’ve never had seasonal allergies!”

              “So?  Just ‘cause I’ve never had them before doesn’t mean I can’t get them later.”

              “Stanley, I’m concerned that you don’t realize the gravity of the situation.  You could be transforming into a creature like Angie!”

              “Stanford.”  Stan closed the amphibian book.  “It’s my life.  My decisions. Is it stupid to kiss a nixie? Maybe.  But that’s my stupid choice to make.  Not yours.”

              “If you go down this path, you might become a nixie yourself.  Is that what you want?”

              “I dunno.  It can’t be that bad.  I mean, Angie likes it enough to turn down a cure.”

              “I don’t think she actually does like it,” Ford said quietly.  Stan frowned at him.

              “What the hell does that mean?”

              “Think about it.  She was turned into a magical creature without her consent.  Yes, there are some characteristics of nixies that would be enjoyable, but it’s permanently changed her life trajectory.  I suspect that Angie has fooled herself into thinking she’s fine with her situation as a coping mechanism.”

              “Ford…” Stan started.  Ford became more agitated, gesticulating wildly.

              “Why would anyone choose to be- to be-”

              “A freak?” Stan asked quietly.  Ford froze.  “A weirdo?  Abnormal?”

              “I…”

              “That’s what this is about, isn’t it?  It’s about your own hang-ups with your extra fingers. Stanford, what happened when we were kids sucked.  But this is completely different.  For one thing, she’s a grown adult.  She can make her own decisions, just like me.  And like my dumb decisions, you need to respect her smart ones.  Got it?”

              “I just…”  Ford sighed.  “Fiddleford speaks very highly of her and her potential.  I don’t want it to go to waste.”

              “She’s helping you with your research.  How is that letting her potential go to waste, huh?” Stan asked, elbowing Ford.  Ford managed a small smile.  “By the way, even Fiddleford accepted that Angie wants to stay a frog.  If he can, you can.”  Ford raised an eyebrow.  “You didn’t know that he’s fine with it?”

              “No, I knew.  I’ve just never heard you say his name correctly.”

              “Eh.  He’s my girlfriend’s brother.  I should probably start using his real name.”

              “Hmm.”  Ford eyed Stan thoughtfully.  “Girlfriend for now, but something more serious later?  Potentially soon?”  Before Stan could come up with a response to Ford’s prying, the front door opened. Fiddleford stomped inside, slamming the door behind him.  “I’m assuming that your search in the woods was unsuccessful.”

              “Yer right,” Fiddleford choked out.  “I’ve looked everywhere!  She’s- she’s gone!”  He tugged on his hair.  “It’s been a week!  A full week since any of us have seen Angie.  How can somethin’ bad not have happened to her?”

              “Nixies are notoriously slippery,” Ford said in a soothing tone.  “Angie has immense strength and venom on her side.  I’m sure she just needed some time to herself again.”

              “But she didn’t warn us ‘fore goin’ radio silent!” Fiddleford argued.  “She’s-” There was a timid knock at the door. Everyone froze.

              “Hello?” Angie’s voice said nervously.  Fiddleford sprinted to the door and tore it open, revealing Angie on the doorstep.  “H-howdy,” she stammered.

              “Banjolina Quinn McGucket, where have ya been?!” Fiddleford demanded.  Angie drew back.  “Sorry. Sorry, my tone was a bit harsh.” Fiddleford took a deep breath. “Banjey, we’ve been worried sick about ya!  Ya disappeared fer a week!”

              “I needed some time to recollect myself,” Angie said softly.  “Somethin’ happened that- that threw me fer a loop.”

              “What happened?” Stan asked.  Angie bit her lip.  She looked down at what she was holding, a large glass jar with water in it. Water and…

              “The coloration is peculiar,” Ford remarked, “but other than that, the item floating in the jar looks like an abnormally large frog’s egg.”  Angie swallowed.

              “Egg, yes.  Frog’s, no,” she whispered.  Fiddleford’s jaw dropped.  Ford looked at Stan.  Stan met Angie’s eyes with a silent question.  She nodded mutely.

              Oh. Oh, no.

[revasserium]

運命なんて

commission for @mika-ze; thank you so much for commissioning darling, i hope you like it u__u 

things like ‘fate’  hirugami sachirou; 3,016 words of fluffy fluff fluff

one. he remembers it like recalling a dream just dreamt, the image so clear a moment ago and yet fading by the second -- he watches as if through a running stream, the water crystalline in the way it distorts the memory. he doesn’t think so much as he knows that the two of you will be friends, or perhaps more, for a very long time. 

he’s all of six years old. 

“what’s your cat’s name?” 

you look up with eyes the color of molten chocolate, the spark in them just as sweet, just as shy and curious and perhaps, a little apprehensive. your glasses are a bit too big for your face, but you push them up with a finger as you frown up at him, the sketchpad splayed in your lap, charcoal dust smeared across your hands. 

“tiger.” 

“huh?” 

“her name is tiger.” 

he blinks. 

“why?” he asks. 

you shrug, glancing over at the large tabby cat in a walking vest, tethered to a long leash, currently pawing her slow way around the base of a rather ginormous tree. at least, compared to the both of you -- most things are ginormous compared to the both of you. 

you frown even harder, and he plops down on the bench next to you; the dog park is filled with, well, dogs -- and one leashed cat. yours. 

“because that’s what she’ll grow up to be.” 

hirugami squints at you, unsure if he should be the one to break it to you that your cat, large and orange though she is, will not grow up to be a tiger. 

he decides that he’ll leave that daunting task to someone else, so he just shrugs and looks back at his own puppy, yipping as he chases a stray tennis ball down the length of the park. neither of you mentions the large sign by the door that says only dogs allowed. 

two. middle school is a mess, as middle school is wont to be. but hirugami thinks that if he does what he’s supposed to, practices all the right things, studies hard enough, that everything will be fine. everything should go just the way it was meant to go all along. 

he’s almost right. almost. 

“everyone say hi to mika, she’s transferring in as of today.” 

hirugami blinks, because he needs to (basic bodily function -- he learned that in science the other day, something called biology; he’ll have to ask his parents about it when he gets home), but also because he’s surprised. 

it’s you. 

“mika,” he says to himself, frowning slightly to himself as he familiarizes himself with the shape of your name in his mouth -- he thinks it’s a nice name. cute. sweet. with a little kick. 

he spares a moment wondering why he’d never asked for your name all those times he saw you at the dog park with your cat, tiger. then he spares moment musing upon the fact that he knew your cat’s name before yours but you hadn’t seemed to mind. 

“hirugami-kun? do you mind showing mika-chan around school during break today?” 

he gets to his feet, his back straight as straight can be, shoulders back, chin up -- posture perfect. he bows and says yes, sensei, of course. when he gets back up, it’s the find you standing by his desk, staring at him with your eyes (your glasses are still a bit big for your face; he spares a moment to wonder if they can grow with you before ridding himself of so ridiculous a sentiment). 

“didn’t know your name was... that,” you say, sitting down in the desk next to his. 

he looks over, slightly distracted by the charms on your backpack (are those even allowed in school?). 

“didn’t know your name was that either,” he says back, because he’s feeling a little childish today. one of the very few days in a week, if he may say so himself (he says so). 

break comes as it always comes, and he pushes out of his seat, waiting for you to follow. instead, you give him a brief bow before scurrying off out the door, faster than he can stop you. 

“hey -- !” he chases after you, because the teacher had put you under his care, at least for the duration of break, and he’s not about to slack on such a show of trust. you’re surprisingly fast, he thinks as he follows you up four flights of stairs, at the end of which he finds a door clearly labeled do not enter, swinging. he pants as he pushes through it with cautious hands. 

“hello? are you up here?” 

you turn on him with a scowl on your face. 

“shh!” 

he’s about to frown at you, about to tell you that it’s not okay to just race off like that and it’s also not okay to go through doors labeled do not enter but he’s halted in his tracks. 

hirugami blinks. 

clutched in your arms is a very, very large tiger. 

no, not an actual tiger -- your cat tiger. but he does have to admit that tiger is starting to look very much like an actual tiger. a small one perhaps, but for a cat, she is very large indeed. her vest looks just as fitted as it did before, and he wonders if things really can grow with the people (or cats) who wear them. 

“wh -- you --” for the first time in a very long while, he finds himself at a loss for words. 

nothing he’s ever read or practiced or learned or studied or accidentally overheard his parents talking about has prepared him for this. 

after a moment, you grin, swinging tiger slightly in your arms. she meows, licking lazily at her own mouth, seemingly unfazed by the way you’re holding her, her legs hanging straight down, almost skimming the ground of the rooftop the both of you are currently on. 

the wind picks up and you walk towards him. 

“wanna pet her?” 

“uh...” hirugami stares as you bring your cat towards him, holding her out with both arms. tiger regards him with an languid sort of look before yawning. 

he doesn’t have time to answer before you’re dumping tiger into his arms, almost knocking him off balance because wow he didn’t know a cat could be quite so heavy. 

“she’s cute, right?” you grin as you pat tiger’s head now that she’s firmly curled against hirugami’s chest, purring loudly. he gulps, looking down at the large cat. and he can admit that with her round face and her orange fur and her big, green eyes, she could indeed be considered cute. so, he nods. 

you laugh, a delighted sort of noise, which startles him, because he’d never really heard you laugh before either. 

(at the dog park, he mostly sits next to you while u scribble or sketch, him occasionally peering over and pointing at a random blob with a that’s nice and you answering with a grunt of something that sounds vaguely like thanks.) 

“i think she likes you,” you say, scritching tiger behind an ear. tiger mewls, apparently pleased and closes her eyes, folding herself into hirugami’s arms. 

he thinks it’s weird, the feeling of feeling a cat’s purr rumble through him. like a tiny little furry motor running, running, running. it makes him shiver and he finds himself smiling. 

he forgets to tell you that it’s against the rules to bring pets to school. 

three. you go to a game of his, and you don’t really cheer, because you don’t really like places with a lot of people, but you go. and he thinks that it means a lot that you did. you find him after with your smile (that he’s now familiar with) and your glasses (which are still a bit too big) and a milk flavored popsicle (which he’s actually never had before but always wanted to try). 

“here,” you say. 

“thanks,” he says. 

he takes it, studies it for a second before taking a bite. it’s cold against his teeth, but it feels good sliding down his throat; he’s still sweating from the match after all, but they won, so it’s all good. 

“my mom’s making okonomiyaki for dinner tonight, wanna come?” you ask. 

he takes another bite of icecream. 

“didn’t she make that last week?” he asks, frowning when he realizes that it’s a terrible question because he was there last week, and he remembers. and it was delicious. 

you nod anyway, because you don’t seem to mind stupid questions. 

“yep! and you had a lot, so she’s asking if you wanna eat some more.” 

he looks down at the now half-finished popsicle. 

“sure, if your family doesn’t mind.” 

you laugh, a sound he’s also now familiar with. a sound that he thinks he likes. 

“of course not -- we wouldn’t invite you if they did.” 

he nods. right. stupid question. he seems to do that a lot with you -- he wonders why. but he finds that he doesn’t mind. because after all, you don’t mind. 

and he likes -- 

“sachirou!” 

he turns to find his sister smirking at him. he tries not to scowl, not because he doesn’t like her, but he really doesn’t like her boyfriend -- and she’s always got a boyfriend. 

“oh, is this the famous mika-chan? hi there, i’m shokou, sacchi’s older sister,” she grins, offering you a hand. 

hirugami feels a wave of heat wash into his cheeks and he’s not entirely sure why. probably because she’d just called him sacchi, a nickname that he really doesn’t like because one of shokou’s boyfriends gave it to him and it stuck. shokou thinks its funny. hirugami, decidedly, does not. 

“hi. yes, i’m mika. nice to meet you. are you the one with the boyfriends?” you ask. 

hirugami’s eyes go wide as he whirls back around to look at you. 

you’re blinking up at his sister like it’s a perfectly normal question to ask someone upon first meeting them (it’s not, but he probably won’t tell you that later either). 

shokou laughs, ruffling hirugami’s hair. he shakes it out after, huffing slightly. 

“yep, that’s me. so he’s told you about me, hm?” 

you shrug, apparently losing interest in her, “just in passing. anyway, i was inviting him over for dinner. mom’s making okonomiyaki and he had a lot last time, so she’s inviting him over for more.” 

“yeah, i’ll come,” he says, blurts out, more like, his cheeks feeling hotter than ever. he refuses to look at his sister as he grabs his sports bag and heaves it over his torso. 

“i won’t be home too late,” he says, waving over his shoulder as he brushes by shokou, his eyes trained somewhere on the floor in front of him. to your credit, you fling yourself into a hurried bow before dashing off to catch up to hirugami. he’s a fast walker when he wants to be, and right now, apparently, he wants to be. 

four. high school is an even more of a mess, as it is wont to be. but he finds that it’s not so bad with you. 

he still goes to the dog park with you, and tiger. although tiger seems to be getting on in years. she doesn’t move so nearly as much as she used to, and the hairs around her face are turning a distinctly whitish-grayish color. 

“that’s nice,” he says, pointing at your sketchbook. your drawing has gotten much better, and you’re thinking of going to design school. he thinks you should; he doesn’t tell you that it makes him feel a little queasy to know you won’t be in the same school as him anymore. 

you smile up at him (some time ago, that smile had started to look like home). 

“thanks.” you reach up to tuck a hair behind your ear, your glasses no longer too big for your face because he’d insisted on getting you a new pair last year for your birthday. 

you go back to your sketch of a boy -- they never have faces, the people you draw. and when once, he’d asked who they are, you’d gone a strange shade of red and shook your head -- 

“no one -- th-they’re no one! just... just random people.” 

he’d wanted to ask why they looked like him sometimes, but he figures that artists, you know? (he doesn’t know, really. but he pretends he does because it makes you happy.) 

he doesn’t know how it became like this, with you -- comfortable, he thinks. and in all honesty, it’d never been uncomfortable, so he supposes that by that logic, it’s always been comfortable. but still, it’s a thing more than mere comfort -- a thing that’s like... settling into a warm bath, or taking the tape from his fingers after a whole day’s practice (sometimes, you come to his practices, and you still don’t cheer, but he thinks that it means a lot you’re there). 

“i think tiger’s gonna die soon.” 

he blinks, because he needs to. 

he blinks again, because he’s surprised you’d said it so plainly, without even looking up from your sketch. 

he doesn’t know what to say (and that’s okay, he’s learned), so he keeps quiet instead. 

your fingers pause; you turn to look at him, there’s something in your expression he doesn’t quite recognize. maybe... fear, or perhaps sadness of a kind that he’s never come into contact with. a kind of sadness that sinks its claws into your very soul and squeezes till every drop of blood is gone -- you purse your lips and swallow. 

you look back down at your sketchbook, but you make no move to start sketching again. 

hirugami hesitates for a moment before putting his arm around you. it’s the first time he’s done anything like this, but it feels like the right time to do it, his body tells him, before his mind can quite catch up -- 

you lean into him, and you sniffle. he pats your arm before sliding his large palm along your back. 

“i’m just... scared,” you say, still not looking up. 

“what’s there to be scared of? death isn’t that scary, y’know -- its supposed to be just like falling asleep,” he says, looking down at the top of your head. he can smell your shampoo -- sweet, vanilla. you used to use green apple, and then you used lemon-orange for a while. but he likes the vanilla too. he likes it because it’s you. 

“no -- it’s not that...” you shake your head. 

he waits. 

“i -- i’m scared cause... tiger’s always loved me, y’know? we grew up together... and she’s always been there for me. when i was happy, when i was sad... and...” you hiccup and he pats you on the back, “and if she dies then... who’s gonna love me that much?” 

hirugami lets out a small laugh, and finally, finally, you look up at him. 

he meets your watery eyes with a steady gaze of his own. 

he smiles. 

“i will.” 

you blink up at him. probably because you need to. but also probably (he’s a actually very, very sure) because you’re surprised. 

he cocks his head, “objections?” 

you blink again. 

he hums happily as he tucks you into his side again, a large, floaty feeling filling his chest (he thinks he knows what it is, but he’s in no hurry to give it a name). 

“good. now let’s go get some dim-sum. the place you like is doing a promotion.” 

he gets up, reaching down to take your hand. you let him. and he thinks that that must mean something. 

(it does.)

five. “i’m going out!” 

shokou peers at him from over her sunday morning coffee. 

“going to see your girlfriend again?” she teases. 

hirugami hasn’t told her yet, because there isn’t much to tell, really. 

so he smiles, and instead of his usual answer of not answering at all, he gives his head a firm nod. 

“yep.” 

he steps into his shoes as his sister nearly chokes in the kitchen, the sounds of her coughing echoing down the hall. 

“wait -- what? you actually asked her out?” 

he turns and fixes shokou with a smug look, “what do you mean? i hang out with her every sunday.” 

shokou sputters, and the sight of it brings him more joy than it rightly should. 

“y-yeah, but you never admitted that she was your girlfriend before!” 

he cocks his head at her. 

“what difference does it make? not everyone feels the need to announce their relationships like you do.” 

shokou scowls even as he sends her a cheery wave over his shoulder, opening the door and stepping out into the mid-september chill. 

you’re waiting for him outside the gate, like you always are. you open your hand and he takes it, the pair of you setting off down the street. 

you peer up at him and grin.

“did you tell shokou?” 

“not in so many words.” 

you laugh, nudging him slightly. 

he laughs too, swinging your hands between you. 

the pair of you pause outside the gates to the dog park, looking over at the ginormous tree under which the pair of you first met, under which tiger is now buried, safe and sound, with her favorite vest and leash and your solemn promise to love her forever. 

and hirugami’s equally solemn promise to love you forever (for her, but for himself too. mostly, he thinks, for himself). 

after a moment, you set off towards the dim-sum place. 

“i think i’m gonna become a vet,” he says. 

you nod, “good. just make sure to pick a school close to mine, okay?” 

hirugami laughs again, letting the sound breeze through him like the autumn wind (the best wind, you say). 

“i don’t like the thought of not going to school close to you,” you say. 

he nods, firmly. certainly. 

“yep. me too.” 

[anothertimdrakestan]

Tongue Tied - Tim Drake x Reader

Words: 2.4k

Requested? Yes! From a lovely anon!

“Hello lovely author, may I please request a Tim x reader who start as nerd friends, then she finds out about him being Red Robin before he can tell her, and then Red Robin saves her one day and she lets slip that she knows it's Tim. With her smarts, she's able to help him with cases and missions, and the batfam is impressed by how smart she is. You can choose whether it's a romantic ending or not, that's up to you. I just feel like smart Tim needs to be seen more. Thanks😊”

LINK TO PROMPTS & MASTERLIST -> REQUESTS ARE STILL OPEN!

When I tell you I love me a smart reader I LOVE ME A SMART READER! Thank you so much for the wonderful request! Strap in dear anon you set me up for a long one and I really said “get in the car!” I hope you enjoy ; )

In the midst of a mental breakdown you let the flashbacks ensue, that’s the only correct way to lose your mind as everything you thought you knew crumbled around you right?

First you remembered “meeting” Tim Drake-Wayne for the first time. You always put meeting in quotes because you’d been in love with him for months and had sleuthed out his favorite coffee shop just to stumble into him. And because you’re you, nothing can really go as planned can it? Your plan to stumble into Tim was taken more literally when he caught you from tripping as you tried to enter the store, as you pulled yourself from his chest you felt your cheeks redden immediately. 

“Oh my gosh I am such a klutz I’m so sorry” he looked flustered himself, nervously fidgeting with his sweatshirt sleeve. “Oh uh, no problem, are you okay?” he up from his jacket to meet your eyes, and though he’d never tell you his heart melted on the spot, his brother Dick defined it as “love at first sight” but that seemed too cheesy. “I’m fine! You going in here too? This is my favorite spot!” you shook off the nerves, making your way into the cafe. Tim followed you in, and to your surprise paid for your drink. Sitting at a little bar you pulled out some of your college textbooks before you realized Tim and slipped into the seat next to you. 

“You in college?” his voice made you jump, your head jolting up. “Oh - no! I just think this kinda stuff is interesting. Math can predict everything ya know!” you slid your textbook between the two of you, feeling Tim’s shoulder lightly brush yours as he leaned in to read it. “Totally! Like even the golden ratio in nature!” Tim explained excitedly. 

That day turned into texting every single day and hanging out whenever Tim could, and it slowly developed into a best friendship. 

How did you not see the red flags like how Tim could rarely, almost never hangout at night? Or how he’d have strange bruises scattered across his body. Tim always looked dead tired but you knew he didn’t do any activities after school, to be honest the math just didn’t add up, so you took to investigating before making a conclusion - as any good scientist would. And because he’s a messy teenage boy investigation was easy.

While over at the manor Bruce had called Tim to W.E. for some sort of emergency press conference about his younger brother Damian biting a reporter, the interview was only supposed to be a half an hour. So, Tim left you with snacks and Youtube in his room while he threw on a suit and tie, which he looked like an absolute five course meal in - that wasn’t the point. You took the opportunity the riffle through his room, not exactly sure what you were looking for as you pawed through stacks of overdue assignments and dirty clothes. 

With deep breaths you relived the moment that hadn’t stopped playing in your head, finding his Red Robin suit. Throwing open his closet you stifled a laugh at his pajama pants and ratty t-shirts but you choked on air when a deep red and black suit fell from the top of his closet onto your face. Thinking it was some sort of halloween costume you held it up and realized what you were touching. It made sense, the late nights, bruises, frantic cancellations, it all added up except that Tim was the sweetest person you knew, the most loving soul you knew was kicking ass while you struggled through trigonometry. 

Unable to comprehend what was happening you put everything away and went home, shooting Tim some bullshit excuse about your family as your ran up to your room and began making a list - comparing Tim’s absences to Red Robin sightings, googling photos of Red Robin and drawing comparisons to the way he held himself like your best friend. There truly was no denying - Tim Drake was the Red Robin. Then it hit you like a truck - Bruce Wayne was Batman. And you assumed all of Tim’s adoptive family were vigilantes as well. You didn’t sleep that night, trying to make google searches that didn’t give anything away while trying to make a list of everything you discovered. 

Tim was Red Robin. You still couldn’t wrap your mind around it. So you sat in your room at 4am, crying. Because Tim was probably out risking his life for years without you knowing. Everytime you yelled at him for cancelling plans was probably because he was out saving lives and he took all your anger, he let you berate him for scrapping his knees when it was probably the fucking Joker whooping his ass. Is it right to apologize? To tell him what you found out and try to move on with the friendship. Is this like a “now that you know I have to kill you” kinda thing? You weren’t exactly ready to die. 

It seemed like Tim’s secret to keep, it was difficult at first to keep the facade that you didn’t know what he was doing at night, you just tried to always be understanding and appreciative of all the time he made for you. You fell back into the lull of best-friendship, Robin or not, Tim was the best person you knew.

“You’re in love with her Drake” Damian chided, almost annoyed with Tim’s ambivalence on the topic of his life long crush. “Am not, she’s my best friend. It’s not my fault you don’t understand friendships demon” Tim spat back, keeping his head down to hide his blush. “I’m with the demon, you practically worship the ground she walks on” Jason called, drinking straight from.a carton of milk as Dick cried out in disgust before adding his own opinion to the mess that was Tim’s love life. “Sorry kid it’s 3 to 1 which means you have to ask her out for real, remember last time?” Tim glared at the mention of his failed date proposal where you thought he was speaking in strictly hypotheticals. “You can’t out vote me on my own feelings” Tim groaned. “All in favor of allowing us to out vote Tim?” The three raised their hands again as Tim stomped up to his room, he planned on going on a peaceful patrol to plan his dream date for you.

A couple weeks into knowing Tim’s secret you learned that if you climbed to the roof of your apartment building you could see Batman and whomever he took out for patrol flipping around the city late at night. It had become a nightly routine and you’d grown to be able to identify the hero by their style of movement, your notebook filled with notes and sketches about each boy or girl. Then when you hungout with Tim you could match a vigilante’s mannerisms with one of his siblings, it was simple science really. Then you began taking down notes about whoever the Bats were fighting if it was public, discovering little facts and trying to slip Tim subconscious knowledge, it was the least you could do to help your favorite boy on earth. 

But that wasn’t enough, you wanted in on the excitement of crime fighting, to have more knowledge than was on broadcast TV. So you took to the streets of Gotham armed with pepper spray, a pocket knife, and a notepad. You learned tidbits of information that you poured over, working it together until you’d solved a case, then you’d slip hypothetical ideas to Tim throughout the hours of hanging out. You felt like a real life hero, and you were getting better by the day. 

“Jeez Tim it’s like you’ve been working double time! You’re solving cases before they’re even on B’s radar, what’s your secret kid genius?” Dick was stretching on the BatComputer while Tim feverishly typed in his newest solve. “Well I hangout with Y/N! She’s like a good luck charm dude I also get the best ideas when I’m with her! It’s pure magic bro I’m telling you” Tim explained as he frantically finished his report. “Lovers do have that effect! So when are you gonna tell her you’re in loveeeeee” Dick cooed as Tim shook his head. “Shut up Dickwing I’m working” was all he could give Dick without blushing or mixing up his words. He just had to plan something perfect.

But it never was perfect was it? 

Kill Croc was out in the sewer, and you’d taken it upon yourself to help Tim out, you knew people who knew some of the people that helped out Croc and you were determined to find him first at any cost. That’s how you accidentally ended up in a dirty drug deal. 

“Hey Timbers, you’re gonna wanna get to my location asap, I’m pretty sure your girlfriend is in trouble and it would be rude of me not to offer her saving to you” Jason heard a scramble from the other side of the comm as Tim confirmed he was on the way. He watched carefully as you searched for an escape from your capture, normally he would’ve busted the drug dealers for capturing teenagers by now but he was feeling magnanimous, deciding to give Tim the opportunity to save an unsuspecting but terrified Y/N. 

There were definitely no clear exits, you cursed yourself for getting too close. You were not Red Robin, you played the long game you didn’t rush into the arms of armed drug dealers in the name of the law. Your heart was beating out of your chest as they pointed a gun at you, forcing you to walk towards a sketchy delivery truck with the other kids. “Ooh totally not gonna happen!” a familiar voice cheered as glass windows shattered, none other than your best friend stood with a grin. He looked hot as fu- not the time, not the time. 

“Come any closer we’ll blow her brains out!” you felt a loaded pistol connect with the back of your head as you froze, begging to any god to live and promising not to be a field agent ever again. “That’ll be pretty hard without your gun dumbass” Tim called as four batarangs knocked the guns out of all the guy’s hands. Red Hood, who you knew was Jason Todd, burst through the back windows, guns raised. “I thought we had a deal you sorry bitches. Now let these kids go or I’ll show you what blowing brains out really looks like” the men froze, letting everyone escape. 

“Too late for us, but we’re taking the pretty girl with us!” one of the men had picked up their gun, aiming it straight between your eyes and firing. You screeched when a flash of red jumped in front of you. Almost in slomo you watched the bullet connect with Tim’s body. Your scream was deafened by Red Hood’s guns as he knocked all the men completely out. Rushing to Tim’s side you pulling his head into your lap. “Tim! Oh my god Tim are you okay!” you cried as Red Robin pulled off his domino mask to reveal a very confused Tim Drake. “Kevlar, I’m fine, bullets pack a punch but it just knocked the wind out of me, how did you know who I was?” Tim sat up, showing you the bullet sized dent in his suit. 

“We should go somewhere else and I can explain” you smiled sheepishly, letting Tim put his cowl back on as he loops his arm around your waist, pulling you to the top of the nearest building. 

“YOU’VE KNOWN FOR MONTHS” Tim looked shocked as you explained how you figured it out and how you’ve been helping him out for weeks. “Should I have told you? I’m really sorry I just didn’t know I felt like you’d tell me when you were ready” you flinched at Tim’s shout and he calmed down. “To be honest I don’t know, you’re one of few that know who I am, but I’m glad you know, makes this even better” Tim added the last part softly, placing his hand on your cheek to lift your lips to his. Your eyes widened in shock before fluttering closed, kissing him back. The build up of months detangled itself in a night, and kissing Tim was just as perfect as you’d imagined all those years ago. 

“So you’ve really been solving all those cases and you didn’t even tell me! You’re totally amazing at it!” Tim added, almost as if he’d been thinking during the kiss. “Yeah it’s pretty fun, you’re still gonna let me help right? I’m not stopping now!” you poked Tim’s chest while he thought. “I mean I’m pretty sure Babs needs a partner, but no ground work, you saw how well that went tonight, but it’ll be good to have a partner who finally knows everything” Tim exhaled, letting everything off his chest. 

“Partners!” you smiled, leaning in to seal the deal with a kiss. 

“This is totally epic” you stood stunned as the BatCave shined in all it’s glory. “I mean yeah it’s pretty cool, look this is my actual suit, I bet the one you saw was an older model!” Tim let you around the cave, showing off his favorite parts. You squeezed his hand trying to convey how excited you were. “I’m gonna be a better detective than you soon Timmy” you teased as Tim showed you the ropes of the BatComputer. “In your dreams babe” he rolled his eyes. “Babe huh? Didn’t realize you asked me out” you scrunched your nose at Tim while he blushed. “Oh uh, see I meant to, but yeah, I definitely should do that like-” you cut him off “yes Tim I’ll be your girlfriend you idiot” you laughed at how tongue tied the loveable boy was. You weren’t going to pretend like you didn’t get flustered around him either - you practically tripped on your own feet the first time you met him, but look how far you’d came from there. 

From friends to partners to lovers and probably everything in between, you were finally Tim’s in every way, working side by side was the best thing to ever happen to both of you. That’s not quite right. Tim Drake himself was just simply the best thing that’s ever happened to you. And you to him. And that’s truly love at it’s finest. 

[purplecatdad]

Of Bears and Friends (RDR Reverse Bang)

Written for the @rdrbigbang reverse bang for the wonderful picture of @mgcoco

| Arthur/Albert | General Audience | Fluff | Read it on AO3 |

Arthur sighed as he closed his journal. He had just finished up the sketch of their new camp at Clemens point as he reminisced about the things that had happened. 

Colm had attacked them, right in the middle of the little town of Valentine. That bastard had taken John (and Strauss, but Arthur wasn’t very fond of the feller), and had threatened to shoot him right in front of them. Gladly both him and Dutch were skilled enough with their guns to get the situation under control, even when they were heavily outnumbered. 

Arthur still had been worried about John for a moment, even if he’d never admit that to the other man. He’d become like a brother to him and he’d never forgive himself if he had been too slow to protect Jack from losing his father or Abigail her husband. 

He lit himself a cigarette after his journal was safely stored away in his satchel again and took a long drag, feeling his lungs filling up with the smoke before he breathed out again. He still had to sell that gold bar that he had gotten from that weird German guy. Arthur had thought about just donating it to the camp funds for others to take care of the selling, but right now he felt like taking a break anyway.

Cigarette dangling between his lips he got up, stretched until his bones cracked and shouldered his satchel.He didn’t plan to stay away too long but he knew that sometimes things went differently than you plan them and so he packed up some cans of beans from Pearson’s wagon. He was usually good at hunting his food but sometimes it was nice to just heat up a can instead of crouching in the bushes. 

“I’ll be gone for a bit. Maybe a week or two,” he announced to Dutch, who rested in his little tent, the gramophone blasting some random tune that Arthur had heard one too many times before. 

“Alright. Be safe, son. And better come back with a good lead or two,” the gang leader responded and Arthur just tipped his hat in response. He wouldn’t promise anything but of course he’d keep his ears open and his mind sharp. Life as an outlaw had taught him that there was money to be made at every corner and that one shouldn’t miss out on the opportunity. 

He tacked up the Black Shire he had named Thor, packed his bedroll and some more supplies to make camp before heading out. Firstly he would make his way up north. He had discovered this little, almost dead town called Van Horn before and knew that he’d make good money with the gold bar there. He also realized that it had been a while now since he’d last visited the widow Charlotte who lived up north the Roanoke. He decided to pay her a visit as well, just to make sure that she was alright and skilled enough to take care of herself. 

The sun was still rising as he made his way out of camp, setting a steady pace but making sure not to push his horse too hard. Arthur loved riding fast but it had cost him too many good horses when he was still young. He had learned when it was time to push them and when it was better to let them choose their own pace. 

"You‘re a good boy,“ he praised the stallion as he patted his neck. Back at Horseshoe Overlook, Thor had been quite the brute. One time he had even kicked him hard enough for Arthur to land on his ass. He had thought about selling him when Hosea told him to but something had told Arthur that he should keep his horse. He still missed Boadicea and longed for a horse that he could rely on. The Shire didn‘t seem to be that kind of horse at first but Arthur found him far too beautiful to just give him away to end up in front of some poor farmer‘s wagon. 

He had taken Thor out with him into the Heartlands, naming him after the god of Thunder as the sounds his hooves made when galloping over the endless meadows. It had taken them a while to properly get along, to train him to come when he whistled and to follow up. After two weeks of back and forth between them, Arthur knew that he could rely on Thor, though. Some daring Bounty Hunters had been chasing him, nearly getting him by ambushing him as he was making camp. But Thor didn’t let them. He had kicked them right off of their horses and stomped one of them to death as Arthur had shot the other. 

Since then, they had only been separated whenever he had been at camp or sleeping in a hotel rather than on his bedroll.

His first few hours of travelling were calm and uneventful. The people he passed didn‘t seem interested in him and he also wasn’t interested in them as none of them looked like they were carrying great amounts of cash. He knew that there weren‘t many rich folk up Roanoke Ridge so he hadn‘t expected it anyway. 

As he had passed the swampy area around Lagras the ground became more firm again and the road was taking him through the forest. Arthur felt better here, without the high humidity, surrounded by trees. He generally enjoyed being in nature, especially if it was the forest or the desert … but he hated the cold that they had in Colter as much as the warm and humid air around Lagras. He took a deep breath to enjoy the scent of the trees around him when he heard a familiar voice mumbling. 

"Where are they … I‘m sure they must be some somewhere here …,“ Arthur brought Thor to a halt and looked around the trees until he spotted the man with his camera. A smile spread over his lips as he watched him searching for something. Albert Mason was a strange man but he had actually become a good friend of his during the last few weeks. He had met him several times before, trying to photograph wolves, horses, and alligators. Albert seemed to be that rare kind of person who was born into wealth and still seeked out the adventurous outdoors - without being disgusted by its reality. Arthur still remembered that “gentleman” he had met on his way to Strawberry who had demanded to get a ride into the town while constantly complaining about it. It had annoyed Arthur immensely, so much that a part of him had actually thought about just robbing that man blind and leaving him behind. But Albert was different. He saw the beauty in nature, saw the dangers that lay in it, but also the wonders. And that was why he had started taking his photographs - and why Arthur thought of him as a friend. 

“Did ya lose something’?” Arthur called over to Albert who jumped and almost threw over his camera. He looked around until he saw Arthur and a wide smile appeared on his face. 

“Mr. Morgan!” the photographer exclaimed as he walked up to him and Arthur got down from his horse. “It’s good to see you again. Have you been well?”

Arthur thought about the shootout in Valentine and the German family that he had rescued from the O’Driscolls. “Hmm, mostly,” he mused with a faint smile on his lips and lit himself a cigarette. “So, whatcha lookin’ for?” 

“Oh, uh …”, Albert seemed to need a moment to remember what he had been doing. “I was looking for bears. I’ve actually found quite a few black bears already but I’d like something more …” he seemed to be at a loss of words and just waved around to indicate something big. 

“More … impressive?” Arthur suggested.

“Impressive, yes! They are pretty alright but something like … like a grizzly! That might be a great motive for a picture!”  

“A grizzly?” Arthur barked out a laugh in disbelief and shook his head. “You really do wanna die taking pictures, don’t cha?”

Albert chuckled at that and it almost sounded a little nervous. “Well, now that you’ve stumbled upon me … Maybe you want to make sure I don’t just yet?” 

Arthur looked back at him. “Ya know that we’d better head up to the Grizzlies for that, yeah? Ain’t many grizzlies around here. And I first gotta get some business done in Van Horn and then go visit a friend up at Brandywine Drop …” He wasn’t sure if Albert would be up for so much travelling but having some company actually sounded kind of nice. 

“Oh, if you don’t mind me traveling with you I’d love to join you on the road. I’m sure there will be some more opportunities for me to take pictures on the way.” Albert seemed to be delighted about the prospect of traveling alongside him and Arthur wasn’t quite sure how he felt about that. What if Albert would realise what kind of person he actually was and decide that he wasn’t a person he wanted to keep around anymore? What if he himself got annoyed at him? What if … but Arthur stopped his thoughts, took a last long drag from his cigarette and flicked it away.

“Alright then … do you … have a horse?” Arthur had realized that he had never actually seen him traveling around and looked around until he saw a small Criollo hitched to a nearby tree who looked over at them like it was aware of him asking for it. 

“That’s Daisy,” Albert said as he followed Arthur’s gaze on the horse. “She might be small but she is very reliable. Has never let me down so far.”

Arthur walked up to the little horse and offered his hand for her to sniff. Her fur looked like red and grey marble, her mane a dark brown. She gently nudged his hand as if asking for treats and Arthur chuckled low in his throat. “She’s quite the sweetheart, ain’t she?” 

After Albert had packed up his camera, eager to get moving to find some grizzlies up north they crossed the Kamassa River. It already started to get dark, the sun slowly setting over the horizon in the distance. It would have been possible to get to Van Horn and rent out a room somewhere there but considering the state of the town, Arthur preferred to make camp before heading in there. 

“You know, we actually should make camp somewhere. I’ll hunt us something. You can …,” he hesitated, not sure about Albert’s survival skills. “Can you make a campfire?” 

Albert looked up at him from Daisy’s back. “I, uh … can certainly try.”

Arthur sighed at that, only now realizing that he would have to do the muscle work on this trip. “How did you survive in the wild up until now?” 

“Well, I was always staying over in Hotels, mostly. But I’d happily learn a thing or two from you.”

“There’s an old fort close by … if there’s nobody else right now we can use it as a camp for the night,” Arthur suggested and Albert’s face lit up. 

“An old fort? Oh, how exciting!” 

They headed over there, Arthur holding the big doors to the fort open while Albert rode past him inside it. Luckily there was an old, abandoned campfire right next to a small hut within the fort that Arthur brought back to life with some matches and dry twigs that were lying around. 

“You can find some more wood and add to it so it’ll last us overnight. I’ll be back in a bit, there are plenty of turkeys and rabbits here,” Arthur announced and left the fort after Albert nodded. 

After their time in Colter, Arthur actually preferred to hunt on foot with his bow and arrow, at least when it came to harmless animals like deer or rabbits. He had become good at it, thanks to practising it a lot with Charles, but not good enough to guarantee him a kill on attacking wolves or cougars. 

He went into the nearest line of trees and gave his eyes a moment to adjust to the dim light there before he looked around for animal tracks. Arthur heard a turkey’s gobble coming somewhere from his right side and ducked down so he wouldn’t get their attention. There was a small group of four of them, so he had a good chance of getting at least one. 

He slowly got closer to them, raising his bow with an arrow ready when he was in shooting range. He was a good sharp shooter but he still needed a little more time to prepare for a shot with the bow. Arthur breathed in, pulling the bow back at the same time and released it as he breathed out again. The arrow hit the turkey at the base of the neck and it fell to the ground with a gentle thud. The others ran off immediately and Arthur went to collect his prey. 

When he got back to the fort, roughly ten minutes after he had left, Albert was gone. Sure, he had told him to collect firewood but Arthur hadn’t seen him around the fort as well and he wasn’t anywhere near the line of trees. He dropped the turkey on the floor, worried that something had happened to his travel companion. 

“Mr. Mason?!” he called out, looking around the fort for a hint where the photographer could’ve vanished too. Both Daisy and Thor, who were hitched at the corner of the fort, looked at him like he was disturbing their peaceful evening. Arthur cursed under his breath, hoping that his friend hadn’t been taken by some ill meaning asshole. 

There weren’t really any tracks on the ground that he could make out as it hadn’t rained in a while. He noticed that Albert had left his equipment at their little campsite though so he figured that he was either still closeby or that somebody had taken him. 

“Mr. Morgan! I’m down here!” He heard a voice calling from … somewhere. He approached the little cabin that was still somewhat standing and looked inside. There was no trace of Albert still but he was certain that it had come from this direction. He walked into the dark room, holes in the wall and the ceiling shining dim light into it. Soon it would be too dark to see here. He made out a ladder that led downwards and peeked inside, noticing a shadow and a dim light.

“Mr. Mason?” he asked again and got a “you should come down here, Mr. Morgan. Check it out!” Arthur sighed and climbed down into the basement, wondering if the building would collapse and bury them underneath and if whatever was down there was actually worth it. When he turned around, there was a dagger directly pointing at his nose. 

“This must be the last few remnants from the war!” Arthur took a step to the side and gently removed the knife from Alberts grip. It was big, like an actual hunting knife. There were traces of blood on the blade, long dried out, the victim probably dead for decades by now.

“That’s a pretty knife alright. You want to keep it? I’ve got my hunting knife but this might come in handy for you some time.” “But .. it belonged to someone!” Albert seemed shocked that Arthur suggested to him to just take it and the outlaw was reminded that not everyone grew up just taking what they needed. Arthur shrugged and stored the knife in the sheath of his hunting knife. 

“He ain’t gonna need it no more. But I’ll take it if you don’t want it.” He might as well just sell it at the fence, along with the gold bar he had found. 

“I also found this …” Albert noted and held up a cigarette card of a black panther. “Isn’t it a fine specimen? Oh, I’d LOVE to take a picture of one some time!” 

Arthur chuckled gently, shaking his head along with his. “You really wanna die, don’t cha?” 

A few minutes later Arthur was finally settled around the fire, strips of turkey meat roasting above it and an opened can of beans slowly warming up right next to it. Albert had excused himself to take some pictures of the fort from the outside and left him alone for a bit. 

Arthur looked up to the stars and enjoyed the silence for a moment. This was what he had longed for when he had left camp. To not be surrounded by nearly thirty people, all chatting and babbling, everybody wanting something from him or expecting him to bring in money. He didn’t mind helping people and he loved the gang like a family. But sometimes it all got too much. Sometimes he just wanted to travel, see the world and enjoy nature. Sometimes he didn’t want to be the great enforcer of the Van der Linde Gang. Sometimes he was content with just being Arthur. A wandering soul, ever moving, traveling to wherever his horse carried him. 

“This really is a lot more … rustic than I am used to.” He heard Albert’s voice coming from the side and was suddenly pulled out from his thoughts. For a moment he had forgotten that he wasn’t completely alone. “But this is very exciting! I’ve always wanted to sleep outside when I was a little boy. Never gotten around to actually doing it.”

Arthur blinked at Albert who settled down on the floor next to him, the camera neatly packed away again. “You’ve never slept outside?” It seemed so strange to him, like a completely different world. 

“Well, I grew up in the city. There weren’t any good spots to sleep outside in New York, Mr. Morgan. And as I said, so far I’ve usually slept in hotels. I’m glad to have this opportunity now, I hope to venture even further out west some time but I’m certain I’ll need more uh ... outdoor skills for that.” 

He wondered if the photographer had any idea about how dangerous the west really could be. “The west ain’t a place for city folk, Mr. Mason. Especially not if they’re all on their own.” Of course, it would be Alberts decision alone but Arthur really didn’t want him to get hurt because he was foolish enough to venture out alone. “Better get yourself someone who knows their way around and who you can trust.” 

“What about you, then, Mr. Morgan? Would you like to join me some time?” 

“Join you? Out west?” Arthur hadn’t expected Albert to just offer it like that... or to be quite so serious about it all. 

“Yes. You obviously know your way around, and I like your company. Of course, I can pay you for your time and the protection as well! I imagine it must be quite the trip there. As long as you don’t have any responsibilities here … I mean … I don’t really know how involved you are around here, of course. It just seemed to be like you’re … well, you seem to be quite a free spirit, in a sense...”  

Albert was babbling again, like he sometimes did. But Arthur didn’t mind it, it gave him time to think about the offer. What if he took it? Earning some honest money for a change and still doing things that he loved sounded good. But he knew he couldn’t just leave the gang behind. He wasn’t John who just left for a whole year or Trewlawny who didn’t even stay with them most of the time. He belonged in camp. What if something happened when he was away for multiple weeks, maybe even months? 

“I’ll think about that offer. Let’s first see how we’ll get along on this trip, shall we?”, He suggested. So far they had only ever spent an afternoon together. Maybe they wouldn’t even get along if they’d be around each other for longer. Arthur knew that he could tolerate a lot - after all, he was in a gang with Sean MacGuire for several years now and had only almost strangled him once - but he wasn’t sure if Albert would still like him if he got to know the real Arthur Morgan. Outlaw, killer, bastard. Nobody a proper man like Albert would usually keep around.  

“Yes, you might be right. But I’m sure we’ll get along just fine. So, my good Sir, what will we have for dinner, if I may ask?” Albert asked, his tone shifted from his usually happy babbling to something that resembled a fine gentleman in an even finer establishment. It made Arthur chuckle and forget his grim thoughts for a moment. Maybe Albert really could stay his friend. 

The night had been uneventful and calm, just like Arthur had hoped. After they had eaten the turkey with the beans, Albert had shared his last bit of chocolate with him. There had been some smalltalk, mostly Albert telling him about places he had been before and places he still wanted to see. All those that Arthur had never seen and probably never would. New York, Chicago, Philadelphia. Crowded places that he’d rather avoid. 

They had packed up their things after a quick breakfast with coffee, leftover meat and a shared bread roll, saddled their horses and made their way up to Van Horn. 

“So, what’s that town like? Van Horn, you said? I’ve never heard of it,” Albert asked him as they were moving along the path. 

“It’s a shithole, really,” Arthur explained as he lit himself a cigarette. “Not many people left there aside from some whores, gamblers, and alcoholics. Ain’t sure what happened to the town but it died out at some point and now there’s just the scum left.”

“Oh…” Albert didn’t seem to have expected that kind of answer. “So, what are you doing there?” 

“Well, a German fella that I’ve helped get rid of some … nasty folk .. he paid me with a damn gold bar. And I know I can sell those to a gentleman in town.” 

“Oh, there's a bullion dealer in town?” 

“Something like that, yeah.” It wasn’t exactly the truth but Arthur didn’t want to elaborate any further right now. 

They rode in silence for a while, occasionally stopping when Albert found something he wanted to photograph. 

The first thing they saw was the lighthouse of Van Horn. Once built to guide ships at the broad Lannahechee River it now started to rot away since it got neglected by the townsfolk. Arthur suspected that they simply ran out of funding. Most ships would probably rather find a harbour in Saint Denis down south, with more people being able to board in such a big city and more trades to me made with the large warehouses. He had seen plenty of towns like Van Horn in his life. Promising little settlements who had died out for various reasons. Bad investments, too many outlaws passing through and robbing the place, illnesses and sometimes for no reason at all. Sometimes, like here, there was still business to be made but other times it was best to just stay away. 

He noticed that Albert had grown more quiet since they had passed the last road bend. Arthur suspected that he was a little shocked due to the state of the town, despite Arthur warning him beforehand. He wondered if it was Albert’s first time in a place like this. 

“Don’t worry, we ain’t gonna stay long. Just stay close to me and don’t talk to anybody,” Arthur assured him and he felt Albert’s gaze on him for a moment. 

They rode past the fallen down houses and the saloon. He could see some lonely patrons in there, those who probably hadn’t left during the night and were still there in the late morning, slowly waking up to start drinking again as they had nothing left anymore. Arthur averted his eyes, painfully reminded of his own father. Sometimes he had waited for him in their shabby room right down the street from the saloon. Lyle had often promised him to come back with money that he’d win gambling but Arthur had to learn early that it were mostly empty promises, the money oftentimes just spent on liquor and women while he had waited at home with a hole in his stomach. 

Some women who stood next to the remains of the hotel looked at them with hope in their eyes for a moment, probably hoping for some money from lonesome travelers who wanted to let off some steam but they soon realized that Arthur and his companion were just passing through the town. 

He stopped next to the old post office, telling Albert to wait while he was doing his business. Arthur hitched Thor to a nearby post and walked up to the building in which he knew the fence did his business. It didn’t feel right leaving Albert behind in such a place and the photographer did look a little lost but he preferred it like that. He didn’t only have the gold bar with him but also a few pocket watches and belt buckles that he had taken from some unfortunate souls on the streets. He didn’t want Albert to just see it if there was no need to. 

“I’ll give you 550$ for that,” the fence said after Arthur had put all of the items, including the old knife he had found, on his table. 

“50$ more and we got ourselves a deal,” Arthur responded. He wouldn’t let the fence cheap out of this. 

“560$, last offer.”

He took out his gun and held it up to the fence's face. “600$, or I’ll take the money and the merchandise. We both know there’s no law around to help you.”

The fence stared at the gun for a second, then nodded shortly. “Alright. 600$. I don’t want any trouble here.”

“No trouble at all,” Arthur agreed with a content smirk and holstered his gun again before he grabbed the money that was offered and stashed it away in his satchel. 

“Pleasure doing business with you.” He tipped his hat and left the small warehouse before heading back to Albert. Arthur lit himself another cigarette, glad that he turned the gold into some money now. He frowned as he saw Albert in the distance who was being surrounded by some women who seemed to be a little too interested in him. 

“Come on, sweetheart,” Arthur heard one of them say as he got closer. “I’ll give you the time of your life. Just two dollars, you won't regret it, I promise.”

Albert’s face was red as a tomato, stammering something unintelligible and raising his hands in defense. It seemed like this was his first time being approached by prostitutes desperate for money and so Arthur walked up to them to rescue him out of that situation. 

“Leave him alone,” he snarled. “There’s cheaper ways to catch syphilis. Get lost!”

“That’s rude of you, Mister!” One of the prostitutes said but she also scuttered off like the rest of them when Arthur placed a hand on his gun and said “I ain’t gonna ask again.”

Arthur unhitched Thunder and jumped up on his back again as Albert collected himself. “You alright, Mr. Mason? They’re a little obtrusive here sometimes.”

“Y-yes .. I’m okay. Thank you.”

They headed out of the city again, up North and following the Lannahechee River that was glistening from the sun standing high in the sky. Arthur knew that there were lots of mean folk around here but he still loved the area for it’s lush greens. They rode in silence for a bit, sharing the occasional oatcakes and Albert stopping to take pictures now and again. It was a calm, beautiful day and Arthur enjoyed the ride a lot, even with Albert babbling about some rare species of bird that was rumoured to be seen around here. His babbling was simply different from the buzzing in camp. He didn’t expect anything from him and instead of complaining about too many chores or not enough money, Albert just seemed to be … excited about the things he saw. 

In the beginning, Arthur had found it childish for a grown man to get so excited about animals or nature's beauty. It reminded him of Jack who sometimes got all happy about dandelion seeds in the wind, even if it was such a mundane thing. After meeting Albert multiple times though and getting to know him a little better he found it endearing. It was contagious to see him all excited and Arthur had often caught himself smiling about the same things and always ended up sketching the animals that Albert had taken pictures of. Nature was beautiful, after all. And Albert had reminded him of that. 

“Not long until we’ll reach Annesburg,” Arthur started after a couple of hours of riding. “Should we rent a room there to spend the night?” 

Arthur noticed Albert blushing for a second and wondered why but before he had the chance to come to a conclusion the other man responded. “Ah, I enjoyed camping out with you far too much to get back to the confines of a hotel room just yet. If you don’t mind.”  

Arthur chuckled at that, amused that Albert seemed to have found some joy in staying outside now. Unusual for a city boy like him, he mused. “Sure, we can. I’d say we look for a good spot after we passed Annesburg then. Have you been there before?”

“I’m afraid I haven’t been, no.”

“It’s a mining town, air’s awfully dirty there. But you’ll see it soon.” 

Arthur chose the path that wouldn’t lead them directly through the city but rather around it. He wasn’t in the mood to pass through the town, not long ago he had a little argument with the Sheriff because he had accidentally run over a miner. The man had been fine and so Arthur had refused to see it as a crime. He didn’t want Albert to get mingled in that if the Sheriff saw him again and decided that it was a day of justice to be served.

As they got closer to the city, the air started to taste of smoke and stone. It was a strange thing that Arthur had never experienced before and while he was an avid smoker, this just didn’t seem right to him. It got harder to see into the distance as well. 

“I see now what you mean, Mr. Morgan,” Albert said as they approached the town. “It really is awfully dirty.” They passed the entry of the mine above the town and both of them shortly looked at the men walking past them and towards the mines. Their faces and clothes black with the dirt, their expressions tired and bodies hunched over from the hard work. 

“Oh, what an awful job this must be …,” Albert mused and Arthur hummed in agreement. “Not seeing the sun, always in danger of being buried alive … There must be better ways to earn a living.”

“Some ain’t got no choice, Mr. Mason. And this is what civilization does to us - we got bad air and awful jobs.” It was the reason he preferred to be out west. The air was clean and there were less people. Less big towns, less crowd … and less law to get in trouble with. 

“Well, it also gives us modern technology and science!” Albert exclaimed, patting his camera equipment that was strapped to his horse’s saddle. “I wouldn’t be able to do my job without it.”

Arthur thought about it for a moment. Yes, he enjoyed the photographs that Albert had shown him so far and their little adventures together but was it really worth all the hassle of civilisation? “I think I’d much rather miss out on some pretty pictures if that means I can stay away from cities. They’ve never done me any good. But I get that they’re important to you.” 

There was a soft smile on Albert’s face on that and Arthur wondered if the other man could even understand him all that well as someone who was born and raised in the city. There was no way he could understand what it meant to always roam free and to do what you want. “Maybe you’re right, Mr. Morgan. Maybe there really are things that are more important than pretty pictures.” 

After a little while they passed a cabin on the road. It was painted red and Arthur remembered that he had looked through the place before. Nobody had been home back then and there actually hadn’t been all that much to take. It seemed like there still was nobody at home and Arthur wondered if the place might be deserted for good now. He figured that it would be a bad idea to check again, just in case somebody would come home and Albert was still around. So they just passed it by and moved to a small incline behind it. 

“This should be a good place to stay for the night,” Arthur decided as the sun set on the horizon. “Brought some salted meat with me, we can eat that tonight so I won’t have to hunt.” 

Albert agreed and together they set up a tent. Last night they had slept within the confines of the old fort but tonight they weren’t protected by any walls. Albert really had two left hands when it came to setting up the tent so Arthur just told him to tend to the fire while he set it all up. He spread their bedrolls within the tent and realized that there really wouldn’t be much space between them. Arthur wondered if it would make Albert uncomfortable or not, he probably wasn’t used to sharing his breath with another man at night so he started to remove his own bedroll from the tent again, intending to sleep out next to the fire instead. 

“What are you doing? Aren’t you going to sleep in the tent?” Albert asked him with big eyes.

“Well, there ain’t much space in there, Mr. Mason. No need to make you uncomfortable. I can sleep outside just fine.”

“Make me uncomfortable? Oh, now don’t be silly Mr. Morgan. It is your tent we will be sleeping in and it’s supposed to get plenty cold tonight. If anybody should sleep outside, it would be me. However, I wouldn’t mind sleeping right next to you, if that’s what you’re so concerned about.”

He hadn’t expected Albert to be so assertive about it and stopped in his tracks, musing over the words for a moment. Albert was right, it was supposed to get cold tonight with the sky as clear as it was and if it really didn’t bother him Arthur would very much prefer to sleep in a tent tonight. 

“If you’re sure ‘bout it…”

“I am, don’t you worry about that. I don’t just say things that I don’t mean.”

Arthur gave him a small smile at that and nodded. He turned around and unrolled the bedroll in the tent again, preparing their bed for the night before he settled in around the fire next to Albert. Tonight he heated up some canned peas that he served Albert and himself with a piece of bread and the salted meat. It wasn’t fine cuisine but he somehow always enjoyed these thrown together meals at the beginning of a trip when he still had some provisions to choose from. 

“So, how did you meet this lady that we’re visiting?” Albert asked him halfway through their shared meal. 

“Uh, well…,” it had been a tip from a guy he had freed from a prison wagon. A lone lady in a little cabin, rich apparently and an easy way to make money. After Arthur had met her he had refused to take her money, though. “Met her when I was passing by, heard her crying ‘bout her husband. Showed her how to hunt. She was more city folk before, much like you.” 

“You really like helping people, don’t you?” Albert said with a smile on her face, munching on some of the peas. “I like that about you, you know?” 

Arthur hadn’t expected to get a compliment, he cleared his throat and looked down onto his plate, unsure what to respond for a moment. “Well, can’t just let her starve just after losing her husband, can I? She wanted to create a new life for her so … I helped her achieve that. Was mostly her doing.” 

“I’m curious to meet her. She sounds like a very interesting person.” 

“I’m sure you’ll get along just fine. And afterwards, we can find a grizzly for you. Might even see a cub or two, it’s the season for ‘em right now. Just gotta be careful around them, the mothers don’t like people ‘round them.” 

Albert’s eyes lit up at that. “Oh, cubs would be so wonderful! I’m sure seeing them would help people see that they need to be protected.” 

He chuckled at that. Albert’s reason for taking pictures really was a noble one. But he wasn’t sure if he could reach that goal, especially with so many people each day being attacked and killed by wild predators that roamed America.

 “Maybe, yes. But remember that they are still dangerous, much like their mommas.” 

“Of course! But I also have you with me to protect me, don’t I, Mr. Morgan? “Sure you do.”

They finished their dinner, easing into some conversations about nothing in particular, sharing a bottle of whiskey and some cigarettes until Albert announced that he was tired and lay down in the tent. 

Arthur got out his journal, sketching their little campsite before he wrote down a few sentences about their adventure so far. 

Met this photographer again on the road. Decided to travel with him for a bit. Guy wants to see some grizzlies so I’ll take him to see one. First we’ll see Charlotte again though. Will see how she is holding up. 

He followed Albert into the tent after he had fed the fire one last time and tucked away his journal into his satchel again. The other man was already sound asleep, snoring very softly and his mouth hanging open a little. 

Arthur entered carefully, trying not to wake the other man as he lay down on his bedroll. He sat down his hat next to himself, stretched and yawned before he turned onto his side to sleep. Albert shuffled a little next to him, mumbling something in his sleep and moved up to him. Arthur felt the heat of the other man’s body getting closer and for a moment he thought about waking him or shoving him away. Instead, he sighed and just relaxed as he enjoyed the presence of another person sleeping so close to him. Just a few minutes later he drifted off to sleep, tired from the long journey during the day. 

When he woke up he felt the cold at the tip of his nose and gently rubbed it to warm it up. He frowned when he noticed that Albert had already gotten up and looked out of the tent to see if he was sitting at the fire but there was nobody to be seen. The fire didn’t even look like it had been tended to at all. 

He got up, stretching and popping his bones to wake and warm up a little. Albert was still nowhere to be seen but he figured that the man probably just went to do his business in peace. He sat down by the fire to bring it back to life and to make some coffee. A lit cigarette dangling from his lips he opened up a can of baked beans to heat up as well. When he was alone on the road he usually just had a cigarette and maybe some coffee to wake up in the morning but Albert had told him that he was used to a proper breakfast in the morning so he figured he could take care of that while the photographer was still busy. 

Arthur started to get worried when he had finished his cigarette and Albert still hadn’t shown up again. He got up and looked for traces of him. The bag with his camera equipment was missing but his horse - and all the other valuable things they had -  was still around so Arthur figured that they hadn’t been robbed during the night. He guessed that Albert probably had seen a pretty squirrel and just wandered off.

“What a fool,” Arthur murmured, shaking his head as he started to follow what he suspected were the other man’s footprints.

The track led him down the incline they had been camping on and towards the path that they would continue their travels on. And there he saw Albert standing, fumbling with the settings of his camera. 

“Morning, Mr. Mason,” Arthur said, loud enough to startle Albert and make him jump.

The photographer turned around to him, his chuckle sounding a little nervous after he got scared. 

“Good morning to you as well! I’ve just ah- I wanted to capture the beautiful sunrise over the river, you know? Didn’t want to wake you up.”

Arthur followed his gaze towards the river. The sun has already risen by now but the sky was still painted in pretty colours with the river glistening in the early light. Albert was right, it was a beautiful view and Arthur had a hard time to blame him. “Could’ve still woken me up, wasn’t sure where you had gone, just like that.” 

Albert seemed to be surprised about that and blinked at him for a moment. “Oh, I … didn’t think you’d be that worried about me, Mr. Morgan. Otherwise I would’ve- “ “No, no. It’s alright,” Arthur assured him and realized that it probably had been a little stupid of him to just assume the worst, especially because Albert was a grown man, after all.

After a quick breakfast they went on their way again, following the Roanoke Ridge up North. Most words between them had been spoken, so they rode in a comfortable silence, just broken once or twice when Albert pointed out a pretty tree or animal to him. Arthur usually had seen them before and if he had been alone he might’ve stopped to sketch it as well but he just wasn’t used to people he traveled with caring about the marvels of the world. 

They rested at one particular interesting tree that both of them found fascinating and while Albert set up his camera to take a picture of it, Arthur got out his journal and sketched it as well. It didn’t take long for Albert to notice the Journal and what Arthur was doing. After he w3as content with the pictures he had taken, he walked over to Arthur and asked him to have a look at his drawing. 

“It ain’t much, Mr. Mason…”

“Just let me have a look, Mr. Morgan … I really do enjoy art and I’m sure it’s wonderful.” 

With a sigh Arthur presented the journal to Albert who suddenly made surprised sound. “Oh, that IS wonderful, Mr. Morgan! You’ve captured it so well!”

Arthur felt himself blush. He wasn’t used to getting compliments like this and he felt a bit embarrassed to be praised like that for a simple sketch of a tree. “Well .. thank you. It really ain’t special, though.”

“Oh, it absolutely is. I wouldn’t be able to draw such a thing. Now, take the compliment and leave it at that, yes?”

Arthur shook his head in amusement. Albert really was a special kind of person. “Sure thing, Mr. Mason.” 

   Eventually they reached the little cabin that Arthur probably would have never found out about if it hadn’t been for the tip he had gotten. Instead of robbing the place, he had found a friend there. Someone to visit whenever he needed a break from the gang. Someone much like Albert. 

He led Albert up the path and dismounted the horse after he passed the little entryway. Charlotte had started to try and make something of the little garden and had also fixed up the fence. He wondered if she would follow her advice and get some goats for milk and meat, just to help her when hunting didn’t go well. They hitched their horses and as Arthur turned around he saw Charlotte leaving her cabin. She stopped in her tracks, probably surprised to see two horses on her property. But her face lit up as she saw him and Arthur smiled right back to her, equally happy to see her. 

“Arthur!” she called over and dropped the basket she had been carrying onto the chair on her porch. Charlotte approached them and Arthur was happy to see that she really looked well now. Her cheeks were rosy, her eyes were bright and she looked like she was back to a healthy weight again. “It’s good to see you here. Who’s your friend?”

“This is Albert Mason. Him an’ me are traveling up to the grizzlies to see some bears,” he explained to her. Charlotte’s face darkened in worry and Arthur, the fool that he was, suddenly remembered how Cal had died. 

“Oh, just to take some pictures of them,” Albert chimed in cheerfully. “You see, Ma’am, I’m a nature photographer and I’d like to capture the beauty of the American wildlife. So this isn’t going to be a bear hunt or anything like that.”

“Well, I hope that you stay safe…,” Charlotte said in a low voice while mostly looking at Arthur. “I wouldn’t want anything to happen to you. But .. how can I help you?”

“I was actually on my way to check on you when I met Mr. Mason here, so … I suggested we make a break here first before heading West. If you don’t mind. Otherwise we can be on our way again, of course.” 

“No, of course I don’t mind. It’s nice to have visitors, it tends to get a little lonely here sometimes. Feel free to come in … I even got some stew on the stove that I wanted to eat after the laundry. But that can wait, I’m not the biggest fan of washing anyway,” she admitted with a cheeky smile.

As they entered the cabin Arthur noticed a stretched out grey tabby cat right next to the fireplace. It rolled around, got up and stretched before lazily walking up to Charlotte. “Did you wake up from your nap already?” Charlotte asked and picked up the cat before she kissed its head. “This is Artemis. She helps me with the rats and I share my fish with her. If I manage to catch one, that is…” The cat started to struggle a little so he let her go again. Artemis landed on her paws rather gracefully. She ignored the men in the house and sat down on a pillow that was placed in front of the fireplace. “I’ve always wanted a cat but Cal didn’t really get along with them. He also always had to sneeze and got watery eyes when he was near them, weirdly enough… I found this one a few weeks ago and she’s really great company.”  

“Well, I’m glad that she’s keeping you company,” Arthur said and pulled his gaze away from the cat who had started to stare him down like they were having a staring contest. He had never understood cats very well and usually preferred dogs over them. But he wasn’t there to judge Charlotte’s choice in pets. 

They settled around the table in the middle of the room and Charlotte got out some bowls and spoons for them. “So, how have you been, Arthur?” she asked him and gave him a small smile before she got the pot down from the stove. 

“Ah, it’s been a few busy weeks. I’m glad that I’ve got some free time to spend now. Just wandering ‘round a bit, seeing some folk.“

"You know, you‘ve never actually told me what kind of work you‘re doing,“ Charlotte mused as she served all of them a steaming hot bowl of stew. "Very few jobs offer this kind of freedom.“

Arthur had already wondered if she‘d ever ask him this question. Maybe, he had thought, she had already guessed it. Maybe she had been avoiding the question on purpose, afraid of what the answer might be. Albert also looked at him expectantly now, curious probably what kind of man he was travelling with now that it was brought up.

"I just … do some odd jobs here 'n there. Whatever brings in some money, really. So between jobs, I like to travel a bit. Means I see more than just one place of the world.“ It was the truth, even if not all of it, but it seemed to be enough for them for now. Arthur knew that even those folk who stayed on the legal path oftentimes went from job to job. It wasn‘t unusual to just go where the money was, after all. 

"Oh, that sounds so adventurous!“ Charlotte exclaimed. "You must tell me a story or two sometimes, maybe I can put something of it into my writing.“

Albert smiled at that, curious now about Charlotte as well. "Oh, you‘re an author?“

"Well, I try to be. I haven‘t published much, just a short story or two in the newspaper in Chicago. But I‘m working on my first book now and it‘s going well. It‘s like the muse has kissed me after Arthur came to my rescue.“

"He really has a habit of doing that, doesn‘t he?“ Albert said and chuckled softly.

Arthur cleared his throat and shook his head, focusing on his stew. He wasn‘t quite used to people talking like that about him. If he was praised, it usually was for his strong fists in people‘s faces or his ability to shoot someone in the head from 200 feet away. 

Albert and Charlotte eased into a conversation about Chicago and other bigger cities that they visited. Arthur had never been to any of those but to him it seemed horrible. Bigger cities like Saint Denis? That seemed like outright torture to him. More civilisation, more law, more rules to follow. No, he was content being out in the wild. And he now understood even better why both Albert and Charlotte chose to flee from all of that and built new lifes out here. Nature gave them room to breathe and to live and to just be, whereas the city restricted them.

After dinner they played a few rounds of poker. Albert had a horrible poker face and was easy to beat but Arthur was surprised to learn that Charlotte was actually really good at it. She ended up winning almost all rounds they played and smiled brightly as she stashed away the money that she won. 

"I‘ve used to play a lot with my sisters and we all had to have a good poker face for when we had some higher up guests join us for dinner,“ she explained. "But it was fun to play with you.“

It was time to sleep afterwards, and while Charlotte had a spare room in her house she only had one bed to sleep on. "'s alright, I‘ll sleep here on a bedroll.“ Arthur assured Albert after he offered to sleep on the floor multiple times. "I‘m more used to it than you, don‘t worry 'bout it.“ 

They settled in for the night and after being woken up by a purring cat who shoved her butt into Arthur‘s face twice before settling down and rolling up on his butt Arthur actually had a pretty good night‘s sleep. He was used to sleeping outside, with and without a tent, but sometimes he actually enjoyed having a real fireplace nearby and a roof above his head. 

He was up early in the morning, before Charlotte or Albert had gotten out of their rooms, so he decided to brew up some coffee for them. Charlotte actually had one of the better brands, one that he‘d probably never buy for himself, even if he loved his coffee in the morning. It was simply not a luxury that made sense when you have to feed over twenty people in a camp. He also found some eggs that he cracked open and scrambled in a pan, roasting some bread along with it. The sizzling seemed to have woken up the other people in the cabin, both Albert and Charlotte got out of their rooms shortly before the eggs were fully cooked. 

It was a peaceful, quiet moment, both of them thanking him for the coffee and sitting down on the table for breakfast. Sometimes Arthur wondered what life would be like, in a place like this. Away from society but still living in a home. A place to make his own, with people to love and care about. He loved the gang, of course, but he couldn‘t call them a family. At least not all of them and not with the way they were living right now. Always fighting, always on the run. What kind of man would he become if he had a cabin like this? If he didn‘t have to fight just to survive? If he wasn‘t wanted with a bounty that could probably feed him for a whole year? 

“So, you’ll be heading out again today?” Charlotte asked and interrupted his thoughts with that. 

He blinked for a moment to process her words, then nodded as he put bread and eggs on each of their plates. “Yeah. Don’t wanna bother ya for too long.” “Oh, don’t worry about bothering me. Both of you. I enjoy company, especially if it’s as pleasant as yours," Charlotte assured him with a smile and again Arthur thought about how different she would perceive him if she knew how he made his money. “You can also feel free to take some supplies with you. I’ve got plenty of cans to spare.”

“Oh, that would be very kind of you, Mrs. Balfour. It was definitely a pleasure meeting you. If I’m ever in the area again I might drop by,” Arthur was glad that Albert and Charlotte had gotten along to the point that he actually considered visiting her again.

And Charlotte also seemed to like the idea. “Oh, please always feel free to come and visit whenever you wish to. My door will always be open. To both of you.”

Arthur was happy that she was inviting him but unsure if he would be able to come to her much longer. Dutch had talked about all the things that he wanted to change. About Tahiti or Australia or some other island that they would do to flee the law. He knew that it was unlikely that they’d actually go that far … but he knew that at some point he should stop coming here. Just to avoid Charlotte getting dragged into something that she didn’t deserve to be dragged into. He always hated letting go of people like that but he knew that it was for the best. The only people he could keep around for long was the gang. Because they knew what they had signed up for. 

They finished their breakfast and packed some of the bread that Charlotte had baked the day before and she insisted that they had to take it with them. Arthur refused to take some of her meat though because he was “Very capable of huntin’ my own food,” and wanted her to keep it as she still was very much a beginner when it came to hunting animals. Charlotte agreed eventually and after saddling their horses they continued their travel. 

They crossed the Roanoke River alongside the train tracks, passing by that weird building with the tower that Arthur had seen when he had been around these parts before. The building had been vacant though with nobody close by so he had just let it be. There had been some expensive looking machines inside but nothing that he could’ve loaded onto the back of a horse so he had figured that breaking in wouldn’t have been worth it anyway. 

The further they got to the west, loosely following the train tracks, the more their environment changed into some rocky paths. There were less trees and the patches of forest weren’t as lush as the ones around Roanoke Ridge. It was easier to see further ahead - but also easier to be seen. Albert, of course, wasn’t worried about that - Arthur suspected that he wasn’t even aware of that. He kept chattering about Charlotte. About her lovely cabin, the beautiful waterfalls close to her home, her lovely little flower patch and her hospitality. Of course they also had to stop, again and again, for new photo opportunities. Arthur still didn’t mind it though, the trip to O’Creagh’s Run wasn’t too long of a ride and he was certain that they would make it in time to make camp right by the water. 

And Arthur had been right. The sun just started to set when they reached the lake. They approached it from the side at which the old veteran named Hamish was living. There were no lights coming from inside though and Arthur figured that it wouldn’t make sense to tell a hunting-loving man that they would go looking for some grizzlies, not if Albert wanted to take those pictures with the bears still alive.  

“What a beautiful place this is,” Albert marveled as Arthur led him around the water. He didn’t want to camp just next to the cabin, so they needed to ride a little further. “Nature really is gorgeous, isn’t it?” 

“It is,” Arthur agreed, following his gaze over the water that lay almost still in the evening light. It really was beautiful and Arthur had the urge to draw again. Instead, he looked over at Albert. “What do you think of some fish for dinner?” 

“Fish?” Albert asked. He sounded like he hadn’t expected Arthur to suggest fish for dinner at all. 

Arthur gave him a short, crooked smile before answering. “Well, these waters are great for fishing. Have pulled out some big fellas out of here. Besides, if we want to attract some bears tomorrow, some bait will be good. And nothing’s better than some fish.” “Well, then … It sounds absolutely delightful. You’ll have to show me how it’s done, though.”

They set up camp close to the water, not quite on the shore because Arthur knew how uncomfortable it was to sleep on the gravel right next to the water. They made a small fire, mostly to make sure to keep the nearby animals that were lurking away from them. Albert had already gotten better at setting up a camp and knew how to arrange the firewood so they were finished fairly quick and still had time to catch a fish. All they needed was a little luck. 

They stood at the shore next to each other, Albert holding the rod because he had requested to actually learn it. Arthur leaned in closer, correcting the grip on his hand and directing him how to throw the line out to the water. 

“I see why so many people enjoy this … it is fairly relaxing if you- oh! Oh, I think one bit!!”

The rod almost slipped out of Albert’s hand and Arthur jumped in to take over. He leaned back and reeled the line in, huffing as he felt the pull of the fish. 

“Oh, this sure is a big one, Mr. Mason …,” he said as he took a step back to have a better posture. “Can’t reel ‘m in too quick, otherwise the line will break,” he explained further as Albert hopped around on the balls of his feet to get a better look at what was in the water. The fish broke through the surface as he was fighting the pull, even more so when he was dragged closer to the shore. 

Finally he got the fish out onto the shore. He grabbed it and killed with a quick hit on the head before presenting it to Albert. “May I present you - dinner.” “Oh, that’s a salmon, isn’t it?” Albert asked, still excited and moving closer to expect the fish. “I’ve always just seen illustrations or photographs in books. And ate them, of course. But never this fresh.” “Yeah, you’re right. They’re also the grizzlie’s favourite fish. So this should be perfect.” 

He lay down the fish on a bigger stone nearby, gutted it and wrapped up the guts in a piece of cloth. Albert wrinkled up his nose, it was obvious to Arthur that he hid his disgust. He agreed that it was a rather nasty thing but it had to be done. He put the gutted salmon onto a stick and hung it above the fire to cook. 

“Alright, now we just gotta wait until it’s done. Can cut up some of the bread that Charlotte gave us and we'll have a decent enough meal.” Arthur said and stretched out his legs by the fire. “And tomorrow we’ll find some grizzlies to take a picture of.” 

“That really does sound wonderful,” Albert agreed with a soft sigh as he sat down next to him. He shared his cigarettes with Arthur and both of them watched the fire for a moment, enjoying the quiet and the darkness that started to wrap around them like a blanket, held off only by the fire. 

“So, Mr. Morgan … is this how you live?”, Albert asked. Usually those words would have sounded like a criticism, like it was something bad. But with Albert it sounded more like he was simply wondering and trying to get to know his friend a little better. 

“Most of the time, yeah. Sometimes hotel rooms, but I prefer being outside. Less rules to follow,” he said with a short smile towards Albert who chuckled softly. 

“I know what you mean, yes …” he said in a low voice. “But you’re not alone all the time, are you?” Albert’s voice was gentle, almost careful. Arthur wondered if he really wanted to know the truth or if he wanted to find out if he should start distrusting his travel companion.

Arthur took a drag from his cigarette, contemplating his answer for a moment. There weren’t many groups of people living outside, always traveling around. He was sure that Albert knew this as well as any other … and it was pretty obvious that Arthur was no circus clown, even if he felt like it sometimes. 

“No, I’m not,” he answered eventually, his voice low as well. “It can be a hard life and we’re always .. moving ‘round. But I’ve got my folk and they’ve got me.” 

There was a little smile on Albert’s face as he looked at Arthur. “And I’m glad that’s the case. Life must be awfully lonely with nobody around when you’re living on your own. Especially out in the wild. So … I’m happy to hear that I always meet you on your own because you chose to and not because you got nobody else.”

Arthur had not expected Albert to be worried about something like that of all things he could be worried about. “You really ain’t got no reason to be worried ‘bout me, Mr. Mason,” he told him with a short smile. “I’m fine. Just needing some peace and quiet from time to time.”

“And then you choose to travel with a blabbermouth like me?” Albert laughed and Arthur joined in. Albert really wasn't good at keeping quiet but he had never minded that. If all he enjoyed the things that Albert talked about and how joyful his perspective on life was. 

“Well, I tend to be a fool, you should know that by now,” he said with a grin and Albert shook his head. 

“So am I, Mr. Morgan. So am I.”

They both got hungry because of the tasty smell of the fish so Arthur cut up some slices of bread that they dunked in oil and ate with some of the oregano leaves that they could easily pick from the plants growing nearby. They added the succulent fish meat as it was done cooking, both of them enjoying the texture and the warmth in their bellies. 

With each evening, Arthur had enjoyed Albert’s company even more and it didn’t even feel awkward anymore to get into a tent with him. They slept side by side on their bed rolls and when Arthur woke up during the middle of the night because Albert had put his arm around him in his sleep he found that he didn’t even mind that. It was nice in fact to have a warm body right next to him and he dozed off again with a smile on his face. 

“Mr. Morgan! Mr. Morgan, wake up!”

Arthur felt someone gently shaking his shoulder and he opened up his eyes, blinking in the process at the early sunlight that was hitting his face. 

“There are some bear cubs!” Albert exclaimed with a shouted whisper. Arthur was awake instantly, knowing very well that cubs would always be close to a very protective mama bear. 

He got up and out of the tent to see what was happening. Roughly 70 feet away from them were actually two bear cubs playing in the water at the shore and trying to catch fish. He put on his hat and watched them warily, searching for their mother. 

Albert, on the other hand, set up his camera quicker than Arthur had ever seen him do it before to start to take some pictures of them. The clicking of the camera made the cubs look over to them and Albert mumbled something in excitement that Arthur did not understand in the slightest. 

Suddenly there was a growl behind them, Arthur turned around and saw the mother of the cubs, standing on her hind legs and glaring at them angrily. “Shit…” he said and grabbed the revolver in his holster. 

“No, don’t shoot her please!” he heard Albert plead behind him. 

“Well what ELSE would you suggest?!” Arthur hissed back to him as the mother dropped down on all fours again and started approaching them. At least she wasn’t in full attack mode yet. 

“Maybe we can … distract her, somehow?!”, Albert suggested and Arthur remembered the fish guts that were still in his satchel.

He moved slowly, not to piss her off in any way, and took the smelling bundle out of his bag. He threw it over to her, right in front of her big paws and she started sniffing it with interest. 

“‘Right, now or never …,” Arthur said and dragged Albert behind him. The photographer was clutching his camera as they slowly moved away from the camp, the bear now munching on the innards of the fish. They reached their horses and unhitched them, both Thunder and Daisy running away on their own, smart enough to know that they were in danger. “They’ll find their way back later,” Arthur assured Albert as he tried to grab Daisy’s lead. 

They moved further into the bushes, now watching the mother and her cubs on the shore from a safe distance. For once, Albert wasn’t talking and Arthur suspected that he knew very well how important it was now not to attract the bears anymore. The mother started rummaging through the things that they had left, ripping the tent and chewing up the last bit of fish bones that were left of their dinner. Eventually she decided that it was time to move on and so she did, followed up by the cubs.

Arthur took a deep breath and lit himself a cigarette to calm his nerves, offering Albert one as well who gladly took it. “Well, that was close. Hope the pictures will be worth it.” 

“Oh, I’m sure they will be. Playing cubs was so much more than I expected! Thank you again for joining me. Someday I really ought to pay you for always having my back!”

Arthur shook his head. “Ain’t no need for that, Mr. Mason. Your company is reward enough for me,” he assured him and it almost looked like Albert was blushing. 

“Well, if you say so …” he cleared his throat. “I really enjoyed traveling with you. Maybe you should really join me some time … venturing out west.”

Arthur looked back at Albert and thought about it again. He had his responsibilities. People who needed him. Who relied on him being there. But they’ve managed without him before, for a few weeks. Who said that they wouldn’t manage again? Who said that he had to spend all his life running with a gang of outlaws if he also could spend it with Albert? He found himself smiling at Albert. 

“I think you might be right, Mr. Mason.” “You know, you can call me Albert…”

He smiled again, knowing that this would only be the beginning of their friendship full of new adventures. “Albert. I’d love to join you out west.” 

[leandrafoxxo]

So..

I’m planning on creating a larger fanwork to continue and deepen the story of Junpei and Chidori from Persona 3, making it a mix of drawings and writing. Whenever I get an idea I write down a scene or draw a sketch and keep it, hoping that one day I will have accumulated so much that I will be able to shape it all into a proper story. I’ve shown drawings, but I’ve never shown anything that I’ve written before, so.. If you’re interested feel free to read on and leave some feedback as well. It would be great to talk to mutuals more! (little edit: I’ve been thinking about adding a part where Junpei dreams of being with her and because he has quite some of her life energy left with him she ends up having the same dream. I’d have to change things a little bit, but that could be interesting, too.)

"Hey, Chidori."

Junpei scratched his neck as he looked down a tad, but his gaze was caught by hers again, which was directed at him curiously, waiting for his response.

"Ah, I was just wondering, you know, whether you've got some time to spare.. like, on Sunday?"

She nodded in reply.

' I do.. why is it you ask? '

"Well, I thought we could.. you know, only if you'd like, but.."

- Ahw come on man, say it already! - he thought by himself before gathering his courage.

Under her curious gaze he finally managed to ask her.

"Would you like to.. catch a movie with me? They have some good ones at the theatre nearby.. Or anything you like, really, I'm not picky."

Just as long as he could spend more time with her.

Chidori kept looking at him for another second, then averting her gaze downwards, blinking, smiling a tad before she looked up to him again.

' I'd like that. ' she finally gave for an answer, which made Junpei smile in relief.

"Sweet! Sunday’s still okay, right?”

‘ If you don’t mind it being in the afternoon, yes. I wanted to go visit the old lady that keeps the flowershop, she wanted to have a cup of tea with me. ‘ she explained, seeming very happy that she would have so much good company.

“Ah, the old lady you’ve been telling me so much about? I’ve gotta meet her some time, too, she seems great!”

‘ She is. ‘ Chidori showed an earnest smile as she said that.  .

Junpei smiled back, getting a little more sheepish again. “So uh.. Wanna go back to the dorm again? We can think up something good for Sunday while we’re at it.”

‘ That sounds good, it’s getting a little colder again. I’m okay though. ‘ she said before Junpei could get worried. And so they carried on their conversation on their way back to the dorms. __________________________________________________________

Chidori was sitting on that very bench next to the flower shop at the Port Island Station.

It was a little early for her to be sitting there waiting already, yet she sat there, at some point growing tired of sketching flower bouquets.

As beautifully arranged as they may have been, somehow she just felt tired in general.

And as she drew, her thoughts drifted off and the flowers became more and more abstract, as though she'd be seeking to capture something entirely different.

Like that she closed her sketchbook and placed it to her left, directing her gaze towards all those wind turbines, eventually losing it in the sky and drifting off to sleep.

At first she was sleeping calmly before slowly all those pictures came up again.

Pictures she couldn't define, such that would only leave her with one feeling.

Longing for something.

She was longing for.. for someone? But who are you.. and where have you gone?

After a while she would wake up with this strong feeling again, but.. no, it felt different now.

The sun stood much lower than before, but alongside that...

' Jun..pei.? '

Chidori found herself leaning onto Junpei's shoulder.

He seemed to have fallen asleep right there, with both of them supporting their weight onto each other.

Puzzled and a tad flustered she looked up to him.

However, as she watched him sleep serenely, something became clear to her. _____________________________________________________________

"Alright, alright.. You got this. You're da man. Just.. keep their advice in mind and don't screw this up, that's all." he mumbled to himself, on his way to Port Island Station.

As he got out of the train he adjusted himself and got down the stairs.

Like that he reached the bench, but..

He checked the clock.

No, no he wasn't late at all. Good. But still..

He looked over at Chidori, who was fast asleep right there in front of him.

To be frank, he didn't really know how to deal with this situation.

But, to be frank, he genuinely liked that sight.

And thus he kept watching her for another moment before he sat next to her, carefully, as somehow he just didn't want to disturb her sleep.

So he was waiting.

Then, after a couple of minutes she grew to be restless.

At first he thought she'd be waking up and he was already thinking up something to greet her with before he noticed that she was still caught in her sleep.. was she dreaming?

But he wasn't left alone long enough to finish this thought, as he saw how his lady shifted around a tad before her balance changed in a way that would've sent her lying flat on the bench.

That is, if Junpei wouldn't have given up on the polite distance he kept at first.

Like this she leaned onto him now, even snuggling up to him a little before she got calmer.

Junpei on the other hand gathered all his mental power to stay still, blushing a good tad as he thought about just how incredibly glad he was that he just took a shower.

So like this, somehow, he actually managed to calm down, though he was still incredibly stoked about the situation.

After all, it's been so long since he last...

Nah, he didn't want to overthink that, he just wanted to enjoy this moment with her.

Hence he carefully - very carefully - leaned onto her just a bit more to catch some of her scent, gently leaning his head onto hers, watching her just a little while longer before he closed his eyes.

In this serene moment, he drifted off to sleep. ______________________________________________________________

' Junpei.? '

Somewhere inbetween sleeping and waking he heard a gentle voice calling his name.

' Hey, Junpei. '

Someone was trying to wake him, and eventually she succeeded.

Amber eyes looked up to him as Junpei looked back at her, just studying her for a moment.

"Huh.. I'm not dreaming.. now am I?" he mumbled towards her.

Chidori smiled and shook her head, snuggling into him a little more.

He blinked for another second before he turned a lot more red, sitting up all straight before he started to talk really quickly.

"I-I'm sorry! I, you were sleeping and -" ' Hey.. ' "- I just really didn't want to disturb you but, you, you know, all of a sudden -" ' Hey, Junpei.. ' "I mean I didn't want you to fall and get hurt and -" ' Junpei, please calm down! '

Despite calling out to him her voice was still gentle.

As she finally had a calmer Junpei next to her, looking at her in wonder, she began to chuckle at his sight, blushing a little.

And whilst his heart jumped a tad, she patted his shoulder gently.

' Don't worry.. It’s okay, really. I didn’t mind being with you like that. ' she replied, surprised how she was able to say that without getting sheepish, but she really meant that.

His eyes got wide and he blinked at Chidori another second before he scratched his neck with a big smile on his face.

"Heh, you really think so?"

There she shared a bench with a genuinely happy man.

As their gazes met the moment was broken by a clock signalizing how time had passed on in the background. It has gotten late, as the evening was not yet there, but the sun stood rather low.

"Ah- the movie!"

' It's almost over, huh? '

Junpei shrugged in reply, but then spoke up.

"Hey, uhm.. I know it could get later than we said, but, well, you wanna go over to the mall instead? Like, there's this nice cafe over there. It'll probably get dark, but I'll make sure to keep all those thugs away from you on the way back!"

He tried to look all tough for her, posing a little, which made Chidori smile.

And he couldn't say it wasn't part of why he did that, as he smiled back at her.

' Let's do that, then. ' she said, as she picked up her sketchbook, got up, and pulled at Junpei's sleeve gently.

She didn't need to tell him that twice, that was for sure.

They had to walk over there, but it wasn't that long and neither of them minded the other's company.

In fact something seemed to have changed.

[buckthegrump]

Charcoal Drawings - 23

Summary: You are an art student and are forced to take a life drawing class which will include nude modeling. One little problem, the model is super fucking hot.

Word Count: 1587

Warnings: Fluff, minor angst, smutty smut smut lol, unprotected sex wrap it before you tap it, oral m!receiving 

Pairing: Bucky Barnes x F! Reader

A/n: still not great at writing smut but once again, that didn’t stop me

Y/n bounced her leg unable to control herself. Why was she so nervous it’s not like there was any doubt that he liked her. He’d told her as much many times. And she knew they got along, hell, he agreed to watch Twilight and High School Musical in the same night then pretended to enjoy both movies.

It had taken some careful planning on her part to get away from her friends without raising suspicion. Although she was really glad that they were only going on one date in secret, any more and her heart might have exploded from sheer terror (mostly of what Carol and Natasha would do to her once they found out she lied to them).

Y/n watched as Bucky’s car pulled up to the side of the road where the bus bench was where she was sitting. He stopped the car and she got in.

“You ready for our second date?” Bucky asked.

“Second?” She smirked at him. “What are you counting as our first?”

“When we went to lunch?” He asked she shook her head no. “How about -”

“If you’re about to say the night we had sex that it also a no. The first one the word friend was said too much in reference to us, the second, was not a date. And you didn’t kiss me goodbye either time so.”

“I seem to remember kissing you quite a bit that night,” he teased.

“Doesn’t count,” Y/n turned to look out the windshield.

“Oh, it doesn’t?”

“Nope,” she said popping the p.

“Interesting,” he muttered. “Just so you know,” he said a bit louder, “I’m really excited for tonight.”

“Me too.”

He continued to drive until they were in front of a roller skating rink. Y/n looked at him and raised an eyebrow. Bucky winked at her and got out of the car, she followed suit not long after.

After getting their skates and putting them on, they made their way to the rink. Y/n was more graceful than Bucky, who had fallen about seven times in the span of five feet. Y/n laughed at him every time and Bucky jokingly glared at her every time, sending her back into a fit of giggles.

They skated around, well Y/n skated Bucky hung onto the wall as he shuffled his way around the rink. They kept at it for about a few songs before Y/n dragged Bucky to a table.

“I can keep going!” He insisted.

“Bucky,” Y/n chuckled, “You fell while you were still holding on to the wall, which is a very impressive talent. I didn’t know you had that much talent.”

Bucky frowned. “You sound like Sam.”

“But you like me more than you like Sam right?” Y/n gave him her best puppy eyes.

Bucky looked at her across the table and then smiled at her. “Absolutely.”

“Good, because that would’ve been so awkward if you hadn’t.”

“I’m gonna go get some food, what do you want?”

“Ooo, one of those soft pretzels.” She propped her chin up on her hand and watched him slide out of the booth. “Maybe take off your skates before you die trying to get to the concession stand.”

Bucky shot a sideways glance at her but bent over to take off his skates. It wasn’t long before he came back with the food and drinks. They sat and talked as they ate. Mostly about things that they didn’t know about each other, but the subject of their friends came up a few times and they complained to each other about the roasting they continuously got.

After they finished eating Y/n convinced Bucky to go back out into the rink. He was glued to the wall again as Y/n lapped him a few times before slowing down next to him to help him. He even let go fo the wall for almost an entire lap, still needing to use the wall as a way to turn.

Y/n could tell that Bucky was getting tired so she suggested that they head out much to Bucky’s disappointment, that is until she pointed out that she didn’t mention anything about going their separate ways.

Which is how they ended up at Bucky’s place. They were talking, again. They were in Bucky’s room because Y/n demanded to see it so she could snoop around. His bed was pressed up against a corner of the room and there was a desk and chair on the other side. Bucky was lying on his bed looking up at the ceiling while Y/n was sitting at his desk not so subtlely looking through his stuff.

She came across a sketch pad.

“What’s this?” She asked and he turned to look at what she was talking about.

He shrugged. “I bought it on a whim, I don’t really know what the plan was or what I’m going to do with it.”

Y/n looked at his current position with a sparkle in her eye that Bucky clearly saw.

“What?” He asked.

“I mean,” she shrugged, the mischievous gleam still about her, “I kind of wanna draw you.”

“So draw me,” he challenged.

“You’re wearing too many clothes.” He quickly stripped and laid back down on the bed. “I’m a little sad that I didn’t get to draw you in the state that you were in during class.”

“Are you trying to kill me?” He asked with a crooked smile.

Y/n winked at him and watched as his hand slowly traveled down to his cock, eyes never leaving hers. He stroked it a few times until he was fully erect.

Hand still wrapped around himself he raised an eyebrow. “Should I keep going?”

“No,” she answered simply. “But don’t lose it.”

“Jesus,” he groaned.

Y/n began to draw him, while he lay there. Every once in a while he would reach back down to keep himself hard.

“You’ve ruined modeling for me,” he muttered at one point.

“Are you saying you’ll never model again?” She pouted.

“I’ll model for you,” he answered earning a grin from her. 

She was only a quarter way finished when Bucky started moaning uncontrollably slowly chipping away at her resolve. She set down the sketch pad and pencil she was using and walked over to him.

His eyes were closed until she settled on the bed in between his legs, then his eyes flew open.

“What are you doing?” He asked.

“Do you want me to stop?” Y/n asked her mouth dangerously close to his tip.

He barely took a moment to think about it. “No.”

She smiled before placing a kiss on the head of his dick. She wrapped her lips around him and he let out a staggered breath. She swirled her tongue around him a few times before taking him deeper in her mouth.

“Fuck,” he whimpered, she moaned at the sound. One of his hands found her hair. “Y/n, please.”

Y/n took the rest of him continuing to bob her head up and down. Now both of his hands were in her hair and he was repeating her name like it was a prayer. He muttered something about being close and she was about to double down on her efforts when he pulled her off him.

She looked at him confused and he pulled her up to kiss her.

“You don’t wanna finish?” She asked as they kissed.

“Oh, I plan to,” he said smugly. 

“You do?” She pulled away. Y/n lined his cock up with her entrance and slid on to him. She rolled her hips slowly teasing the man below her.

“Ok, now I know you're trying to kill me,” he said.  Y/n chuckled and picked up her pace, Bucky gripped her hips and dug his fingers into her.

Y/n leaned over and started trailing kissed from his collar bone up his neck before finding his lips again. Using her fingers she rubbed circles into her clit nearing her orgasm. Bucky started matching her bounces with thrusts of his own at an unrelenting pace until they were both coming.

Once they’d ridden out their highs she collapsed on the bed next to him.

Bucky was panting when he asked, “Does this count as a date?”

Y/n giggled into the pillow. “There’s been no goodnight kiss.”

“Do you want to leave?” He asked wide-eyed.

“No,” she whispered, “do you want me to leave?”

He rolled over to face her. “No, I want you to stay.”

“Ok,” she grinned and snuggled into the bed. “Goodnight then.”

Bucky placed a kick kiss to her lips. “Goodnight.”

~

“Hey, Bucky!” Sam called bursting into Bucky’s room the next morning before either Bucky or Y/n had a chance to react. They jolted awake not quite sure what was happening until the door opened. They were still naked in bed, no longer covered by the sheets because someone threw them off in the middle of the night. “Oh my god!”

Sam covered his eyes with his hands. 

“Get out of here!” Bucky bellowed grabbing something from his nightstand to throw at Sam.

“My eyes!!!” Sam complained as he walked out of the room and slammed the door behind him.

Bucky dropped his head back onto the pillow, Y/n still snuggled into his side was giggling.

“Guess we don’t need to worry about telling our friends,” she said and Bucky joined her in her laughter.

[janaikam]

It’s Just the Start

This is my @mlsecretsanta gift for @theluckiestwitchathogwarts. I hope you enjoy it! Thank you so much @chatnoirinette for beta reading this!

Happy Holidays!

FFnet. Ao3.

Word Count: 4101

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

From a young age, Marinette Dupain-Cheng has been well aware of the meaning of soulmate tattoos. Soulmate tattoos don’t just mean romantic soulmates. The tattoos are the names of important people in a person’s life, like best friends, romantic partners, or even a person’s worst enemy. 

The number of these tattoos always differs from person to person. Some people get one tattoo, meaning their romantic soulmate is also their platonic one. Most people tend to get two tattoos—usually one for their romantic/platonic soulmate and one for their soul enemy. Others get three. One soulmate for each of the main types, plus one soul enemy. However, Marinette was an odd case; she had four soulmate tattoos.

Adrien, Alya, Lila, Luka

Adrien’s and Luka’s names are on her right wrist, while Alya’s and Lila’s are on her right ankle. Ever since she was able to understand the meanings behind the tattoos on her wrist, Marinette has been searching for an answer to why she has four names. Marinette visited many tattoo experts to try and figure out the meaning behind her four tattoos. Everyone had a different answer. Some people said she had another soul she was connected to. Others said that she didn’t truly have a soulmate and the names were people she could potentially be soulmates with.

For years, Marinette used long sleeves and makeup to hide her tattoos for fear of being made fun of because she wasn’t normal. Especially around Chloe Bourgeois. That girl would torment Marinette if she knew there was something remotely different about her. So Marinette hid her names and never spoke of it until she saw an interesting post online.

The post was made by a user named Chat Noir and read: Anyone have four soulmate tattoos? I’m just a curious kitty :). 

Under the post, there were a lot of people who commented that four soulmate tattoos weren’t possible. Someone even joked that “curiosity killed the cat.” The specificness of the post sparked something in Marinette, which caused her to click on Chat Noir’s profile. With her cursor over the private message, Marinette debated responding to his original post.

Well, it’s not like he could ever find out that I’m the person behind Ladybug’s account. With that thought, Marinette clicked on the button and typed out a quick message to Chat.

LB: Do you have four soulmate tattoos?

After about five minutes with no response, Marinette chose to work on her sketch for a dress she was working on. When she finished up her design, she went down to eat dinner with her parents. By the time she got back to the computer, Marinette had forgotten all about the message she had sent earlier in the day. Thus Marinette was surprised to see a little red notification telling her she had a message. 

CN: Maybe I do. Maybe I don’t. It all depends on who’s asking.

Frustrated by the vague answer, Marinette went to the user’s profile to block him, but before she could, another message popped up.

CN: I’m not all too comfortable sharing these purr-ivate secrets with a stranger.

LB: You’re the one who decided to post an oddly specific question on a PUBLIC website.

CN: Fair point. So let’s assume I have four soulmate tattoos. Is it okay for me to assume that you have four tattoos?

Marinette paused, considering how she should answer the question. On one hand, Chat Noir could have two and just be trying to out some weirdo. On the other hand, he could just genuinely be curious. 

LB: Well if I’m assuming that you have four soulmate tattoos, I guess it’s only fair you can assume that I have four. 

CN: Well my lady, it seems we have reached a good understanding of where the other stands. May I ask what do you think it would mean if a person does have four soulmate tattoos?

LB: I guess I would think that they might have two best friend soulmates and one of the other.

CN: Interesting theory Miss Bug. Got any more?

Marinette was surprised by how quickly he responded given that the last response took a couple of hours to come through. However, what Marinette found more surprising was the fact that she wanted to just keep talking with this stranger on the computer. And that’s exactly what she did late into the night until both of them had to go to sleep. 

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Marinette found that she and Chat Noir got along very well despite not really knowing who the other was. For the rest of her summer break, Marinette found herself messaging Chat Noir and getting to know him behind the screen. Though Marinette did make sure that they did not share anything too personal so that Chat could never figure out it was Marinette who had four tattoos. 

Throughout their chats, Marinette learned that Chat was the same age as her (or so he claimed), he was a piano genius, and he had the cutest black cat named Plagg. 

After about a month, the time came for school to start for Marinette, which in turn meant less time for her and Chat to talk online. Since she didn’t want to leave Chat in the dark, Marinette decided to let him know about the upcoming shift in her schedule.

LB: Hey Chat, I just wanted to let you know that I’m going to be starting school soon, which means that I won’t be on all the time.

CN: Thanks for letting me know Bugaboo :)! If you don’t mind me asking, what is public school like?

The question surprised Marinette mostly because she had assumed that Chat Noir had attended public school. 

LB: Uhh. It’s alright. The teachers are fairly nice and try to help with what they can, and the other students are pretty cool. I’m good friends with most of them.

CN: That sounds cool. I wish my father would let me go.

LB: Why won’t he let you go?

CN: He thinks the world is too dangerous and he keeps me in our house unless it’s for a photoshoot or something. It sucks :(. 

LB: That’s dumb reasoning. He can’t protect you from the world forever.

CN: Well he’s sure gonna try.

LB: You should sneak out to go to school

Marinette half meant it as a joke, definitely not expecting the next slew of messages from Chat Noir.

CN: I totally should.

CN: So I just messaged one of my friends. She goes to Francois Dupont and they start tomorrow as well. 

CN: She said she can get me enrolled without my father filling out all the forms.

CN: Wanna help me figure a plan of escape?

Not being able to say no, Marinette ended up spending the next three hours helping Chat plan a way to escape a home where there was a bodyguard and a personal assistant that could ruin the entire plan. Since too many specifics couldn’t be shared without risking Chat’s identity, Marinette was very lost during most of the planning, which distracted her from the fact that the user Chat Noir was going to try and show up at her school the next day.

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Despite setting her alarm super early, Marinette still manages to be running late for the first day of classes. After quickly throwing on her clothes, she runs downstairs to their kitchen, where her mother was cleaning the things from her breakfast.

“Good morning, Maman,” Marinette greets, giving her mother a quick kiss on the cheek.

“Good morning, Marinette,” Sabine Cheng responds, watching with amusement as Marinette grabbed a banana and her school bag and rushed out the door.

When Marinette gets down to the bakery, she gives her dad a kiss on his cheek and grabbed the box of macarons he made for her class.

“Have a good first day of lycée!” Tom Dupain yells to his daughter as she runs out of the bakery. Marinette quickly rounds the corner, preparing to dash across the street, only to have to stop abruptly because the light is red. The sudden stop causes Marinette to lose her grip on the macaron box and drop it on the sidewalk.

“Oh no!” Marinette exclaims, leaning down and picking up the remains of the macaron box and its contents. “Why am I so clumsy?” By the time Marinette gets back up, the light is green and people start walking across. Marinette sighs and starts running towards the school. 

Thankfully, when Marinette enters the classroom, Mme. Bustier is still moving students around. “Nino, why don’t you come sit in the front this year?” Mme. Bustier says, prompting the boy in the back to move to the desk at the front of the classroom. 

As Nino is moving, Marinette quickly takes her usual seat in the second row, breathing a sigh of relief now that she is in class. 

Unfortunately, she can’t relax for too long, as a perfectly manicured hand slams down on the desk. “Marinette Dupain-Cheng,” Chloe says, grabbing Marinette’s attention. 

“Here we go again,” Marinette mumbles underneath her breath. 

“That’s my seat,” Chloe states as if it were common knowledge. 

“But Chloe, this has always been my seat,” Marinette responds, hoping Chloe will leave her alone.

“Not anymore.” Marinette is startled when Sabrina, Chloe’s lackey, speaks from the seat next to her. “New school year, new seats.”

“So go and sit beside that new girl over there,” Chloe demands, pointing towards a dark-haired girl with dark red highlights. Marinette starts to protest, but Chloe cuts her off. “Adrien is coming today and since that’s his seat”—Chloe points to the spot in front of Marinette—“this is going to be my seat. Get it?”

“Who’s Adrien?” Marinette asks. She tries to keep her hopes down because despite the fact that one of her soulmates is named Adrien, it doesn’t mean this Adrien is the same person. 

In response to Marinette’s question, Chloe and Sabrina laugh. “I can’t believe you don’t know who Adrien is. He’s only a famous model and my best friend. He adores me,” Chloe brags. “So go on and move.”

Marinette starts to move only for the new girl to stop her.

“Hey, who elected you the queen of seats?” the girl asks Chloe.

“Oh, look, Sabrina, we’ve got a little do-gooder this year,” Chloe mocks the girl. “What are you gonna do, shoot laser beams at me with your glasses?”

Instead of backing down like other people would have, the new girl says, “Wouldn’t you like to know.”

Chloe takes a step back with surprise etched on her face, allowing the dark-haired girl to grab Marinette’s arm and drag her to the desk at the front of the classroom. Unfortunately, the sudden, unexpected movement causes Marinette to spill the remaining macarons on the floor. 

“Sorry, sorry, sorry,” Marinette says, picking up the box and quickly taking her seat.

“Alright, does everyone have a seat?” Mme. Bustier asks, looking up from some papers on her desk. 

Marinette stares down at the box with the lone macaron with a frown on her face. 

“Chillax, girl,” says the new girl. “It’s no biggie.” 

“I so wish I could handle Chloe like you do, ” Marinette says as a way of thanking her. 

“You mean like the way Majestia does it. She says, ‘All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that the good people do nothing.’” The girl turns and points towards Chloe. “That girl over there is evil, and we’re the good people. We can’t let her get away with it.”

“Well, that’s easier said than done. She likes to make my life miserable. It’s a wonder she isn’t my enemy soulmate,” Marinette says dejectedly.

“That’s because you let her, girl. You need more confidence.”

Smiling, Marinette grabs the sole surviving macaron and splits it in half. 

“Marinette,” she says, holding out the macaron half. 

“Alya.”

The two girls share a moment of understanding as they both realize what the other’s name could mean for them both. Before they can address it, Mme. Bustier starts class.

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“Adrien, where do you think you’re going?”

Adrien cringes as he turns to see Nathalie on top of the steps in the foyer. He quickly tries to think up a reason as to why he is attempting to sneak out the front door with a school bag.

“Uhh...I was going to go visit Chloe,” Adrien half lies while turning around and putting on a fake smile. 

“Mlle. Bourgeois is currently at school, Adrien. I know you remember that your father does not want you attending public school,” Nathalie reminds Adrien. She walks down the stairs and meets Adrien near the door. “Please go upstairs and practice your piano. I will finish preparing our lessons for today.”

With that, Adrien heads upstairs towards his room. Once Adrien enters his room, he brings his piano up from underneath the floor and plays pre-recorded music from his iPod. After setting everything up, Adrien lies down on his bed. Plagg, Adrien’s cat, comes up and sits right next to him. 

Adrien pulls out his phone, opening one of his favorite messaging threads.

CN: Plan A failed :(. I guess I’m glad you had me make a plan B.

LB: Well you can never be too prepared. 

Smiling to himself, Adrien sends a quick message to one of his other close friends. 

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“Adrien, it would seem Mlle. Tsurugi would like to spend the afternoon with you. I have cleared your schedule, but please make sure you are back by 5 for your Chinese tutoring lesson.” By the time Nathalie is finished, Adrien is practically out the door into Kagami Tsurugi’s cherry-red car. 

“Thank you so much for doing this, Kagami!” Adrien thanks, practically squeezing Kagami to death as soon as he’s in the vehicle. Once Adrien lets go, he turns to put his seat belt on so the car can start moving.

“It was no problem at all, Adrien. You are my best friend, and this seemed to be something you really wanted,” Kagami replies, unfazed by Adrien’s excitement.

“To make this up to you, I’m going to introduce you to Chloe the first chance I get,” Adrien decides.

This prompts Kagami to sigh. “Adrien, while I appreciate your efforts, who is to say that Mlle. Bourgeois is the same Chloe that is on my wrist? Not everyone is as lucky as you to have unique names for their soulmate tattoos.”

“Hey, Gabriel isn’t a unique name!” Adrien protests. “That’s my dad’s name, and I wouldn’t say there’s any strong connection there.”

“True, but Marinette, Nino, and my name are unique.”

Adrien goes to argue, but the car stops, announcing their arrival at Francois Dupont.

“I will see you at 3, Adrien,” Kagami says. “Try not to be late.”

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Once it is time for their lunch break, Marinette takes Alya to the park across the street from the school. Marinette leads Alya towards a bench in a secluded area of the park so they could talk with relative privacy.

Once the two girls get settled, it’s Alya who breaks the silence first. “Okay, so we’re soulmates in some way. And I would like to assume that we’re meant to be best friends because you seem really chill, but you’re not exactly my type romantically.”

Marinette releases a breath she didn’t know she was holding. “Well, that makes two of us.”

“Okay, so if you don’t mind me asking, what other names do you have?” Alya asks, getting excited. “I always promised myself that whenever I found my best friend I was always going to help them if they hadn’t found their soulmates. So may I see your names?”

Marinette hesitates. For all she knows, this girl is pretending to be her friend to lull her into a false sense of security and turn her soulmates against her. Before Marinette can get too lost in her inner ramblings, she looks into Alya’s eager and curious face, noticing that there is not any sign of malice in the girl’s features. 

Taking a deep breath, Marinette takes off her dark jacket. “So, my tattoos are a little weird. I, umm...I have four of them.” With that, Marinette shows Alya the two tattoos on her wrist and lifts her right leg so she can show her the other two names on her ankle.

For a bit, Alya doesn’t say anything. Then she suddenly shouts, “NO WAY!” Marinette immediately jumps up and covers the girl’s mouth, silently praying that no one will come over.

“Please don’t yell. I don’t want a lot of people to know this specific information,” Marinette pleads, with her hands still covering Alya’s mouth. Slowly, Marinette removes her hands and sits back down.

“Okay, so my new best friend just told me the best thing I’ve ever heard. Girl, I didn’t even know it was possible to have more than three tattoos. That’s amazing!” Alya exclaims.

“Really?”

Alya nods her head furiously.

“Wow, I guess I never really saw this as a good thing.”

“It totally is, girl. Now, who are the lucky people? Besides myself, of course,” Alya questions, barely containing her excitement.

“Luka, Adrien, and Lila.” 

“Interesting names. Have you met any of them?” 

“Only Luka. He’s Juleka’s brother. He’s very sweet, but I’m not really into him like that.”

“So I’m on the lookout for an Adrien and a Lila. Good to know.” Alya pretends to write the names on her hand, causing Marinette to giggle.

“Hey, do you have any other soulmates?” Marinette questions.

“Just one other. I’m boring like everyone else.”

Marinette giggles.

“Their name is Nino and hopefully he or she is nice and not a jerk.”

“You know, there’s a Nino in our class. I should totally introduce you guys. Maybe you’ll hit it off!” Marinette teases.

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“Hey, Chloe,” Adrien greets as he walks up to her in the school’s courtyard. 

“Adrikins! You came!” Chloe runs and jumps into his arms as other students in the courtyard start to recognize who he is and crowd around him.

Thankfully, Chloe manages to shoo most of them away as she leads him upstairs towards the classroom. Still, Adrien does sign a few autographs for some students.

Once they get to the classroom, Chloe shows him to a seat in the front row. “This is your seat, Adrikins. I saved it for you, right in front of me.” As Adrien walks in, he notices his deskmate, a boy in a blue shirt with a red cap, sitting in the seat next to the one Chloe saved for him.

“Thanks, Chloe.” Adrien walks up and takes the seat in the front. He stretches out his hand toward his deskmate. “Uhh…hey….Adrien.”

The boy seems to react to Adrien’s name, but instead of responding with his name, he says, “So you’re friends with Chloe then, huh?”

Adrien looks over in the direction of where the boy was looking and sees Chloe taking out the gum that was in her mouth and giving it to her red-headed friend. The girl then puts the piece of gum on the seat right across from Adrien. 

“Hey, what’s that all about?” Adrien questions the two girls with a disgusted look on his face. 

“The brats that sat here this morning need a little attitude adjustment,” Chloe states as if it makes perfect sense why she’s doing what she’s doing. “I’m just commanding a bit of respect, that’s all.”

“Do you think that’s really necessary?” Adrien says, moving to try and remove the gum from the seat. 

Chloe laughs, walking towards her desk behind Adrien. “You’ve got a lot to learn about school culture, Adrikins. Watch the master.” Chloe leans back in her seat with a confident smirk on her face while the redhead comes up next to her, mimicking Chloe’s pose. 

Adrien continues to try to remove the gum until a feminine voice from behind him stops him. “Hey, what are you doing!?”

“Uhh...I…” Adrien attempts to explain himself, but he is at a loss for words as he takes in the beauty of the blue-haired girl behind him. Then, when Chloe and her friend start laughing from their seats, Adrien becomes even more flustered as he reaches for an explanation. An angry look of understanding flashes across her face.

“Okay, I get it. Good job, you three. Very funny,” she congratulates sarcastically.

“No, no. I was trying to take it off,” Adrien attempts to explain, not wanting to ruin his chance at making friends at school.

“Oh really?” the girl questions, getting in his face while Chloe and her friend continue to laugh. The blue-haired girl attempts to remove the gum herself but instead chooses to cover it with a tissue from her bag. “You’re friends with Chloe, right?” she asks, turning back towards him.

“Why do people keep saying that?” Adrien mumbles under his breath. The girl gives him one last dirty look before sitting down in her seat, prompting Adrien to take his own seat. 

“Now do you see what I mean about respect?” Chloe comments from behind him. Adrien sighs, looking down at his desk. 

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“I know I’ve seen him somewhere before,” Marinette comments, staring at the blond boy sitting across from her. Alya gasps from beside her, showing Marinette what she found on her phone,

“Of course! Adrien Agreste,” Marinette gasps. “He’s the son of my fave designer, Gabriel Agreste!”

“Daddy’s boy, teen supermodel, and Chloe’s buddy? Ha! Forget it.” Alya points to Adrien. “If that boy is your soulmate, it’s probably not good news.”

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Adrien’s deskmate stares at him for a good minute. “Why didn’t you tell her it was Chloe’s idea?” he questions.

“I’ve known Chloe since I was a kid. I know she’s not perfect, but I can’t throw her under the bus. She’s one of my only friends,” Adrien explains.

“I’m Nino. It’s time for you to make some new friends, dude.” The boy smiles and offers out his hand. Recognizing the name, Adrien gasps before understanding the implications of this new friendship. Adrien takes the boy’s hand and shakes it. 

“Just some helpful advice. Marinette over there is a pretty chill dude. I’m sure if you just explain to her what happened, she’d be very understanding.”

“Wait, did you say Marinette?” Adrien questions quickly, looking back over to the bluenette. Before Nino could reply, Mme. Bustier starts class by taking attendance, stalling the curiousness stirring in Adrien’s mind.  

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Marinette walks out to the front of the school with her bags prepared to leave only to see it pouring outside. She considers making a run for it to the bakery, but after seeing how hard it’s pouring decides to wait out the rain for a bit. 

Hearing another student approaching from behind her, Marinette moves to the side of the entrance so she wouldn’t block them. Unfortunately for her, it is Chloe’s friend who just started. 

“Hey,” he greets. Marinette turns away, trying to ignore him so he would just go away and leave her alone. A red car pulls up to the front with a young girl in the backseat. The boy sighs and looks at his umbrella, then opens it and takes a step out in the rain. “I just wanted you to know that I was only trying to take the gum off your seat. I swear.”

Marinette gasps and turns towards the blond. “I’ve never been to school before. I’ve never had many friends outside of my father’s associates’ kids. Everything here is all sort of new to me.” The boy turns around and offers Marinette his umbrella. Marinette stares into his eyes, searching for any sign of malice, and realizes that the boy in front of her is truly being genuine. She reaches out for the offered umbrella, hesitating a bit. Still staring in awe, Marinette doesn’t realize she has pressed the close button on the umbrella until it closes on top of her head. 

Not a second later, Marinette hears the sweetest and most innocent laugh she has ever heard in her life. She peels back part of the umbrella to see the teen supermodel smiling a genuine smile, causing her to laugh a bit as well. 

“Well, Marinette, I hope we can become great friends. See you tomorrow!” Adrien waves good-bye, heading into the red car.

“Maybe we could be something more,” Marinette whispers as his car drives away. 

Marinette pauses to pull out her phone and opens her chat with Chat Noir.

LB: I think I just met my romantic soulmate...

CN: I think I did too… 

[marikaaajoy]

my relationship with digital art and how BNHA salvaged it

I just wanted to let out my thoughts but I can only do it here :>

This might be a downer for some people but I’d like to share it with people here. BNHA means the world to me and this is why.

I first started drawing when I was 7 years old in 2006

I think it’s ugly now, but 7 year old me remembered being so proud of this because this is a drawing of my stepfather. This is the only drawing I have that was from my childhood. I think the aim here is to draw in anime style BUT I didn’t even watch anime back then. I had a classmate who loves anime and she taught me to draw in school. Drawing became a favorite hobby immediately after that.

Then it was 2013 and I was 14 years old. Drawing is still my favorite thing to do besides being on the computer. I love anime at this point too. My parents bought an iPad for the whole family, but I was almost always the one using it. I discovered an app called ArtStudio and thought “Wow, I can draw without making a mess and with only my fingers” because I was always too lazy to take out my drawing materials and clean up afterwards.

These were my first digital drawings. The pirate one was the very first. I got obsessed real fast. I can color so easily, undo any mistake, layers are a blessing too. There was just so much more freedom. I always sucked at coloring in traditional art and I didn’t like the mess (idk my hands get so messy traditionally)

The next year, it was 2014, I was 15. My birthday is in a couple of months and I knew my parents were planning to buy me something pricey (I think it was a laptop) so I approached them and asked if they could just buy the Wacom Bamboo as a present which was cheaper anyway and I even explained how it works to them and how it would allow me to draw on the computer instead of the iPad. I tried really hard to be convincing. I would have prepared a powerpoint presentation if I had to.

They did give me the wacom as a present. They even gave it to me months before my birthday so I could use it already. I thought I was the luckiest teen in the world with my parents.

These are a collection of my favorite works from 2014 to 2016. The middle one was my second drawing using wacom and Paint Tool SAI. I was a part of a lot of fandoms in those years lol

It gets downhill from there :/

April 2016, my mom and I moved to Japan, while my stepfather and siblings stay in my country. It was tough. For someone who is obsessed with anime, you’d think I’d be thrilled to live in Japan.

I was. Though only at the first few months. It’s not the same as it’s portrayed in anime (I should’ve known but I used to be blinded by anime). It was just lonely. The language barrier sucked and then lots of financial and family issues until my parents split. I got my first boyfriend too and I thought I was blessed by the nicest boy, but the relationship became extremely toxic but I didn’t have it in me to walk away.

All the shit that happened affected me mentally and emotionally. My biggest outlet which was digital drawing, was also out of the question because I did not have a computer/laptop when we moved to Japan. We left it in our home for my stepfather and siblings, even the iPad. I have my wacom with me, but no computer/laptop to use it with. I couldn’t draw.

I tried though. I used my phone to draw, but it wasn’t the same. Then the life problems got piled up, things got worse, and I just lost motivation in anything. Literally anything. From 2016 to 2019, I stopped watching anime, I dropped out of all the fandoms I’m in, I stopped watching my favorite TV series or movies, and I stopped drawing. I even got a bit disconnected with my friends who lived in my country (we talk regularly online). My family was broken so I gave all my attention to my toxic relationship as well which made everything worse too lol

I didn’t draw besides from a few scribbles and the drawings above. I did try digital art on my phone a couple of times again and even posted them on my IG, but they weren’t any good. Eventually, I got mentally and emotionally drained and dropped out of senior high school. I just stayed home for almost a year, leeching off of my mom. I felt even more worthless and my life had no direction at this point. Nothing mattered anymore.

April 2019 or so I think, my (ex)bf bought me a laptop. He says it’s a gift, but I think the real reason was to make up for something horrible that he did (which is stupid because money /gifts won’t resolve anything). I have a laptop. I can draw again, but I didn’t. I didn’t care, I wasn’t interested in drawing anymore anyway.

Welp. June 2019, I went back to my country. My (ex) bf stayed in Japan. The distance helped me end the relationship and my friends were there (they always were) to help put me back together along with two trips to therapy. I went back to finish my senior high school in my own country this time. That said, I have to stay in my country for school (but I was happy because I didn’t wanna go back to Japan yet when the breakup was still fresh and with going back to school, my life has a direction again.)

It was weird. I remember just being sorta lost and confused because I used to put my time, effort and everything into my previous toxic relationship, which was now gone. I was free and I had so much free time that I didn’t know what to do with it. I got so used to doing nothing and being nothing.

This is where BNHA enters.

Dunno when it started, but I started seeing Bakugou frequently online. It’s usually just Bakugou. I knew who he was because my friend suggested BNHA to me back in late 2018 I think but I didn’t watch it since I’ve lost interest in everything at that point in my life.

But ye I thought he hot af but I still didn’t watch BNHA.

But then for some reason he REALLY kept appearing in my social medias and it was really frequent. The last straw was when I saw a pic of him in UA’s gym uniform and thought “damn boi aight imma watch bnha for u” (y’all gotta admit he looks good in those colors with his combat boots XD )

I watched BNHA. Fell in love with Iida along the way. Then I switched to Tokoyami (but Shoji was hot too so aaaaa), but then angry emotionally-constipated sea urchin head caught my heart again. But oof. BakuDeku moments really made me feel some type of way I haven’t felt since I moved to Japan. It felt new but nostalgic. I fell hard in that ship.

I started obsessing. From memes to posts to fanfictions to buying merch to filling my room with BNHA posters. I realized I was reverting to my old self from the time I was still happy and it was thanks to BNHA (and the good people who helped me through the worst too)

Shit I wanted to draw BNHA, I thought.

I mean, I have a laptop, I still have my wacom and drawing softwares. I could totally draw digitally again if I wanted to.

But guess what

I can’t :c

My hand physically cannot draw. My drawings don’t look the way I want them too. 3 years of not drawing really destroyed any skill I had. I was back to square one.

September (yeah they’re ugly, I laughed at it). If you’re wondering why I drew on paper, it’s because, for some reason, I really CANNOT draw digitally. I mean it. I can barely sketch digitally at this point. The lines and shapes just doesn’t come to life. They’re just scribbles. But somehow, I can kinda draw on paper with a ballpoint pen. But yeah, that was the best I could do at this point in my life

After that, I still tried to draw, to regain my old art style, but it didn’t happen... It just doesn’t look or feel the same. Drawing used to be fun. But during this phase, it felt like my ugly drawings were just mocking me (probably was just too emo that time lol)

Weirdly, around a week or two I think, after my half-assed attempts at drawing, I managed to draw digitally somehow o.o

I did a Midoriya and Todoroki drawing like this too. It was my first post here on Tumblr I think. The annoying part here is that I cannot draw digitally unless I draw on paper first, take a pic, and then trace the lineart. I couldn’t draw directly on the computer. Granted, drawing on paper and drawing on digital is very different for me in the first place anyway. But it was still a pain. And it still looked like shit. I can only draw stiff poses :/ it seems like my brain decided to delete all data about anatomy and posture and backgrounds. My lineart here is even messy af. It still really not the same as my old style.

By 2020, I think I got my old art style back. On March, I made this. This took me 27 total of hrs to make.

Right now, I think it’s not bad, but back in March, I was disappointed with the result. This is when I finally broke down crying because it didn’t look good enough and I hated that it took me 27 hrs to draw “bullshit.” I was angry at myself for losing interest in drawing for 3 years when I could’ve used that time to improve. I had to start all over again and it still didn’t look good. (Current me thinks that the drawing above is alright. I was just a lot harsher to myself back then. Used to have a lot of issues but I’m doing great now)

I cried myself to sleep that night. Woke up wanting to cry again. I wallowed in sadness for a couple of days. Eventually told my friends what’s up. Got some pep talk. Even talked to my sister (she’s great, she always hypes me up with my stuff and sometimes I think she’s my biggest fan with how she appreciates my drawings and I’m really grateful for that).

My world turned a 180 and I was weirdly positive after all that crying because brain chemicals and shit. I had a revelation. If I hate how my art style looked so much, then I should have been putting effort in changing my art style, not trying to regain my old art style (that I don’t like anymore)

I researched a lot. I analyzed different art styles and anatomy again. I did everything I could think of to find a style that works for me. I might have even neglected school for a bit to focus on digital art lmao

After all that work, I posted a fanart of middle school BakuDeku in their classroom. I love that fanart so much even if I probably have better ones by now because that was the first fanart I made that I felt like I could be proud of and it was the first one I made in my new art style. It was a milestone for me.

March 2020, I moved back to Japan and without the toxic relationship, I’m a lot positive now. Happy. I’m myself again after the previous bad years. I’m still continuously learning though, trying to improve, but at least, now, I found my own art style :) I really suck at interacting with people online, but I’m always grateful for the support everyone has been giving my fanarts. I’m happy when my content makes people happy.

This is why BNHA is important to me. The series is great alone, but it’s not just that to me. BNHA is so much more. It’s what made me find the passion to create again, only this time, it’s focused on drawing (I used to write, but now I just draw, but maybe I’ll write again for BNHA).

My family is supportive with my love for BNHA, but I think they don’t know the deeper reason why I love it. Sure, I was fine living on with nothing much going on in my life. I’ll finish school, get a job, work until I die or something. It was okay. It was the way of life. But BNHA gave my life color again. I wasn’t just blindly going through life anymore. I have something to look forward to everyday now. BNHA even became a bridge to other things. Ever since then, I’m a lot more open to people, to try new things, to explore and not just live through life and waste away. I got better at leaving my comfort zone. I’ve never been happier in my life :D

Thank you for supporting my fanarts. Thank you so much for giving me a chance to express myself through BNHA. I hope to make more content in the future and improve even more :)

[abundanceofsoph]

SkyFire 2: Chapter 10

The End of Summer: August 2016

Word count: 2k

SkyFire 2 MASTERLIST

>Instagram posts

Aurora was sitting in the studio with Harry and his band when her phone vibrated in her pocket. She pulled it out, scrolling through the email before placing it face down on the coffee table in front of her. Harry watched out of the corner of his eye as she kept glancing back at her phone every few minutes, completely distracted from the conversations swirling around her. After about 20 minutes he watched as she picked her phone up again, her brow furrowed as she read something, and she stood up, excusing herself from the room. He waited half an hour before he started to worry and also excused himself from the room. JARVIS informed him she was still on the floor, and he found her sitting in her art studio, a sketchbook open on her lap, her head bowed over it as she worked away.

“Everything ok, love?” Harry asked, sitting down beside her.

Her head snapped up, not having heard him come in. “Yeah,” she smiled. “Sorry just got an idea and had to get it down.”

“What is it?”

“Columbia just sent out an email and announced they want a student to paint a mural for the one year anniversary,” she explained. “Just kind of couldn’t get it out of my head.”

Harry could see the excitement on her face, her eyes alight with passion and creativity. He smiled softly, kissing her temple before he stood up. “I’ll leave you too it then,” he said before heading back to the recording studio.

Aurora continued working on her concept sketches for the next few days before sending them off to the student committee organising the mural.

xXx

While she waited to hear if her design would be selected, she received an unexpected call from the 3 members of Rascal Flatts. She had spoken to them a couple of times in the last year; first apologising for not being able to perform with them in the wake of the shooting and then again when they let her know they were holding off on releasing their next album, deciding that they wanted to tour the last album a bit more first.

“Hi Joe!” she said when she answered the call.

“Hey Aurora,” Joe replied. “You’ve got all three of us on speaker. How have you been honey?”

“Hi everyone,” she chuckled. “I’m really good thanks.”

“Great to hear. So, the reason we’re calling is to let you know that we’re finally releasing the album in October.”

“Ahh, that’s so exciting!”

“It is, yeah. We’re really looking forward to it and we were wondering how you’d feel about the CMAs this year. I know things didn’t pan out right for last year, but we’d really love to get on stage with you, but only if you feel ready.”

“Oh wow,” Rori gasped. “That sounds incredible guys, I’m honoured. I’ve been getting back in the studio over the summer and I actually do feel like I’m ready to jump back in. I’m getting my first prosthesis fitted next week so I should be good to go by November.”

“Fantastic!” Gary said. “We’ll send through all the details when we get closer to the day but you’ll probably have to come out a few days before so we can rehearse.”

“Can do,” she promised. “I’ll keep that whole week clear, just in case.”

“Great, we’ll see you then.”

xXx

Ever since she’d submitted her concept sketches for the Columbia mural, Aurora hadn’t been able to get the idea out of her head, so while she waited for the decision to be made she had a large canvas delivered to the tower and once it arrived she set to work. In her mind she told herself that if she was selected to paint the mural then the canvas would just be a more detailed concept work, but if she wasn’t selected at least her idea would still exist in this smaller format. She’d already blocked in the background and sketched out the figures the previous day, so she was getting started on the school’s mascot at the centre of the piece which was a lion kneeling to place a wreath of roses on the ground in front of it.

“Sorry to interrupt,” Harry said as he stepped into the room, drawing her attention away from the canvas. “Lou’s on the phone and he wants to talk bachelor and bachelorette parties.”

“Hi Lou!” Rori greeted as Harry held out his phone between the two of them.

“Hey Rors,” Louis replied, his voice playing through the speakers. “So, I was just explaining to H that Gemma and I have been putting our heads together and we’ve come up with an idea. I figured neither of you were going to be interested in the traditional alcohol fuelled partying with strippers and given the mixed gender parties, Gem and I thought we could maybe to a combined thing, rent out and place and all go away for the long weekend as a group.”

“I love that idea,” Aurora replied. “What did you guys have in mind?”

“There’s a great 3 bedroom cottage out in the Cotswolds,” Louis said, “and there’s a day spa in the nearest town for you girls.”

“We’re in,” Harry smiled. “You guys thought about when?”

“Well Cheryl’s due early March so Liam’s asked for us to do it before February and between Niall and Ella January is out too. It’s coming up quick but early November works for everyone if it works for you.”

“I’m going to the CMAs on the 3rd, so maybe the 2nd weekend in November?” Aurora offered, looking at Harry questioningly. He nodded that that weekend would work for him and Louis agreed that the cottage they’d found was available.

“Alright, leave it with me and Gem and we’ll take care of everything.”

“Thanks Lou,” Rori replied. “You’re the best Man of Honour.”

“I take my position very seriously,” he laughed. “Anyway, enjoy the rest of your day guys. I’ll talk to you later.”

xXx

“Aurora, Mr Styles is requesting you join him the studio when you are available,” JARVIS announced one afternoon in late August. She packed up her paints, cleaned her brushes and then headed down the hall towards the recording studio, surprised to find the band gone for the day and Harry waiting inside alone.

“Hey babe,” she greeted. “JARVIS said you needed me?”

“Yeah,” Harry replied. He smiled softly but Rori thought that he was acting a little odd. “I wrote a song,” he said hesitantly.

“I’m shocked,” Rori laughed, her giggles dying on her lips once Harry’s nervous expression fully registered in her head. “What’s it about?”

“You,” he replied. “No one’s heard it yet and it needs polishing but if you don’t like it, no one ever hears it.”

“You’re making me nervous H,” Rori said. “You’ve never been scared to show me something before” They stared at each other for a few minutes too long. “Just play it Harry.”

He mumbled his agreement, cueing up the recording on his phone and pressing play. She reached out and took his hand as it played.

 Choose your words 'cause there's no antidote

 For this curse

 Oh, what's it waiting for?

 Must this hurt you just before you go?

 Oh, tell me something I don't already know

 Oh, tell me something I don't already know

 Brooklyn saw me, empty at the news

 There's no water inside this swimming pool

 Almost over, had enough from you

 And I've been praying, I never did before

 Understand I'm talking to the walls

 I've been praying ever since New York

 Oh, tell me something I don't already know

“Harry,” Rori whispered as the recording petered out, her cheeks damp from the silent tears rolling down her face. Harry finally lifted his head, looking at his fiancé for the first time since pressing play. His eyes widened when he saw the tears in her eyes, reaching out to wipe them away with the pads of his thumbs.

“I’m so sorry baby,” he murmured, “I’m so sorry I shouldn’t have written about that. Forget it. I’m gonna scrap it.”

“Don’t you dare,” she told him. “It’s beautiful.”

“You really like it?” he asked.

“I love it Harry. It just hurts to remember what I put you through last year.”

“You didn’t do anything love,” Harry promised. “Just never wanna lose you.”

“I’m not going anywhere,” she replied softly, leaning forward to kiss him. He quickly deepened the kiss and within a few minutes she had her right hand in his hair as she sat in his lap, her thighs straddling his hips. “I love you so much,” she murmured against his lips.

xXx

In the last days of August, Ben returned to the tower and Aurora finally slipped her new prosthesis onto what remained of her left forearm. After almost an entire year of feeling broken, or incomplete, the feeling of slipping on the prosthetic and watching as the fingers clenched and unfurled was euphoric. Harry was by her side of course, but so were Steve, Tony and Peter, her odd little family she never would have seen coming when she was growing up. They all watched on as silent tears streaked down her face, a huge grin ensuring none of them worried as she cried. She turned her hand over and back again, marvelling at the way the metal moved, much like Bucky’s arm did, almost as if there were real muscles below the surface, shifting so naturally. She hugged Peter first, surprising the teenager.

“Thank you, Pete,” she whispered. “I know how hard you worked on this.”

“You really don’t have to thank me,” Peter replied. “I just wanted to help; you know? Your dad did all the work really.”

“Hush,” she joked. “Just take the damn compliment.”

Peter laughed in response, giving her one last squeeze before letting her go so that she could hug her parents.

Ben and Tony both bent over the hand, the former assessing the fit and Aurora’s comfort, while the later focused on the data readouts on his tablet, watching as she continued to move the prosthetic and test it’s capabilities now that it was on her arm instead of laying on the table.

As Ben was finishing up and saying his goodbyes to everyone, a notification popped up on Aurora’s phone. Harry passed it to her, and she took great joy in reaching for it with her left hand. His matching smile told her that he knew exactly what she was thinking. Her smile dropped when she turned her gaze to the screen, seeing an email from the Student Union. She felt her nervousness as she opened the email and started reading.

Hello Aurora,

First of all, let me begin by thanking you for submitting your concept sketches for the proposed memorial mural for the quad. We were all very excited to see your submission and are excited to have you return to participating in the Columbia community. We would like to congratulate you as the winning submission and invite you to campus to complete the mural. We here at CUSU loved the way you incorporated our guidelines of including Columbia’s mascot while also paying tribute to the first responders and using the candles to honour everyone we lost was a beautiful element of the design. We would like to have the piece completed by the anniversary on September 29th so please feel free to start as soon as you would like in order to achieve this deadline. Please don’t hesitate to contact me if you have any further questions.

Kind Regards,

Caitlyn Walsh

Columbia University Student Union President.

“Oh my god! Harry, I got it. I got accepted to paint the memorial mural.”

“Knew you could do it baby!” He pulled her into a hug, holding her tightly and kissing her cheek.

“Congratulations bug,” Steve added, patting her shoulder. “No one better suited for the job.”

“I’m pretty sure they picked me for the publicity,” Aurora admitted when Harry finally let her go. “I don’t really care though. If my name gets more people talking about gun reform, then I’ll exploit that as much as I can. I really want to get more involved in that side of things and just make sure what happened to us doesn’t happen to anyone else.”

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