#i know better than to promise deadlines but i’m hopeful they’ll be at least coming out consistently

[mollyrolls]

i’m not gonna write this bc i would die before i could hit post but all i’m gonna say is akaashi keiji jazz pianist

[helloprettybb]

makes everything better

Hey everybody, I told myself I wasn’t going to create deadlines for myself, but I really wanted to release something. It takes place around now, but IW didn’t happen so Steve is like 36 and the reader is in her mid-twenties. Bucky is the only one really mentioned, but just know, Tony and Nat are still alive. 

summary- you and Steve are perfect for each other. you finish each other’s sentences, think of the same jokes and act practically the same. the two of you are so in sync and it drives Bucky crazy that you aren’t together already.

warnings- age gap, cursing, accidental fault in our stars reference oops

word count- 1.4k

“What do we need...” you drift off, opening and closing the kitchen cabinets. Looking for whatever needs replacements, you scan the pantry. “Okay, we need-”

“Graham crackers,” Steve finishes your sentence as he walks into the kitchen. You nod and type it into the list on your phone. Steve gives you a once over when he sees you making the list on your phone. You roll your eyes playfully as you continue to create the list. 

You jump between the pantries, fridge, and freezer. You and Steve dance around each other as he writes his list, on paper of course. From an outside perspective, the scene looked insane as you went under his arm or he slid behind you. But for some reason, the rhythmic chaos moved smoothly as the two of you made separate lists. 

The first time you went grocery shopping, you only made a digital list and unfortunately, your phone died and left you relying on your memory. The second time, you didn’t make a list on your phone and trusted Steve’s paper one. But when he emptied his pockets, he realized he left it by his motorcycle keys, which were still at home since you forced him to take you in a car. From then on, you went together and both made your own lists in case of an emergency. You get pulled out of your element when you hear Steve ask, “Ooh, did you add the-”

“Trail mix.” you say. “Yep, I even put down the specific Peanut Butter Monster. Because someone threw a fit last time.” You say the last part a little louder, knowing Bucky is only ten feet away in the common room. As expected, he pops up and whips his head at you.

“I did not! I nicely asked why you didn’t buy the ones I asked for,” Bucky replies defensively, completely ignoring the fact that he sulked in his room when he saw you bought the wrong ones.

“Sure,” you respond sarcastically, “Besides, I don’t see how the Monster trail mix is that much different from the Peanut Butter Monster.” You’re looking down at your list and comparing it to Steve’s. Occasionally, you quietly point out items he’s missed and vice versa, but for the most part, your lists are the same.

Apparently, your blasphemous comments about trail mix set Bucky off, since you feel his looming presence enter the kitchen. “You don’t understand, y/n. The Peanut Butter Monster has peanut-butter-coated pretzel balls, mini peanut butter cups, and Peanut M&M’s!” Bucky exclaims. You glance over at Steve as Bucky points out the differences between the two. 

You lock eyes with Steve and he laughs a little, biting his lip to stay quiet enough for Bucky to not hear. You laugh with him, but yours is loud enough for Bucky to pick up. “Laugh all you want, but don’t come crawling back to me when you want my trail mix,” Bucky gloats. He leans against the counter and asks, “Why do you two go grocery shopping anyway?”

“Because it’s fun,” you both murmur, heads still down and eyes glued between the lists. Bucky scoffs at your responses. He’s silent for a while and you think that he left until he finally speaks up again.

“Okay, spit it out.” his blunt tone draws both of your attentions. Lifting your heads, you and Steve look up at Bucky in confusion.

“Spit what out?” you ask, furrowing your brows. Judging by Bucky’s short laugh, Steve must be mimicking your expression. 

“Why are you really grocery shopping?” Bucky narrows his eyes like he’s trying to solve a murder mystery. He raises his hand to his chin and rests his elbow under his left arm. He looks the both of you up and down like you’re his lab experiments.

“What are we, your lab experiments?” you ask, and coincidentally enough, Steve says the exact same thing, in the exact same way and of course, at the exact same time. Bucky ignores your comment and proceeds to investigate the two of you.

“Hm, talking the same, acting the same,” he eyes you up again, “And even dressing the same,” You look down at your clothes and then Steve’s and what a surprise, you’re dressed the same even down to your shoes.” You must be together!” Bucky concludes.

You immediately protest, “No, that’s-”

“Ridiculous!” Steve finishes.

“You’re so in-sync that you’re practically the same fucking people!” You and Steve mutter language under your breaths and you’ve never regretted picking up that habit more than now. 

”No, we’re not. And besides, I have a date tonight,” you tell him, hoping he’ll ease up.

”With who?” Bucky questions inquisitively, flitting his eyes toward Steve.

”None of your business,” you shut down, “Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m going grocery shopping before the store gets too crowded.” You leave and Steve follows after you, essentially ending the conversation and leaving Bucky alone with his furrowed brow and gritted teeth.

“I can’t believe he asked that!” you complain, slamming the car door a little harder than you intended. You cross your arms in frustration. Steve takes in your anger and laughs a little.

“It’s okay, doll. I promise he doesn’t know.” Steve assures as he opens the garage. He pulls the car out and lets his hand rest on your thigh, a gesture meant to calm you down. 

It works a little and you huff, “Fine, but still. He’s just going to keep asking and I don’t know how we can hide this any longer.” You look down at the hand on your thigh to avoid Steve’s gaze.

You and Steve have been dating for nearly six months. There are millions upon millions of reasons you didn’t tell the team, but one of the main reasons is how they’ll treat you. You’re scared the whole team dynamic will be flipped onto its head once they learn your status with Steve. What if they judge you for dating Steve, who’s nearly nine years your senior. Or even worse, they opt to kick you off the team.

Steve parks the cark and seeming to sense your worry, says, “What if we don’t have to?”

You look up at him and ask, “What?” While you were the one to suggest keeping your relationship secret, Steve didn’t seem to have any qualms about it. Occasionally, you could tell he’d be frustrated that he couldn’t just kiss you in front of everyone or have you in his lap while the team had a movie night.

“What if we just tell them?” Steve proposes, eyes unsure yet hopeful. It’s a big step in your relationship, but it’s one your ready to take with him.

You’ve been silent for too long. Steve’s insecurity is clear and he resembles the scrawny kid from Brooklyn more than the super soldier sitting before you. “Okay,” you say quietly, giving him a small smile.

“Okay?” Steve asks, relief slowly filling his eyes and color returning to face. 

“Yes, Steve. I-I wanna tell them.” you admit, smile widening. You’ve never seen Steve so happy as he sweeps you into his arms and pulls you onto his lap. Pulling you into a deep kiss, he shocks you a bit with his balance of passion and gentleness. Lost in his lips, you feel warmth, happiness, and love. 

He pulls away a little and asks, “How are we going to tell them?” You think for a moment with your hands rested on his broad shoulders. 

Smoothing your hands over his shoulders, you suggest, “How about we tell them tonight over dinner? We’ll buy a cake for good measure,”

Steve tilts his head and asks, “Why cake?”

“Because,” you shrug, “It makes everything better.” Steve smiles and you lean back into him and connect your lips. Steve wraps his arms around your torso and you sigh lightly, feeling safe in his strong arms.

-

“Oh shit, Steve forgot his wallet.” Bucky thinks as he spots the brown wallet on the counter. He looks at the garage’s camera and sees that Steve’s car is missing. Stepping outside just in case you’re still there, Bucky walks out and sees the car parked in the driveway.

Walking down the pavement toward the car, Bucky thinks his ears pick up a moan, but he ignores it. And probably one of the dumbest decisions he’s ever made, he opens the driver’s seat door.

Well, at least you don’t need the cake anymore.

[ashenpages]

Current Projects & Emoji Voting Key

Quick disclaimer: I’m a romance writer in all aspects of the term, so most of my works will contain mature content. Engage at your own risk, you know the rules, you’re responsible for curating your own experience of the internet, blah blah blah.

This post serves as a current mock up of fic ideas I’m either actively working on or considering working on next. You can drop me an ask about any of them, or just vote via the emoji combo I’ve assigned them.

Voting lets me know you’re excited about an idea and makes it more likely I’ll actually work on it. You can vote anytime, there’re no deadlines or winner announcements, just me gauging your interest by what I see in my ask box most often.

You can also ask me about the original stuff I’m working on currently. The current WIPs are Medusa centric and the emoji for them is: 🐍

Support my original work on Ko-fi and Patreon.

- Lupin: 🤑🤠💍  These are all oneshot ideas, between 5-15K each. If you want to vote for a specific idea, send me the emojis and the number of the idea.

Born from the idea that Goemon and Zenigata probably couldn’t be an item, my brain decided to come up with how I could write for them. Goemon’s teaching an ikebana class as part of his training, and Zenigata shows up as a student on forced recreational leave for his health from the ICPO. Zenigata wins the samurai’s heart through flowers. But what happens when Lupin and Jigen find out? (Only good sexy things, I promise. These beans are in a healthy polycule--be gay, do crimes) (WIP)

Jigen/Lupin, but it's Jigen deciding to seduce Lupin while wearing his own Lupin disguise. The thief is waaaaay too into it, and some artistry is taken with the sex so that they don't mess up the disguise too much during their encoutner.

Jigen/Zenigata/Lupin where Jigen has some fantasices about Zenigata, but is pretty sure they'll never happen. Tells Lupin about them. Suddenly the fantasies are coming true, in the middle of a heist, and Jigen doesn't what to do except get swept up in the moment and enjoy. Plot twist, it's Lupin dressed up as Zenigata granting all his gunman's dreams. Plot twist again, Zenigata catches them at it.

Zenigata/Lupin, where Lupin keeps doing good things in illegal ways and Pops has to find a way to punish him for it. Good thing for Pops Lupin's a masochist?

Trans!Lupin and Trans!Jigen premise: Jigen cares for Lupin after the master thief has top surgery, since Jigen has Been There and Done That. Caring, sweet, and a little sexy. Lupin is a much better patient than Jigen.

The one time Zenigata caught Lupin in an alley and kissed him and it was Jigen in disguise. Things get sexy anyway, and Zenigata has crushes on two thieves now. Lupin and Jigen "kidnap" him later for an evening of taking care of their inspector.

The background plot of Jigen's Gravestone where we see Jigen think he's done for and try to leave Lupin. Our thief has none of it, and we get to relish in the inherent eroticism of Lupin sitting in sniper fire, knowing Jigen's got his back. This is the moment I think Jigen finally believes he can be with Lupin forever.

I love the idea of something longer and more plot driven like a Lupin special where Lupin ends up in hot water and Jigen and Fujiko have to work together to save him. Jigen and Fujiko have such an interesting relationship. They're both partners of Lupin, they don't really like each other, they constantly screw the other over, but when it really matters they take care of each other. I'd like to see that highlighted a little more and also give them space to call each other out and bicker. Nothing sexy between them, but maybe a really interesting threesome with Lupin and Fujiko in a strap on once they save their boy.

- Sonic Vampire Novelist Coffee Shop AU: 📚☕💐

Shadow is an immortal vampire who has seen the world change for the worse too many times. These days it feels like he only lives for his coffee dates with Rouge, another immortal who loves each new era they encounter, warts and all. He has to admit that the book series she got him into speaks to him, at least. If someone in this era can understand him without meeting him, it can’t all be bad. But he hardly expected the goofy blue barista at the new coffee place to understand him the way those books do.

This is a novel length romcom romp with some big feelings about what it means to watch as things change, grow, and die. Expect lots of Big gothic feelings from this one, emotionally charged kissing, and overly-adoring sex. But also expect shenanigans from everyone in the coffee shop, which include Rouge, Amy, Tails, Knuckles, Cream, and more.

- Sonic Blazamy, "Like the Sun": 💖🌸💎

Amy Rose has been in love with Sonic for a while.

Or has she?

When the Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, Shadow, and Silver are trapped as the fuel sources for Doctor Eggman’s newest evil scheme, Amy teams up with Blaze, Rouge, and Cream to save them. With Sonic out of the picture and Amy fulfilling his role, was she ever really in love with him? Or did she just want to be like him?

This is a novel length epic romance with lots of competent women and lots of romantic Blazamy content. Expect flowery hopes and dreams, badass self-actualization, and glancing hand touches that give way to cuddly and sweet sex.

- Persona 5: 🗡🍛☕

After bringing down the Metaverse twice, Ryuji didn’t think graduating high school and figuring out what to do with his life would be so hard. Akira’s back in town, and the gang’s more-or-less all in Tokyo, but everyone else seems to have a plan while Ryuji just floats. How’s he supposed to change the world when he’s not a phantom thief anymore?

This is a novel length fic that addresses how powerless one can feel being just one person in the face of all the corrupted systems and bigotry the world has to offer. It’s about holding on to what you believe in, working through the doubt, and fighting your way to a better tomorrow with the power you do have. The whole gang is queer, featured relationships being Mako x Ann, Ryuji x Akira, Futaba & Yusuke as platonic life partners. Akira is polyamorous and omnisexual, Futaba’s asexual and aromantic while Yusuke is demisexual and very romantic, Makoto’s a lesbian, Ann and Ryuji are bi, and Haru’s pansexual, demisexual, and aromantic. They’re one giant band of queer Phantom Thieves, and even if they’re not really doing the Metaverse thing anymore, they’re still gonna save the world!

Also, I’m gonna make Makoto not a cop. That super didn’t age well. Zenkichi and his boss can work on making them better/abolishing them for other better organizations.

- Hades Game: ❤️‍🔥💀

Oneshot. I just really need to elaborate on the threesome you can have with them in-game, okay? Healthy and canon poly relationships are so few and far between, so often I have to do a ton of groundwork to explain why it’s working in the fic, but NOT WITH THESE KIDS!

Get ready for Meg helping Zag and Than be better at expressing their feelings, lots of kissing, and probably pegging.

- Castlevania Animation Trevor/Sypha/Alucard: 🧛🏰🛌

Castlevania gave Alucard a threesome last season, and I just really need S4 to give me him being taken care of by his partners. They’re probably not going to give it to me, so I’ll need to do it myself. This is just an everybody loves Alucard oneshot, with the gang’s signature banter (to an extent), Sypha being sexy, and Trever being remarkably sincere. This fic is gonna feel like that Ann Hathaway picture with Trevor kissing Alucard and Sypha holding the end of Trevor’s whip while she leans her head on Alucard’s shoulder adoringly.

- Devil May Cry Nico/Lady/Trish: 💋✨😈

Nico’s gay, okay? Like really, really gay. And Lady’s bi and not into men who make her pay bills, but very into women who make amazing guns for her and demonesses with hearts who fight by her side. Trish is ace, but loves people and is pretty attached to Lady at this point. Plus it’s cute when Lady blushes and says nice things like they’re insults. I don’t have super solid ideas for them yet, and I envision these more like a polycule where Lady’s with Nico and with Trish but they’re not with each other more than seeing it as a threesome, but who knows what might happen. This is probably 1-2 oneshots depending on ideas, but might turn into a series of oneshots if people are interested (or I can’t control myself and inspiration strikes).

- Post FMA:B Blind Roy & No Alchemy Ed: 👀👑🙏

This is actually an old novel-length fic I wrote ages ago and didn’t post that didn’t turn out well because I was new to writing sex when I first wrote it. The plot is good, and is all about Roy learning to work with his blindness to reclaim his ambition of being Fuhrer and changing the system to something that actually cares for its people. He and Ed reconnect, fall into bed, and both set about working through their respective traumas about being “useless” having lost their sight/alchemy. They go to Xing as an ambassadorial party to offer Amestris’s collaboration on Al and May’s Alkahestry experiments--and uncover a plot that might threaten both kingdoms.

- Age of Calamity continuity Mipha x Revali: 🦚🐟💘

The first time Revali noticed Mipha, it was in the heat of battle. She stole his mark, taking them down with a flurry of quick blows from her spear. Violence rained from her like water--and then she healed him on her way to her next battle. No questions, no conditions, just pure kindness. The usual need to measure himself against those around him was quiet in her wake. And Revali couldn’t understand it. But how to get to know more about her? A fish and bird may fall in love, but where would they live?

This fic could be a oneshot or novel length depending on how far down the hole I fall. I need it to cover time, but it could be done in linked vignettes or with actually covering events in detail. I may elect to do a oneshot just to get it done and out of my system faster. So much fic to write, so little time.

Expect trans!Revali, polyamorous Zoras, scary competent Mipha, songbird Revali, love confessions that are made up entirely of berating Link for not loving Mipha the way she wants him to, and breaking these characters a little outside of their assigned roles in BotW and Age of Calamity. Background Link x Zelda, and Urbosa x Zelda’s Mom.

- Epic desert romance about Urbosa and Zelda’s mom: 🏜🏝⚡

I just think Urbosa should kiss women and Zelda’s mom should get more development and maybe a name or something. Also, lightning imagery/metaphors/play.

It also went way over my head that Riju wasn’t Urbosa’s daughter the first time I played BotW, so now I want to write about the Gerudo queen who refused to produce an heir. The Gerudo are fascinating and have a very interesting cutlure, but I think it could be examined from a nonbinary perspective that rejected pregnancy and wanting to find a husband. Not in like a hateful way, but in a way that examines if that’s really right for everyone. There’s that shop in town that sells Voe armor, after all. Maybe finding a husband and having children isn’t something you have to do if you don’t want to. And Urbosa really doesn’t want to.

[oddshelbyout]

Flowers & Chocolates // John Shelby X Fem!Reader

Summary: On Valentine’s Day, your neighbour John asks you to look after his kids for a few hours and comes back with a gift you had been waiting for.

Warnings: Swearing

Word Count: 2372

Author’s Note:

This is a modern au, my first one for Peaky Blinders. I wasn’t sure if I could write a modern fic for this well but I think this turned out to be pretty good. I had to give John’s kids names and it was really hard to decide, I hope they fit well.

This fic really made me get over my writer’s block. I wrote this in one sit and it just put my mood up so much. It’s really fluffy and exactly what I would want my Valentine’s Day to be like.

I hope you share Valentine’s Day with all of your loved ones and show them you appreciate their love. I also hope that this one shot makes you as happy as it made me while writing it. Enjoy <3

English is not my first language and I’m not always confident about my work so please let me know if I make any mistakes or anything I can fix in my writing.

You can ask to be added to my taglist. You can be tagged to works on a specific character or just any of my works. Please dm me or send your wish to my ask box if you’d like to be added.

Requests are open. You can request any Peaky Blinders related imagines or prompts for me to write. I’m a minor so I don’t take NSFW requests, please keep that in mind.

———————

It was Valentine’s Day. You were single once again and your date for the night was a bottle of cheap red wine.

None of your relationships lasted more than 6 months and you had been spending every Valentine’s Day alone for 3 years. You were convinced the relationship chapter of your life was closed for now.

That morning started like another Sunday morning. You got up, took a shower, made yourself coffee and called it breakfast. You scrolled through Instagram and pretended not to see all the couple posts.

You were actually really glad to be single. You had full freedom, not that a relationship would take it all away but being independant entirely made you feel good. Also all of your past relationships felt one sided and you hadn’t met the right person yet.

This Valentine’s Day was a bit different than the others because you weren’t upset about being single. You were actually upset about not being in a relationship with a specific someone.

That someone was your upstairs neighbour in the small apartment complex you lived in. His name was John and he had four kids. Yes, four kids.

You might ask why that information was so important and the answer is simple. You and John met just because he had kids.

All of the flats besides yours and John’s were rented by university students, that left you as the only choice to babysit John’s kids. You were working independently, you were a graphic artist and you were always at home. That was exactly what John needed.

One summer afternoon, your door knocked. You weren’t expected guests, you barely had them anyway. John stood before you, looked at you with his gentle eyes.

“I have no one, can you watch my kids for an hour?” was the first thing he had said to you. You were also too busy trying to understand who he was and didn’t notice four youngers hiding behind him.

You couldn’t say no. You loved children, you had two younger brothers but they were back in your hometown when you had moved to London. John just left you with the kids and left.

John had two daughters and two sons. Katie, Jocelyn, William and David. Katie was the oldest but definitely wasn’t the most mature one. Jocelyn and William were twins but looked nothing alike though they sounded a lot like each other. David was the youngest and somehow the most mature one.

The oldest was nine and the youngest one was six at the time you met them. They were extremely calm and none of them were troublemakers. They had great interest in your work and asked a lot of questions but also never bothered you.

You loved spending time with them and babysitting them. It has become a routine for you. John would drop them at least a few times a week. It was summer and the kids didn’t go to school. They were with you almost everyday.

You spent so much time with his kids that one day you even joked about getting paid. John had a better offer though. He promised you that he and the kids would make or buy you dinner every weekend to pay you back.

John was a good cook, you had only had take out for one of those dinners once and that was because he was sick. You had become almost like a family.

John was originally from Birmingham, his accent gave it away anyway but he had moved to London with a quick decision after his wife passed away. He had left his brothers and aunt behind in Birmingham but promised them that they’ll be okay.

John had told you that moving to London was the best decision he had taken. It was a new beginning for him and the kids. He was an engineer and London had more opportunities.

Even though you worked from home and didn’t quite reach the goals you had coming to London but it was your best decision too. Best decision after dumping your toxic ex.

Luckily for both you and John, you had formed a great friendship. The kids adored you. John was forever thankful for taking care of them.

That was all going to start changing when schools started and you saw them less and less. You were starting to feel like you didn’t appreciate your time with them enough.

You also realised you had feelings for John. That hurt more when one morning as the kids and him leaving home told you that they were moving. They were going to move out of their flat to a bigger place.

Your heart broke. You knew you’d see them from time to time but you thought it would never be the same warmth you had as neighbours.

That little heartache made Valentine’s Day harder. You could’ve opened your heart out to John and his little family you were introduced to. You had even joined that little family. Shared everything and became so close that you felt like you joined their family

After your coffee and your usual morning Instagram scrolling, you opened your laptop. You had to finish one job before the deadline. Your doorbell rang while you were deep down in work.

You went to the door knowing it was John. You hoped he would be alone. He was not, he had brought the kids again. You were happy to see them but you had one last hope to spend Valentine’s Day with John.

“Sorry Y/N, can you look after them for a few hours?” John said looking at you with puppy eyes. It almost felt like he was apologising for something and it wasn’t for making you look after his children.

“Sure!” you had said, trying to hide the subtle pain in your chest. “I downloaded a new game!” David said, waving his iPad carefully. You smiled You looked back to John, your smile had faded but his was as strong as it was a moment before.

You were hurting because him dropping them off on Valentine's Day meant only one thing. He was going on a date. He didn’t have a partner that you knew of and knew he would tell you if he did. It hurt you so much

“Going on a date?” you asked not being able to hold your curiosity back. “Oh no, just an errand.” John said and you just nodded.

You tried to reply back with a smile but it looked more like you were trying to hide your pain. “Alright, get in kids.” you told the children and John nodded.

“Alright Shelby Clan, I’ll be back in an hour.” John said and that made you genuinely smile. You found it very funny that he called them Shelby Clan. You knew it was the nickname for the whole family but it was still funny hearing him call four kids a clan.

“Bye daddy!” Jocelyn said waving, then they all got in. They ran to the living room which was also your office. “Y/N, are you really working on Valentine’s Day?” Katie asked. You chuckled nervously.

“Well, I’m not dating anyone, so yes.” you admitted and the kids giggled. “What are you laughing at?” you joked and they giggled more. “Would you want to date?” William asked.

“I think I would, if there was a right person.” you said after sitting on your chair. The kids sat on the ground and rested their backs on the side of the couch. David climbed on the couch instead, told you he was more mature.

“Even I am dating someone.” Katie said and Jocelyn gasped. “Who���s the lucky fella?” you asked, raising your eyebrows. All of them kept giggling, “He’s in my class, he bought me a cookie on friday.” Katie said with a big smile.

Watching them giggle and talk to you enthusiastically made your mood go up. You were actually feeling much better thanks to the Shelby Clan.

You went back to work while they were entertaining themselves with the new game David downloaded. The other siblings joined David on the couch too, lşke they should’ve done earlier.

You weren’t close to finishing the work and you were getting stressed about it. Your back started hurting from sitting. Also your stomach growled, reminding you that coffee doesn’t count as a meal.

“Are y’all hungry?” you asked the kids, hoping they would say yes. “Nope.” they all answered at once but Katie had more to say. “Dad said they’ll be cooking for us when he gets back.” they all nodded to Katie’s work.

“I’m eating on my own then.” you mumbled and stood up. “No Y/N, daddy’s cooking for you too.” William said and you smiled for a moment.

Your mind went full on panic mode. You questioned why he would cook for you after he comes back from a date. Even though he had said it wasn’t a date, your conscience didn’t trust his words.

You sat back at your seat but you didn’t want to keep working. The kids seemed so into that game that you also didn’t want to interrupt their fun. You went back to scrolling through Instagram and accepting your loneliness.

Soon the doorbell came to the rescue. You didn’t notice how much time passed so you didn’t think it would be John. You still believed he was on a date.

You opened the door. Your gaze first focused on John’s big smile, you didn’t even notice what he was holding in his hands.

“I’m back.” he said quietly, he was so quiet that you knew for some reason that he didn’t want kids to hear. That was when your gaze fell down from his lips to his hands.

He was holding a box of chocolate and a bouquet of red roses. You gasped and then smiled so big. “You bought me flowers and chocolates.” you said after licking your lips.

“I thought it was the appropriate time to.” John said, you looked at him not getting exactly what he was trying to say. You were so clueless.

“Appropriate time for what?” you asked and he just laughed. He thought you were joking but you were asking seriously. The fact that the corner of your lips were still curled had tricked him.

“I thought you were smarter.” he joked instead of directly answering your question. “Shut up you wanker, tell me!” you laughed after. “Wanker huh? I’m never telling you.” he replied and laughed so hard that you were sure the kids had heard already.

“Come on John Boy!” you said reaching for his hand. “At least give me the chocolates, I’m hungry!” you complained. He pulled them away from you. You laughed at each other, you felt like you were a teenager again.

“No seriously tell me, appropriate time for what?” you asked again, this time with a more serious face. He took a deep breath. He held onto the flowers and chocolates stronger.

“I think this is the appropriate time to ask you out.” John said and you nervously chuckled. You were so happy to hear that your feelings were mutual. You were also angry at yourself for not believing him when he said he had a date.

You two just smiled at each other like idiots without saying anything. At that moment nothing was real, you felt like you were floating in space and your only connection to earth was John.

“You’re asking me out?” you asked just to be sure. “Mhmm.” John nodded, “Y/N Y/L/N would you like to go out with me?” he properly asked. You giggled like a little girl.

“Yes, I will.” you said and hugged him. The corners of the chocolate box hurt you but it was worth it. Your hug was interrupted by Katie.

“Did you ask her out Daddy?” the ten year old asked, he nodded. “He did and now I’m hoping he’s gonna cook us dinner.” you told Katie, you really were hungry like a wolf.

John stepped inside with you. He left the flowers and chocolates on the kitchen counter. He immediately started cooking, you of course were going to help him.

“I hope you’re moving too far away, like the other side of London.” you confessed, that was a concern for you even before his interest in you was official.

“No, just a block away so the kids don’t have to change schools.” John said as he was cutting tomatoes. “A bigger place?” you asked, you were trying to get your own mind to justify the reason they’re moving for.

“Yes and you’re always welcome, nothing changes.” John said, he turned to you and smiled big. You returned his smile with a bigger one. Your eyes stuck at his lips, they looked so full and red. So kissable.

“Nothing changes.” you repeated and took a deep breath. He stopped cutting the tomatoes. He licked his lips, “Maybe some things can change.” he said and kissed you.

What a kiss it was. You weren’t in the children’s sight. It was the best kiss you ever had. With his lips touching yours and his tongue slipping into your mouth, both of you lost contact to earth. You were both floating in space, you didn’t even need air. As long as you had each other, you didn’t even have to have contact to earth.

You kissed for so long. You kissed like it was your last moment alive. You kissed with so much passion and you thought the heartache waiting for him gave you was totally worth it. When you finally parted, the only reason was that you were out of breath and you had a meal to cook.

Your Valentine’s Day was the exact opposite of what you expected. Even though you wouldn’t call what you and John had a relationship yet, you still weren’t alone on Valentine’s Day.

You had John with you who finally told you he wanted to date you. You had Katie, Jocelyn, William and David. You had your little new family. Now you were sure that you had joined their family for real. You hoped you all would be happy for the rest of your lives.

[loversthroughtime]

https://archiveofourown.org/works/28946823 It had been over 3 weeks since Kagome had gone home, and she was starting to feel the toll it was taking on her mind and body. Usually it wouldn’t have bothered her so much, as she had gone up to almost 2 months without returning to the modern world, but lately they had been fighting more demons than usual, besides all the studying she had been doing to catch up on missed work, luckily she didn’t have any upcoming exams or homework deadlines, but it was important to recap on everything so she wouldn’t be completely lost the next time she attended school. “Inuyasha it’ll just be a couple days. I need a break, I’m gonna lose my mind if I don’t get to rest at least a couple days in the comfort of my home, please let me go” Kagome was on the verge of a mental breakdown over not being able to return home, not that it mattered what Inuyasha said since she would be going either way, but it was nice when he didn’t fight her all the way there. “If I may,” Said Miroku stepping in, “ we are also starting to feel the need to rest, as you know, Sango and I are also human, and we could also use a few days for ourselves. It would be excellent to gather supplies and gather some energy for when we next encounter Naraku.” Sango smiled and nodded next to Miroku. “I could also use this time to fix some weapons that have gotten damaged over the last few battles, as Miroku said, Naraku is in hiding, this is the best time to gather our strength and prepare for what’s to come, otherwise we’ll be too tired to perform well in battle” Inuyasha was pensive at what his companions had just said. They all made perfect sense, and he agreed that some rest would be more beneficial than not. However, the fact that Naraku was in hiding gave them an advantage in gathering more jewel shards, not to mention getting more information on his whereabouts would be a win if he wasn’t expecting them to show up wherever he was hiding. “Well, it’s decided, since the majority voted for resting” Kagome was thrilled at her friends backing her up. “You can come with me to my time if you’d like Inuyasha, you don’t have to stay here and sulk like they say you always do.” At that Inuyasha’s cheeks turned red, his eyes widening in disbelief. “Keh, as if I would ever sulk, much less over you wasting time by going back to your house” He scoffed, turning his back towards the group. “But since you are all weak humans, I suppose it would be a waste of time to keep going if all you’ll do is complain” He started walking in the direction Kaede’s village was, it would probably take them a little over half the day to get there, but it was still very early in the day, so they would be getting there right before sunset without a problem. The walk back to the village went smoothly, they didn’t run into any trouble, and they were able to enjoy their time together by occasionally playing games, and singing on their way there. Kagome carried around a portable microphone she would pull out so they each had a go at singing a song, aside from Kagome, none of them were particularly good at singing, but they were having a good time, so it didn’t really matter. Since they were having fun, they got to the village in what seemed like no time at all. The sky had just started turning a beautiful shade of orange and pink when Kagome finally made it to the well. “I won’t be gone too long, four days at most, I promise, I just need to catch up on a little bit of school” She smiled at her friends who had decided to accompany her all the way there. “No worries Kagome, take all the time you need” Said Sango, gaining a death stare from Inuyasha at her words. “Yeah Kagome, you need to rest! We’ll miss you but we know you’ll be back soon” Smiled Shippo perched on Miroku’s shoulder. “Are you sure you don’t want to come, Inuyasha? My offer still stands.” Said Kagome a little more hopeful than she intended, she usually loved getting time away from him, but for some reason lately the thought of being apart from him made her heart sink in her chest a little bit, almost like having a piece of herself torn away. Kagome mentally slapped herself at such thought, since when was Inuyasha a part of her? No, she definitely needed some time away. “Keh, I have nothing to do over there, and you’re always saying I annoy you, just get back in time” and with that he took off towards the forest before anyone was able to say anything else about the matter. “Well, that’s that.” Kagome said her goodbyes to the group and jumped into well that would take her 500 years into the future, leaving her companions alone as they started making their way back to Kaede’s village. “Sango my dear, how about a little bet?” Miroku smirked. “What do you have in mind, Monk?” Sango was a little reluctant to hear what Miroku had to say, given the fact that whatever came out of his mouth could never be good, much less now that he had such a mischievous look on his face. “I’ll bet you whatever you want that he follows her to her time at the latest tomorrow afternoon” “Okay, I’ll take you up on that one” Sango was the one that smirked this time “I bet you he goes back tonight, and if he does you have to keep your hands to yourself for a month” “A - A MONTH?! Sango dear, don’t you think that’s pushing it a little bit?” he said fearfully, as he didn’t actually think she would bet Inuyasha would follow Kagome at an earlier time than he had originally suggested, and to be frank, knowing Inuyasha he wasn’t confident at all it wouldn’t happen. “So what do you say?” “Ah, I actually think betting goes against everything I believe in as a monk. Such behaviors are to be condemned. Morally speaking, I can’t partake in such an activity” As he said this his left hand was making its way towards Sango’s bottom half, which luckily she caught on to, smacking him with all her might before it made contact with her body. “Why do you always have to be like this?” Shippo asked him with a sigh. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Kagome had dropped her backpack in her room, and was gathering her supplies to take a nice warm bath. She was feeling more than ever how sore her body was from the constant fighting and running, she hadn’t taken her bike in a while cause she always had to leave it when a battle broke out, and it was such a pain to look for it, although Inuyasha could find it fairly easily with his sense of smell, it was still annoying, and if she was being honest it was more annoying than helpful, especially when she was tired of riding, and of having to push the damn thing around. Kagome stepped into the warm tub and contemplated how much she’d grown over the last months, it was crazy to think how her life had changed drastically overnight, being thrown into a world of constant danger, but she wouldn’t have it any other way if she was given the choice. Which she did, as she chose to spend the majority of her time there. Her friends had become family, and Inuyasha had become such a natural extension of herself, that whenever they were apart from each other, all she did was miss him, and wait until they were together again, as much as he annoyed her some times. “There I go again” she sighed, and started drying herself and getting dressed. “Thinking about him when he’s not here, even him driving me completely crazy is better than being apart” She had picked out a green long sleeved shirt and pajama shorts since the temperature was neither hot nor cold. Grabbing her dirty laundry off the floor, she made her way into her room, almost face planting as she walked around her bed to close the open window, tumbling over something that definitely should not have been on the floor. “Inuyasha! What are you doing here? I thought you said you weren’t gonna come” She said after regaining her footing and realizing that what she had tripped over, were Inuyasha’s outstretched legs, since he had been sitting on the floor. “Keh, don’t think I came for you or nothing.” he scoffed, cheeks turning slightly pink “I was just bored out of my mind, all Miroku does is flirt, and all Sango does is slap him, Shippo is annoying, and don’t get me started on that old hag” he crossed his legs and tucked his hands into the sleeves of his robes. “Well, I’m glad you came, it gets boring being out here by myself” “Is your family not here?” He asked, turning his head in her direction a little faster than he intended. “No, they left me a note saying Grandpa had some kind of convention, and mom and Sota decided to tag along since they didn’t have anything to do, they’ll be back tomorrow afternoon” She dumped her dirty clothes in the laundry basket she kept in her room, and made her way over to the bed, sitting right next to Inuyasha on the floor. “Why didn’t you come back? If you didn’t want to be alone you should’ve just returned to the village” “If I had returned, you would’ve made us get back on the road tomorrow, and I told you, I need to rest. I’m sore all over, I honestly don’t even know how I made it back all the way to my house. One more step and my legs would’ve given in” “Well… I can carry you, you know? All you have to do is ask” Kagome’s cheeks were slowly turning red at his offering. If she had to choose a favorite way of travelling, she had to admit that riding on Inuyasha’s back beat any other way of transportation by a LONG shot. “Thank you Inuyasha, that’s very sweet of you. I will definitely take you up on that one” They sat in silence for a while since they were both still madly blushing from their conversation, neither one really knew why they were so flushed over something they did almost every day. It wasn’t like he had never given her a ride before, but offering to carry her when she was tired, and not just in the midst of battle, or when they needed to get somewhere in a hurry, made the act seem a lot more intimate. Kagome looked over at him, and smiled to herself, noticing how handsome he was. She was never one to say such things to him, although she admitted it to herself every time she got a glimpse of his face. “What are you looking at?” Inuyasha had turned to look at her and noticed she had a very strange look on her face, her eyes seemed to sparkle, and she had a smile that curved to one side more than the other, she looked so cute, and the realization of that made his face feel hot. “Nothing! I was just thinking” she averted her eyes quickly, and tried to focus her attention on something else, when she noticed he had grass stuck to his robe, near where his rib cage was, so she reached her hand over and started picking it out of his clothes, when he suddenly pulled away in a suspiciously jumpy manner. Realization hit Kagome like a ton of bricks “Inuyasha, are you… ticklish?” she asked in disbelief. Inuyasha’s face was all the answer she needed, his eyes had gone round and big, his cheeks were pink, and he was trying to talk but nothing coherent was coming out. She never would’ve thought that Inuyasha who seemed so tough, who always shrugged off any sign of what he considered a weakness, was ticklish. Mischief filled Kagome’s entire face, her eyes were sparkling, her smile went from ear to ear. Inuyasha had never seen someone look so happy, yet so scary, and at that thought, she launched herself at him, placing her hands on both sides of his torso and tickling him to her heart's content. The laughs coming out of Inuyasha, where making Kagome’s heart swell three times its normal size. She had never heard such a glorious sound coming out of him. Sure, she had heard him laugh whenever they were goofing around, or he did a sort of evil laugh when he was mocking someone he didn’t particularly like. But this was unlike any of those things. This was his pure, most uncensored laugh. She could hear the roughness of his voice, it was low, and husky. It matched him perfectly, and all she wanted was to be able to hear that sound for the rest of her life. “St-  STOP, HAHAHHAAHHA” it was getting hard to breathe through all the laughter “KAGOME, HAHAHA, STOP” He was kicking and thrashing under her, careful not to hurt her, but still trying to scurry away from her. No one had ever tickled him since his mother had died, and although his lungs were on absolute fire from laughing, he couldn’t say he hated the feeling. He was especially loving the enjoyment Kagome was getting out of this, and making her happy was all that mattered to him, no matter how much he said otherwise. After what seemed like an eternity, Kagome stopped tickling him, she was laughing as she allowed him to regain his breath. “I can’t believe you’re ticklish, god will I use this to my advantage from now on! When I was little my mom would threaten me with tickles if I didn’t want to do something, it worked in her favor so well because-” At that Inuyasha flipped her under him, and with an eyebrow raised and a teasing grin, he started tickling her the same way she had done to him. Being mindful of his claws he ran his hands through her body, tickling her stomach, under her arms, her neck. Anywhere he touched made her thrash and let out what sounded like heaven to Inuyasha’s ears. Her voice was high, but not in a deafening way, it was smooth, and fruity, and he could say without a flicker of a doubt that it was his favorite sound in the entire world. “OKAY HAHAHHAHAHA TRUCE, HAHAHAHHA TR- TRUCE” He stopped tickling her, and relished in the moment, one of his hands had found its way behind her back, the other in the little curve between her neck and shoulder. He had somehow ended up fully on top of her, his face mere inches away from hers. He could feel the warmth of her breath on his mouth. This made him lower his gaze from her eyes to her lips. Her lips, he had never seen anything like them. They were plump and luscious, naturally the color of cherry blossoms in the spring. He licked his lips, and returned his gaze to her eyes, finding her looking down, directly at HIS own lips, without a second thought he went in, taking her mouth into his own. If the look of her lips was perfect, the taste of them was something else. They were as soft as they looked, and tasted sweet, similar to the way her scent was, it reminded him of peaches somehow. He ran his tongue across her lower lip asking for better access, and deepening the kiss once she opened her mouth at his request. One of her hands had made its way to the side of his face, and she had intertwined her fingers through his hair, pulling him as close as humanly possible. If heaven existed, it was this, Kagome’s lips against his own, moving in sync with one another, tongue’s battling in dominance, heavy breaths in between movements, little nibbles here and there. Inuyasha had never experienced something as glorious as this moment. After what seemed like forever, although it was probably no more than five minutes, they broke apart. Regaining their breath, they both just stared into each other's eyes. Sudden fear hit him, he had not thought through what would happen if he kissed her, would she be disgusted with him? Would she think he forced himself on her? No, she had kissed him back, not only that, but they had kissed before, back in Kaguya’s castle, but that time had been different, his life was in danger, she had had no other choice. As if reading his mind, and noticing the self doubt that currently ran through Inuyasha’s head, Kagome smiled, making Inuyasha’s heart skip several beats. “If I’d known this would happen, I would’ve tickled you a long time ago” confessed Kagome, stroking his cheek with her thumb, fingers still running through his hair. Her heart was beating a thousand miles per hour, head spinning, as she tried to process what had just happened. It had been glorious, she truly had not expected this outcome when she discovered he was ticklish. The thought made her giggle. “I- I had never been tickled before” He said, averting his eyes. It was true, no one had ever gotten close enough to him to do such a thing, he supposed his mother had done it when he was a child, but it had been so long ago he hardly remembered the feeling before now. Since then no one had bothered to touch him in such a way to discover what spots on his body made him squirm and laugh, not until Kagome. She pulled his face a little so that he made eye contact with her again, lifting her head up a little, she gave him a quick peck on the lips and smiled. It was true that Inuyasha had had a rough life, people tended to be afraid of demons and half demons alike. But he didn’t have to feel like an outcast anymore, he deserved to experience love, and all the little things that made life worthwhile, and she would make sure of it. “Well, I’m glad to be your first” As her words left her mouth Kagome realized what she had just said “That’s not what I meant I-” This time it was him that gave her a chaste kiss “I know what you meant, thank you” He was running his fingers through her hair, not wanting this moment to end. He took a deep breath, trying to engrave everything about this moment in his memory, before finally pulling away and getting up. He offered his hand to hoist her up alongside him. Standing closer than they normally did. “Just so we’re clear, I definitely won this war” he said with a cocky grin, making Kagome laugh and roll her eyes at him. “Fine, but next time I’m definitely gonna win, you’ll see” At that both their stomachs made rumbling sounds, both of them realizing they hadn’t had anything to eat since that morning before they had set out on their journey back home. “I think my mom bought extra ramen the last time you were here, how about we make some to celebrate your victory?”  Inuyasha’s eyes lit up in glee, as if he would ever reject the option of having ramen for dinner. “Let’s go then” he said, taking her hand and intertwining his fingers with hers as he guided her out of her room and down to the kitchen. Perhaps this had been the first time he had been tickled, and it would definitely not be the last one. As long as it was Kagome, and it ended the same way each time, with their lips pressed together and her hand on his hand. 

[blu-joons]

He Takes Care Of You When You’re Stressed ~ Doctor!Kim Namjoon

The slam of the front door made him jump, he hadn’t even realised he’d fallen asleep on the sofa until he saw you walk into the living room, throwing yourself down into the armchair. You sighed heavily, taking your hair out of its tight bun.

He smiled softly, sitting up on the sofa, folding his arms over his chest. Your body was tired and unable to focus, he knew straight away that the day had been tough on you.

Your eyes met his, weakly smiling. “I’m home,” you spoke, bringing a smile to his face too, stretching your arms in the air.

Every day at work was tough for you, you had a lot of expectation on your shoulders, which slowly began to wear you down. Today had been particularly hard, you had lost count of the number of meetings you’d attended, the information going in one ear and out of the other.

“Has your day been that bad?” He questioned, moving along the sofa so he could sit closer to you.

You stood up from the sofa to move next to him, but as you did, your weight came underneath you, your legs lost all control and you fell back into the armchair, the marginal pounding you experienced in your head quickly became a lot worse.

“Jagi, be careful,” he spoke, leaning forward to ease you into the chair, kneeling in front of you, studying your face. “You look a little bit pale Y/N, are you feeling alright?”

His instincts kicked in, looking into your ears, pressing his hand to your forehead, eyes widening at the temperature you were suffering from.

“I’m fine,” you tried to protest, but Namjoon knew much better than that. He knew the signs of sickness, stress, and you were most definitely displaying them.

He left you in the chair for a few moments, grabbing a glass of water and some food from the kitchen, in the hope it would help you feel a bit better. Once he handed them to you, he helped take off your jacket, hanging it over the back door.

Whilst you took a sip of the drink, Namjoon moved back beside you, grabbing his notepad that he kept underneath the coffee table, scribbling a few notes down. “What are you doing?” You asked.

“Just keeping a note of symptoms, I should have realised that things were getting to you a lot sooner,” he frowned, scolding himself for missing the key symptoms.

Your head shook, your spare hand rested over his that lay on the arm of the chair. He couldn’t work all hours, there were times when he needed the time off too, you were capable of looking after yourself and giving him some time away from just being a doctor.

If anyone was to scold themselves, it was you, allowing yourself to become overworked was always going to be a mistake. “You shouldn’t have realised anything, you’re far too stressed to, you don’t need to worry about me.”

“How can I not now? You’re ill Y/N, and the sooner I can get you back on the mend the better. I’m going to call your office and tell them you’re not coming in tomorrow too,” he spoke, not even giving you a chance to argue, silencing you with a concerned smile.

You nodded in compliance with him, too exhausted to put up any fight. “Everyone will be home by now, I was the last one to leave, but they’ll get the message in the morning.”

“See, you’re working too hard. I know when people get stressed, and you definitely are. Maybe you need a few days at home, forget about work, look after yourself, and stop putting so much pressure on yourself,” he advised, kissing the back of your hand.

The deadlines of work, with the added pressure of last-minute meetings, unfriendly colleagues and a snooty boss, all mounted into a pile of work that was just too much. You didn’t want to burden Namjoon with your work and his, so instead kept it all to yourself.

“Maybe I could take a few days off too,” he whispered.

There was no way you could allow him to take time off work, so many people relied on him day by day to help them, that’s one of the reasons why you loved him so much, his kind and caring nature was commendable, in fact, inspiring.

“I can look after myself, you have more important patients,” you smiled, placing the empty glass of water on the table, brushing the pain at the front of your head aside.

Your body was exhausted, your limbs ached like never before, your head was pounding, nothing was helping you to get comfortable, instead you just found yourself becoming less and less comfortable the more you sat.

He had his hard days too, experiences that could never be described, yet somehow he always managed to come home to you with a smile on your face, sitting and listening to all the things you had to say, helping you through all your problems as well as his own.

You sat for a while in a comfortable silence, exactly what you needed after all the noise of the day, before Namjoon suggested you might find yourself more at ease if you headed up to bed, giving yourself a bit more space to relax and calm down.

“I’ll get a hot water bottle,” he smiled once you were laid down on the bed, pillows surrounded you, with Namjoon desperate to make you as comfortable as possible.

You changed out of your work clothes, into one of his spare tops on his own advice to try and cool your body temperature down a tad.

“Namjoon, maybe you should go in the spare room tonight.”

“Absolutely no way,” he protested, placing the hot water bottle against your tummy, changing his own outfit, slipping under the duvet beside you. “I’m not leaving you through the night, I want to keep an eye on you and keep you safe.

He was stubborn at times too, and you knew straight away Namjoon was never going to listen to you. “At least go to work, your shift isn’t that long, nothing bad can happen to me in a few hours, and there are people far more important that rely on you more than me.”

He turned to face you, smiling softly, recognising how relaxed you had become. Seeing you in such a fragile state tonight had made him more aware that he needed to keep an eye on you too, you needed him more than anyone else.

“You’ll always be the most important person in my eyes,” he whispered across to you.

Your eyes rolled, as his arm raised into the air, trying to invite you into his side to cuddle, but you decided instead it was safer to keep your distance from him.

Namjoon couldn’t protest, if it was what you wanted, he wouldn’t argue. You were his, but right now you were a patient of his too. It was true what they said, doctors were never off the hook, the caring nature that they had always remained.

“If you need anything, and I mean anything, in the night, promise me that you will wake me. I don’t care what time it is, or what you need, I’m here to look after you,” Namjoon spoke, smirking as your eyes began to droop.

“I will, as long as you get a good sleep too and stop worrying, you’ve got patients who need you,” you replied, wrapping the duvet around your body.

He chuckled, leaning across to press a light kiss to the top of your head. “Goodnight jagi.”

“Night Joon.”

---

Masterlist

[chessdaze]

Since I outed myself with an ask to phoenix about an event I’ll go ahead and post something about my schedule for three wishes here. I won’t put this under read more just for visibility, so sorry ahead of time for clogging your dashes.

As a note ahead of time THESE ARE ALL SUBJECT TO CHANGE, I DO NOT GIVE ANY DATES CAUSE I’M NOT PUTTING MYSELF ON A DEADLINE. I’m doing this for my own enjoyment and hopefully, others as well but please don’t rush me. I’m sharing this just to be open about my plans and what I’m working on, and perhaps for the motivations / reminders it’ll give me - not to give anyone a reason to come at me. Okay? Okay.

Not counting small comics or misc posts of art and info or fics:

First order of business is for me to finish drawing all of Silas’ outfits and Design the Enchantress. I have Silas almost completely done sketch wise, so I’ll work on the sketches of the Enchantress next and then line/color and post those. I might also do some side character designs as I have a few that might show up here and there (but they’ll just be like the ghosts in canon, occasionally there and then you don’t see them for fucking ever). I WOULD do outfit design sheets for EVERY character BUT....that would be a lot of work. I might end up just making polls like ‘who would you like to see outfit references for’ and then work on them at my own pace. That way you guys get what you want first and I still have fun designing everyone’s outfits regardless.

Second order of business is my event I mentioned in the ask to phoenix, BATTLE OF THE BANDS! I accidentally went full game dev on the documentation (because if I’m not gonna use all that documentation homework I did for that game art degree NOW then when am I going to??), but I’m actually pretty far along planning wise since I’ve been working on it when I needed break from art things. Right now I have about half of the main story of the event outlined. My order of doing things is Summary of Story > Outline of items / mini games > Figure out what characters were going to be in the event > Main story outline > Card Story outlines > Finalized story and Card Stories > Art Assets. So it might take awhile before I post any art for it. But if people show interest in me posting some of the in progress things feel free to send me an ask every now and then and I can update you! Because of the ask and permission given, Evonie from @phoenix-manga ‘s Diamond Crown Academy will make an appearance in the event, as well as Three Wishes OCs made by @tsukikoayanosuke (Bridgette) and @missnekonyan (Donelle) as the clubs their characters are involved with the event overall. I’m really excited I got permission from all of them to be able to reference their characters! They won’t be big rolls but I’m happy to give all of these creators spotlight by adding in their characters.

Third thing, Regular Card Stories and Art for Cards! I am already making documentation to have these noted down, Will probably do them one dorm at a time but I do have a few ideas already. I will say that my R-SSR order of the cards is a bit different from canon. R’s are School Uniforms and PE outfits (will be slightly different depending on which PE course is taken by the student, since there’s three at three wishes), SRs  are Dorm Outfits and Fundraising outfits - as Dorm outfits are different per person i didn’t think they were special enough for SSRs but still worth some highlight, and Fundraising / Volunteering is a mandatory class at Three Wishes so that gets another SR spot. Then lastly their SSRs are their Ceremony outfits. These are also different per character but they will all have a matching color scheme so that’s why i wanted these to be the SSRs.  I also already have like four future events planned and which characters will be getting cards / what rank the cards will be for those characters! None of these events have any kind of outline yet, only general concepts and characters possibly involved, so the characters may change but I have them written down so I don’t forget and I can add to the event outlines as I find inspiration.

Maybe the fourth thing is actually designing the dang school. I SUCK at environment art, I’m not going to lie. It’s why alot of my comics up until this point has had minimal or no backgrounds at all. But one of the reasons why I’m drawing comics is to maybe get better at backgrounds cause I’m already sick of them not having one so progress I guess. But this is why this is kind of last on my list, as I definitely need the practice. If there’s a dorm or location I have listed that you would like to see art for or just described in better detail, Feel free to send me an ask!

And the thing I’m kind of working on while all of that is going on is of course, the Main Story Outline! I have all the chapter names picked and I have at least the Prologue - Second chapter bullet pointed as a first draft - I already know some places I wanna go back and change things but for now I’m just trying to get the general ideas for each chapter down. As of now there are eight chapters in total - including the prologue and the finale, so six major story chapters over all.  I’m still not sure how I want to tell this story in all honestly. Part of me REALLY REALLY REALLY wants to make these full blown comics in all honesty. I’ve been wanting to draw actual comics since I was a kid and I’m closer now than I ever have been to being able to do so. But I also know how much of a time sync that is and know that I haven’t quite grasped all the shading tools in CSP to really give it the effect I want to have - which is one of the reasons I’m working on the mini comic pages here and there so I can slowly improve - but I can’t promise anything. If nothing else, I’m semi confident in my writing skills so I will maybe end up writing it out.

As a treat TM, I’ll list the chapter titles I have down below. THESE ARE SUBJECT TO CHANGE, but I am pretty happy with them right now - they’ll only likely change if I end up changing my entire idea for the chapter or changing the order of chapters. Anyone care to give me some theories on what you think each chapter is about? :thinking:

Prologue: the start of an actor's life Chapter one, Nightingale: by the stroke of midnight Chapter two,wondrous: a queen among thieves Chapter three, diamanttobar: the wishing well Chapter four, guardian: a dragons curse Chapter five, lapinhole: tipping the golden scale Chapter six, servireu: the guest has arrived Finale: when the last petal falls

If you read this far, thank you so much and I hope you look forward to more three wishes content! <3

Also I ask that this post isn’t reblogged, not gonna come at you if you do but it’s just a to do list really lol idk why anyone would want to reblog it.

[friendofspidermannedleeds]

2020 overview: writing edition 

Tagged by the loveliest and kindest of friends, @momentofmemory​. 

I’m not tagging anyone because I’ve not been around and am sure most have done this by now, but if you’re reading this and you’ve not been tagged and would like to participate please say I tagged you! <3 

1. List of works published this year 

The Kid Really is Smitten (Peter & Happy, Peter/MJ. 233) Nightmares and New Beginnings (May & Peter. 733)  Normal Teenager Stuff (May & Peter. 5+1, 1.8k)  Breaking a Promise (May & Peter, May & Tony. 3.3k) Carry Me (Morgan & Happy. 1.2k)

Fictober 2020 Series  * Works around 1k+ include:  Somebody to Talk To (May & Karen. 1.8k) Fireproof (Happy & Peter. 904) Flight Conversation (MJ & Peter. 967) Incalculable Worth (Ben & Peter. 2.8k) Regrets (May & Peter. 1.2k) A Nice Peaceful Afternoon (Mr. Harrington and the AcaDec kids. 3k) 

Knowing (Peter/MJ, May & MJ. 2.5k)  Forever Ours (May & Peter, May/Ben. 3.8k)  2. Work you are most proud of (and why)

I think it would have to be Incalculable Worth from my Fictober series. I’m forever disappointed in the Ben Parker erasure of the MCU and had been wanting to give him the respect he deserves. Most of this fic came to me much more quickly than my typical writing inspo (that Fictober deadline magic!), and even though I still have things I might change about the final product, I’ve never been so pleased with a fic’s result and reception. Several lovely people stumbled across this fic on Ao3 and left kind comments about how moved they were, which makes me think that I did what I set out to do! 

3. Work you are least proud of (and why)

This would be Nightmares and New Beginnings. I just think it’s weird. I was so new to fic when I wrote it and was feeling experimental one night. I normally write quite slowly and edit a lot, but the idea for this one came to me after midnight and I published the fic before 2am. I hated it when I woke up and nearly deleted it. Two months later, as I was beginning to post Fictober on Ao3, I almost deleted it once again. The words of one extremely kind commenter saved it from destruction, however, so it’s still there! 

4. A favorite excerpt of your writing 

This is going to be hard for me because I don’t actually enjoy my writing for its composition! I like the concepts and character interactions a lot but I’m not terribly proud of my actual writing ability yet. 😬 

My favorite thing I’ve written lately is the ending to Forever Ours, my new fic about May and Ben adopting Peter, but I don’t want to put it here because it might be a very minor spoiler. 

So here’s a little section of Trust, my last Fictober ficlet. I liked it because May’s inner turmoil over Peter’s Spider-Man life is one of my absolute favorite things to write about. 

What troubles her most is this: whatever is out there, whoever he’s fighting—they won’t know he is fifteen. That he’s a child. That he loves Legos, and Star Wars, and science puns, and Mathletes. But what can she say? 

He’s not asking for permission. He’ll do this no matter what she says, and they both know it. 

He is asking for her blessing.

5. Share or describe a favourite review you received

This review meant so much to me! This lovely commenter read multiple May and Ben Parker fics and it was so nice to find that I’m not the only one who wants more of the Parker family than what we get in the MCU. It made me feel like my niche writing wasn’t of interest to me and me alone after all. :) 

6. A time when writing was really, really hard

Halfway through Fictober, I lost one of the most important people in my life. It was devastating. Writing was nice about 90% of the time, and actually a nice distraction that helped me take a break from the grief. But sometimes it wasn’t, sometimes it felt impossible, and that was when I’d just skip writing or posting and wait until it would serve me again. (So I finished Fictober a little later than I wanted to, but I have 0 regrets about that.) 

7. A scene of characters you wrote that surprised you

I only wrote one thing that wasn’t an MCU Spidey fic, and that was Carry Me with Morgan and Happy. I wasn’t expecting to write it at all, and it’s not one of my favorite finished fics, but I really enjoyed the process. 

8. How did you grow as a writer this year

I grew by writing fic for the first time! My job for the majority of this year involved a lot of nonfiction copywriting, so I’m an experienced writer, but I had no idea what writing would be like outside my “professional life.” I’m glad I tried it! 

9. How do you hope to grow next year

I’m hoping to finish and publish a longer (for me) fic! I’m currently working on Penance, a fic about MCU Spidey’s origins and Uncle Ben’s influence. It should be at least 6-7k by the time I’m finished. I know that is actually short, but I haven’t even cracked 4k yet 😂 Longer fics stress me out because I don’t feel confident enough in my ability to tie together so many words, and I also can’t come up with plots to save my life. So this will be a stretch for me and I am looking forward to it! 

10. Who was your greatest positive influence this year as a writer (could be another writer or beta of cheerleader or muse etc. etc.)

This is, without question, @momentofmemory​. For so many reasons. (Sorry in advance for how rambly this will get, my friend.) 

Mem’s writing (particularly this May fic that is perfection and no I will never stop rec’ing it til the day I die thank you) is to blame/thank for getting me into fic in the first place. I’d been here in the Spidey fandom on Tumblr but I didn’t trust fanfic because I’d seen my most beloved characters shoved to the side/killed off in too many stories. I began 2020 hating all fanfic tbh. But then I read Mem’s captivating masterpieces (like this, the greatest one-shot!) and opened my heart to fic that celebrates the worlds I love! 

Mem is the kindest human ever. She read ALL of my Fictober works and left the kindest comments that made my heart soar. Knowing that my favorite author had taken the time to read all of that motivated me to write more than anything else has this year! 

Sometimes, when I was trying to write fic but felt burned out or uninspired, I’d go and read Mem’s writing. Her prose is divine, her dialogue is realistic, her characters and their relationships are so well thought-out--her work inspires me! I’d read it and feel excited by the ways that we can use our words to create beautiful things, and though I’m not anywhere near her level, I do think that reading her work has made me a better writer. 

Bonus positive influence: @i-lovethatforme​! Jess, thank you for being the world’s best cheerleader, for being endlessly kind and supportive, and for being my first ever beta in November. I go back and read your wonderful comments whenever I’m doubting myself. You’re an absolute gem and ilysm ❤

11. Anything from real life show up in your writing this year?

Yep. Regrets is about grief, and I was grieving pretty heavily when I wrote it. Peter’s regrets didn’t necessarily mirror mine, but writing it was still a cathartic experience. 

12. Any new wisdom you can share with other writers

Write what you want to write! Since I don’t do IronDad or smut, I wasn’t sure if anyone in the MCU Spidey fandom would be interested in my work. I thought briefly about trying to write based on what I thought people would read, but I decided against it. I enjoy writing platonic friendships and family fic more than anything else, so that’s what I publish most. I write what I want to write, and it’s made me so happy! 

13. Any projects you’re looking forward to starting (or finishing) in the new year?

I have a few things I’m excited about! I’ve got some Spideychelle ficlets that might be a series. They’ll focus on Peter and MJ after coming back from The Blip, featuring MJ trying to ignore her crush and Peter developing a crush. The other is Penance, the MCU Spidey origins/Ben Parker story. 

14. If you could recommend only one work from yourself published this year

I think I’d say Knowing, my fic about Peter/MJ that’s more about MJ & May bonding. I just love these two women with all my heart, and I’m proud of the way this one turned out because I think it honors both of them pretty solidly.  

15. End of Year word count

36,625 words! It’s not a lot in comparison to other writers but it’s a huge accomplishment for me! 

[queen-scribbles]

Lisa Shepard vs Batarians

Behold, a meta about Lisa I’ve long wanted to write, inspired by this post about Torfan(got kinda long for just a reblog) and motivation provided by @fourthage‘s Mass Effect giveaway. (I’m much better about finishing things when I can give it a deadline, lol)

----

Lisa is my Colonist/Ruthless Infiltrator Shep, and let me tell you, that background combo made her really interesting to play(through the first two games, at least; my computer crashed before I had a chance to import her to ME3, rip) bc she has this big, glaring problem with batarians. The tl;dr is Mindoir was deeply traumatizing and no batarian ever did enough to counter the extremely negative image she has of their race as a result. (apologies for slight stream-of-consciousness rambling, I tried to rein it in, but I think I was only partially successful >.>)

So we start, obviously, on Mindoir. Lisa’s the oldest of four with three younger brothers; Justin, Finn, and Connor, and had two best friends; Javier and Laura. Life was routine and uneventful and the only thing she cared about the larger galaxy was getting to explore it with Javi and Laura after they all graduated.

And then the batarian raid happened. Lisa didn’t see her parents die, but she did see friends die in the initial attack, as well as Laura’s dad. She had to watch Finn and his best friend(Talitha) get dragged to a shuttle. She, Javi, and Laura hid in a storage shed with their remaining younger siblings(one of Laura’s sisters was gone, too) in hopes of keeping them safe. They spent the next three days in there. They were found by a few batarian patrols, somehow managed to kill them all with bare hands and makeshift weapons(or stolen, Lisa got a pistol off one she killed), even as their own numbers got picked down, younger sibling by younger sibling, and then Laura, and then Javi, until.Lisa was the last one left, memory etched with hearing her best friends and younger brothers, brothers she’d promised her parents she’d look out for, die very terrible deaths. 

She was found by a couple soldiers from the rescuing Alliance patrol, and actually attacked them when they first came in the storage shed. They had to calm her down, and one went so far as to pull off his helmet so she could see they were human and weren’t going to hurt her. He introduced himself as Gabe and guided her out of her personal hell, both literally and figuratively. After everything she’d witnessed and heard and knew had happened to the colony, to her home, at the hands of the batarians, Lisa didn’t feel the least bit guilty for being glad the Alliance killed every last one of the slaving bastard scum they found. She’d lost everyone in the world she cared about to those monsters, she had every right to be glad they paid for it.

The soldier, Gabe, stuck with her until she’d made it back to Earth and escorted her to the foster home that had agreed to take her in. checked up on her a few times, offered to let her live with him and his roommates(another man and a woman, all three of them soldiers) if she wanted to. She took him up on that, and by the end of the third or fourth month, he was big brother and best friend rolled into one. Being on Earth meant she didn’t really have much(if any) direct interaction with batarians, but she was still working through her trauma and every time she heard them mentioned in news reports it was batarian pirates attacking a civilian vessel or batarian slavers raiding another colony--human, turian, whatever, all it did was reinforce her hostile view of them as a race.

She joined the Alliance military when she turned eighteen, feeling it was the best way to act out her gratitude of them saving her. She still missed her family and friends, of course, but she was healing and adjusting and while batarians still get her hackles up, she wouldn’t go out of her way to cause trouble with them. Largely because that would reflect badly on the Alliance, and she doesn’t want that. She proves to be an excellent soldier, tech genius, and near-unparalleled sniper, which is what gets her the rec for N-school(courtesy of Captain Anderson, who was Gabe’s CO. Gabe introduced them the day she enlisted). She excels in N-school(she’s always been the sort to thrive on challenge) and is clearly going to graduate with flying colors, so she and Gabe work it out--he’s coming for the ceremony, they each manage to get leave for the following week, they’re gonna spend time catching up and celebrating and just get to see each other face to face for the first time in... over a year. 

And then, the week before graduation, Gabe is killed rescuing a diplomat’s kid from, you guessed it, batarian pirates(he’s one of only three KIA on that mission, which doesn’t make it sting any less)..That is when they cross the point of no return in her eyes. Two separate groups of batarians are responsible for the deaths of her family twice over. Clearly this was not a “few bad individuals” thing; this is a failing of them as a people(A people who have enslaving others enshrined as part of their culture to the point of calling it discrimination when they’re not allowed to practice it). 

She is a driven, pragmatic, determined individual who wants to represent humanity and the Alliance well and so works just fine alongside every other race in Council space. She’s always willing to help, also always willing to make the hard calls to get a job done bc she learned early that people die. You can’t save everyone every time. You still try your damnedest to do it, but sometimes you can’t. And sometimes people die as a result of your decisions and you have to be able to live with that. She can. 

And then TORFAN. Well, first Elysium, and then Torfan. By this point, she’s N4, risen to Commander, and absolutely willing to push her squad however hard it takes to accomplish their goal. (In any circumstances, these just happen to hit a tad closer to home than usual) The fight through Torfan’s tunnels to the pirate base is brutal, and there are several times her men point out maybe they should turn back. But she pushes on bc their mission is to take out this group of pirates. In her mind, batarians are already a threat, given their culture of slaving, piracy, and utter disregard for life and others in general. If they get away with attempting a full-scale attack like they did on a world like Elysium, they’ll be exponentially more dangerous. So there have to be repercussions and they have to be swift and they have to be brutal and unflinching and if she’s the one who doles that out so be it. 

It costs her 3/4 of her squad, but they do it. They fight the pirates to the point of surrender and then Lisa shoots them anyway. Her mission was to eliminate the enemy, and she’s A) worried the batarians are surrendering as a show, with no intention of actually being prisoners, and B) convinced even if they did surrender, the Hedgemony would demand their return as “political prisoners” or something, with good odds they’d be released after just enough time this  “incident” will have faded from people’s memory, and she doesn’t want to risk either. So the dozen-odd surrendering batarians still.die. And while she didn’t take pleasure or satisfaction in doing it, she doesn’t regret it either. Her thought process is somewhere along the lines of “These are sadistic, murdering, slaving scumbags, who have the audacity to ask for the mercy they would never in a million years show their victims. The galaxy is better off without them.”) She doesn’t care it gets her labelled “The Butcher of Torfan” and that people look askance at her when they know her record. She got the job done, the galaxy is just that much safer, and she’s not going to lose any sleep over batarians.

She makes N7 and gets the Spectre nomination bc she pushes herself just as hard as anyone under her command, always gets the job done, and--aside from batarians--has no issue working with other races. When it comes to anyone else; turians, asari, hanar, whoever, she’s all too happy to follow Kaidan’s “jerks and saint, just like us” philosophy and judge them on an individual basis, but--and I’ve actually had her say this in fic--”If you ever find a saintly batarian, let me know and I’ll pin a medal on their chest my-damn-self”. Between what’s known of batarians as a race and culture and her own first or second hand experience, there is nothing redeeming about them in her eyes. (And it’s a very good thing she didn’t run into any during that... week after the Talitha encounter in ME1, bc she probably would have ripped them to shreds with just her bare hands and her omnitool after hearing what that poor girl went through.) She’s not going to go out of her way to gleefully/vindictively slaughter them, but she’s not feeling too charitable or sympathetic toward them, either. If I may make a cross-franchise reference, Lisa’s feeling on batarians are very similar to how Fenris feels about mages in DA2, only unlike him, she hasn’t gotten any examples they’re not all Like That(TM).

As of the end of ME2, she has not seen any evidence to counter her view of batarians, so it’s a view she’s gonna go into ME3 holding(whenever I get around to completely redoing her game), and I don’t see her changing it much at this point. It’s a flaw, and it’s one that’s going to persist probably her entire life, but it made playing her so much fun. (especially since my two previous Shepards were 98% Paragon ANGELS who are best described as bleeding hearts. xD) 

[sleepless-in-starbucks]

Any way you could turn that popcorn comic into a story? -pineapple (no pressure I'm just curious)

Speedrun because I have school soon BUTNevermind have to go to school ajdfbvhdsbjsd y’all won’t see this for a whileAlright back now time to finish (...none of these notes will make sense to y’all since no timestamps on them but shhhhhh they’re in chrono order don’t worry)

Inspired by this

-Roman and Deceit go to that movie theater a LOT-They both love having movie dates (Roman thinks they can be both very romantic or very goofy; they have flexibility; Deceit likes the Sins He Can Commit In The Dark which are mostly just kissing Roman til he’s red as a tomato; they both like the show they get with it all)-But there’s only one movie theater that’s close to them, and that’s the one Virgil works as-Virgil is sarcastic all the time towards them, mostly because he and Deceit were ~rivals~ in high school and he knows he (nor his boyfriend) wouldn’t report him to his manager for just acting like he always has-And when he’s on shift (which he is a lot- he needs the money) he always makes sure to be the one helping them-Roman’s frustrated that all his cutesy couple moments are being Ruined by Virgil but he will NEVER stop saying cheesy stuff because he refuses to be beaten by an angsty popcorn butter-er-Deceit’s just amused by the whole thing, since his and Virgil’s rivalry always has been and likely always will be some petty little thing that doesn’t actually matter that much, so he’s never really insulted by any of it-(Which is good, because if he was, Roman has promised multiple times he’d threaten Virgil with his sword. Deceit doubted Virgil would care, but Roman might drop it and cut someone’s toe)-This whole thing goes on a while-As in roceit visits the movies at least once a week (they are ADDICTED to cinema) and at least once a week Virgil ‘helps’ them with a side of extra salt-They’ve come when Virgil’s not really been on his game, though

-Sometimes it’ll be late and it’s clear he hasn’t slept in too long as he mumbles his way through their transaction-Sometimes he’ll be too busy glaring at another employee to be witty, and they know he must have just gotten chewed out for a stupid reason-Sometimes he’ll just… look at them, with some odd look in his eyes, before he checks them out as quickly as possible and with as few words as possible-Roman and Deceit notice-They’re not sure, exactly, when they decided they needed to help protect the emo who always made fun of them, but they have and they will-They’ll make the employee who was a jerk to Virgil enjoy an absolutely horrible transaction-Or they’ll just awkwardly tell Virgil he’s doing good before they go to their movie-When he’s tired, they remind him to go home soon, to rest-More than a few times they’ve driven him home after their movie when it’s clear he shouldn’t be trusted behind a wheel-And for his off days, they just make sure to slip him a bigger tip, since they know he needs the money-They don’t have too many breaks in their ‘rivalry’ but they do have some, and those moments are their breaks-One day, they come to the movies like usual, noting that Virgil seems happier than usual. they don’t ask after this, but they’re both (not-so-) secretly happy to see him happy-After he’s helped them, though, he tells them the cause: he’s got a new job, and given two weeks notice. it’s better paying, more within his interests-Deceit and Roman accept the news outwardly excitedly, inner-wardly excited... and upset-They had gotten used to seeing Virgil at the movies, after all, and their back-and-forth had become very familiar. they were both loathe to lose it, but this was better for Virgil! and though they’d never say it to the soon-to-be-ex-movie theater employee’s face, they wanted him to have only the best-They did start going to the movies more in those two weeks, though, trying to enjoy the last of all of this-And by ‘more’ I mean they went to multiple movies every. single. day. because they did still have work, this meant a lot of real late and early movies, but they made it work-The only thing was this: if they walked in and saw Virgil wasn’t behind the counter? they’d leave and come for the next showing they wanted to see-They were coming here for a REASON after all-Virgil seemed amused by the attention + extra final chances to roast poor Deceit, so he never mentioned it-Now, all of this? It was leading up to something... a plan.-Because Deceit and Roman had seen a lot of Virgil, had gotten used to his snark and his sarcastic tone and his smirks and frowns and deadpan expressions, had gotten used to his sense of humor and interests, had gotten used to him-And as that deadline approached for their time with him to be cut short, the both of them were realizing very quickly they didn’t want to lose him-So they had a plan-They came in for their final movie on Virgil’s final day-You could tell it was his last day- he wasn’t in uniform, he looked more carefree than ever, and when they ordered he didn’t even ring them up; just handed over the drinks and grub, free of charge-‘what’re they gonna do, fire me?’ Virgil had asked with a grin when Roman looked at him in shock-‘happy to be almost gone, I can tell’ Roman commented idly-‘there’s only so much fake butter a man can smell before he goes mad’ Virgil joked back. ‘besides, it’s even better knowing I’ll never have to see your boyfriend’s ugly mug ever again’-‘yeah well have you- uh’ Roman stopped, looked at Deceit, looked back at an unimpressed Virgil, continued, ‘y’know, boyfriend- your- I mean-’ another pause, dramatic hand motion, slamming his hands into the counter, ‘our!’-Virgil didn’t respond aside from looking at Deceit in confusion-‘mind my boyfriend... for such a romantic he’s not great at pick-up lines...’ Deceit said, only making Virgil look more confused until he added, ‘though he could be our boyfriend’-Virgil blinked at him. once. twice. looked at Roman. blinked again.-‘what?’ he asked, finally, sounding torn between extremely bewildered and almost hopeful-‘we’re trying to ask you out.’ Deceit clarified. ‘as you can tell, we’re amazing at it.’-‘...you’re gonna have to say that again, because it’s still not making sense-’-‘we want to DATE you, emo daydream!’ Roman finally said, cheeks immediately blushing a dark red even as he stared Virgil right in the eyes-Virgil froze up at that, both the confusion and hope in his expression increasing. ‘I- wha- why?’-‘because you’re pretty, and cute, and funny albeit snarky, and because of that me and Roman can to the shared conclusion that we don’t want all of that to walk out of our life just because you got a new job’-Virgil didn’t respond to that for a minute, instead just looking down at the counter, clearly lost in thought-finally he says, slowly, awkwardly, ‘...that might be... nice. you guys are... also nice’-‘I’m pretty sure that means ‘I love you’ in awkward introvert language’-Deceit lightly elbowed Roman, though considering Roman was leaning against Deceit’s side + holding his arm as he stared stupidly adoringly at Virgil, it wasn’t very effective. ‘you’re going to scare him off’-‘no, no, I don’t mean it scathingly. I think it’s... cute.’-Virgil who up until now had been doing pretty well at being more shocked than flustered, was beginning to lose that battle. ‘shut up, princey’-Roman puckered his lips. ‘make me?’-Deceit gently shoved Roman away from the counter. ‘I’d apologize for his antics, but you’re well-versed in them’-‘that I am’-Deceit smiled and handed Virgil a card with both his and Roman’s numbers on it. ‘call us so we can set up a date, yeah?’-‘uh... yeah’ Virgil said, cheeks flushing a shade darker just at the thought of a date.-Deceit nodded, still smiling as he collected the food (passing drinks to Roman), the two of them heading off-‘wait!’-Roman and Deceit turned back towards Virgil-Virgil didn’t say anything at first, the ‘wait’ clearly having been spur of the moment. finally, he lifted the card, almost pointlessly, and said lamely, ‘enjoy your movie’-Roman and Deceit smiled back at him. ‘we will’ they promised, before heading to their film-They didn’t uphold that promise, considering they didn’t pay any attention to the movie at all-But given they were instead more occupied with thinking (and talking) about their new boyfriend, they were fairly certain Virgil would forgive them

[miracul0us-multishipper]

Welcome to the back (Part 12)

First Chapter Previous Chapter Next Chapter

After all the angst of the last chapters, I owe you some fluff, don’t I? Have fun with this absolutely carefree feel-good chapter!

(I’m German and have never tried to write poetry in English before, don’t judge me)

- - -

“What do you think about the superheroes?”, Marinette asked him out of the blue. They were in her room, filming how she sewed buttons on the beret she was working on. The idea had come from his Akuma’s hat, but her version looked a lot less... extra. It was fun yet classy, his mother would love it. He’d been in the middle of taking a photo to sent it to her when Marinette had asked.

“Huh”, he shrugged. “Not much. Why do you ask?”

“Just out of curiosity. Come on, tell me what you think!”

She truly was random, from time to time. But if she wanted to know...

“I never met them before yesterday, and I don’t remember most of it.”

He tried not to think too much about what had happened, but sometimes he woke up screaming, hearing a voice that had burned itself into his mind like a brand. It felt... tainting to be controlled like that, to be turned into a puppet of his own emotions.

“But Ladybug was... nice.”

He shook his head.

“Totally different than what I expected. I saw her interviews, of course, but I didn’t expect her to really be like this off stage. She seemed... as if she really cared.”

She hadn’t just purified the akuma and been done with it, even though Felix wouldn’t have blamed her if she had. He’d seen Nino’s video, the fight had been brutal. But she’d stayed anyway, despite her obvious exhaustion. She’d made sure he was alright, and assured him he wasn’t at fault for anything. This wasn’t just a duty to her; it was her vocation. Felix admired that.

“And Chat Noir?”, Marinette pressed on. “What do you think about him?”

She was quite curious today, wasn’t she?

“He’s a threat, a loose canon.”, he said truthfully, voice cutting. “He’s a danger to himself, Ladybug and the entirety of Paris.”

He didn’t have any memories from his time as Sentiquill, but some of his feelings had remained after his defeat. Admiration for Ladybug, respect for Chloé, hate for Hawkmoth. And a burning sense of disgust towards that despicable Chat Noir. Not even as an Akuma he had liked him.

“I don’t understand how he could be this apathetic.”, he murmured. “As if it was all some kind of game to him! His partner was in danger, and he just... didn’t care. He has so much power, so much responsibility. But he wastes it like a child throwing a tantrum.”

He looked down.

“I don’t trust him to take his role seriously.”

If it had been Marinette instead of Rose...

And even worse, Marinette had been in Paris since the very beginning! She had witnessed dozens of Akuma’s, most of them coming out of her immediate vicinity. To think that her safety relied that greatly on someone like Chat Noir... was more than unsettling.

“Felix...”, Marinette started, biting her lip. “Would you... Do you think you’d be a better Chat Noir?”

“I think anyone could be a better Chat Noir.”

“That’s no answer!”

What was it with superheroes today? She seemed really fixated on the topic.

He sighed.

“I think... Ladybug needs a partner that has no problem following her lead. And I’m... stubborn. I would likely ruin her plans by improvising in the last second, or think I knew better. I’m no good as a sidekick.”

Marinette hummed, deep in her own thoughts. The way her brows twitched was just too adorable.

“Maybe...”, she pondered and he forced himself out of his reverie, “Maybe that could be a good thing. What if Ladybug doesn’t want a sidekick, but a partner? An equal who will actively help with her plans, not just follow orders. Someone who’s on the same wavelength as her.”

He doubted he was the right one for that. Ladybug was... sweet. Everyone liked her, looked up to her. Felix on the other hand was kind of a prick next to her.

“Maybe you should be Chat Noir instead.”, he suggested. “You’re definitely the type Ladybug would click with. You’re both clever, creative at problem solving, natural leaders...”

He promptly regretted his words, because now he was picturing Marinette in black leather and cat ears, which made his cheeks redder than ripe tomatoes. Bad idea, bad idea, bad idea!

“I-I mean! You’d be a great hero!”

Oh fuck, he was stammering! He coughed a few times to collect himself. Luckily, Marinette didn’t think much of his reaction, instead she fumbled with the necklace she’d started to wear yesterday. A simple string of grey yarn that had its pendant hidden under her shirt. He narrowed his eyes. Was that...?

“Oh!”, Marinette said when she followed his gaze. “Um, that! It‘s Chat Noir merchandise I ordered online, but now...”

She pulled out the pendant, which turned out to be a surprisingly good replica of Chat Noir’s ring.

“I don’t really want to wear it anymore, after everything that happened, but it would be a waste to just throw it away.”

“Ah, I see.”

What a shame, it looked high quality. But if she was interested in superhero merch, maybe he could ask his mother to make her Ladybug earrings? Or try to create jewelry himself?

His eyes fell on her earlobes, on her black earrings to be precise. He’d never seen her without them, and she’d told him they were very important to her.

Hm. He felt as if that should tell him something...

Shrugging, he brought his thoughts back to possible gifts. Maybe he should opt for a Ladybug necklace instead.

-

“Aaaaah, finally done!”, Marinette sighed after clicking ‘send’. Days of planning, designing, filming and cutting had now resulted in a twenty minute video, complete with voice-over and footnotes. Sure, the camera she’d used wasn’t very great, and the picture was a bit wobbly around the five minute mark, but now it was clipped to an email and on its way to TV1.

She did it! And there even was a day left until the end of the deadline!

“I’m sure they’ll be amazed.”, Felix assured her and leaned back in his chair. “And if not, I can always bribe them!”

“Don’t you dare!”, she laughed. “This will be my grand debut! No cheating!”

“Grand debut? I didn’t know you were that interested in journalism.”

Marinette fell back on her couch, replaying the report on her phone.

“I’m not. At least not as a career.”

She pointed at the bowler hat on her desk, the one she’d made for the Agreste Competition.

“But as a future designer, I need publicity. To show the world what I can do. Gabriel Agreste’s hat competition was a start, but it was centered mostly on the hat itself, not me as its designer. This contest on the other hand gives me a real platform!”

“Like a portfolio in video format.”, Felix realized. “That’s why you wanted to film here, not in my Mum’s atelier? So you could show all your other designs and materials?”

He clicked his tongue when she nodded.

“Brilliant. That way, everyone can see you’re a professional already and are serious about this.”

“It’s my chance to advertise myself.”, she agreed. “Even if I don’t win, the report is going to be viewed by a great amount of people! I hope that I’ll get commissioned more after this, maybe even receive offers for internships and so on.”

She put her phone away and stretched.

“Anyway, it’s going to look great on my resume!”

“Already planning the long game, huh?”, Felix chuckled and fell on the couch next to her. They had worked the whole day and were equally exhausted. “Now all we have to do is wait.”

She glanced sideways at his profile. He was looking at the roof, the pictures she’d plastered it with. Instead of Adrien, there were sketches of designs she had in mind, or pictures of her friends. A lot of them had Felix in them as well.

She smiled. In the short time he had been in her life, he had already turned into such an existential part of it.

“Thank you.”

He turned to look at her, surprised.

“For what?”

Hard to explain. The urge to thank him had come over her out of the blue, not directed at anything in particular. Just a general gratefulness to have him at her side.

His cheeks turned red when she told him this, word for cheesy word.

“You’re exaggerating.”, he murmured, and she pouted.

“I’m not! For someone that confident, you really gotta learn how to take a compliment.”

“I don’t get them that often!”, he grumbled in his defense. “At least not from people that matter to me.”

Now she was blushing herself. Stupid! They were friends, so of course she mattered to him.

Still. Hearing him say it was... something different. It made her heart flutter and her head swim.

“You matter to me as well.”, she confessed. “I don’t know what I’d do without you. No, really!”

She gave him a little shove when he opened his mouth, likely to say something sarcastic and ruin the moment.

“You’ve done so much for me. You’re the only one that sticks with me, no matter what, and you’re the one that makes me want to... grow. With you, I feel like I’m invincible.”

His lips parted to answer, but no sound left him. Eyes glistening with... something he just stared at her, awestruck. This time she held his gaze, as if she could transmit the magnitude of her feelings for him via eye contact. He had to know, to understand how much he meant to her.

“Why?”, he breathed eventually, his voice so soft she barely heard him. “Why are you... telling me this?”

“Just so... Just so you know.”, she croaked, overcome by a strange kind of sentimentality. “I feel like I could lose you otherwise.”

“You won’t lose me.”, he promised and propped his head up on his hand to look her in the eye. “Never. I wouldn’t leave you for the world.”

She believed him. After everything that happened - with their class, Adrien, even Alya though she never meant to hurt her - she still couldn’t doubt for even a second that he spoke the truth. Felix was there for her. He wouldn’t turn on her, not ever.

A harsh ring broke the intimacy, shaking them out of the tender moment.

“I-It’s Cordelia.”, Felix uttered when he looked on his phone. His voice was hoarse and he coughed to clear his throat. “She told me to be home around eight.”

It was almost nine already.

“I should get going.”

Marinette sat up and rubbed the back of her head.

“Oh! Yeah, I’ll, uh, bring you to the door.”

“Right. Er, thanks.”

The silence between them as they walked down the stairs was a bit awkward. Marinette’s heart was still racing for reasons she didn’t want to examine right now, and she bumped in almost every piece of furniture on their way down. And what was up with her hands?! They were clasping at her jacket, her pockets, each other, as if they didn’t know how to relax anymore.

“I... I’ll see you on Monday, then.”, Felix said at the door, clutching the strap of his bag like a lifeline. Had she said too much? Had she embarrassed herself, or made him uncomfortable?!

“I-I guess.”, she stammered like a complete idiot. To her surprise, Felix didn’t leave yet. Instead he fumbled with a piece of paper before holding it out to her.

“It’s not much.”, he mumbled, before straightening himself. “But it’s sincere, and you should have it. I wrote it for you, after all.”

Hesitantly she took the folded paper from him. It was rough around one side, as if he had ripped it out of his book last minute, but his hand writing was as elegant as always. Intrigued she began to read.

Fierce and fervent, a force to behold,

Clever and cheerful, so charmingly bold,

A force to reckon with, a bright-blazing light,

You guide and beckon me, my star in the night.

“I didn’t think a lot about it, it’s more of a draft, actually.”, Felix tried to play it down as she stared at his poem, at a loss for words. “I’ll give you the improved version later, it’s okay if you throw this one away. It’s barely eight lines, I mean, I just-“

He stopped his stupid, stupid blabbering when she put her hand on his shoulder. Without hesitancy, she leaned in and kissed him on the cheek.

“I love it.”, she said, meaning every word to the letter. “It’s perfect.”

-

She held the paper like a treasure, even long after Felix had gone home.

“Can you believe it?”, she asked Tikki as she all but danced through her room, searching for tape to glue it on her wall. “He wrote it just for me! He just- just sat down, thought about me and wrote this! It’s wonderful!”

“That was so sweet of him!”, Tikki agreed, flying around her chosen. “He must have put a lot of effort in this, with how flustered he was after your reaction.”

The Kwami gave her a cheeky grin.

“Or maybe that had more to do with the fact that you kissed him.”

Marinette blushed and accidentally taped her fingers to the wall instead.

“O-only on the cheek!”, she corrected her little friend. “Geez, you make it sound as if I had... as if I... you know.”

“Do I?”

Tikki giggled when Marinette gave her a glare.

“Alright, alright, I’m just teasing you. But I do have a question.”

“Hm?”, she asked and finally managed to get the poem on her wall. The deep violet ink fit into her room’s color scheme perfectly.

“Why didn’t you give Plagg’s Miraculous to Felix?”, Tikki wondered. “His bag was right there, and we know you’d make a great team!”

Marinette sighed, holding the miraculous in her open palm.

“I think so as well, and I really wanted to! But...”

She closed her hand around it.

“This can’t be a decision I make so quickly. And certainly none I make just because I like Felix. Ladybug’s partner has to be someone that has proven themselves to be a hero. I can’t let my personal feelings interfere with that choice.”

Tikki floated closer.

“But what if Hawkmoth attacks with a new Akuma before you found someone?”

“I already thought of that.”, Marinette smirked with pride. “Chloé has worked on herself a lot, lately, and she’s reliable. She has shown she can handle being a temporary hero, even if she can’t keep the Miraculous. She might not be my first choice as a partner, and I don’t think she’s ready for such a great duty. But if Hawkmoth attacks before I’m ready to make a choice, I’ll ask Chloé to step in as a temporary Chatte Noire.”

“You really thought a lot about this!”, Tikki praised her. “I’m proud of how well you handle this responsibility.”

Marinette smiled and ran her hand over the rim of Felix’ poem.

“Thanks.”

She smirked.

“But I’ll definitely keep an eye on Felix. For professional reasons, of course.”

-

When Felix came to school on Monday, he was still reeling from Marinette’s reaction last Friday. Cordelia had been awaiting him with her infamous frown when he’d finally arrived at home, but quickly put on a knowing grin when she’d seen his face. “Our boy is in love.”, she’d whispered to his mother, thinking he wasn’t listening. “Let’s give him a pass.”

He had never felt this happy. Not just content or satisfied, but exuberantly, vigorously happy.

He’d tried to calm himself, he really had. It was just a gesture of gratitude, he’d reasoned. Or alternatively: This was Paris. Didn’t French people greet each other with a kiss on the cheek?

But no matter how he tried to rationalize it, his heart wouldn’t listen.

Marinette had kissed his cheek.

Marinette had kissed his cheek.

Marinette had kissed his cheek!

Bliss lightening his steps and euphoria blazing in his eyes, he was walking so quickly he arrived at school almost half an hour early. He didn’t have it in himself to mind. That way, he’d see Marinette even sooner! Provided that she was actually on time, of course. But so what if she wasn’t? He had the entire day to spend with her! She’d liked his poem - she’d liked his poem! - so maybe he could show her one of the others he had written for her. ‘Star in the night’ had been his personal favorite, but some of his more elaborated poems should-

“Felix!”, called a voice that actually managed to darken his mood. With a groan he quickened his pace, hoping that ignoring her would make her disappear again. Of course he wasn’t that lucky.

“Felix, wait!”, Rossi said again and grabbed his elbow. She grabbed his elbow. Ew.

“Do not touch me.”, he growled, emphasizing every syllable. To his surprise, Lila listened.

“Sure, as you wish!”, she complied cheerfully. He frowned. That was not a good sign.

“What do you want? Aren’t you busy with coddling Agreste’s ego? I’m sure he’s easier for you to handle.”

Rossi grinned and played with her hair.

“My, my, no need to get jealous.”

Ugh. There goes my good mood.

“I’m not putting up with this today.”, he muttered to himself and walked towards the art room. If Aurore or Alix were already there, Rossi wouldn’t dare to try anything. The two were vicious.

“Go and-“ - manipulate one of the other idiots, he wanted to say, but remembered the class’s reaction to Rossi’s latest lie. They were smarter than he gave them credit for, it was time to put his first impression of them aside. “- play famous somewhere else.”

Convinced that this would do the trick he started walking again, only to stop dead in his tracks at her next words.

“I met your father, recently.”

He froze from head to toe. His teeth were clenched so hard he feared he might break something.

“You’re lying.”

“We had a nice, long chat.”, Rossi ignored his reproach. He could hear the smug grin in her face. “About you. And your family situation. René is such a caring father, wanting to watch out for you even after all that he went through.”

“Shut the fuck up, Rossi.”, he seethed, fists twitching. (“You’re useless!”, his father screamed at him. “If I weren’t watching out for you, you’d be dead in a gutter by now!”)

“You don’t have the slightest idea what you’re talking about.”

“He told me so much about you.”, Rossi continued. Felix wanted to throttle her. “And he agrees that you need a bit more... guidance when it comes to your social life.”

(“Public school?! Don’t make me laugh, Evelyn, he could deal with people even less than you can with PR.”)

“And a reminder of who you are.”

(“Listen here, boy. You are my son, and nothing more. Without me, you wouldn’t last a day basically anywhere. So don’t embarrass yourself by falling for some freeloader’s niceties to you!”)

“Of who you belong with.”

(“This little shit doesn’t want your friendship but my money! You honestly think you’ve got anything to offer otherwise? Stick to the people we belong with, or you’ll be gutted like a fish by these animals!”)

Felix’ breath came flat and panting, his head flooded by moments he desperately tried to forget. He was Felix Leanne, not Bordeaux, and he wouldn’t let himself be defined by some old bigot’s perception of him. His father was gone, and he wouldn’t be able to come back at him any time soon. No looking back, only forward.

“You can deem yourself fortunate,” he pressed out, “that I am no violent person. You wouldn’t be able to spout any more bullshit for a long time, otherwise.”

“Lucky me, huh?”

He hated her. Hated his father. Hated how some stupid, empty words could turn him into a ten year old child again, trembling and so utterly exhausted from everything this bastard threw at him.

“No need to get upset.”, Rossi continued and flung her hair back. “It’s not like I’m threatening you. No, I just want you to give me a chance. Get to know me, you’ll see I’m not as bad as you think!”

She laughed.

“Seriously, Felix, we’d have so much fun together. We’re both artists with words, after all, and we come from similar upbringings. It’s almost scary how well we match, don’t you think?”

She was insane. She’d just straight up manipulated herself into believing this. If he weren’t livid with anger, he’d be impressed.

“You’re going to listen closely, Rossi.”, he ordered her and slowly turned around to face this witch. “No matter what kind of illusion you entertain yourself with, I’ll play no part in that. You’re a manipulative liar, a selfish bully, and just a generally unpleasant person to be around. And neither you nor the monster you call my father have any power over me.”

He wrinkled his nose in disgust.

“There’s nothing you can do to me that matters, in the long run. And I don’t care about him anymore. Don’t ever talk to me again.”

With that, he wanted to storm off. But she wasn’t done with him yet.

“I really wish you didn’t force me to do this.”, she sighed. “But we talked about Dupain-Cheng as well.”

His heart stopped. Not missed a beat, but just refused to work until it had finished clenching in fear. He felt as if he might throw up.

“Did I mention your dad is the producer of Journalism Junior?”, she chuckled. “You know, the contest I signed our class up for? What a coincidence!”

No, no, no, no!

Her eyes were glowing with satisfaction.

“He has access to all videos that are sent in, and he decides which to show. Complete control over his viewers opinion, is what he calls it.”

“What did you do?”, he choked, not sure if he wanted an answer.

“Me? Nothing!”, was her innocent reply. “Not yet, at least. The question is, Felix Darling,” she hummed, “what I can do. And that is a whole lot.”

She crossed her arms and put on her exaggerated thinker face.

“For example, he sent me Marinette’s report as soon as it came in, and oops! I have one with the exact same contents now. The time stamp says I finished it last Tuesday already, and I made it with the highest-quality equipment there is. It would be a shame if Marinette were to be outed as a copycat in front of everyone in Paris, don’t you think?”

He couldn’t breathe. His mother was a designer herself, he knew what this could mean.

“Her career would be over before it began.”, Lila spoke his thoughts out loud. “No one would hire a thief as designer, the contest is going to be watched by millions. And you know me, I’m a sweetheart. Once they see my report, I’ll have everyone make her life miserable forever. Her friends, her teachers, everyone.”

She laughed.

“I wouldn’t be surprised if I could make Adrien smear his fan base against her, the poor boy is as dense as a brick.”

Her smile was the most disturbing thing he’d ever seen.

“Honestly, your dad is so awesome. With him, I can make all my stories a reality! It’s as he says: everything is the truth if enough people believe it.”

“You think you can blackmail me?!”, he snarled at her, hiding his despair. “If you ruin Marinette’s reputation, I can always ask my mother to hire her. She’s already in love with her designs, she can guarantee Marinette the brightest future there is.”

“Oh, Felix.”, Rossi cooed. “Be honest. You know her better than me. Would Marinette accept that? A career given to her out of pity, because you happen to be Leanne’s son?”

It wouldn’t be out of pity. His Mum had kept track of Marinette’s work, fascinated by her skills and creativity. But... Marinette wouldn’t believe that. She’d see it just like Rossi, as something she was handed on a silver platter of pity. She’d never accept that. Not Marinette, who wanted to do everything from scratch, who tried to prove herself so badly she rejected any offer of material help from him. No expensive fabrics, no special sewing machines, no rare supplies. She only ever asked for his support, his opinion, and his hand to hold the camera from time to time.

“But if you finish Marinette,” Rossi continued gleefully, “If you give her the cold shoulder from now on and do as I say, René is going to let Marinette’s report disappear. It just won’t make it into the selection that’ll be published. Might not be good for her ego, but at least she won’t be branded a copycat forever.”

Turning on Marinette? Abandoning her?

“You’re the only one that sticks with me, no matter what.”

He couldn’t do that. He... he couldn’t.

“I don’t know what I’d do without you.”

She meant so much to him, and she was counting on him.

“You matter to me as well.”

He had promised to stay at her side.

“You won’t lose me.”, he had sworn her. “Never. I wouldn’t leave you for the world.”

He’d rather kiss Agreste’s feet than go back on that. But...

“This will be my grand debut!”

Her designing was everything to her. Her passion, her future, her vocation. It was as important to her as his poetry to him.

On his first day, Marinette had risked her reputation, her friendships with the others, simply everything by giving him his poems back. She had taken one look at his writing and understood how much it meant to him. It had been natural for her to put her own happiness last, for someone she hadn’t even known yet.

Felix would be damned if he didn’t do the same for her. If Marinette suffered because of him, he’d never forgive himself.

He desperately wanted to find another way, a hidden loophole in Rossi’s plan, but it was to no avail. The liar had him cornered, backed against the wall.

He was lost.

“What do you want me to do?”, he whispered in defeat.

- - -

MWAHAHAHA! I gotcha! Ya really thought I’d be that fluffy?! Well you were WRONG! SUFFER WITH ME! No one’s getting out of this with all their feels intact! BWAHAHA!

[scenariosbutmakeitgay]

Modern AU [Eduan x Jahad]

I hope you didn’t think I’ll miss an opportunity to make Jahad a big gay disaster, so here comes day 3

genre: fluff

summary: Jahad was that one quiet kid at high school with very few friends. He didn’t really like it there, until one day everything changes when his teacher forces him to do a class project with the football team captain - Khun Eduan.

-

Some people like saying that high school is the best time of your life. Well, Jahad didn't really agree. He believed that was some kind of fake promise made up by adults, so kids would stop complaining about not sharing classes with their old friends anymore. Sure, meeting new people could be nice, but not for Jahad. He was never one of the popular kids, quite the opposite – they always considered him a freak. Maybe it happened because of his unusual fashion sense, or because he didn't talk too much. At some point he just stopped caring about it, it's not like high school cliques are going to last forever.

This day started like every other. Jahad woke up early, ate his breakfast, and checked his backpack for the last time to make sure that he didn't forget to pack any textbooks. When he was certain that he had everything he needed, he walked out of the house. Jahad lived quite closely to his high school, so he didn't have to take the bus. The blond considered it a good thing – at least he didn't have to spend more time than necessary with those obnoxious jocks from his year. One of them was particularly annoying – the one and only Khun Eduan. Everyone knew who he was, and Jahad wasn't really surprised by it. Popular, rich, the captain of the football team, and the biggest heartbreaker out there. Also, as Jahad liked to call him, a massive idiot. They shared a few classes together, and none of them could ever be peaceful when Eduan was around. He was either ignoring the teacher to talk to some of his equally annoying friends, or throwing paper balls at Jahad to get his attention. It was all bearable, though. Until one day the teacher decided that forcing them to do a project in pairs would be a good idea. Jahad stared blankly at the wall, praying to be teamed up with someone who won't make his blood boil every time they open their mouth. The gods must have taken a break that day, though.

Barely a few seconds have passed since the teacher stopped talking about the project, and immediately a familiar blue-haired individual appeared near Jahad's desk. “You're the lucky one that's doing the project with me!” Khun exclaimed, grinning widely.

Jahad sighed. “I'm bursting with excitement,” he said with the most emotionless voice he could get out of himself.

The smile on Eduan's face seemed even bigger now. Jahad wasn't sure if he was just in a good mood, or simply didn't understand irony. “Then it's settled. See you after class in the library, blondie!” Even with clear protests from Jahad, he still managed to tousle his hair before leaving. Not only was Eduan annoying, he apparently didn't understand what personal space meant, too.

Before Jahad could even notice, it was time to start the project. He headed towards the library, doubting if Khun was going to show up, not to mention help with anything. The blond entered the room, and, to his surprise, Eduan was already there. He noticed him as soon as the door closed, and smiled.

“Missed ya, blondie!” he said loudly, and received a disapproving stare from the librarian. Jahad looked at him in disbelieve – how hard could it be to stop shouting for a second? “Wanna start the project already or do you prefer to have a minute to admire my perfect face?”

Jahad felt his cheeks burning at the implication. “L-let's start the project,” he replied, trying not to sound too hesitantly. Maybe Eduan was pretty, but it didn't make any difference. Or at least that's what Jahad tried to tell himself. Okay, he wasn't just pretty. Eduan was literally gorgeous, especially with that confident look on his face. And damn, every time they made eye contact–

“Hey, blondie, you listening?” Eduan asked, making Jahad come back to senses.

“Sorry, I kinda zoned out,” Jahad gave him a half embarrassed, half apologetic look. “And I have a name, you know.”

Eduan chuckled, and tried to tousle his hair again. This time Jahad somehow managed to escape from him. “Yup, but blondie suits you better, blondie.”

Jahad gave up arguing with him. It's not like Eduan's going to listen anyway.

“Let's focus on the project,” he said, clearing his throat.

The task wasn't too hard compared to other projects they had been asigned before. On the contrary to the first impression Eduan gave, he was quite smart, and willing to help. He even seemed to be really keen on some aspects of the topics they were discussing. Jahad really didn't like generalizing people based off stereotypes, but that curious glimmer in Eduan's eyes surprised him. It's not hard to find students who love nerdy and schooly stuff, but they were rarely one of the football kids. Eduan was nice to talk to, and he didn't seem to mind Jahad's slightly apathetic behavior, or shyness. Yeah, he was really nice.

Khun yawned, closing one of the textbooks with a quiet thud. “We've been sitting here for so long, blondie,” he complained. “Let's finish this tomorrow or something.”

“Sure,” the blond nodded. If they're going to keep up their pace, they'll finish it way before the deadline anyway, so taking a break won't hurt.

Eduan stretched in the chair he was sitting on for a little too long. He looked like a cat waking up from a nap.

“By the way, blondie,” he turned his attention to Jahad.

“Huh?”

“It's nice talking and all, but sitting in the library is kinda boring. You wanna go out on the weekend? There's a few cool places we could go to,” he offered, and started playing with a loose strand of his hair. “Treat it like a date if you want to,” Eduan joked, and winked at him.

Jahad's brain short-circuited. Did he just–

“S-sure,” he barely managed to choke out, which Eduan seemed to find entertaining.

“I know I'm breath-taking, but jeez, you have to control yourself. We don't want you to pass out, blondie.”

Jahad wanted to at least try to not act like a disaster, but it was way more difficult than that stupid project. The more he stuttered when speaking, the more he wanted to punch himself.

It's just a dumb date, the heck is wrong with me?!

Jahad could clearly hear Eduan pretending not to laugh at his overreaction. Maybe high school wasn't that bad, after all.

[dragonrajafanfiction]

Dragon Dancer Chapter 29: Jackpot

“He makes the girls here gamble with their hearts. Never rejecting them, out of politeness. But what he’s really doing is keeping them coming back to the table, time and again.”

“They’re hoping that maybe this time they’ll hit the jackpot and he’ll understand their feelings. Despite the low odds that he ever will.”

-- Caesar Gattuso, Target Practice

Master List

I listened to the phone ring. It was mid-afternoon, Johann had a project he was tending to so this was free time for me. 

Mingfei was resting and recuperating at home, but he still invited me over for a long awaited chat.

“I have a lot to tell you. Not all of it will be fun. But, to be able to share it with you… I’m looking forward it.”

The message got me thinking very seriously about my idea of creating a club just for us. Club S stuck in my mind. So I’d inquired of EVA. 

Fifty thousand dollars… just to start it. And that didn’t count for the supplies I would need, the logo design, the marketing and promotional videos. 

Someone picked up. “This is Comemnus Corp, how may I direct your call?”

“My name is Charlotte Ouroboros Comemnus. I’m looking for Lukas. Is he available?”

“And …” The secretary halted, clearly unaware that Lukas had a semi-adopted sister. “Please hold for a moment.”

I settled in my chair, listening to the hold music. I hadn’t spoken to him for a long time. I hoped he was alright. He hadn’t joined me at Cassell, instead focusing on rebuilding his family business.

He picked up. “Charlotte? Wow. I … didn’t expect to hear from you again.”

“I hope  now’s not a bad time.”

“No, its not. What is it?”

“Well… if you’re not busy. How are you doing?”

He gave a little laugh. “I’m always busy. But never too busy for you. Are you really just calling to ask me how I am?”

“I know it’s been a while, and I’m sorry. I’ve just been trying to catch up with school. I haven’t had time or energy to contact anyone. You’re not alone. How are the kids?”

Lukas had taken it upon himself to care for the orphans rescued from the clutches of the Hydras. “They’re alright, in secure areas under assumed names. They’re each placed with families who can care for them and make them grow up well adjusted. You did it Carli. Good job.”

I felt the heat rising in my face. “I just… wish I could have done more.”

“We all do, but in the end, you did so much.”

“How’s Tobias?”

“He’s fine. At school.”

“I… also have a favor to ask you. I’m sorry to ask this after such a long absence but… the money, from the sale… do you still have it?”

A slight silence met my question. “Yes. To be honest, I… haven’t touched it.”

“Is it possible to… um… get some of that. I have a personal project I want to undertake. It will help me to adjust to my life here.”

“You can have all of it. Carli, as far as I’m concerned… that’s your money.”

“Wow.... Thank you Lukas. It’s a real comfort not to have to worry about money any more.”

“You’ve been through a lot. How do you want it?”

“Uh… My only bank account is an online one and…”

He started laughing. “Oh that’s right.  The rich have their own banking system. I’ll transfer you the details of the account, I’ll set it up for you. I just need a phone number. Can I use this one?”

“Yes!” I blushed. “It really is a lot of money… how long will it take to post?”

“Aaaah… we don’t have restrictions like that. You should be able to access the funds immediately.”

“That’s so crazy.”

“Okay, you should be getting a text in a f... “ He suddenly sighed. “I have to go.”

“Okay… Nice talking to you.”

The line cut. As promised soon, I had a bank account worth five hundred million dollars. I sat on the bed, staring at the number. And then I got another text, from EVA.

“Principal Anjou would like to see you.”

When I arrived, he gestured for me to sit.

“My dear… how are you feeling?” He asked.

“Much better. I’m still on the uh… medication but… they will start tapering me next week.”

He gave a slow sigh. “I’ve been quite hard on you. And for that, I apologize.”

It was unexpected. I tamped down my emotions, chewing my lip, but I couldn’t speak or my voice would crack. I just nodded.

“You displayed such great promise, and worked so hard, I briefly forgot how young you were. I pushed you, beyond your limits. And now you’re suffering for it.”

He reached down into his desk and pulled out a leather folder embossed with the Cassell logo. “Therefore, with the agreement of Schneider, Manstein and Guderian, I present to you your approval to move on next semester. Your need to take the final exam has been waived.”

I gasped and whispered, “Thank you.”

“Unless it’s an absolute emergency, you will not be asked to go on any more missions. I hope you use this time to…” He pushed forward a box of tissues. “Recover from your ordeals.”

I accepted the tissues and dabbed at my eyes.

“Is there anything more I can do for you, my dear?”

“Yes… I want to start my own club. I have enough money to… invest.”

“You do?” His eyes widened.

I nodded and he smiled. 

“Well then!” Much to my surprise, he didn’t ask any questions. “I’ll start the process right away. EVA!”

“Uh… Mr. Anjou, the requirement is not only funds but members. We have to have at least twelve names to open up a club account.”

My shoulders fell in disappointment. “Oh…”

“Oh pishtosh,” He dismissed it. “Am I not principal?! And is she not still Star of Cassell? The requirement is waved. What’s the name of your club?” He asked me.

“Club S.”

He chuckled. “Ah… I can already see where this is going. Who are the members?”

“Just me so far. But I’m hoping to recruit more.”

“As a sign of solidarity, set me down on the roster… though… secretly.”

“Sir,” EVA objected, “Anjou, you may be accused of favoritism.”

“And how is that new? I am also an S-rank.”

“EVA is right. I must decline your application.” I lowered my eyes to my hands.

He pressed his hands to his chest. “First Caesar and now me… you have higher standards than the Jade Emperor.” He took it in stride. “You can count on my support.”

I let out a breath. “Thank you sir.”

He chuckled merrily. “Finally, we have someone to rival Lionheart and the Student Union!”

“I’m not interested in politics.”

“But surely you understand…” He opened the wooden case of cigars. “...Day of Liberty will open the new semester next year. Last year, Lu Mingfei defeated Johann Chu and Caesar for the year’s use of Norton Hall, but he never had the funds to use it. Now, you arrive and you think they won’t be looking to take you out? Lu Mingfei tried to hide, but in the end, he was drawn in.”

He lit his cigar with his gold dragon lighter. “You do not have the element of surprise on your side my dear. Everyone is waiting for you to make your move. Creating this club… will draw attention.”

“Very well then… I will have to move quickly…” I could feel myself smirking despite myself.

He puffed his cigar, eyeing me with silent approval. “Well, go on…”

I stood up and bowed. EVA looked concerned. She spoke up. “You realize he enjoys this.”

“I kind of got that…”

He leaned against his desk, his cigar between his fingers, unphased by our cynicism. “I saw you dance. I’ve seen your work. Every time I think of you, I’m reminded of my friend Manecke… It’s hard to imagine him without ambition.”

“I’ve set you free from obligation in order to rest… and yet this is what you do? You never disappoint me.” He held out my diploma for the semester and I accepted it.

“Thank you sir.”

“You’re free to pursue whatever you wish from now on at the College. Though you still must maintain academics, your major will be up to you.”

“May I continue to major in dance, sir?” I asked.

“Absolutely. You could volunteer for ground maintenance… whatever is your choice. Whatever keeps you happy.”

I decided to carefully hide the leather case under my arm and hurry home to conceal it. I didn’t want Johann to know that I had graduated. He’d worked hard to help me take the test. I didn’t know how he’d react to know that it suddenly wasn’t going to happen. 

I spent the rest of my break working on choreography for Daily Growing. Even though the song had a somber ending and beginning, hope and happiness grew in the middle. I used pantomime for the words ‘love’ and ‘marry’, and used gestures to convey the idea of someone growing taller, all while on point.

Johann found me there. “Looks good so far…”

I lowered myself from my pointe, keeping my back straight and in first position. “Thanks.”

“Someone told me you left the principal’s office in a hurry. Everything alright?”

I rolled my eyes. “Oh my god. Does anything I do go unnoticed?”

“No.”

I sighed. I couldn’t hide this from him. “Anjou decided I’d had enough. He went ahead and passed me for the year. So… no test.”

“Oh…” The unexpected news caused a range of emotions to go through his eyes. He looked away to sort them out. None of them were happy. “Oh… did you… still want to train together?”

“Yes! I was worried you wouldn’t want to!” I laughed. “We can dial it back a bit since we’re no longer up against a deadline though. You can focus on yourself and your club.”

He let out a puff of air. “I’m fine.”

“You just got off suspension and you’re not behind at all? Come on…” I crossed my arms over my chest. “Why don’t you take the day off?” My expression sobered a bit. “Mingfei and I are going to hang out… quality time. We need to talk.”

“I understand.” He was lingering and the longer he hesitated, the more it became clear that ‘free time’ was not something Johann Chu did. He’d put his entire schedule out of sorts for me and now that our training time had suddenly been removed he had nothing to do?

“Was there something… you wanted to do for training today?”

“Not in particular…” He shrugged and shook his head and looked away, turning to go.

He was looking forward to it. That was it. He was disappointed. He just couldn’t say it. “Well, let’s pretend for now that nothing’s changed. Alright?”

“It’s fine.” He’d resigned himself. Poor guy was going to sulk in a corner, drown himself in beer at a bar. I couldn’t stand it.

I took a deep breath and let it out. I licked my lips. “I was afraid to tell you… I know you really looked forward to seeing me take the exam. Anjou had to go and steal your thunder.”

He paused at the door. He didn’t deny it.

I took another breath. “You’ll get another opportunity. If I can get Mingfei to join my club.” I chewed my lip.

Jackpot. He turned to look at me. “Your club?”

My heart was racing. “Yeah. I started my own club.”

“How?”

“Money?” I smiled and laughed. I bounced on my toes. “Remember what I told you in the car? About what happened? I got the money… from the sale.”

“Oh.” His eyes squinted in a way that made me shiver with joy. “Unexpected.”

“Yeah so… I’m going to try to recruit Mingfei.”

He nodded. His mind was working behind those golden eyes. He was starting to smile just a little. I could hardly hear him speak over my own pulse. “You do that… I’ll take care of things on my end.” With a new goal in sight, he left me alone.

After I was sure he was gone, I walked over to lean against the barre. I covered my mouth with my hand. Even though he’d done all these things for me before, having his support now felt like winning the lottery.

[shadowsong26fic]

Coming Attractions!

A day late, whoops…ah well. Let’s pretend it’s still the first Monday of the month, which means Coming Attractions!

Also, as a reminder, I have set up a Discord server for my writing--basically intended to be an extension/more interactive version of this blog. Feel free to stop by and say hi!

Short update this month, because I…did not get a whole lot done last month, whoops. Uh, I was possibly going to do Camp NaNo for July but I didn’t get my thoughts organized in time…but anyway, a quick overview of goals for the month! I think I did some more prompt ficlets since the last update? But we haven’t had any rounds lately…anyway, those can be found in the tag. I also did a couple things for a prompt meme on DW. Other than that…it’s been a quiet month on my end.

I really, genuinely, I swear, actually will finish this arc of Precipice in July, lol. Hopefully get at least one chapter of Preludes and/or Protectors out as well, but if I can just get these last two chapters done, I will be Happy. There’s basically…four or five scenes left? One bit with Obi-Wan and Anakin and Artoo and Dr. Naar that’s been very slow going and is really like two or three half-scenes sort of cobbled together; a bit with Bail and Ahsoka and Rex and Leia (which is also...a couple half-scenes stitched together, lol); a bit with Sidious and Lavinia that’s mostly finished; and a Padme POV scene to close out the arc. Right now, the plan is for these to go into two chapters, and then we’re done!

Preludes will probably get posted out of order, since it’s backfilling stuff in the skip between arc 7 and arc 8, but at minimum it will deal with Palpatine’s next apprentice, some of what the Ghost Crew gets up to in this AU, and probably Maul will show up. The first one will probably be a scene/sequence with Kallus and Lavinia, but there’s a couple other possibilities I’m contemplating as well (Hondo facilitating some contacts, what the hell has Maul been up to, Apprentice #5’s debut…we’ll see!)

And, since y’all have been So Patient with my lack of updates the last few months, here’s a teaser for one of the first few chapters of Protectors!

“You need to move,” Obi-Wan said, quietly. “I don’t think the message can be traced to you, but if the Empire starts looking closer at the planet…”

Owen seemed about to object, but Beru put her hand on his. “We understand,” she said. “I know there’s a contingency, but I’m not clear on the details.”

“Pack,” Obi-Wan said. “We’ll stage it like the farm’s been attacked.”

“Will we be able to come back? Eventually?” Owen asked.

“I hope so,” he said, but he refused to promise more than he could be sure to deliver. “And there will be...enough to rebuild from, if you do.”

“Sand people,” Owen guessed, voice hard.

“Yes,” he said. “Credible, at least to fool any Imperial patrols that come by. The locals may suspect, but if they do…”

“They’ll most likely suspect it’s the Empire or Jabba covering something up,” Beru finished for him. “Where will we go?”

“Alderaan,” Obi-Wan said. “Or Chandrilla. Whichever has a sooner flight.” Given a choice, his personal preference would be for Alderaan--if only because Senator Mothma had been the one to take their movement public, and Bail’s reputation was still more or less unimpeachable. But either would serve to keep the Larses safe.

“That’s far,” Owen said.

“It will keep you safe,” he said.

In other SW fic news...well, as implied above, I am hoping to get at least one Precipice update out this week, but I’m not 100% solid on that, since I also have an exchange fic I need to finish for next Monday. I’m…behind, lol; there was a lot of waffling back and forth on exactly what I wanted to do for it. But I’m on track now! And I thrive on tight externally-imposed deadlines so I’m not worried about finishing XD.

I am still working on OFLAM, and a new dragonshifters AU I’ve started building, off and on. I’m still sorting out some details for the latter, especially in terms of how many people know about Anakin being a shifter (I would…like to keep it to the bare minimum as of when the Clone Wars starts, meaning while Obi-Wan probably knows the rest of the Order somehow doesn’t? So it’s like a Big Deal when Padme and Ahsoka find out). Most of what I’ve actually written has to do with my girl Bo-Katan, though I’ve done a bit with Padme and Anakin as well. I’m also still. Uh. Searching for an actual Plot??? Beyond just ‘this is a cool concept and there’s significantly/interestingly Different cultural baggage for my three shifters,’ which is about where I am now. Anyway, probably either the shifters AU or OFLAM will end up being my SWBB project for next year, unless I get struck by another interesting ObiAniDala concept, which has been what’s happened the last two years, lol…

In other fandom/non-SW fic news, as I think I mentioned last month, I’ve started drifting back into ATLA fandom. Rereading some of my old fics/RPs, toying with plots/concepts/crossovers of varying levels of self-indulgence…I’m not sure I’m actually going to write anything, but it’s definitely a possibility? If nothing else, I might flesh out/fulltext some of the super self-indulgent stuff I’ve been playing with, just to get it on paper and out of my head. Or I might put together something postable (although the one that’s getting the most traction in my brain actually might work better if I file the serial numbers off and put it into an original story…who knows.) I’m also going to do an organized rewatch of my own at some point (my roommate’s been watching the series, but I’m in and out while she does so I keep missing bits) which will probably finalize any nebulous plans I might have. Anyway, I don’t think ATLA is going to drag me out of SW but I’ll possibly/probably be writing for both for a while? Which I don’t plan to impact Precipice, and I do plan to do BB next year as discussed above, but if this does start happening, other projects will probably be put even more on the back burner/on hold for a while. We’ll see, we’ll see…

I’m also hoping to get some original stuff done this month, because I feel like I’ve been neglecting my own stuff even more than my fic projects lately, lol…

Anyway, this weekend, I’m hoping to get a good bit of writing done. I’ll be somewhere quiet with minimal internet access for a couple days (at least that’s the way it’s been when I’ve been there before, it might have changed since then, who knows). So I probably won’t get distracted by variants of 2048 (that Doctor Who one I don’t even go there AND YET) or watching Netflix or…though I may be bringing my lacework, which also takes a fair amount of time away from writing, so…we’ll see XD

…anyway, this turned out a lot longer than I thought it would. So much for a short update! But in the meantime, what have you guys been up to? Any plans/projects in the pipeline? Open question night? What’s on your mind?

[gamerwoo]

Seonghwa: Facade (Part 7)

Characters: Seonghwa x female reader (featuring Hongjoong)

Genre/warnings: royalty au, sorta arranged marriage au, slowburn, angst, choking (again, not the sexy kind)

Word count: 2,371

Summary: Being an assassin, you’ll do anything for anybody as long as they can pay for it. However, you might’ve met your match after meeting your next target, Park Seonghwa, the prince of the kingdom. It’s not that his fighting skills match yours or that he’s even a little suspicious of you – it’s how he has a heart of gold, cares so deeply for his kingdom, and would do anything for you despite the fact he has only just met you. So now you have to make a choice: fail your orders and accept death…or kill the man you’ve fallen in love with.

Previous | Next

Day 73; 01:59 -- 17 days until deadline.

Your least favorite part about going to see Seonghwa at night was having to leave. You never dared close your eyes for a moment in his room because you feared you wouldn’t wake up in time and the two of you would get caught. You’d lay in bed with him for a little while longer before he helped get you dressed -- depending on what you were doing -- so you could sneak back to your room.

“Next time, let me come to your room,” he pleaded with a soft smile, both of your hands intertwined between your bodies. “I feel bad when you have to hurry out of mine. It feels like I’m kicking you out.”

“Don’t worry about it,” you reassured him, pressing a kiss to the button of his nose. “I’ll see you in the morning.”

“Mm, I love you,” he hummed.

“I love you, too,” you giggled softly before you let go of him and went to the door, opening it just enough to slip out before you closed it just as silently.

You didn’t even have time to react to the person behind you when you turned to face them. Seonghwa’s uncle had an iron grip on your neck with one hand, the other pressed up to your mouth to keep you quiet. He shoved you up against the opposite wall, a little farther down the hall so you were away from Seonghwa’s door.

“You disgusting whore,” he spat in your face. “You thought you could hide your meaningless relationship with that little brat from me? Need I remind you that if you don’t get rid of him like I paid you to do, then I’ll get rid of you instead?”

You moved your hands up to shove his hand off your mouth, speaking in a harsh whisper, “Go ahead. You think I care if I die? I don’t.”

The old man smirked evilly, quirking an unkempt brow, “Is that so? I don’t suppose you care about that brother of yours any more than you care about yourself, do you?”

The glare fell from your face as you felt ice run through your veins. How did he know about Mingi? What did your brother have to do with any of this?

“Seemed to have struck something there, I see,” he mused. “Well, let’s change the circumstances: you kill Seonghwa or I kill your stupid street rat brother.”

“You touch him and I’ll--”

His hand pressed against your throat harder, silencing you efficiently, “I wouldn’t make threats so quickly. I’m not the only person who knows of this deal, girl. If you kill me, they’ll know it was you, and they’ll kill you and your brother.”

You couldn’t risk that. You weren’t sure who it was in the castle that he’d told about the deal, so you had no way of getting rid of them first. You really were stuck now. Sure, you’d die for Seonghwa in a heartbeat, but Mingi? You couldn’t sacrifice him. He was your brother.

He finally released you, letting you slump back against the wall as you gasped for air.

“I expect him dead in no less than two and a half weeks,” he growled before he stalked off, leaving you disoriented and panicked.

What were you supposed to do now. It was Seonghwa or Mingi and you didn’t want to give up either of them.

As you slid down the wall onto your butt, your eyes filled with tears. How could you get either of them out of this one now? You could only hope Mingi would get the money in time, but that wasn’t a guarantee, either. You’d need a backup plan, and fast.

︵‿︵‿୨♡୧‿︵‿︵

Day 75; 22:56 -- 15 days until deadline.

You’d been so busy with wedding things that you’d fall asleep as soon as you were in your room. But now, you were rested enough to go see Mingi. You had to warn him of what was to happen and get an update on how he was doing financially. So you changed into the clothes you had originally arrived in -- the ones you liked to wear typically -- and went over to the window.

“What?” you gasped, seeing metal bars going criss-cross over the glass.

You’d been so preoccupied and drained the last couple days that you hadn’t noticed they’d barred you into the room. You felt anger bubbling inside you as you realized you had no way out of the castle at night anymore, though you weren’t sure how that wretched old man had any way of knowing you had been sneaking out.

With a frustrated growl, you went over to the door instead. At least you could go see Seonghwa and--

The door didn’t budge. You tried again with a bit more force only to be met with no improvement. You threw your shoulder against it but only ended up with a bruised shoulder.

You were locked in completely.

You let out a loud groan, not caring who heard as you threw your back against the door like a child throwing a tantrum, sliding down the surface until you hit the floor. Hot, angry tears filled your eyes as you realized you had no way of getting to anybody after hours now. You were now at complete mercy of Seonghwa’s uncle and there was nothing you could do about it.

︵‿︵‿୨♡୧‿︵‿︵

Day 80; 13:14 -- 10 days until deadline.

The instruction was to pick the final arrangement for the flowers. It seemed simple enough, and yet, your mind couldn’t stay focused on the task. All you could think about was the impending doom that was barreling toward you much faster than it was the first month you were here.

Seonghwa was happy to do little things for the wedding because he got to spend time with you and really envision himself marrying you. While you wanted to feel that way, all you felt was dread. It was so bittersweet that it made you want to cry right there in front of everyone.

“What do you think, love?” Seonghwa asked, gesturing to the arrangement that he liked best. “Or do you like the second one better? I saw you staring at that one more.”

Truthfully, you’d hardly seen any of the bouquets despite looking at all of them. You were too lost in your own head to register anything your eyes saw. The only reason you stared at the second ones longer was because you were spaced out in your panic.

“_____?” Seonghwa’s voice was soft as he tilted his head, trying to get you to look at him. “Darling, are you okay?”

You blinked a few times feeling something warm touch your face. You realized it was Seonghwa’s hand as he looked at you with concern-filled brown eyes.

“Yeah,” you nodded, lying smoothly -- which wasn’t very smooth, but with your lie, your tone and shakiness made sense. “I’m sorry, I just feel a little lightheaded.”

Seonghwa frowned, “Is your dress too tight?”

You nodded, only half hearing what he had asked.

He let out a short huff, shaking his head, “Once we’re married, you won’t have to wear these dresses anymore, I promise.”

You mustered up the best smile you could, but you didn’t reply.

Talking about getting married, along with seeing all the flowers around, Seonghwa started to get more and more excited. The thought alone of marrying you was enough to have him babbling for hours about it -- and some of the guards were forced to listen to his excitement, too.

“I can’t wait until you’re my wife,” he grinned, wrapping his arms around your waist, the flower picking completely forgotten now. “I’ll take the best care of you. You’ll be all mine and nobody can ever tell you what to do. You can do what you like whenever you want, and you’ll be so happy -- at least, I hope you’ll be happy.”

You knew you would be happy with him. You also knew that no matter how many times he said it or how much you wanted it, you would never actually be with him. So instead of replying, you didn’t say anything.

Across the room, you could feel the cold eyes of Seonghwa’s uncle boring into your back. All you wanted to do was melt into Seonghwa and leave that stupid deal behind. You wanted to keep Seonghwa but also save Mingi because you loved your brother but you also loved the warm and safe embrace of the man you were ‘engaged’ to.

You didn’t realize you were crying until Seonghwa was wiping tears from under your eyes with his thumbs.

“_____, why are you crying?” he cooed.

You played it off like you were just so excited to marry him, which made him giggle and hug you to his chest. You would never admit that the tears you cried into his shirt were tears of fear and of complete and utter sadness and heartbreak.

︵‿︵‿୨♡୧‿︵‿︵

Day 89; 20:10 -- 1 day until deadline.

Nobody was more excited for the next day than Seonghwa’s uncle. The deadline was finally upon them, and while he did want his nephew taken care of as soon as possible, he also wanted to watch you squirm a little longer. He was obviously pissed off that you had fallen in love and didn’t plan on getting rid of the prince, so his next move was to punish you further for turning against him.

That was why you found him entering your bedroom once again. You were sitting at the window, staring out through the spaces of the bars. You hadn’t been able to go talk to Mingi, only being able to tell Hongjoong to tell Mingi you were locked in the castle now. You told him that the plan was off because there was no way you could plan things with you being on lock down and watched like a hawk. You’d have to come up with something else, and you were pretty sure you had an idea. Hongjoong was supposed to come that night for the final confirmation of what was going on.

For now, you had to face the old man you’d grown to loathe.

“There’s been a change of plans, dear,” he informed you after he’d closed the door. The look on his face wasn’t one you could read, but it also wasn’t one you’d seen before. “You will marry Seonghwa tomorrow.”

You looked at him in surprise, but you knew there was a catch awaiting. “Really…?”

He nodded, “The wedding will go as everybody else has planned. You’ll marry Seonghwa and attend the party -- the whole nine yards.”

You were afraid to ask, but you had to know. The word hesitated, needing to be forced past your lips.

“Why?”

“Well,” he began with a sigh as he started walking slowly around the room. The simple action made you uncomfortable, “I’ve seen how in love you are with the brat, so I figure the two of you should wed if that’s really what you want.”

“But what’s the catch?” you pressed.

He paused, smirking that evil smirk that you sensed was coming. He glanced over at you from the corner of his eye, excited to see your reaction to his next few words.

“You’ll kill him after the party.”

You felt like somebody had punched the air out of you. You felt like somebody had just sent a knife right through your heart. You’d get to marry Seonghwa, but then you’d have to kill him immediately after? Did this weasely old man really hate you that much already?

“The prince will be dead, you’ll be executed,” he continued with a content smile, carrying on with his slow pacing, “and that leaves me to rule without any problems.”

You looked away from him, turning your head sharply to look out the window again. You refused to give this man the satisfaction of seeing you show any emotions. You kept your face neutral and your glare steely, trying to focus on the soft breeze that blew the trees outside rather than the current situation. You couldn’t let yourself cry. Not in front of him.

“Remember what happens to your brother if you don’t obey,” he reminded you as he walked back toward the door. “Now, try to get some sleep. You have a big day tomorrow, princess.”

Once the door was closed, you let the dams break. Tears flowed from your eyes as you wrapped your arms around your knees and buried your face in them. You were happy you’d be married to Seonghwa, at least for a few hours, but then you’d have to ruin it all. But you wouldn’t do it like Seonghwa’s uncle intended. No, you’d do something to keep both your brother and the prince safe -- at least, you hoped it would.

About an hour later after you’d calmed down and laid in bed, staring at the ceiling as you were unable to sleep, you heard the heavy board that blocked your door get removed. When it opened, it was Hongjoong who walked in, dressed head to toe in black so he could leave the castle and see Mingi as soon as you gave him instructions.

“What’s the plan?” he asked after closing the door, approaching your bed.

You didn’t move, keeping your eyes on the ceiling, “Get Mingi out of the kingdom.”

“What?” Hongjoong asked, giving you a puzzled look. “Why?”

You didn’t bother answering him, you just kept talking, “Get him out of the kingdom tonight, and you be in the center of the garden after the wedding ten minutes before midnight. Make sure you’re hidden. Keep Seonghwa safe, no matter what happens.”

“_____, what are you planning?” he asked again, his tone more sharp this time.

Again, you ignored his question, rolling over to face away from him and curling up. Hongjoong sighed, going back for the door, the sound of his boots signaling his retreat.

“Hongjoong?” you spoke up, trying to hide the break in your voice as more tears gathered in your eyes.

“Yes?”

“Tell Mingi I love him. Just like always.”

[shima-draws]

hey... ross comforting alba drabble :3c

[[Send me a fandom/ship/prompt and I’ll write a drabble for it!]]

I wrote this all in one sitting that usually doesn’t happen. The power of Albatross is just too strong for me to resist…

Apparently I’m just screwing myself over with my intended word count so I’m just. Yeah. WELL

Anyway for once I didn’t write a oneshot during Alba’s prison tutoring times, shockingly enough since that’s all I usually write for them lmao;; I took a few liberties with Alba’s research facility esp since Part 5 isn’t super clear about what he even does in there (or maybe I just missed it? Idk lol) BUT YEAH for the sake of this story. He’s still trying to get Elf and Alf back home :’)

THANKS SO MUCH FOR REQUESTING THIS KIO I’VE MISSED WRITING THESE TWO IDIOTS

EDIT: This is up on Archive now too!!

——————————————————– 

“What are you doing here.”

It’s more of a statement than a question, and if Ros didn’t know any better he’d immediately jump into teasing Alba for his haggard appearance—but that ends up being the exact reason he decides not to. The hero has circles under his eyes that say he’s been awake for days. Ros hasn’t seen him like this since he was studying magic in a prison with seals sticking to his forehead.

“I came to check up on you,” he decides on saying, and frowns. “Which apparently was a good idea in hindsight because, frankly, you look like shit.”

Alba at least is coherent enough to roll his eyes. “Wow, thanks. I’m feeling better already.”

And with that he turns around and stalks off, hands shoved deep into the pockets of his fancy looking lab coat. Ros follows him at a trot.

“When’s the last time you ate something, Hero?” He asks, matching Alba stride for stride. They round a corner and Ros tries not to let his gaze linger too long on what’s going on around him—Alba’s research facility is like a maze and he always tends to get lost within it if he’s not careful. (Usually when he shows up, he shouts and calls attention to himself until Alba appears to either kick him out or invite him in with a look of fond annoyance.)

Alba sighs. “Does it matter? I’m eating.”

Ros looks him over and narrows his eyes. Alba looks…skinny. Skinnier than usual. Not his regular slightly muscled self. And pale. Frighteningly pale.

“Not enough, apparently. Do I need to start camping out here and force you to eat on a schedule?” He jokes, hoping for some kind of positive reaction.

The brunette only snorts. “Please. I’m an adult. I can take care of myself.”

“Hero,” Ros says, his tone chiding.

Alba comes to a sudden halt, looking frustrated. Ros keeps his distance by a foot or two, wary.

“Look, just—“ And he scrubs his hand through his hair in frustration. “What do you want? To bother me? I don’t have time to entertain you today, Ros. I’m busy.”

Ros would have immediately punched him for his clipped tone and his blatant attempt at brushing him off if the use of his name didn’t make him pause. Nowadays Alba usually calls him Shion—as a way to show his affection, he supposes, because Ros doesn’t really let anyone else call him that besides Crea. It’s weird hearing Alba use his other name now, so used to hearing “Shion” in a tone full of friendliness. 

Looking over him again, Alba looks exhausted. And also wired, like he’s been only surviving on coffee and whatever mana he has left to keep himself going.

Ros huffs out a sigh and pinches the bridge of his nose. He knows what Alba’s doing, because he’s done it a million times himself. It’s pretty easy to get distracted by your goals and keep striving towards them without pausing to rest. But if Alba keeps going like this, he’s going to crash and burn eventually.

So, Ros leans over and kicks him in the shin. Hard.

Immediately, Alba leaps back, magic flaring around him. “Ow—what the fuck?!”

Huh. Alba has no filter when he’s running on maybe three hours of sleep. Ros decides to file that piece of information away for later.

“Come here,” Ros demands, grabbing his wrist. He drags him down the hall and straight to the lounge—the one place he knows how to get to in the building.

Luckily, the place is empty when they arrive. Ros gently tugs Alba over to the first couch he sees and forces him to sit on it.

Alba opens his mouth, either to protest or to complain, but Ros cuts him off.

“Listen to me. I know what you’re doing. You need to stop,” he states, looking down on the tired hero as he crosses his arms. “Elf and Alf aren’t going to suddenly up and disappear just because you’re taking a nap.”

“I know that!” Alba snaps, and then he visibly deflates, like he feels guilty for doing so. “I know that. I just…”

Ros nudges him over with his foot and then takes a seat next to him, reclining against the cushions.

“I just want to help them,” the brunette admits, softly. “I told them I would. And I feel like we’re so close to a breakthrough, to finding a way to get them home, but…”

“You’re rushing things,” Ros murmurs. He reaches up to gently tussle Alba’s hair, who releases a quiet, startled noise. “You’re cornering yourself, Hero. I know you’re dead set on fulfilling whatever promise you made to those two, but it’s not like you have an exact deadline. I’m pretty sure that if they were supposed to be erased from our timeline, they would’ve been already.”

Alba slumps, finally relaxing beneath his touch. Ros’ hand travels to stroke down his back in soothing circles.

“Getting no sleep and only eating when you need to isn’t healthy,” Ros admonishes. “And trust me, I’ve been there. You think I didn’t do everything in my power to fix what happened to Crea? I didn’t sleep for weeks.”

Alba peers up at him curiously, looking a bit more lively than he did before. “Really—? I mean—wait, no, that’s obvious, of course you didn’t. Your best friend had his body stolen right in front of you, of course you probably had trouble sleeping…”

Ros squeezes his hip and he squeaks, cheeks turning pink. The black-haired boy resists the urge to smile.

“I know you’re a masochist, but this might be taking things too far.”

“I knew you were going to say that,” Alba groans, throwing his head back.

Ros leans against his shoulder and grins like a cat. “You did? Wow. Must be our bond. You can read me so well, Hero.”

“Oh my god, shut up,” Alba whines, but it’s sort of ruined when he starts laughing halfway through his sentence.

Ros runs his hand across the boy’s lower back again and chuckles. They’re sitting close enough now that their knees are almost touching. Ros’ heart floods with warmth, and he smiles.

“Don’t worry about those two. They’ll be fine. If anyone can figure out how to send them back, you can. But you don’t need to make yourself sick doing it.”

Alba nods, slowly, and avoids his gaze. His eyes are fixed firmly on the carpet, and his hands are balled in his lap. He looks almost bashful, and a bit ashamed. Ros’ arm is curled all the way around him now, his hand rubbing circles into Alba’s hip.

“Are you gonna be a good boy now and get some rest? If not I’ll have to knock you out and make you sleep.”

“Please don’t,” is the response he gets.

“Good, because if that didn’t work, I was going to call Rchi,” Ros tells him, smirking when Alba looks at him in horror. Rchi is a menace when she knows her boys are being idiots.

He finally releases him, and Alba lies down on the couch begrudgingly. He’s pouting like a child, but at least he’s finally complying.

“Get some sleep, Hero. Or I’ll be really angry.”

“Fine,” Alba sighs, closing his eyes. “See, I’m doing it now, okay? You happy?”

“Quite, actually.”

There’s a long pause, and Ros almost thinks Alba has already drifted off (which would be impressive, considering his head just hit the pillow), but Alba speaks again.

“Hey, Shion…” He mumbles. Oh. He’s gone back to using “Shion”, then. Ros tries to pretend that he’s not happy about the prospect. “Will you…stay here? Don’t go home while I’m sleeping.”

Ros’ heart skips a beat. He’s glad Alba’s eyes are closed and that he can’t read his expression.

“What, you afraid the monsters under the bed will attack you while you’re dreaming and steal your ribs? That would be a tragedy. Ribman, losing his ribs,” he jokes weakly.

“‘M not Ribman and you know it,” Alba mumbles. “And no, I just…feel safer when you’re near me. Like I can sleep easier…”

Ros covers his burning face with a hand and looks away, swallowing thickly. Jesus. This kid really is trying to kill him, isn’t he?

It takes a long while, but Ros finally answers.

“…Yeah, I’ll stay. I won’t leave your side, Alba.”

All he hears is a soft snore, and when he finally has the courage to look over again, Alba is completely passed out.

Ros exhales heavily and rubs the back of his neck. Guess he should have expected as much.

His eyes dart around the room, making sure that nobody else is around, and then he moves to crouch over Alba’s slumbering form.

“Goodnight, my Hero,” he murmurs, leaning down to gently press his lips to Alba’s forehead.

And if he holds Alba’s hand the whole time as he guards the boy who saved the world, well, that’s his little secret.

——————————————————–

We love a soft Ros who’s still trying to come to terms with his feelings uwu