#i need to remind myself drawing over sketches actually turns out pretty good!!!
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skitskatdacat63 · 3 months ago
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Ye olde cat boys....
(I'm working on a bigger piece rn, so I colored this sketch in the meantime :DD)
I realized this is basically a more realized version of a sketch from really early boy king days:
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nymria · 2 years ago
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XP PEN REVIEW
I’ve been testing out the Artist 10 2nd Gen tablet sent to me by XP-PEN!
Note, I have previously only used screenless tablets so that will be my point of comparison. I’ll mainly just share my thoughts, likes, dislikes, aspects that stuck out to me.
What I liked
Tablet set-up is pretty simple. Just plug it in, download+install the latest driver(for Artist 10 2nd Gen) on the XP-Pen website, then turn on the tablet. (btw I use Windows, not sure what the experience is like for mac users) 
Clear resolution
I liked how smooth and natural it felt to draw with the pen. There wasn’t any point where I felt that it lagged (while in display mode)
The shortcut keys and especially the artist glove (prevents your skin rubbing against the screen)
Customizable screen settings: I liked being able to watch a video full screen on my laptop while drawing on the tablet. And it was easy to set up! Usually with my screenless tablet I just squeeze the browser and sai into one screen.
Warning: Take care of any unsaved canvases before starting driver installation.
When downloading the driver you will see an .exe file to install. When you click that file and give permission to make changes, it automatically closes any graphics program you have open. After that, a window appears with a warning that reminds you to close them, even though it already closed the programs for you. I found this strange since other softwares that give this type of warning always let me pause to close the programs myself. Luckily sai 2 has a recovery function!
Pen Tablet/Display Mode
The tablet also comes with a “pen tablet” mode that turns off the display and lets you use it like a screenless tablet. I think it works okay, however, something that bugged me is occasionally the cursor would lag before registering that I was moving the pen. 
(Note: if you previously used smaller screenless tablets(like me), this mode may feel jarring to use at first due to the different dimensions.)
Size & Portability
It’s among the smaller options for a display tablet, but part of that is for portability. Normally you need to plug an HDMI and USB adapter into your computer to use this tablet, but you can also connect it to a smartphone and take it anywhere. However, I cannot judge that feature as it requires a USB-C cable sold separately.
Regardless, I appreciate how easy it is to hold and handle, it reminds me of doodling in a notebook. It’s also a bit more convenient for me since it doesn’t take up too much space on my (very crowded) desk. 
If you’re a beginner or a screenless tablet user looking to get a display tablet:
This does not come with a stand. I would suggest getting one for convenience and to help maintain proper posture while drawing and prevent back and neck issues. With a display tablet, there’s a tendency to hunch over while drawing.
The actual screen you draw on is approximately 9 x 5 inches. This can make make drawing feel cramped. (While it is a bigger drawing space than my Intuos draw, I had grown accustomed to staring at a larger computer screen while drawing.) Eventually the space felt less restrictive as I got used to drawing on it
The parallax (distance between pen nib and cursor) is very minimal, but it becomes more noticeable with the small screen size if you’re trying to sketch out a full image or body without zooming in
Overall thoughts
Pretty good. I had fun drawing on this. I’d recommend it as a simple, portable, and affordable option for a display tablet (right now it’s on sale until 02-20-23)
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particular-one · 2 years ago
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Hello! This is my first time making a request so I hope I don't ruin it- for an emoji, I will use this✨ (definitely not because I love stars) for fandoms, genshin impact, honkai star rail and Haikyuu! For pronounce, I use she/her. For romantic preference, male characters. I'm an INFG, for my personality, I'm pretty closed off and introverted, my silence and blank expression always gives off the impression that I'm intimidating (that's what people tell me at least) but I'm just shy and silent. I like socializing, but once my social battery runs out, I immediately escape to the nearest quiet place to recharge. I like helping people,as well as being productive to finish my work. I'm good at reading people and observing them, to the point my friend comes to me to ask my opinion about other people. I can't stand being in crowds, you will find me hiding in some corner or an empty room on family gatherings. I'm good at comforting and know many ways of comforting different personalities. I tend to be emotional and sensitive to words from the people I hold dear to my heart, I'm nice and easy going once you get to know me, understanding and considerate. I'm the supportive mother of my friend group. For hobbies...I love reading, listening to music, drawing and sketching and recently writing stories and novels. What I look in a romantic relationship... stability, loyalty and honesty. I tend to overwork myself a lot without realizing so I need someone to tell me to slow down, I also have a tendency to overthink every little detail and situation so I want someone to stabilize me when I'm stuck in a hurricane of thoughts. I don't know how to express my feelings and try to give hints that I'm not feeling well, I want someone who can pick up on these hints and comfort me. I take relationships seriously and want someone to be loyal and not run away. My love language (me giving) is physical touch and acts of service (I was never good with words) as for receiving, probably words of affirmation and physical touch. For date ideas...I'm good with anything as long as it doesn't have a lot of crowds, something that I hate... ignorance and cheating, definitely my turn off.
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hello ✨! dw i love galaxy imagery as well so i totally get it, haha. i hope you like your matchups!
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GENSHIN IMPACT ---- TIGHNARI
⋆。゚☁︎。⋆。 ゚☾ ゚。⋆ tighnari was immediately drawn to your presence. there was something about you that he couldn't quite place, that even if you were in a middle of a room where a lot of things were happening simultaneously, his eyes would be drawn towards you. little did tighnari know that that feeling was called having a crush. you always seemed to disappear so he actually had a hard time trying to find you but you had your first proper meeting during one of his scout missions. it was a nice change of pace with you, as he's not around his usual crowd — don't get him wrong, he likes eating out with kaveh and cyno, but having to sit through stale joke after stale joke was his breaking point. as a partner, tighnari is very caring and protective. he's pretty much accustomed to stability, so he ensures that you're taking care of yourself. though he does give some unsolicited advice on how to better take care of yourself, rest assured it's out of concern for your wellbeing as his partner. for the rare moments that you have long conversations, tighnari loves hearing you talk on and on about what you've read, or the stories you've written. he brings you to the avidya forest sometimes, and the both of you just take in the silence and fresh air together. tighnari is very stern with you if he sees you constantly overworking, chastising you to get a break once in a while. if he sees you passed out doing your work, he usually places a blanket over you so you won't get cold.
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HONKAI STAR RAIL ---- GEPARD LANDAU
⋆。゚☁︎。⋆。 ゚☾ ゚。⋆ gepard was a gentleman ... or at least, he had to constantly remind himself that. this guy is the classic definition of "he fell first and very, very hard." his sister saw right through him and teases him about it, which he gets really embarrassed about. he's definitely very noble and chivalrous around you. he can come off a little.. amusing considering how he tries very hard to impress you with this. still, gepard always offers a shoulder to you whenever you're feeling down, and he's a really good listener. as a partner, gepard still is the chivalrous type. he's the type of guy to demonstrate a lot of acts of services, but when he finds out that you actually find physical touch comforting, he would most definitely shower you with a lot of hugs. watch as he'd hug you from behind, spin you around in his arms like the sappy romantic that he is. gepard's used to giving a lot of motivating speeches as a silvermane soldier, so he's very good with his words when he's comforting you, though he gets really nervous about saying something wrong. he always tells you how much you mean to him, and definitely is big on pet names — don't be surprised when he ends up referring to you as his whole sky, or his north star, because oh, he definitely would. though gepard usually is busy with his duties, he always sends you a lot of letters to make sure you never feel alone.
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HAIKYUU!! ---- AKAASHI KEIJI
⋆。゚☁︎。⋆。 ゚☾ ゚。⋆ akaashi found a lot of similarities in you that he also found in himself. people with an analytical mind with the tendency to overthink? if akaashi were being honest, it almost scared him a little to know someone that could have been his carbon copy. still, that emotion slowly turned into intrigue, but akaashi never knew when it blossomed into affection. now, if bokuto found out about his little crush, his friend never lets him live it down. as a partner, akaashi is more private with his affections. he isn't the lovey dovey type in public, but he demonstrates his feelings for you by getting you things that you like. akaashi remembers a lot of your favorite things — pretty sure he made an excel sheet about it, but you didn't hear it from me — so he surprises you with them when you least expect it. that book you've been eyeing from the bookshop a week ago? akaashi has it gift wrapped ready for your viewing pleasure. that really expensive sketchpad that you've wanted to get for the longest time? he saved up his money just so he can get it for you. akaashi also is big on hand holding, but this is more of a gradual thing. he likes interlocking your fingers together and squeezing your hand in reassurance. akaashi always knows how to make time for you despite his hectic practice schedule, may it be going out on a simple dinner date, or planning a whole trip out of town just so the both of you can unwind together.
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keefwho · 11 months ago
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January 02 - 2024 Tuesday
10:59pm
5.5/10
This morning I took the garbage out, vacuumed the floor, tidied up some boxes, and scrubbed Sporticus's water bowl. I showered without my phone today because I've been intentional about not watching/listening to something unless I have an actual desire to because most often I just try to fill the silence. For breakfast I made corned beef hash with onions and bell peppers with 2 pieces of toast. I chopped all the peppers I bought into strips and froze them for sandwich use. I watched Bojack while eating breakfast.
I got to stream on time and warmed up trying to draw my otter in the spongebob maid outfit. I also sketched and priced another guy's commission. I had trouble sketching and was also worried I'd have nothing good to draw because my heart has not been in it lately to the point where I think it might be best to not try and force myself to draw something unless it's for work obviously. I finished both of Shiro's commissions today which put me just over my daily quota since they were both small. I remember getting irritated at not being able to draw her hands well and figure in general. I just wasn't good at it today and I feel bad that some people's commissions suffer because of it.
After stream I heard my new speakers come in so I tried to set them up but realized I had no way to plug them into my PC and headphones at the same time. Unfortunately I have to send them back which reminds me I also need to send back this other thing I've been putting off. I have no excuse since I just give them to my dad to take to UPS whenever he ends up going to town. I also wrapped Daisy's last present that just came in. Afterwards XQC started streaming so I tuned in while I tried to make Hoover stew. I got bored of him and switch to Bojack again while I cooked and ate. It turned out okay, healthy and filling at the very least. I'll probably try making it again. Then I opened a Dr.Thunder and got to work.
I finished a request for Tag which I think turned out well. Then I worked on a late Venus new year's pic for 1 hour. I was struggling with the colors and decided to sort them out later. Right after that I did day 1 of the yoga challenge which wasn't as hard as I thought it would be, she started off with some physically testing poses I struggled to hold. It felt good to stretch though. I did it in the barbie-like flower world in VRchat. This weird guy requested off me but I denied. After that I buckled down and started my new secret project for 1 hour which went well. I enjoyed doing it and it was relaxing since I had TOTK on my TV just resting with it's ambient music and weather.
When I was done with that I wanted to relax so I put on an episode of Bojack. Towards the end, Daisy became free so we called and chilled. I tried playing a little KSP but didn't do much before quitting. She shared her screen looking at Twitter and then we checked Zillow for outrageously expensive houses. We saw a plantation and also a well designed house for once. We also peaked at Disney houses, dog races, and cartoons out of context. She got to bed pretty quick and I played Neopets for her. I thought we were at the end but there's still at least another chapter to go so I was happy about that.
Today was okay, I was very productive and stuck to my schedule well which I always feel good about. In the evening I didn't know what I wanted and felt very boring while hanging out. I was afraid I was dull to be around and was feeling very self conscious about my hair. I think in general it's because I didn't have much to contribute today, like I had no substance.
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iraprince · 3 years ago
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this might not be something you personally have difficulty with, but i was recently diagnosed with severe adhd and i was wondering if you had any tips regarding just like….drawing?? i have such a hard time getting started even though i usually end up feeling pretty stoked and happy with my work if i manage to get something down. i used to draw constantly as a kid to help me focus in class, but in my adult life i just feel like there are so many invisible barriers between myself and putting pencil to paper. i’m sure there are a lot of perfectionism issues involved as well, so i guess just any sort of advice in any of those areas would be greatly appreciated! your work is fantastic and i’m really grateful that you share adhd stuff as well!! have a great day! :o)
i actually have a LOT of difficulty with this -- i have more difficulty than i have advice, probably! but my advice always ends up boiling down to the same thing lately, and it sounds really hokey but i mean it as literally as possible bc it's the only thing that consistently works for me: be fucking nice to yourself!
for a long time the only solution i had to being Inexplicably Unable To Do Something was to yell at myself, bully myself, assume that i wasn't trying hard enough, and end up a miserable little ball of confusion and frustration. it was def worse before i was diagnosed, but it's definitely not gone (sometimes "i don't know why i can't just do it!" just gets replaced with "well, i know what the problem is, so why can't i find a way around it?!"). and after many many years of experience with the bullying reaction vs a much shorter time comparing this reaction to other, kinder approaches, i can say with a lot of confidence that handling it with internal yelling and shaming doesn't work, straight up. it's not helpful, and most of the time it makes things worse -- even if you manage to force yourself to complete a task once or twice like this, it's too exhausting and demoralizing to be sustainable. so, while you haven't mentioned frustration in your question, that's still where my mind goes as a first step: if you're experiencing distress or anger or embarrassment over running into those barriers over and over again, the first step is practicing being calm and forgiving, not immediately trying to find a way around it. once you hit the wall and you find you can calmly go "oh, okay! this isn't working. let's figure out why" instead of immediately launching into "what the fuck is WRONG with me????", finding solutions is a lot easier.
the times i've surprised myself by having things just suddenly Flow after a long period of struggling are usually brought about by a ton of excitement and enthusiasm! i get really into a rarepair and i'm gripped with the need to make my own content, or i make a new oc who i really love, or i get back into a piece of media i haven't touched in a while and get all charged up with excitement. you gotta feed the tank to make stuff, so setting time aside to consume stuff that inspires and excites you is just as important as setting the time aside to actually sit down and try to draw.
another thing that has helped me is trying to be really purposeful abt reminding myself WHY i draw; sometimes, especially since it's my job, the images i'm supposed to be making just turn into this big featureless stack of Tasks instead of me really thinking about + appreciating what i do and why i love it. when i'm in a rut with commissions, for example, sometimes before i even try to start working (or if i HAVE tried to start and it's just not happening), i stop and sit down with the wips and really LOOK at them. i go through them one at a time and point out things i like about them or what i'm looking forward to doing: "the pose came out so good on the first try and i want to see what it'll look like finished," or "detailing all this hair is going to be so fun and relaxing." when you get so caught up in the constant repeated thought of "i just want to DO something, i want to DRAW," especially when it's been days or weeks or months where you can't, i think you can unconsciously start replacing "i want to draw because it's fun and i like what i make" with "i want to draw because i keep failing to and i just want to prove i can still do it," and for me the latter thought is usually way more distressing than it is motivating.
and finally, a failsafe: sometimes, when i can remember to do it, my secret weapon is counting down at myself for the tiniest steps possible. like i'll literally say out loud, "on the count of five, i'm going to stand up and go get my sketchbook. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5...." it has to be out loud and i think the reason it works is because like. if you say it out loud, reach five, and you don't do it, you feel astronomically goofy??? and then i just go from there: "on the count of 5, i'm going to find an empty page." "on the count of 5, i'm going to start sketching a head." it kind of forces through the executive dysfunction in a way i haven't really been able to replicate with anything else. it doesn't always work in a super meaningful way -- like, plenty of times i do like three steps and then i'm like "i hate this and i don't want to and i'm not gonna make anything good like this so i give up!" and then i just take the L for the afternoon. but when the "frozen in place, literally cannot stop just staring at the page" thing is the main issue, it might be enough of a push to get going!
as always here's me going "oh oop no i dont have a lot sorry" and then rambling for paragraphs and paragraphs but by now we should be used to that. good luck, and remember 2 be patient + nice :D
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helloalycia · 4 years ago
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The Wrong Lifetime – Five // Wanda Maximoff
chapter four | story masterlist | main masterlist | wattpad | chapter six
author’s note: dying of cramps but didn’t wanna leave y’all hanging, so enjoy! x
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Taking Wanda to Blackpool was something I couldn't stop thinking about for the past three days.
I kept telling myself that I had to remain calm, not make her feel uncomfortable with my obvious attraction to her, and to give her the best day out considering she'd never been before. It wasn't anything more than a girl spending time with her soon-to-be sister-in-law, and I had to keep reminding myself that whenever I'd feel a stir of desire in my chest at the thought her pretty smile or intoxicating gaze.
My family were thrilled when they heard of my plans with Wanda. My parents were glad I was actually making an effort to get on with her, whilst my brother was excited I was becoming 'best friends', as he put it, with his fiancé. That one stung a little, the guilt pricking my insides, but I convinced myself that that was exactly what I was doing. It wasn't wrong if I didn't think of Wanda in any way but what she was. Right?
The weekend came around quickly enough, and on Saturday morning, I met with Wanda at the train station where she waiting for me with an enthusiastic smile.
"I brought my watercolours and sketchbook so I can paint what's there," she explained as we boarded the train. "I also bought a lot of pencils in case some snap. I'm gonna draw everything I see so I don't forget a single thing."
We slid into our seats and I smiled with admiration as she continued to ramble about all of the things she wanted to do today. She looked so lively when she spoke, her hands moving about frantically to express her excitement, and her lips permanently etched into a smile when she wittered on. I didn't mean to stare, but God, she looked beautiful.
"Thank you again for doing this," she finished, head turning to mine.
Now, I'd read and written many clichés of someone falling for someone else, particularly the moment they knew they were too far gone. It was hard to believe if they were true depictions of liking someone, but I liked reading and writing them.
It was now that I learnt that they were no exaggeration, for when she looked my way with a beaming smile and glowing green eyes, I knew it was too late. There was no going back for my attraction to Wanda.
"No need to thank me," I spoke slowly, surprised I could speak at all since she'd knocked the breath from my lungs. "I'm glad you're excited."
The journey was a few hours long and we made conversation the whole way. It was the longest I'd spent alone with her since meeting her and I was intrigued by everything she had to say, hanging onto every word with all of my attention. If that wasn't enough, her accent only made everything she said sound so much better. She was naturally soft-spoken, but syllables rolled off her tongue in a silky, raspy way with her accent entwined in her words. I loved it.
At one point, the topic of our families came up and I felt like my brother came up in almost every conversation I'd had with anyone who discussed family, so I took this as my opportunity to get to know hers instead.
"What's it like to have a twin?" I asked, leaning on my elbow as I watched her attentively.
She mirrored my action playfully, though answered my question. "It's just like having a normal sibling, except they're way more annoying."
I smiled, imaging just how annoying Pietro could be as a sibling.
"I love Pietro, but he's very frustrating at times," she spoke with a hint of endearment. "He constantly throws it in my face that's he's older than me by twelve minutes. As if that makes a difference."
A chuckle flew from my lips as she pouted at her own words.
"But he's also my best friend," she said with a sigh, like that fact was irritating in itself. "He knows me better than anyone and he's the easiest person for me to talk to. I don't have to hide anything from him." She paused, glancing upwards in thought. "Well, almost anything."
Pursing my lips, I wondered what she meant as she mumbled the last part, but didn't question it. Everyone was entitled to their secrets.
"So, you and your family moved to England when you were kids, right?" I tried to recall what my parents had told me of them. "From Sokovia."
"Yes, we were about..." She scrunched up her nose as she tried to remember. "Eight years old, I think?"
"Wow, that's young," I realised.
She hummed in agreement, smile fading as her eyes fell to her hands. "Yeah... I don't remember much, but there was a lot of unrest at the time. A war. It was dangerous for everyone and my parents were lucky to get us out when they did."
I frowned, knowing some of this already, but it was sadder to hear when it was coming from Wanda herself.
"Our extended family didn't make it out," she continued to explain, voice quieter. "I didn't know them much, my parents' siblings, so it's not that sad for me. Pietro, too. But it's strange to think, you know? Especially when all of your family are around with this wedding and–" She sighed, shaking her head and looking to me with an apologetic smile. "Sorry, I didn't mean to bring the mood down."
I straightened up, reassuring her instantly. "Wanda, you don't need to apologise. It's okay. I... I didn't know any of that. I'm glad you told me."
She nodded, though the regret was still present in her gaze.
"I'm sorry all of that happened," I expressed honestly, not looking away. "But I'm glad you're here, if it makes a difference. You– your family are good people."
A small, appreciative smile graced her lips. "Thank you."
I shrugged, trying to brush it off so she wouldn't notice the heat rising up my neck. "It's nothing... so Sokovia. You speak Russian and English. That's pretty bloody cool."
She laughed wholeheartedly and any hint of sadness disappeared from her face, reassuring me completely. I didn't like to see her sad, especially when there was nothing I could do to make her feel better that I knew of.
"I promise to teach you some Russian today," she said with amusement. "A few words, just to diversify your vocabulary."
"Gee, thanks."
Another laugh escaped her and I chewed on my lip to contain my grin. I could get used to that sound.
���
When we reached Blackpool, Wanda was radiating with excitement. We couldn't make it two steps anywhere before she whipped out her sketchbook and began to sketch. She wasn't kidding when she said she was going to capture everything she saw.
I was patient, since the reason we came was for her, and watched as she worked. It was cute, seeing her concentrate and trying to stop dancing around with excitement every time I showed her something new.
We walked along the promenade and dipped in and out of the shops, looking at the gifts and clothes they sold. We bought a few things to commemorate the trip, but then Wanda was quick to drag me back outside so she could sketch the view of the beach from where we were stood. The grin on her face was convincing enough for me to let her drag me wherever she wanted. She looked so happy and I didn't care about anything else.
Eventually, around lunchtime, we headed to a café to have a break from all the excitement. Or rather, a break from running around. For Wanda, it was a better opportunity to sit still and sketch some more.
"So, you're drinking what, Y/N?" she asked, not looking up from her sketches as she worked.
I looked at my tea and lowered the cup. "Er, tea?"
"In Russian," she instructed.
"Oh." I cleared my throat, remembering what she taught me earlier. "Chay."
"And what's in the chay?" she asked, lifting her eyes to meet mine patiently. "The milk?"
"Moloko," I remembered, and the proud smile on her face reassured me I was correct. My shoulders relaxed as I returned her smile. "Thanks."
"You're a natural," she assured me, before looking back to her sketchbook. "I only taught you the words. You remembered it yourself. And before you know it, ty budesh' govorit' polnymi predlozheniyami na russkom."
My mouth opened with confusion, not knowing what she said. She seemed to realise as she chuckled at my expression.
"Never mind, milaya (darling)," she said with humoured eyes, before resuming her sketching.
I breathed out, taking another sip of my tea before grabbing a fork to dig into my pasta. As I chewed, I watched Wanda move her pencil effortlessly, creating lines that somehow resulted in a perfect drawing of the horizon.
"Do you only draw and paint landscapes?" I asked curiously.
"I can do portraits, too," she answered with a nod, glancing at me. "But they're never as good."
I gave her a knowing look. "I doubt that."
She merely smiled in response, eyes meeting mine for a moment, before shaking her head with amusement and looking back to her sketches. I chuckled, leaving her to it as I enjoyed my lunch and read the newspaper.
It was nice to just sit and enjoy each other's company as we did our own thing. I'd occasionally glance up to see Wanda focused on her drawing and smile, allowing myself to appreciate the sight, before looking back down to the paper and enjoying my pasta.
By the time I finished my food, as had Wanda, she straightened up and tore a page from her sketchbook. The noise pulled me from my reading and I looked up to see her holding the paper towards me.
I quirked a brow, but she simply shook the paper, signalling for me to take it. With confusion, I took it and became speechless when I saw what she'd drawn. It was me reading the paper, the exact view she must have had from being sat opposite me. It looked exactly like me, probably better since I knew I didn't look that good, and I was amazed at her talent all over again.
"You did this just now?" I asked with disbelief, looking up at her.
She shrugged and distracted herself with her pencil. "Yeah, it's not much. It's not my specialty."
I scoffed. "You're kidding. Wanda, this is amazing!"
Bashful smile on her lips, she glanced up at me. "Maybe it's the best portrait I've done. But I think that's down to my subject."
Even when she was embarrassed, she was still capable of turning the tables on me, leaving me a flustered mess. It was like her superpower. A very annoyingly cute superpower.
"That's what you look like y'know," she continued, nodding to the paper in my hand. "When you're focused on reading. You chew your lip with thought. And you get this little crease–" she pointed between her brows with a laugh, "–right here, and you seem to forget that anything else exists."
A sweet smile spread on her face as she tilted her head, watching me with intimidating eyes, very much aware of the effect her words had on me.
"You're very observant," I said, trying not to stutter, her gaze making me nervous. "Perfect skill for an artist."
She hummed in agreement, though didn't look away. "Mere artistic observation, right?"
My heart was hammering in her chest the longer she stared, especially when her words dawned on me. I'd said the exact same thing after she confronted me about picking her ring. I wondered if she could hear my heart pounding in my ears.
Just like the first time I saw her, I was at a loss for words and couldn't look away. She was compelling, beautiful and remarkable all at once.
"Nebo," I said, hoping it was the correct word for 'sky' in Russian, as Wanda had taught me.
She grinned. "Yes! And horizon?"
I pulled a face as I thought carefully. "Er...gorizont?"
"The student is soon to become the master," she said, and I rolled my eyes, knowing that was anything but the truth. I appreciated her encouragement though.
"Okay, before we head to the beach, we have to buy some rock," I told her, leading her to the stall on the promenade. "I got it last time and it's so good."
She furrowed her brows. "What's that?"
I smiled at her expression. "It's a sweet. Kind of like boiled sugar that's formed into a stick of, well, rock."
She didn't seem convinced. "If you say it's good, I trust you, I guess..."
I laughed, grabbing her hand and tugging her to the stall. "You'll love it."
After getting two sticks of rock for Wanda and I, we began to walk to the sand. I glanced at the brunette, wanting to see her reaction. She eyed the hard candy before attempting to bite it, a small piece breaking off at the top. Crunching on it, she scrunched her nose up.
"It's hard," she noted, swallowing the piece. "Tasty, though."
"It's better if you suck on it, love," I let her know with a hidden smile. "Tastes much better."
She did as I said, beginning to suck on the top, and seemed to enjoy it more. Giving me a thumbs up as she sucked it, I couldn't help but laugh again. She looked adorable, so I left her to it and did the same as we walked along the sand and towards the benches in the distance.
Like a child experiencing something for the first time, she began to point excitedly at Blackpool Tower and the ferris wheel in the distance and I just kept nodding along, letting her get excited because it made my heart skip a beat every time she flashed me a smile.
When we reached the benches, I was glad that today wasn't a busy day. It wasn't exactly tourist season, so the beach was scarce of anyone but residents of the town. And even then, our side of the beach was pretty empty, giving us first dibs on a bench that wasn't broken or uncomfortable.
Settling on it, Wanda pulled her legs up and sat cross-legged so she could lean on them and pull out her watercolours. I sat beside her and leaned back, inhaling the salty air and exhaling peacefully. I never had much reason to visit here apart from when my parents took my brother and I on the occasional trip, but it was nice to appreciate the sound of the ocean washing over the sand and the seagulls squawking in the sky. A big difference compared to back home.
Another silence formed between us as she painted the water ahead, and I couldn't help but glance her way, watching her pucker her lips with concentration. All she'd wanted was this and I was glad I could finally give it to her.
So she wouldn't notice, I looked away and stared out at the blue expanse of ocean before me. I should have been appreciating its beauty, but all I could think about was how it was no contest to the girl sat beside me.
"I'm really glad you brought me here today," she said out of the blue after a while, "but I wouldn't have said yes if I'd known you would be bored."
I looked to her and saw she was still preoccupied by her painting. "I'm not bored. We came here so you could see the water and find some new subjects to paint. And that's exactly what we're doing."
She sighed, looking up at me with a questioning glance.
Smiling reassuringly, I said, "I like the quiet. And I like watching you work. You look happy. It's good to see."
She tensed her jaw, stifling a smile, but her eyes said it all. She was grateful. Of course, her eyes were also very easy to get lost in, even if she didn't mean for me to. And right now, under the sun, I found myself drowning in pools of blue.
"What are you thinking?" she asked quietly, a hint of a smile on her face.
Stupidly, I felt compelled to tell her the truth. "I'm thinking about how you have really pretty eyes."
Attempting to make me flustered yet again, her favourite hobby by now I was guessing, she raised a brow teasingly. "Oh, really?"
It didn't bother me this time though, as I maintained eye contact and felt my heart swelling with adoration. "Yes. It's like you hold all the elements in a single gaze."
Her smile faded and that's when I realised what I'd said, my heart dropping to my stomach in an instant. Swallowing hard, I looked away and shook my head. An apology was waiting on the tip of my tongue when she spoke with realisation.
"It was you."
I glanced her way nervously. "What was?"
She was staring like her mind was working something out and I was the missing piece. "The letter that Y/B/N gave me last week. He wrote the exact same thing. What you just said."
My brows knitted together with confusion, then it hit me. The love letter Y/B/N wrote. The one he assured me was for his own eyes. He'd given it to her. And I'd just gone and said the exact thing he'd written on it, no doubt passing it off as is his own words.
"Th–that wasn't me," I got out, shaking my head slowly. "I didn't even know he gave you a letter, Wanda."
She continued to watch me, eyes squinting with scepticism. I swallowed hard under her gaze, trying to think of how I could come back from this. But apparently I didn't have to, because she suddenly leaned forward and pressed her lips to mine.
My mind was foggy when her fingers rested behind my neck, tugging me closer. I closed my eyes, melting at her touch, and began to kiss her back, moving my lips against hers. She was slow and gentle with me, her lips as soft as they looked and sending the butterflies in my stomach into a frenzy. I could have kissed her forever and been content, but my brain finally caught up to my actions and I reluctantly pulled away, stunned.
Glancing around to make sure nobody saw us – there was literally nobody here – I caught my breath and looked back to Wanda. Her eyes were drawn to my lips before they flickered to meet mine, darkened with desire.
"Why did you do that?" was all I could think to ask, and I was acutely aware of her fingers still grasping my neck, the skin burning where her tips grazed.
She licked her swollen lips, expression softening. "I think I've been falling for the wrong Y/L/N."
My lips pressed together, missing the feeling of hers against them. Never in a million years did I expect her to say something like that. I thought she'd been teasing me this whole time, but now, maybe there was truth to her actions.
"Did you really mean what you said?" she asked apprehensively.
"What?"
She swallowed. "What you said about my eyes. Did you mean it?"
Well, she'd kissed me, so there was no going back now.
I nodded, noticing the hesitance in her eyes. "Yes... you're beautiful, Wanda."
She didn't say anything and the silence was deafening. I almost wanted to run back home and pretend this never happened, but that was the cowardly side of me. The other side, the disbelieving side, wanted to stay here with her and keep living in this little bubble we'd created.
"Can I kiss you again?" she finally spoke, eyes flickering between mine for confirmation.
Not trusting myself to speak, I nodded slowly, and she didn't waste another second as she leaned in once again. This time, I wasn't so surprised, so I kissed her back quickly, trying not to think about how wrong this was. How I'd been taught that this was wrong. Because I refused to believe this was wrong, that it was a sin, when it felt so damn right.
Wanda felt right.
When I got home later that afternoon, I couldn't stop myself from smiling.
Wanda was all that was on my mind. Everything about her was floating around up there – the contagiousness of her smile, the brightness of her eyes, the taste of her lips. When I left this morning, I wasn't expecting to return with– well, I wasn't sure what we were, but we'd decided to give whatever this was a go.
Of course, she was still engaged to my brother, but I tried not to think about that. She made me happy and maybe in a different lifetime we could have been together, but this was the wrong lifetime which meant I'd have to make some wrong decisions, this possibly being one of them.
The guilt was still present, but the adoration I had for Wanda overpowered it. The fact that she actually liked me back was too thrilling for me to even concern myself with the lack of future this relationship would have. I just wanted to enjoy what we had whilst we had it, even if it meant being together in secret.
"So, how did your trip go?" my mum asked me when I returned, looking up from her knitting.
I stifled my grin the best I could. "It was fun. Wanda loved the seaside."
My mother seemed pleased as she smiled my way. "Y/N, that's great. You know, I'm really proud of you for making an effort with her. It means a lot to everyone."
"Mhm."
"She's going to be your sister-in-law after all," she continued knowingly, "so it's good you're spending time with her. Maybe you could do it more."
I hummed in agreement, my heart fluttering at the possibility of spending more time with Wanda. "Yeah, that could be good."
"Go on upstairs, you must be tired from the travelling," she said after a moment, noticing my distant headspace. "I'm glad you had fun today."
Wanda's smile appeared in my mind again, her lips ghosting my own. I sighed contently.
"Me, too."
379 notes · View notes
potter-imagines · 4 years ago
Text
Being Thor and Loki's Little Sister and Dating Peter Parker Would Include...
Notes: wow I haven't written a marvel one in a long time pls don't read too much into the timeline lol I know things overlap but just go with it (:
Warnings: none... I think ??
Word Count: 3.6k (sorry its a bit long for a write like this but I couldn't help myself)
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You managed to do a decent job at keeping your relationship under wraps from your brothers for quite some time
Of course every other member on the team knew before the two of you even begun officially dating
Peter had spent three months ranting and raving to Tony Stark about how cute he thought you were and how much he liked you
Tony insisted time and time again he should tell you but Peter’s fear of rejection was much too large for him to find the courage for that
Unbeknownst to him,
You had spilled about your crush on Peter to Wanda and Nat almost a week after living in the compound
Being the only other girls there besides Pepper, it was easy to confide in them
Day after day you would wander to Wanda’s room and lay on her bed and gush about how handsome Peter was and how kind of a heart he had
Wanda found it adorable
And Bucky, Steve and Sam had placed the pieces together after days on end of watching Peter and yourself flirt like school kids in the gym during training
Even after being frozen for years, Steve recognized the look of smitten on Peter’s face when he talked to you
Bruce on the other hand had to sit through most of the kids talks with Tony in the lab so he figured it out fast
So when the two of you finally confessed your feelings for one another and Peter asked you out, there was only one road block holding the moment back from perfection
Your brothers
You and Peter shared the news with all the other team members expect the two, possibly most important in your case, members
You’ve been close to your brothers since you were brought into this world so it wasn’t like you didn’t want to tell them
It was more or less how overprotective they could be that made you bite your tongue
And as nervous as you are, Peter is 1,000% more worried about your brother’s finding out
Like honestly can you imagine how petrified Peter would be to tell Thor and Loki you two were dating
He’d purposely walk in the opposite direction every time he saw either of the two for the first week
Couldn’t stop fumbling with his words when he spoke to either of them
Like he was terrified
It’s sort of a cliché to have protective older brothers but older brothers who were also both Gods ????
Peter felt like a deadman walking
When the day finally came that you did tell your brothers about your relationship with Peter, it was absolutely cringe worthy
Peter had been coming home to the tower after a long day at Midtown High School when he spotted you the second he stepped foot out of the elevator
His excitement had clouded his judgement as he failed to check and see if the coast was clear
“Y/n! Hey!”
He nearly tumbled over his own feet as he rushed over to you
His face was gleaming with happiness and for a brief moment you felt a smile creep to your face until you were pulled back to reality by his hand reaching out to grasp yours
Your eyes widened in shock as you stared at Peter and before you could warn him to stop, he had planted a soft kiss on your cheek
That adorable smile was glowing from his face as he reached down for your hand only to fall once you pulled your hand away
He gave you a look of confusion, clearly surprised by your lack of response
But when an awkward cough sounded from behind him, he suddenly knew why
Peter didn’t have enough time to make any sort of a move when a husky, all too familiar voice spoke up,
“Hello, man of spiders. May I ask why you just kissed our little sister?” “Oh shit- I uh, well you see I…um...she had something on her face so I uh…”
Loki would snicker in amusement at seeing the boy squirm and prolong his torture “So you kissed her?” “Yeah…” “Hm, there something you’d like to share, little one?”
It wasn’t exactly the way you were hoping to break the news to your brothers
But it was certainly one way of doing it
The rest of the night was filled with awkward tension as you and Peter had to confess the truth to your brothers, who then made you share the news with the rest of the team
Thankfully, the rest of the team pretended they were just hearing about your new relationship for the first time, seeing as no one wanted to deal with an angry Thor
Now let’s get into your relationship with Peter
Peter Parker is the most caring person in the universe
Honestly
And dating him certainly came with it’s perks
You can expect to wake up every morning with a fresh coffee and a pastry on your nightstand, courtesy of Peter
He’ll also write you a sweet little ‘good morning’ note with a sketch of spider-man hanging from a web
(( he’s actually pretty talented in the doodling department ))
Makes cute sketches of him as spiderman and you as a princess ( vv fitting)
But also draws you as a total badass saving the galaxy bc… well you are
Count on him to be the first person to greet you when the sunrises and the last person to wish you a goodnight when it falls
Gets Mr. Stark to buy you an iphone so he can teach you how to use it
Has your name as “goddess” in his phone
The first thing he does is teach you about texting so he can pay you in imessage games
Refuses to play you in battleship since you somehow have crushed him every single time
Gets slightly annoyed with the overwhelming amount of random photos you snap of him
But he knows its all new to you and finds it irritatingly adorable
Loves it when you walk home with him from school
Will also keep reminding you that you shouldn’t have walked alone all the way to Midtown High School alone
Peter often forgets that you’re Asgardian and can protect yourself just fine
But it’s so cute how protective he is
He’s very observant and notices nearly everything
Like when you’re feeling a bit homesick
He picks up on it right away and will ask Thor and/or Loki for advice
Or when you start to become bored and tired at one of Star’s parties
Peter made his way over you before you even had the chance to turn and search for him
He’d escort you back to your room and lay with you until he was positive you had fallen asleep
Kisses to the top of your head
Is the boyfriend that will take your makeup off for you if you wear any
(( and sets yours lashes on the nightstand so neatly and labels which eye they were on cause the poor boy doesn’t understand ))
Spends weeks learning how to master the intricate braids that adorn your head
It’s so cute cause he’ll sit and look up Youtube videos and try to learn how to make the different braids and is just so confused but so determined
Taking Peter to visit Asgard
“Woah- this place looks like something from Lord of the Rings! It’s awesome!” “Lord of the Rings? I’ve never met that God.” “Uh, no, it’s a movie from Earth. We can watch it when we go back.” “To Midgard?” “Midgard? No, to New York.”
Loves it when your people refer to you as “Princess Y/n”
For some reason it makes him blush
Will tell everyone back on Earth that he’s dating a princess
I could def see Peter getting annoyed and frustrated with the Asgardian men trying to flirt and win your heart
Although that’s something that already belong to Peter
And even though Peter trusts you entirely
He’s still insecure from time to time
Especially when he sees how much taller and stronger Asgardian men look in comparison to him
But he finds reassurance in the feeling of your hand in his and the gleeful smile adorning your face as you show him around your homeland
Attempting to help Peter study
Although you’re not much help to Midgardian school work “Peter, darling, I don’t have a clue what a watergate is and I haven’t an idea how that could be scandalous.”
Maths however you excelled in
And Peter was thoroughly surprised to find you had the sequence of PI memorized to the one hundredth number- and in song form
Holding your hand 24/7
Endless cuddles on the couch
And when you’re walking around together, he does that thing where he swings your hands and back forth
Movie theater dates… at the tower b/c your brothers feel the need to be in close proximity the you guys at all times
Trying ice cream for the first time with Peter at two in the morning
One of Peter’s favorite things to do with you is take you through a walk in his world
At least three times a week Peter and you will walk around the city and find new things your Asgardian self has yet to experience
Like pizza
New York pizza to be exact
And hot chocolate
Ice skating at Rockefeller Center once the weather got cold
Loves to take you for drives in the more woodsy land of New York once fall set in and the leaves began to change
But by far his favorite thing is showing you Midgardian films and movies of all sorts
He loves that you don’t judge him for nerding out over his love for films
Not to mention you actually sit and watch Star Wars with him
(( maybe it was the whole space element but Peter was just thrilled you liked it ))
But then he shows you ‘Alien’
And it was an instant regret
It took him the rest of the night to convince you that the movie was fake
You made him sleep in your room just for reassurance
Your favorite out of the films Peter played was called ‘Toy Story’
Buzz Lightyear reminded you of Thor
In terms of TV shows
F.R.I.E.N.D.S. which quickly became your guys comfort show
Parks & Rec too “That Andy fellow looks an awful lot like Starlord, don’t you think?”
Peter refuses to let you watch Black Mirror
After the whole incident with Alien
Black Mirror didn’t seem like a good idea
Constantly teasing from the rest of the Avengers
Tony just can’t help it
He loves tormenting the two of you
Especially when Thor and/or Loki are around
“Hey Peter, I thought I saw you go into Y/n’s room last night but I didn’t see you leave until the morning. Heard a lot of noise too- thought Y/n was getting attacked. What was that about?”
Or
“Kid, I got you those condoms you asked for. How’d you manage to run out of that last box so quick? I just bought it for you a week ago!” “Messing with you, they’re just sugar packets- Thor put Peter down right now!”
Aunt May absolutely adores you
Always tells Peter how sweet you are and is constantly inviting you over for dinner
Lets you two have sleepovers in his room at her place
As long as the door stays open
Peter can’t stop laughing when you compliment May on her ability to make an amazing bowl of cereal
She thought it was a joke seeing as she burned dinner the night before to a crisp and laughs until she’s in tears
And you’re literally sitting there so confused, clearly not understanding the joke
Peter then takes you on a trip to a grocery store for the first time to show you a whole aisle full of cereal
It is then that you realize Aunt May didn’t hand make the fruity pebbles
She still laughs about it to this day
Befriending Ned and listening enthusiastically while he gives you a full speech on the franchise Star Wars
And his rant on how terrible Star Trek is in comparison
Is shocked when you ask questions out of genuine interest
Ned immediately takes a liking to you after that and asks Peter daily to invite you to hangout
Whenever Stark adds an upgrade to his suit, you’re the first person Peter shows it to
He shares quite literally everything with you
As do you to him
The rest of the Avengers love gossiping about you guys
Nat and Wanda have already started planning the wedding and Pepper has the perfect venue in mind, much to your brothers dismay
For some reason
Thor and Loki are always within reasonable distance, enough so they can keep an eye on you but also give some sense of privancy
Thor is def always the first one to step in
“Peter, please remove your hand from my sister’s behind.” “Oh uh, ye-yeah… sorry, Mr.Thor.”
Loki would find Peter amusing
He loves to mess with him whenever given the chance
“Ah, Peter. Good to see you. I’m sure Y/n informed you of our task today. Very impressed that you offered yourself as the sacrifice to the aliens-” “Wait, what? Y/n?!” “He’s kidding, Peter.”
Everyone in the Avenger’s tower knew Peter was lactose intolerant and knew the repercussions of the boy consuming any sort of dairy
(( he physically cannot leave the bathroom for a full day ))
Yet Loki regularly will swap Peter’s specially labeled almond milk with a jug of skim milk just for the hell of it
There’s something so hilarious to him about the look of panic and alarm that smacks abruptly across Peter’s face as he quickly stumbles out of the kitchen to his room
It keeps him laughing for days
You’ll just shoot your brother a look of disapproval, clearly certain it was his doing
“Loki, why did Peter run off?” “Not sure, darling sister, maybe he’s got one of those stomach bugs. I’ve heard Midgardians are prone to them…weak bodies and such.” "You switched out his milk again didn’t you.” “I haven’t the slightest clue what you’re accusing me of, little one.”
Thor is a bit more hesitant on accepting your relationship with his fellow Avenger
He trusts that Peter would never harm you
Although he did not trust that you would never be harmed because of Peter
It was risky enough that both your brothers were big names in space, as well on Earth, however
Thor knew Loki and himself were capable of protecting you but Peter?
He was just a kid, in Thor’s eyes
However the one thing that kept him from telling you this was seeing how happy Peter made you
As your older brother, Thor trusted your judgement and tried his best to be accepting of his little sister dating
And as much as he wanted to deny it, he saw crystal clear the care and love Peter gave to you and he wasn’t willing to break that for you
Still
Thor is the type of brother to barge into a room and shove himself between Peter and yourself without warning
This man does not care at all
At least Loki has the decency to give you two space as a couple
Thor does not
He is constantly third wheeling on your dates and will ‘accidentally’ walk into rooms he knows you two are in claiming he forgot something
Not that he ever grabs anything,
He’ll usually just stand and stare at the two of you until you either leave the room or ask him to leave
To which he always answers,
“No.”
But with a smile
A smug smile
PDA is something he will never be okay with
Thor will yank Peter back by the collar every time he sees his lips on yours and glare at him, “Man of spiders, I know you’re in love with my little sister but kissing her infront of me is too far.”
And Loki will physically gag just to piss you off
For the most part, your relationship with Peter is nearly perfect
It would be entirely perfect if you weren’t constantly worrying about him dying on a mission or getting hurt
But still, just like any couple, you had your moments
And when you did fight, it was typically over Peter’s safety or him not wanting you to tag along for a mission
Your common way of dealing with conflict was the silent treatment
Which is pure torture for Peter
Not only does he miss the sound of your voice
He misses having you around
Seeing your smile
Hearing you laugh from something he said
He felt terrible everytime
He’d go to Tony for advice and spend hours rambling on to him about how sorry he was for yelling at you and for adding to the fight
Tony would half listen while he worked away on a new system and suit, offering a ‘yeah’ and ‘hmm’ every few seconds which pleased Peter who thought his mentor was fully listening
And after almost two hours of his non-stop talking, Tony Stark had reached his limit
Setting his wrench down on the metal table with a thud he turned around to face the young boy
“Kid, why’re you saying all this to me and not her? I mean, I’m all ears but I’m also not Y/n. I know we’re both good looking so I can see why you mixed us up, but you should be talking to her right now.”
Similar to Peter you also had someone to confide in when the road got rocky
Loki had always been the one you shared all your secrets with
As children you were attached at the hip to both your brothers but Loki a smidgen more than Thor
Your father, Odin, had Thor at his side 24/7 growing up
While he was busy learning the ropes to ruling Asgard, Loki and yourself run amuck causing trouble left and right through the royal palace
Through the years of bonding Loki become your best friend, and you his
So when trouble struck in paradise, your older brother was the one you ran to
He’d welcome you with open arms and a questioning gaze
Loki is by far the best listener in your family
Instead of telling you what to do, he asks what you want, which is a refreshing change
After a long talk with Loki you’d search the tower high and low for Peter while ironically Peter was doing the same thing
When you did finally make-up, it felt like coming home
The apologies were so sincere and genuine
You’d end up having a sleepover in your room watching 80’s films that Peter claimed were ‘iconic’ and laying in his arms
And that’s where you felt complete
Fights never occurred often but bickering ???
DAILY
You two bickered playfully over everything under the sun
Like who’s the better superhero; Ironman or Captain American
Or
Debates between living in New York and living in Asgard
Loves to pull up Midgardian inventions and ask you to guess what it is “Princess, what do you think this is?” “Oh! Oh! I’ve seen this one! Tony has one in his kitchen!” “Okay, so what is it?” “Yes, it’s a chicken nugget maker!” “It’s actually an air fryer but we only ever make chicken nuggets in them so I’ll give you a half point.”
Peter sneaking out of your room at the crack of dawn and sprinting to his
As much as Thor and Loki liked him and supported the relationship
He was sure they’d both team up to murder him if they caught him sleeping in your bed
Steve and Tony, who seem to be incapable of sleep, have watched him tiptoe out of your room numerous times but they only share a look of amusement then go back to their previous discussion
Playing hide-n-go-seek and tag on rainy days at the tower
Cuddling in Peter’s bed while he asks you to tell him stories about Asgard
Loves hearing about your childhood and what it’s like to grow up with siblings
Is fascinated when you tell him about Heimdall
Stealing Peter’s hoodies
Especially his Midtown High School ones
They’re insanely soft
Sweet little kisses throughout the day
He's just so sweet and gentle
Loves getting to hold you and snuggle in his bed
Most weekends you spend lounging on the couch with Peter’s head in your lap while you play with his hair
Other times you’re sitting next to Peter on his bed watching him play some video game and asking a million questions “Who is that man, Peter?” “That’s me, he’s the main character of the game. That’s Mario, babe.” “You’re not Mario- you’re Peter.” “No, the main character of this game is Mario, I’m just playing him.” “Oh… and what is that green dinosaur creature?” “That’s Yoshi!” “Adorable.”
Making out between games
In terms of... y'know... sex
Neither of you were keen on rushing the process
You had tip toed on the line multiple times yet never fully crossed it
Until you had decided to make the first real move after being together for about five months
You trusted him with all your heart so it wasn't exactly scary, but rather exciting
He had a way of making you feel safe, comfortable, and loved all at once
Lets be honest, Peter nearly fainted the first time he saw you naked
And still, no matter how many times the two of you have sex,
He worships every inch of you like it was your first time all over again
You couldn't have asked for a better lover
Dating Peter means a new adventure everyday
You’re constantly learning new things about each other and from each other
Despite coming from two very different worlds
You’ve never felt more connected to a soul until Peter came along
396 notes · View notes
brahkest-fr · 4 years ago
Note
Have you thought about ever doing a step by step video/tutorial on how you make skins? Or record your process? I'm trying to start doing skins but there's a lot of stuff I don't understand that the site's tutorial doesn't really explain and speed paints aren't exactly great to look for answers, so I was wondering if you would ever do something of the sort, it would be cool
I’m kinda dumb and terribad at video recording but I can totes make a process with some screenies :0 Hopefully the following helps a bit. There is gonna be an assumption of basic knowledge on layers and whatnot just fyi! Perhaps someday I’ll actually record myself making a skin if I don’t get distracted and/or forget lol.
1) This is pretty much how I start my layers. I don’t change much from the default skin file provided by FR other than adding a mask to the skin folder so I don’t draw outside of the lines and then a gray overlay on top of the base just so it’s easier for me to see my sketch. I use bright colors like blue and pink to help me differentiate details. I turn off the clip lines/shadow as I don’t wanna see those atm.
The layer that says “Accent” is where I start my sketch.
If I’m making a skin for a particular dragon, I’ll often have them added in the file (note the hidden layer above the gray box). To do so, I save out a transparent version of the dragon and blow it up to 700px in waifu2x or something. Then I bump it up to 750px so it fits in the skin file. It’ll be a lil blurry but it’s good enough.
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2) Next is line art - I have 2 layers for this skin: one for the jacket and another for the knuckle dusters and chains. Personally I like to close off all gaps in my line art, including drawing on the edges as you can see on the top of the collar by the wings or the gap formed by the hair on the midsection. This is just something I prefer doing as I find it makes my coloring less messy and annoying later on. But you can do it however it’s most comfortable.
At this stage, I’ll also either zoom out to 50% or resize to 50%, whichever works because it’s important to remember that the file size is 750 while the actual size you’ll have to save out will be 350 - details will shrink so make sure what you’re drawing will show up appropriately.
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3) Now onto colors. Since I closed the gaps in the line art, I just fill bucket everything. For this skin, I drew the jacket’s colors on one layer because I’m trash and have 1 braincell but you can use as many layers as you need. In this case, the overlay layer was for extra saturation and the layer above that was for the black stripes. Be sure to clip additional color layers onto your base color so you keep things tidy and avoid coloring beyond the lines.
Again don’t forget to resize or zoom out to make sure your skin is looking as it should!
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4) Finally I do some recoloring of the line art - in this case mostly the arm of the jacket. I lock the line art layer and go over it with colors darker than the surrounding colors - up to preference here. I don’t usually change the very edges just because I prefer a darker color there personally and my default is black. It’s also totally ok to have darker line art - again up to you.
Then I turn on the clip lines/shadow since you have to make sure those show up in the final piece. Clip lines is usually set to normal but I change it to multiply because I feel it turns out better for recoloring. When I recolor, I try to match the colors of the skin while also making sure it’s dark enough to be seen. Same goes for shadows.
*If you ever get a skin rejected, it’ll usually be how visible you make the original shadows and line art. There’s not really a hard rule on what counts as “passing” since it’s up to staff but I try to make it obviously visible without ruining my skin. So here you can still see the belly scales for example, but it’s not so pronounced that it takes away from the jacket. It’s a lil uggo imo but it is what it is.
*Something to note when you color: be careful how dark you make your base colors! Too dark and you won’t be able to see the clip lines/shadow very well in the future. Note how the collar of the jacket is light enough that the shadows and lines beneath are still visible.
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This is how my clip lines/shadow layers look on normal mode so you can see what colors I made them. Play around with the values to make sure you achieve some balance between your skin looking good while still showing off the base lines and shadows of the dragon. I used pink and blue here since it matched well with the skin. By default, the lines and shadows are gray and if you don’t recolor those, your skin will end up looking muddy.
*Other than recoloring, do not touch the clip lines/shadows at all. Do not edit them or erase them otherwise that’s a quick ticket to rejection.
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5) Finally, turn off everything but your accent folder and save that sucker out and resize to 350px. At this point you can test it on your actual dragon by either pasting the skin onto a pic of the dragon or by using FR Tools. Reminder that you should not use/mention FR Tools on the official site cuz staff doesn’t like it. However on FR Tools you can also test the coverage of your skin when you select “upload skin.” Less than 30% and it’s an accent. Above that and it’s a skin. There’s other ways to test coverage but FR’s gimp tutorial sucks and is outdated and I don’t have photoshop so lol.
*I often go through several iterations of a skin just in case I see weird flaws or missing details. Testing is very important once you finish as major changes to your skin after submission is not a fun process so be sure to get it all squared away the first time.
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^ Your final product should look like this: transparent png (32bit) at 350px.
*Now this was the technical side of making skins using the tools at hand. If you have further questions I didn’t cover here, pls do feel free to ask! I’m no expert by any means but I can impart what I’ve learned after making a few.
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razorblade180 · 3 years ago
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Twin Snowflakes 26: Preparation
[part 1 of 2]
TSF pt25 here! <-
“THANK YOU, PEOPLE OF MANTLE!” Summer yelled, shredding each note of her personal favorite songs. One after another she played to her heart's fill. Each song was more aggressive and brimming with vigor than the last. Summer would’ve played till dawn if she had her way but neither her body or promise to her brother would allow that. It wasn’t time to leave yet but she needed a break.
Summer begrudgingly got herself to get off the stage to let others perform. Their music wasn’t terrible by any means but the other musicians could easily stand to have more practice. A rave audience isn’t hard to please however, so the crowd ate up the talent all the same. A little insulting to her own performance but eh, this wasn’t an actual contest. Summer was happy enough blowing off steam and listening to the beats from behind the stage. Not even she could deny the beats and tempo. Her hips couldn’t help but sway!
From the corner of her eye she could make out a familiar figure keeping an eye on her. “Did Nick tell you to keep an eye on me, Eliza?”
“Not really.” She walked over and poured herself a cup of water. “I was training in the area.”
“Are you saying he had nothing to do with you being here?”
“Oh no, that would be a lie. You know Nick, always negotiating. He really knows how to persuade a person. I wouldn’t be surprised if he could sell a heater to someone living in Vacou. Anyways, he didn’t ask me to stalk you or anything like that. He knew where I’d be and told me if I could swing by for a spell. No harm in that.”
Summer smiled. “Funny. That sounded like you were defending him. Don’t want me getting upset with my own brother?”
“Shut up. It would be a pain if I caused unnecessary controversy in a household. Need I remind you that you both have duties to the school that require your full attention? Frankly I’m glad I arrived. I don’t go to your concerts so my opinion of your performance skills was limited.” Eliza sipped her water, giving Summer’s attire and overall attitude a once over. “Where’s all this when you're getting harassed in the halls?”
“That’s...school is different.”
“Pfft, yeah okay.”
“It is!” Summer said, defensively crossing her arms.
Eliza watched the girl's face soften into the meek and reserved Summer she was used to. To think that’s all it took to shut her down. “I swear you and your brother don’t have a consistent bone in your body. Whatever the case, I don’t really care much as long as you bring your best effort to rehearsal and the live performance.”
Summer squinted. “Not the actual tournament?”
“Hey I don’t participate in the duos. You can bomb that for all I care. But you know, Nick is counting on you to pull your weight. Also it would be pretty annoying if you lost to Max and his asshole know-it-all, Darren. Gods know he’d talk about it until graduation.”
“Was the fight that happened in the school bad?”
Eliza shrugged, “Can’t say. Wasn’t there. He’s always been a thorn to me though so I don’t doubt he made things ugly. He was very rude to Veronica in the principal’s office as well. An act I find inexcusable.”
Summer couldn’t help but roll her eyes. “Look I know you admire her and all that jazz, but I’d bet she didn’t help the situation.”
“My views on her have nothing to do with it!” Eliza huffed. “I would think you off people would be sympathetic to a person like her.”
Summer leaned against a wall. “Call me jaded, but Veronica has a habit of bringing out the worst in people.”
Eliza frowned. “You know her better than I. Tell me, is she the type to lie about being harassed?”
Summer didn’t have to think long, especially after learning more about her in the forest. Then there was Veronica’s sketch journal. Summer still couldn’t make sense of all the scratched out pages. On top of that, Blake’s request made Summer even more uncertain. “No. Veronica’s a piece of work, but she isn’t a liar. She might actually be too honest if you asked me. I’ve never had to deal with Darren personally but Nick’s not a fan by any means.” Summer bit her bottom lip. She couldn’t believe it, did she just defend Veronica’s qualities!? It was only fair. Veronica did almost end up a frozen husk.
“Well it’s good to know we can all agree on at least one thing without fail. So not to rush you but how long are you planning on staying in a place like this?” Eliza asked, watching all the party animals.
“Haha, not your type of crowd?”
“The crowd is fine. I can handle a little noise and rowdiness, but it is technically a school night. I- ah! Summer!?” The girl had taken Eliza by the hand and started pulling her to the dance floor.
“If you keep bringing up assignments 24/7 then all you’re gonna look like is a stick in the mud. Live a little. School sucks!”
“School is important!” Eliza protested.
Summer grabbed Eliza’s other hand and started making them sway side to side, back and forth. The blood rushing to Eliza’s cheeks made Summer giggle. “Awww you know you dig it. I’ll make a deal. Cut loose with me for a few songs and I’ll gladly let you dance me right out the front door. Show me that colorguard rhythm!”
Eliza watched the petite girl actively laugh without reservation. Summer jokingly shimmied towards her and swayed her hips, getting lost in the music. Just how much did this girl go out to rave? She looked like she belonged here! The beat got more intense by the moment with no sign of stopping. With her pride in check, Eliza began to sway steadily, getting into the music.
Summer’s eyes lit up. “Aye!”
“Two songs and then we’re out of here.”
“Works for me! Show me what ya got!” Summer turned up the heat by dragging Eliza deeper into the chaos. She might not be as persuasive as Nick, but Eliza quickly found out Summer was definitely more pushy. Forget the tournament. Eliza was beginning to think they’ll beat her at everything!
xxxxx
“This is crazy. How did I not know about this!?” Nick said, walking down the rainy sidewalk.
Veronica smirked as she held Nick’s hand, allowing rain to pass right through them. “Why would you? I barely have any reason to use my semblance; let alone in the more complex ways.”
“You don’t use it when making clothes?”
“Haha, I’m not entirely sure how it would help. Unless I wanna get out of my clothes and into something new in an instant. Not a real trick to show others. Unless…” she blushed at her lewd teasing, refusing to finish the punchline. “Never mind.”
“Okay?” He had a feeling he knew where that was going but chose not to pull that grenade pin. “Speaking of clothes, that brings up a question. Why aren’t our clothes falling off now?”
“Control. Anything I touch can phase like me. My clothes are touching me, so are you. I can keep it strictly to myself though with control and timing. I can also start it and end it on any spot on my body; which is why we aren’t falling through the street.”
“That sounds hard.”
“Little bit. Really flexing my semblance like a muscle right now. Still, I’ve done harder, like not breaking surface tension.”
Nick did a double take. Did he hear that right? “Surface tension? Like...for water?”
Veronica nodded. “Yeah that’s the one. Well I’m not actually walking on water. It’s more of me beginning to fall through the water with my semblance, and shutting it off quick enough to push me back up just above the surface. Took a lot of practice but I got it most of the time. Waves suck.”
“Don’t you burn through your aura quickly?”
“Well it’s like flicking a switch on and off. Also I’m quick about it; not to mention not fighting anything in the water. I’m bound to fuck up them.”
“Still sounds like an extremely large amount of work and multitasking. You got real talent. I’d get a headache.”
“Says the king of multitasking.” Veronica chuckled, “It’s less thinking and more of reaction; knowing how to feel the shifts to the things connecting you.”
Her explanation was interesting. Veronica had an understanding of her semblance to a complex level though she didn’t fight. And here was Nick, struggling with a candle exercise for a semblance that didn’t interact with physics or molecules. “A reaction huh? Maybe I should try that more often? It might help with-”
“Valerie.”
“What? No my-” His hand was squeezed a little before being brought up to point towards the Schnee gate. Nick’s eyes went wide. Valerie stood by it with her mother’s car, staring just as surprised. “Oh…” Nick said.
The three stood quietly, not prepared in the slightest. Valerie was the most shocked. She was prepared for an awkward conversation with Nick by the door. Not catching him outside in a suit; next to Veronica. Nora, who was in the car, wanted to take initiative but found her lips tucking themselves in.
“Oh boy. Maybe convincing Val to see him was a bad move on my part.” She thought. Ren was gonna have a field day whenever Nora got back home.
Done with the shock, Veronica finally spoke. “Umm I can give you two a minute, if you need it?” All the events that happened tonight made her feel very pleased. Veronica did not want to taint those moments and knew it would be for the best to remove herself from this before she said anything...emotional. She turned to Nick and smiled awkwardly. “I’ll see you inside?”
Nick could only blink while he thought about it. Veronica was a bit quicker to the draw though. “No, no, it’s...clearly you two are in the middle of something. I was just leaving anyways” Val said, a hint of irritation and even a bit of sarcasm crept into her voice. It might not have been that big of a deal but for some reason it made Nick tense up.
“This is only happening because of you.” He said instinctively, catching everyone off guard. “I don’t see how you can be upset about a thing you caused. I did invite you originally.”
“Don’t see how that has to do with anything.” Valerie lied, clearly offended. “You can do what you want.I only came here to-”
“It’s always your terms.” He interjected, grumbling a bit. “You tell me you want space and we’ll see each other at the tournament, but then show when you feel like talking. If I did that you’d be pissed.”
“Hey! I came here to try and smooth things over.”
“Yeah well maybe I don’t want things smoothed over right now? I...I have nothing to say to you right now. We’ll talk at the tournament.”
Valerie let out a subtle gasp. Her brows furrowed and she bit down on her lip harder than she meant to. “Forget it. If you wanna be made then be made. Tournament it is.” Valerie didn’t waste another breath, getting back into the car so it can drive off.”
Veronica was in disbelief. Did that really just happen? In now way did she think the conversation was going to be good, but she at least thought there was going to be one. She might’ve thought this best if it wasn’t for Nick visibly sulking next to her as he started walking her up to the manor. The solemn look on his face did nothing but make her feel bad. Not to mention a little guilty.
“Hey...I know this is a dumb question but are you okay? If I influenced that in any way during dinner, that wasn’t really...what I mean is...”
“I know, and don’t worry. That wasn’t me being caught up in my emotions. I just really want to think about all of this for at least a couple days. Besides, I made a deal with Eliza. I might not keep it if Valerie tries patching things up.”
“You’re plotting on her? That’s...wow. Now I know for sure that you’re pissed.”
Nick rubber the back of neck. “For once I think I’ll get greedy, act the way I want. Does that make sense?”
“Make sense? It’s my language. Fair warning, your best quality is that heart of yours.” She poked his chest. “Keep it safe, or I’ll be the one getting greedy by knocking the optimism back into ya.”
“Oh is that right? Haha, maybe try praying to me first, then I really know you must mean business!” He teases.
Veronica gave a playful shove. “Like I’d know how to start one? I think I’ll stick with the tough love approach.”
“Tough love huh?” Nick opened the front door. His eyes never left the girl as she walked in, seemingly content. Veronica eventually looked back at him and gave a head tilt.
She blinked, “What?”
“Nothing.” He chuckled. Nick was starting to think that just maybe, he understood Veronica’s choices and beliefs a little more than he used to. If he learned anything from tonight it was just how differently they saw the world around them. “Well I guess this is the end of our date. Didn’t go as planned but I’ll admit it, I really liked spending alone time with you.” He said, rubbing the back of his head.
Veronica couldn’t stop herself from letting out an anxious chuckle.“Hehehe, what’s with the sweet talk all of a sudden? Trying to butter me up?”
“No, just being honest with myself. A date should end as well as possible.” Nick stepped towards Veronica and gave her a quick kiss on the cheek. Eager to not let this moment linger, Nick swiftly left for Summer’s room to see if she was back. Without thinking about it tonight, Nick had left two girls red and speechless. One of them standing in the main hall with a smile growing wide; while the other watched the rain fall during a quiet ride home, frustrated and jaw clenched.
Nora took care to drive slowly. Getting home quickly would only mean Valerie would march to her room. Nora let out a sigh. “Whether it’s me or your father, one of us is gonna make you talk about this. So-”
“What’s there to talk about? I’m upset and he’s upset, because we want different things. So we’re taking a break. Simple as that.” Valerie leaned against the cold glass.
“And what is it exactly that you want?” Nora asked. She was given no answer. Not that she was expecting one. “I love you, but if you don’t know the answer yourself then how can you expect Nick to not upset you? Life is like any sport you play. Gotta know the rules if you wanna do well. Only way to figure that out is knowing yourself.”
“I know myself pretty well.” Valerie huffed.
“Really?” Nora dragged out. “So tell me, do you like Nick, romantically?”
“No.” She said instinctively.
If Val could see Nora’s face then she would’ve been upset that she was rolling her eyes, not believing her daughter. “Okay, but just so you know, taking a break is not what most friends say about another.”
Valerie’s eyes widened. She turned to her mother to see her focused on the road like she hadn’t said a word. Val went back to looking at the window. “Good to know.” Valerie controlled the urge to huff. Talking to Ren might’ve been less painful.
xxxx
Nick walked into Summer’s room to find it sisterless and a little cold. “Guess she’s not home yet.” He closed the door behind him as he went further in. Nick made sure to keep the light off but turned on the heater. A cold room was the last thing this night needed. His chill hadn’t kicked in all this time so Nick had no real reason to worry about Shiva, yet his nerves would feel better actually seeing Summer come home safely. Pulling up a chair to sit in may have been a bit much but he did it anyway. Overbearing or not, Shiva would never be a subject he’d take lightly. Not like he had in the past when he was younger, naive of the danger that thing had. He could his body ache at the thought of it. Pain fades and the body heals, but it also remembers. Not like he needed a reminder. Not when the memories rear their ugliness often in his dreams.
A scroll rang loudly, bringing Nick out of the dark thoughts. He reached in his pocket to see it was in fact Summer who was calling.He wasted no time answering. “Where are you? I thought you’d be back by now?”
“That didn’t sound like hello.” Summer grumbled. “Relax, I'm close by. I actually called to ask for a favor. You’re home right?”
“Yes?”
“Cool. Can you open my window?
Nick walked over to her window and opened it. In the distance he could spot his sister and Eliza outside the gate from the right side. “Done. What-”
“How’d you do that so fast? Were you already in my room!? You aren’t snooping are you!?” She yelled.
“Quiet before you get caught. No, I wasn’t snooping. Pretty sure whatever secrets this room holds is one that would scar me. Though I’m curious about your journal, wherever you hid this time. Perhap under your nightstand?”
“Do you really want to rummage around a young woman's nightstand?” Summer could hear her brother let out an overtop gagging noise. “Grow up.”
“Say it to my face. You better hurry before I decide to close this and watch you hit the glass like a pigeon.”
“Fine, ya baby.” Summer hung up. “Thanks for walking me home, as well as helping me stay dry.” She looked up to see the small dome of water floating over her from Eliza’s magic.
“Exactly what was the plan if I had said no or not shown up at all?”
“Glyphs aren’t just for platforming and dust ya know? Not that it matters. I knew I’d see you tonight.”
Eliza scoffed, “Tah! That confident in your predictions about your brother?”
“Well yes, but that’s not it. It’s not a secret you practice at the pier. It’s also terrible luck on your part you almost shot a captain with a bolt of lightning. One time.”
“W-What!? B-but how would-”
“Is it a Marigold thing to be attracted to my family like a magnet? That captain is my cousin. He says your aim could use work. Bye!” Summer made glyphs to trampoline over the gate and platform through the air and through her window.”
Eliza couldn’t believe it. Why was this her life!? It had to be a joke. Atlas or Mantle, you’re bound to be in Schnee territory. It would’ve been fine if she wasn’t practicing moves to fight one! Now she needed a new training spot. Who knows what they might now. “Damnit, now Nick’s offer is even more to my best interest!”
“Sup bro. How was your date?” The rock n’ roll twin kicked off her shoes and took the black wig off before falling backwards onto her bed.
“Well Valerie was at the front awhile ago.”
Summer sat up. “Okay, that’s not what I expected. Did I miss a fight? No wait, I’m pretty sure I’d hear Veronica scream bloody murder because there’s no way her dress would stay flaw-” her rambling was cut short when Nick suddenly sat beside her and fell on her lap. “Woah. Hey, are you still sick!?”
“No, just tired. The past week has been a little...draining. To be honest I don’t think I even have the energy to shower right now.”
“Well you probably smell better than me right now so I’m not complaining.”
“How was the rave?”
“Fun. Got Eliza to dance a little. The crowd worshipped my performance.” She chuckled.
“What did you sing?”
“Nothing special. A few Linkin Park songs; an experimental original. Oscar thought it would be a good idea to take a few of my journal entries and vent it out through music.”
“Hmm, anything you’ll share to your actual fan base, or me?”
Summer looked at her ceiling to let out a composed sigh. “I don’t think I’m quite ready, or the song for that matter. It and myself are...a work in progress. Sorry.”
“It’s okay. Just know your fans think you can’t do wrong and there’s no world where I won’t support you. Family and all that.”
“Love you too.” Summer patted his head. “Sorry if I’ve been causing you trouble. Well, more than usual. Tomorrow is a new day.”
“That’s the spirit. Push yourself but not too hard. That’s my territory. Speaking of which, I’ve been racking my brain with ideas. You can talk to Shiva in that headspace whenever you like right?” He felt her hand stop. Nick looked up to see Summer look apprehensive.
“I can...but it’s not a thing I look to do. Plus tonight has been good. I really don’t want that to-”
“Summer, do you trust me?”
Nick’s words were calm and real. Summer didn’t know what he had in mind. It wasn’t like Nick to invite danger. Her eyes looked to the floor to the orange glow of her heater. Like usual it appeared that her brother had already taken strides for her and everyone’s sake. Just how far would he go, ever making herself feel like she’s at a stand still? Maybe tomorrow could start today. Just a little bit.
“What’s this idea of yours?” She said cautiously.
“Nothing too crazy. You’re just gonna take a page out of Veronica’s playbook.”
xxxxx
You would think a person would know what goes on in their head. Unfortunately, that’s hardly ever the case. Summer never got a full understanding of what went on upstairs in her mind. Then again that would only make sense. She was in therapy after all. Though no amount of emotional talking could explain why her headspace imagery was inconsistent at times. A void of nothingness, her own room, those were the usual shapes that took place. However, this time she found herself back at the frozen lake. Going back and triggering an episode must’ve left a lasting impression. At least her trauma brought variety. The only separation from the real place was the ice ceiling and a distinct lack of cold nipping at her skin. Her psyche though, it was definitely feeling something.
She began walking through the white hell of her own making until she found her target, Shiva. The being was skating across the lake like how Summer once did. “Shiva.” Summer called out.
The woman of ice and snow looked over, surprised. She stopped right in the middle of the lake. “Well, well, well, come to properly thank me? You’d be in a grimm’s stomach by now if it wasn’t for me. You and that idiot girl. Tell me, is she in pain from our encounter?”
“I’m not here to thank you or chitchat.” Summer bluntly stated. “This is an in and out thing.”
“I’ll take that as a no then? Pity. I wouldn’t mind seeing her cry and despair. I bet her tears are uglier than yours. Though I'll say that this look you have going on isn’t gross. Honestly it helps to see you better in this place. You’re always so pale when you’re talking to me. Afraid I might hurt you?” A smirk spread across her face. ��Oh I do hate you so.”
“Feeling is mutual. I came here to tell you that from this point on things are gonna change.”
“Pfft, heard that before. You’re all talk.”
“Am I?” Summer reached her hand out. Right before her eyes, the shape of a shovel formed. Hiding her surprise, she focused on Shiva’s own shock. “My mind, my rules. If I can subconsciously make this hell then I can shape it to an extent. Summer tossed the shovel at Shiva for her to catch. “Keep that safe for me.” Summer’s body began to slowly fade from this space.
“And what exactly is this for?”
“Your grave. Feel free to dig it yourself.” Her final words before disappearing completely while witnessing a smug smirk vanish before her eyes. Right as she faded, Summer could hear one last remark.
“We’ll see who buries who.”
Summer opened her eyes to find herself back in her room. Good, she hadn’t moved an inch. “Well I’ve thoroughly pissed her off, but it actually felt good to be the one harassing her. Thank Ni- huh?” Summer failed to realize she’s been talking to herself. Nick was fast asleep already! “Unbelievable. What if I would’ve messed up?”
“Zzzzzz.”
“Quite the convincing answer.” Summer returned to rubbing his head. He felt a little warm but nothing serious. Taking breaks needed to be at the top of his list from now on. Only way that would happen is if things weren’t hectic. It was time to step up. “I’ll do right by you. I promise. Just...give me a little more time.”
Her eyes became heavy. It appears the day’s events weighed on her more than she realized. Both twins fell into slumber there for the entire night, finally getting some rest.
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scented-morker · 4 years ago
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hi honeyy! may I request one of the ships please??? I'd like to know who would you choose from txt and enhyphen heh
I'm an 03' capricorn,, my hair length is under my shoulders and right now it's a faded shade of red.. my eyes are dark brown and my height is 5''4..
I like to stay inside and love rainy days 'cause they're perfect for tea or coffee :). I'm a very calm and patient person,, if you see me without knowing me I might seem a little intimidating (that's what my friends say) but I'm actually really nice and I tend to get well with everybody to the point everyone says I'm actually very caring and kids like to hang out with me haha. (I'll add to this that my love language are acts of service and physical touch)
One of my favorites hobbies is drawing and listening to music,, I sing sometimes and get complimented by it, but I'm too shy so I mostly do it for myself when I'm alone. When I draw I like to create new pieces of clothing and that's why I'm into fashion design and hoping I can study the career.
I like languages and learning about cultures too! right now I speak english, spanish, a little french and I'm studying korean heh.
I don't really know what else to say.. I'm not really an outgoing person but if someone asks me to do something and I'm free I don't doubt on saying yes. I might be a little shy if I first meet a person but if they're nice that helps me to be a little more talkative.
ummm I listen to many genres of music(? for you to get an idea of my music taste,, my top 3 are: want you so bad by the vaccines, trust by alina baraz and alleyways by the neighborhood.
i hope that's not too long :( but thank u in advance! take care <3
No it wasn’t too long at all!! This was perfect :D
In txt
I ship you with : Soobin !!
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I know he’s a lil bit older, but I think your aura is very calm and gentle which I think would work really well because he’s kinda the same way
At first he probably thought you were intimidating, which everyone would tease him for since he’s like 2x your size
I think you guys would actually be a really good match, like you’d be the couple that is basically an old married couple by the time they’re in their 20s and everyone laughs at them but is secretly jealous: yeah that’s you guys
lil scenario
Soobin wandered out from his room, it was still a little early in the morning and he was planning on just staying in bed until he realized you weren’t next to him.
He spotted you sitting on the floor against the coffee table, your hair was hanging down your shoulders wildly and you were softly singing Trust. He just stood there in the doorway staring at you like 🥺🥺 he just couldn’t fathom how you kept getting more and more perfect to him.
He waddled over to you, wrapping the blanket around your body as well as his as he squeezed behind you, wrapping his arms around your middle in a back hug.
“Whatcha doin lovebug?”
A peek over your shoulder told him you were sketching out a new dress, something you had thought of as soon as you woke up and needed to get out before you forgot.
You muttered out something along those lines, while he sat there behind you, hands fiddling with the tangles in your hair.
“Do you want a drink?”
He had just realized the extra mug sitting next to yours, and he giggled at the fact that you had thought of him and made him something before he even got up.
He took the warm mug from your hands, taking a sip and then snuggling his head further into your back, perfectly content with sitting like that all day.
In En-
I ship you with : Sunghoon !!
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Okay so hear me out on this one, at first my brain was like Jake, but I think the fact that you kinda remind me of him makes this the better option because we all know how close they are
Like you would be this dudes BABY, like the ‘THIS MY BABY AND AINT NOBODY FINNA TOUCH HER’ ya know 💀
He would treat you so soft and I think that his love language is also acts of service so you guys would go well together. I can see him losing his mind is you start speaking like French or Spanish around him, he just like !?!.&!,$,!!!!!!?!!&,’! that’s my talented s/o, homeboy is such a simp
lil scenario
The first time the boys did out about you was an accident. Sunghoon was a pretty laid back guys and he didn’t see the point in telling everyone just because he got an s/o, so he just didn’t tell anyone, and no one asked.
But then one day they had a free day and he decided to spend it with you, even though it meant turning down the boys.
“Oh sorry guys I actually already have plans, but next time I’ll totally come!”
So he took you to this cute little like street fair, and it had lots of different stands with foods and little trinkets from all sorts of different places because he knew how much you liked learning about different cultures.
He STARED 🥺 when he saw how your eyes lit up and you got so excited to learn about where everything came from. You were definitely all of the vendors favorite that day.
You guys spent a really long time there and it started getting dark so you guys found a bench and sat down, finishing up your last treat of the day.
You were sitting there, excitedly babbling about what it tasted like and the tradition of making it with family, Sunghoon just sitting across from you, the biggest heart eyes ever, and the boys see you guys and they just kinda go ???
They eventually come over and introduce themselves, almost choking when Sunghoon introduces you as his s/o, and you have to put away your shyness for a little bit to get to know them, but of course they’re all extremely kind and they automatically like you, so everything works out in the end. Except Sunghoon gets chewed out for not telling them
Alright that’s it!! You seem like a sweetheart and I hope you enjoyed your ships <3
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justrandomselfships · 3 years ago
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Little steps- my self insert Fic (S/I POV) with a bunch of silly illustrations! Oh did I mention that this involves Kaeya? Well he's the main focus here even though Lisa is mentioned shit ton of times! Might write something for her focus too someday.
I finished it ages ago but I was afraid to post it- I'm not anymore and also✨ it's my birthday ✨
~~
Ever since I joined the knights I decided to write in a diary, it helped me keep track of time. Lisa told me that it can help me in various ways, like for example remembering names of the other knights, or checking my personal progress. Now that I think about it, it was long since I checked my old entries. Nothing interesting happened today anyway so I might as well read some. I don't really remember anything that was going on when I started so I suppose I could refresh my memory.
Today Lisa wanted to introduce me to someone- she probably wanted to help me by looking for training partner for me, however I had to refuse. You probably remember why was that, I got scared of meeting someone new again. I couldn't get that mess on her shoulders when she has so much to do as it is! And there was no way I'd meet them alone it'd be too akward for both of us!
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I remember the exact moment I tried to come up with an excuse for future me... It kinda made me giggle how stupid I am sometimes, but let's look at something else...
I've never felt as lonely as I do now, I don’t even know why. I don’t miss anyone nor I ever craved any interactions... But to make that feeling go away I thought about talking to Amber but when I left the house she was talking to Noelle and I got scared to approach them... Instead I decided to sketch something and stay inside for the rest of the day.
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I immediately looked at my sketchbook, I don't even have to look inside, I was drawing what's outside my window like always. Maybe I'll find some better memory if I keep looking?
During my patrol I got a bit lost... It was scary... But I wasn't alone, an Adventurer found me... However he got lost too. It was a bit unlucky day since I picked the wrong maps, we also got attacked a few times by monsters. I kinda feel bad for him since he tried his best to cheer me up but I stayed silent. It should've been other way around a knight shouldn't le
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Bennett! How could I forget his name when I was writing this? He was such a sweetheart I obviously had to mess it up and make him feel uncomfortable... But I did make up for it! Maybe I'll finally read something positive? I somehow can't remember how exactly that went... Or if I was daydreaming about apologizing?
I decided to bake something for Bennett as thank you and apology for acting so cold towards him. But I had no idea on how to find him... Or what to say... So after thinking for few minutes I decided to talk to Katherine and ask her to give it to him. After "talking" to her I locked myself in my room out of embarrassment, I messed up again. I just said "Bennett" placed my pastries and left. Now I probably won't be able to face her for at LEAST two months.
I cringe at the memory... Gosh now this will keep me up at night for sure... I finally forgot about it and now it'll haunt me.
Wait a second... Did I really not made any progress at all!? I was trying so hard to socialize with others and get out more but I seem to still not be able to do it right. No, it's impossible. I'm good friends with Lisa! So I definitely made any progress... Or is she just so easy to talk to? Time to take a final look at something recent for a change...
Capitan Kaeya Alberich wanted to talk to me outside work... It might not sound like a big deal but somehow I just froze... I wasn't able to respond properly and he probably guessed what I was going to say, not that he ever can't do that... I might be too predictable. Either way I feel bad, my behavior was really disrespectful and I knew better than that to just ignore someone like him. I still have much to learn and I'll need to properly apologize for staying silent.
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I only ever failed... There is no mistaking it. Great way to note down progress huh? Too bad there is none.
Think, what do I need to do to finally do better? I am the problem for sure but what do I really need to change? Maybe I should just start observing how others act... After all I never bothered to do that. It might help in one way or another...
Obviously there's only one place where there is a lot of people and I won't look like a total creep if I'll just listen in the conversations and look at random people... It's no other than the tavern. I'm scared to go there alone... But I don't have to!
Lisa would be willing to go right?... Then again I rely on her a bit too much and going out like this could be an opportunity to break the ice with someone else...
Jean is always busy, Amber will be way too distracting and we might end up somewhere else, Eula is too scary, Venti... I don't even know why I'm considering him.
Maybe that offer from capitan Kaeya still stands? It's from bearly 2 weeks ago so maybe if I get lucky and he happens to still be interested, I can actually go...
What am I even thinking!? I didn't even apologize for the last time... But being around so many drunk people is terrifying... However I can't bet on the fact that he won't drink too much... On the other hand he seems to handle people and I'll definitely learn something.
Screw it. It might be scary but I need to do it. Tomorrow I'll ask him! That's for sure! He's the most respectable and trustworthy person who isn't always busy and will not distract me.
~⏳
I'm scared to do it but I have to! I need to... Did I really say that I'm gonna do it today? Or should I just pretend that I never thought of it. He's probably busy today. Yup definitely that no need to feel stressed.
I haven't seen him back at the headquarters nor did I see him around town when I was coming back from my patrol- that's a good sign. It's still pretty early but I don't think that I'll see him today... What a relief!
Before I left the headquarters after finishing some paperwork I hear a voice that belongs to a beautiful librarian I am lucky to be able to call a friend.
"Hey there cutie, are you okay?"
"Just a little bit nervous that's all, nothing new haha"
"Do you need me to pass a message again?"
"No need! It's something I need to say myself..."
"I see..."
"But if you happen to see capitan Kaeya it would be nice if you could tell him that I was looking for him" out of habit I grab my hair and begin to play with it. Lisa's warm soothing voice blessed my ears as she said "No worries darling, I'll let him know" before she left and giggled to herself...
Wait... Oh no.
Why did I say anything!? Is she that magical that I can't say anything but what's on my mind.
If she happens to meet him my request will be unavoidable! Even if I tried thinking of something else Kaeya will know that I'm lying. I can't avoid him either... Can't waste his precious time...
How do I even ask him!? Do I need to change from my work clothes before I go? What should I do...
I didn't realize that I started walking in circles before someone approached me.
"Heather?"
I turn around and see the man I was thinking about all day. Dammit... I have to say it. I can't think of an excuse and staying silent is now unacceptable.
"Oh-uhm... Greetings Capitan Kaeya"
"Lisa informed me that you were looking for me"
"Oh right!... That... Haha..."
"I don't want to rush you, however I do have some business to attend to"
"I'm so sorry! I mean- since you're busy then my silly request is irrelevant"
"Come now, I believe that I should be the judge of that" his smug look made it ever so slightly more challenging to say anything.
"I just... Ugh..." I took a deep breath "Look as you know I was trying to loosen up recently and well I realized that I wasn't making any progress at all. So I remembered that one time you asked me to go to the tavern with you and I refused... I mean ignored you, which I am VERY sorry about but now I think that it was a mistake and today I wanted to ask you to accompany me but since you're busy let's just forget about everything" I felt relieved getting that off my chest.
"I don't think that will do, in fact I was heading towards the tavern so if you really want to I suppose you can join me" Oh right... I forgot about him gathering some information there from time to time. So it might work after all! He won't pay too much attention to me and I could investigate without tons of distractions.
"Let's get going then capitan" I say before he smiles softly in response "Wait do you want to get going now or-"
"Yes" he cut me off, which was fair and I'm glad he did it before I said something dumb.
We're almost there. Before we get closer I suddenly stop.
"That reminds me!" I realized I spoke out loud, as he looked at my direction my confidence dropped dead "I've never actually tried any alcohol so would you be so kind to recommend something for me? I figured that since I'm already getting out of my comfort zone might as well try something new" I said under my breath but he definitely understood what I meant judging by his facial expression and well... response.
"Absolutely" my heart skipped a beat. I desperately tried to start a conversation topic... But choosing alcohol might be something I'll regret...
Kaeya started listing few drinks I could enjoy his words were poetic as he described the beverages, however the names of the drinks went over my head. It wasn't that bad but I just felt stupid over how clueless I was. He definitely knew what he was talking about and I'm more than interested in hearing more. The more he talks the less likely I am to say something I'll regret.
"Obviously since I don't know how much you can handle I won't be forcing you to try too much too soon" he paused "Your father probably wouldn't be happy either if you returned drunk" he said teasingly. It invited me to respond less seriously.
"Oh no! This means that we'll have to do it again, how awful"
"We didn't enter yet so you can feel free to leave now before you regret spending time with me of all people" his voice was now suddenly much more hostile... Did I mess it up!?
He laughed softly "I'm sorry did I go too far? While I don't want to force you to do anything, I won't lie... I'm a bit curious to learn something new about you tonight"
We were still outside standing right in front of the entrance to the tavern if not for chatting we could hear from the inside there would be total silence.
"I'm sorry for being quiet again! It's just that you caught me off guard haha" I look away "There isn't much to know about me so I feel like I'll only disappoint you"
"I'm not so sure about that part"
"Wait... Did my father tell you anything about me!?"
"Look let's just get inside, We'll discuss it later"
Nervously I followed him yet again. The atmosphere was warm and I could see different kinds of people all over the place. We sit down.
"So did he tell you anything?" I ask immediately.
"Relax, he didn't" he seemed amused by my desperation to know. It's understandable... And I'm probably overreacting anyway. I collect my thoughts "I'm sorry"
"What are you sorry for?"
"I'm just making this into some big deal for no reason. Maybe the reason is the huge amount of respect I have for you that makes me freak out"
"I see, well I don't see the reason to be so formal now. We aren't working after all" his soft smile was enough for me to calm down.
"Thank you" Maybe it was all I needed to hear, after that everything went smoothly.
I start feeling proud of myself... Maybe I can change after all? Either way it only shows that I have to write it down! And once I was back home I did just that.
Today I had enough courage to take a step in right direction! I went to a tavern with capitan Kaeya. It was fun and for the first time in years I wasn't that scared. It wasn't totally perfect but it was definitely worth it.
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weeklyfangirl · 5 years ago
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Frat Boy Pt. 21
part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4, part 5, part 6, part 7 (1), part 7 (2), part 8, part 9, part 10, part 11, part 12, part 13 , part 14, part 15, part 16, part 17, part 18, part 19 , part 20
HI LOVIES. Please enjoy a Friday update on the Frat Boy universe. This one is a bit of a breather after the TUMULTUOUS ANGST of the last chappie. Shorter than my usual, but it’s all the chapter needed. Tons more y/n and Harry interaction on the way in the next! Have a safe and happy day loves xx
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Things I want:
Live a life that helps others
Financial freedom
Experience a great love
Visit the the Pincio Gardens in Italy
To have more dreams and fewer nightmares
Doodle more
Acquire a first edition book, either because an old  friendly man who owns an antique bookshop decides to give it to me in a bonding moment, or because I have accomplished #2 and I am celebrating being a Boss Bitch
To be happy
Please note: not necessarily in that order
 It was taped above my desk, waiting for me to bring it in to the next session. I hesitated to write number 6. It was a dream I hardly entertained after committing my scholarly life to pursue medicine. I used to love to doodle. All the time. Since elementary school. I doodled so much my mom dedicated a wall in the house to my illustrations. She hung a sign above it that affectionately said “Y/N’s Doodles.” Seriously, you couldn’t get me to stop. Even if it was gross sappy sketches of my crush Billy who I would NEVER show on the playground at recess.   
 My doodling stopped how these things normally do. Because life grew busier than anything else, and the sketchpad and easel my dad had bought for me at a garage sale became ignored, collecting dust in the corner of my room. At some point, it’d become a year since I’d drawn anything, and then it was two, and three, and by this point I’d realized I was the one who’d need to create her own stability in life and medicine was the more logical fit. It wasn’t that I didn’t see the value in drawing anymore, I just had other things take up my time. It became a comfort just knowing I used to draw. Paul had paved his way, and now I was on my way to do the same. At least with medicine, my soul felt fed. It was almost comfort enough. 
  “oH WE GOT A ROGUE ONE.” 
 A flying toenail hit my eye. 
 “WHAT THE-” I flailed my arms, as though there were a thousand more coming. Renny’s mouth opened in shock, her guilty body hunched over her bent leg. Clippers in hand.  
 “Sorry!!” Renny burst up laughing.
 “oH MY GOSH CAN YOU DO THAT OVER A TRASH CAN OR SOMETHING?!” 
 “IT HAD A MIND OF ITS OWN!!” she screamed back. 
 I blinked rapidly, my left eye watering up and spilling painless tears. “Well I’m going to have conjunctivitis at the studio later. Or I’ll be stumbling in blind.” I wiped it away.
 I heard another clip and she put up her hands with another giggle. 
 “All done. And you won’t stumble, I’m going to be there.” Renny extended her leg, her perfectly trimmed foot nearly touching the ceiling.
 “You’re just going to solicit Zayn to be his next subject.” 
 “Maybe,” her grin grew devious. “But also because I want to see if he captured the angelic beauty and complex nymph nuances of my best friend.” 
 I put a hand to my chest, still aching from uncertainty. “Honored.” 
 “Want to watch another episode until it’s time to go?” 
 This whole lazy morning had been an OC Housewives bingefest. She’d seen it on my homepage and had a complete spazz, twitching whilst proclaiming but i’ve been trying to get you to watch this show for YEARS!! When she saw the old season I was on, though, she didn’t have to question why her pestering had miraculously worked. She didn’t mention him aloud besides giving me a pointed look. And so, we watched it, even though I wasn’t really in the mood to see anything about Harry right now. It’d hurt more than I thought to walk away from him last night, and to see how sad he looked when I did. 
 After last night, he hadn’t posted anything to social media. He’d called, twice, but I knew he was drunk, or worse, and I was tired, and whatever he would say he could tell me in the morning. Even though I knew he wouldn’t. 
 And he didn’t. 
 And therein lay the problem. 
 It hurt to see his family on my little box of a computer screen, weird to see his life and get glimpses of his childhood. I felt like a hacker spying on home videos. But then I reminded myself that thousands of people had already done the same. At this point, it was just… morbid curiosity.
 “Nah, I don’t know if I can handle any more of that right now. Dr. Rhinecuff is going to yell at me if I don’t return these scanned copies to him by Monday.” 
 “Ew, he smells like meat.” 
 “RENNY!!” 
 “I’m just saying. That one time I went with you it smelled like pastrami in his office. He has a PhD, but isn’t with-it enough to buy air freshener.”
 “He likes pastrami sandwiches, let him live.” 
 She scrolled on her phone, not bothering to respond, and my gaze turned to the window. 
 “Hey Renny?” 
 “Hm.” 
 A bird flew close to the glass, halting just before it hit it, then zooming off in the opposite direction. “What’d you do when your parents were fighting?” 
 “Ummm…” I knew the question registered in her mind when she stopped scrolling, suddenly concerned. “Are your parents okay?”
 “Yeah. I mean, kind of.” I glossed over it, not caring to get into the bitter details. “I was just curious.” 
 “Uhh..” She plucked at the soft cotton of her cotton candy pajamas that were fraying at the knees. “I lost my virginity to Zach,” she half-laughed.   
 “Zach? Neighbor boy Zach?” 
 Renny nodded. She always sounded a little sad when she talked about him. Zach was the hot college boy who shared a backyard fence with Renny, the girl who may or may not have used her kitchen stool to peak over and see him workout on the grass every summer he came home. I’d known they’d slept together. I just didn’t think he was her first. 
 “I just tried to be out of the house as much as I could,” she said. “Found my true love Mary J.” 
 “Oh.” 
 “It was shitty, but I’m glad I got it over with.”
 “The divorce or your virginity.” 
 “Both,” she chortled. “Why what’s up? Are you sad or something? I have a j in my drawer.” 
 “No, no, I’m fine.” Mostly I was just wondering what it must be like to feel so sexually liberated. In my house sex wasn’t talked about. At all. The inevitable sex scene in every other movie would result in my dad blaring out “WHAT KIND OF MOVIE IS THIS!” in an attempt to make it less awwkard, but having it backfire and only make it horrendously more awkward. I wasn’t saving my virginity for anyone in particular, but after all those romance novels, I wanted it to be… something. I wanted to feel something towards the person where it would justify something I’ve kept to myself for so long. I wanted it to be intense. I wanted it to be like the books. Like a Frank Sinatra song that swept up your heart and transported you back to a time of gentlemen and cigars and women in long evening gowns with fur coats and martinis. 
 “I wish I could just get it over with,” I confessed. One half of me screamed YOU’RE IN YOUR TWENTIES HAVE ALL THE SEX while the other half said YOU’VE WAITED THIS LONG DAMN IT HOLD OUT A LITTLE LONGER. I didn’t know which part of me was compromising more. 
 Renny leaned in, quick. “Would you do it with Harry?” 
 Like the flip of a switch, I remembered the sensuous heat of his body against mine, wrapping me up and pressing me against him where we just fit. And I couldn’t imagine how much better it’d feel to be even more connected to him. 
 “Maybeeee…?” 
 But then there was last night. 
 I cringed. No matter how with me he’d seemed… he couldn’t have been present after mixing whatever the hell he took and a handle of alcohol. Did I really want someone like that? Someone who could only give a shell of themselves? 
 “No, I wouldn’t. Or- ugh, I don’t know. I don’t know if it could ever mean as much to him.” 
 Renny nodded. “I mean, don’t let him pressure you, obviously. If he does, I’ll kick his baby maker smack into his prostate. Prostate. See, anatomy. You taught me that.” 
 “Haha, no, he’s not like that.” My brows stitched. I was confused why he wasn’t more like that, actually. We’d known each other for several months now and he hadn’t even put a finger in me. When I thought about it, it actually frustrated me. Don’t pressure me to do anything, but I wanted to be pushed to do something. I was never the bold one in areas like this. 
 Not that I should be so willing to do anything with him anymore anyways. Something shifted in me when I’d seen him last night. It wasn’t a shift I could easily describe, but it’d set me a foot apart from my heart. A bit of me was shocked that it had happened so suddenly. 
 But this shift was new, and my heart still wanted what it wanted. I knew that if I watched any more OC Housewives with Harry’s toddler curls and surfer tan, I’d be sucked right back into speculating about what our future kids could look like. And if I saw him? 
 You were right, Harry. You are fucked. 
 I cringed again. That was harsh. That was very very harsh. 
 I didn’t know if I’d have the courage to apologize. What if my pheromones went berserk and magnetized me to his side??
 Renny was right.
 I needed therapy. 
 The clippers were tossed back on my desk.
 “Thanks,” she said. “Have you started on your DG Double P yet?” 
 DG Double P = Renny Speak for DG Pretty Please. 
 I groaned. “No. I don’t know how I’m going to do it, honestly. I have to-”
 “NO!!! Don’t tell me. We’re not supposed to tell each other.” Her hand extended in panic.
 “Fine. I can keep a secret.” 
 I was getting a little too good at that lately.
 She moved onto her belly, splaying her arms out in a dramatic fashion, face squished against the comforter. “Isn’t it just killing you inside.” She was dead serious. 
 “Yeah, more than you know.” 
 And I was serious, too. 
 --------------------------------------
 I wasn’t expecting people to dress up as much as they did. Donned in my only pair of yoga pants and a chunky white sweater, I walked arm-in-arm with Renny past girls in cocktail dresses and guys in button-downs. 
 Something that sounded like a baby’s cry filled my ears, but it was gone as soon as we walked through the doors to the on-campus gallery.  . 
 “Woah did you hear that?” 
 Renny nodded, tossing her head back. “There’s a baby somewhere.” 
 It reminded me of the bodiless screams in my nightmare. In my chunky sweater, I shivered undetectably.
 The on-campus gallery rotated exhibits throughout the year, but this time, student sculptures were on pedestals, nightmarish portraits hung on the walls, and red and orange tapestries swooped down and across the ceiling in a cirque-du-soleil moment as if to secure us beneath fire. Some students had separate booths, but other pieces of work trailed seamlessly into the next. 
 A tree made from photographs and newspaper took up the center of the space. Zayn had been so adamant about his muse having life, I wondered if that was the focus of this exhibit - to capture natural life. But I suppose all art did. 
 “It’s the circle of life exhibit,” Renny stated, as if reading my thoughts. 
 “How’d you know that?” 
 She held up a pamphlet she must’ve grabbed from the entrance. 
 I quickly scanned the room, hoping to find Zayn quickly so I could skip out just as quick. 
 Several of my professors were here, including Dr. Rhinecuff. When he saw me, I raised my hand, but he raised his cup of red wine awkwardly and looked away. 
 My hand wavered. 
 Odd. 
 Zayn was standing by the tree, speaking with an older woman. Her skin was a rich brown, short hair hidden beneath a chic scarf. The man beside her looked around the same age with graying facial hair, a pocket hanky, and beaded bracelets. Art professors. 
 I caught his gaze, and he gestured me over. 
 “Y/N, these are my instructors. David and Ebony.”   
 Their eyes lit up in recognition. “He did you a great justice,” David said, gray moustache twitching with the words.
 Ebony beamed. “Oh yes, a piece was already sold. He’s going to be the next big wig before he graduates,” she gushed. “Zayn, I’m sure you’ll be splitting the profits with the heart of the piece.”
 She gestured to me and his smile widened, but my stomach sank faster. 
 “I didn’t know these pieces were going to be sold.”
 Ebony sensed my concern. The wine in her glass swirled. “We thought allowing the pieces to be shown and auctioned was a good way to replicate what many of them should be doing once they graduate. The whole department gets involved, and these kids put in a lot of work, and the reputation of starving artists isn’t something we want to buy into here.”
 I nodded. “I mean, that’s great. That’s… really amazing.” 
 Zayn couldn’t meet my eyes. He knew. He could sense my hesitance, too. 
 “Now he can finally afford a nice dinner to take you out!” David proclaimed. 
 We were all quiet for a minute. “You know, for a thank you dinner,” David covered up. Zayn’s brows scrunched and he shook his head a bit, not knowing where David’s comment came from. 
 “Do you do this regularly?” Ebony asked, steering the conversation away from an awkward moment. 
 My ears pricked up when I realized she was looking at me. “Excuse me?” 
 “Well I was just thinking…” a light laugh lifted as if her idea would be outrageous. “Would you mind sitting in for one of my classes on Monday? Our model had a sudden death-” 
 “My God,” David proclaimed. 
 Ebony waved her hand. “-in his family. I haven’t called to replace him yet.”
 It quieted as they looked at me, waiting for a response. “Oh, I don’t… I don’t usually do this. At all. It was a chance thing.” 
 “Luck be the artist.” David raised his glass. 
 Ebony followed suit, looking at my empty hand. “You just going to let her stand there without a drink?”
 “Yeah, Zayn. What kind of treatment is this?” I teased. 
 He did a slight bow. “Apologies. We’ll walk to drinks, immediately.” He pulled us away, leading us further into the showroom as his head dipped low to my ear. “Renny just passed us to meet Felix and them. They’re through here.” 
 We stepped under an archway that led into a darker-lit room, but his hand stopped me beneath the nook. “Did yeh notice anything?”
 Yeah. I was noticing how close we were in this archway. He saw my eyes start to squint in thought and he turned me around to face the room we’d just left. 
 “Look closer.” 
 My eyes roamed the crowd, trying to find some sort of person, or pattern he could be referring to. With a brief seize of my heart, I expected to see somebody from the gang. 
 “Look at the artwork, Y/N.” His breath warmed my skin. 
 The paintings all seemed to be bright, though sticking to red, orange, blacks, and grays. Wait, forget a pallette pattern. The next painting had blue and purple, too. One sculpture looked like a writhing ghost, twisting and reaching for something above. Or maybe it was an unearthed tree root. Despite all the bold colors, there was something off-putting about how bright they all were. It wasn’t a soothing brightness. It was almost violent. The orange and red writhing tapestries warped the ceiling into something hot. 
 “Is it hell?” I chortled, but quickly quieted. I expected him to take offense, but his hand went lightly around my waist with a small smile.
 “Could be. See-” his arm extended out to scan the perimeter “-all this art is supposed to represent death, but challenge the notion of it through color.” 
 “How so?” 
 “Yeh know it’s usually your blacks, and your grays, s’depressing shit. But we’re born from death. Before life, there was nothing, but something. It’s bold and necessary and there, and no one really knows whatever comes before. Or after.” He looked at the room, taking a sip of wine. I watched as he swallowed, and I imagined the wine running down. “What is death but an uncertain existence.” He said the thought almost happily, looking at me with a slight smirk. “Could be anythin’.” 
 He took a deep breath, letting his hand touch the top of the archway. It was then that I noticed it wasn’t just plain drywall. A collage of photographs ran all along the inside. 
 He wasn’t as tall as Harry, but his hand still reached the top, scuffing across a picture of an African landscape taped over a toddler eating fruity pebbles. 
 “They’re pictures. Everyone donated one,” he said. 
 A strand of words were painted over the collage, running from one end of the archway to the other, and I tilted my head back to read it. “Things... that…. make... m..e …...feel alive.” 
 “Everyone was able to design their space in order to control, to some extent, how their art was perceived. Everyone was a part of the transition space.” 
 “Very nice,” I noted, slightly put-off. I hadn’t been expecting this art show to be so… professional. “Zayn, this is amazing. Like, really, truly, professional-grade stuff is happening. The presentation, the pieces, everything.”
 His smile grew wider, putting cool hands over my eyes. I flinched, but let him. 
 I felt him come closer. 
“Listen now,” he urged. 
 I listened, but I wasn’t sure for what. There was the familiar busy rumble of people mingling, parents visiting their kids, and professors droning on about the talent of their students. But it was chatter. I couldn’t make out one conversation over another. I shrugged up against his other hand that was atop my shoulder. 
 “Sometimes you need to change where you’re planted to understand.” 
 I hoped he could see my cross expression because I couldn’t tell if he was bullshitting me right now. It’d been a day. It’d been a night. And I wasn’t in the mood for more philosophical ramblings - especially about death. “I don’t know what you mean,” I sighed. 
 “Meaning I have to move you closer to the speakers.” He let out a breathy laugh. “Jus’ keep your eyes closed, okay?” 
 I nodded. His hand moved, tilting my head to its side. Eyes still closed, I became self-conscious imagining people trying to move past me, and here I was, planted, eyes closed in the middle of the archway. My cheeks heated. It was unnerving knowing people could see me when I couldn’t see them. And anyway, I must’ve looked ridiculous. 
 “What do you hear?” he urged. 
 “I hear a lot of people talking,” I griped. 
But right when I was about to open my eyes-  
 I heard a familiar chirping through the chatter. 
 “Birds?” I opened my eyes. 
 “Observance can be taught, sometimes.” Zayn leant back, looking mighty proud of himself. 
 “Why are there birds?” 
 “We’re entering life,” he smiled, backing into the space. I tipped my wine back, several long gulps lightening my step as I followed him. Immediately, I noticed much more natural, earthier tones. For being a room of life, it was surprisingly darker than the prior room.
 Renny, Felix, and Andre were huddled in the center where a makeshift wall-on-wheels covered in vines divided the room in half. 
 My eyes widened, trying to adjust to the dimness. “It’s a lot darker in here.” 
 “All intentional. They decided to play with light in here. People usually think of life being bright ‘n that, but it’s also when we experience varying degrees of darkness. There’s a balance to things and the trouble is finding it.” Understanding laced his voice as his dark eyes bore into mine, almost completely black. One look from Zayn and I was reminded of all the weight I’d been carrying. I fidgeted, uncomfortable seeing myself in his eyes. 
 “Y/N, get over here!” Renny called. My shoulders visibly relaxed. My saving grace. “You didn’t tell me you did this,” she said lowly as soon as I got close enough, shocked excitement barely contained. Her giddy smile gave it away though. “Miss sexy secret keeper over here.” 
 “What do you mean?” 
 She playfully poked my sides, but Andre and Felix avoided my gaze. Something wasn’t right. And it stirred my stomach, my body already knowing, somehow. 
 I turned in slow motion, the charcoal drawings in my peripherals stopping me in place. Framed amidst the vines, my face was etched onto paper, scrunching and twisting in various expressions. But my body was attached and twisting, too. And it was bare, bent over, spread out, laying down… My eyes scanned over them a dozen times in a second. 
 I was naked. 
 In all of them. 
 One was titled “21st Century Love.” In this one, I faced the viewer, but looked past them, sorrowful eyes, brows furrowed, breasts I’d never shown on full display. A hickey or two on my neck. A painful sting gripped my chest. I looked sad. I looked so sad.  
 Tunnel vision, a blurred Renny rushed down to the floor, and a distant part of me registered something wet splatter on my feet. 
 The wine had dropped.
 I’d dropped it. 
 I was trapped in a shell. My body was numb. 
 “Babes, you okay?” Renny asked, her voice somewhere far away. Somewhere outside the shell, her voice drowned in the busy rumbling, with the birds, with the watchers. People were watching me now. I was being watched. “Felix, grab some towels!” she barked. 
 I looked horrified, towards Zayn, but changed my mind just as fast. I couldn’t look at him. I couldn’t even breathe. 
 He didn’t know me at all. He could stare at me for a thousand sessions and paint every crevice, sunspot, blemish, and mole and still not see me. How was an artist this blind? How could he not know that this was the last thing I could ever want? How could he picture me so… intimately?
 The paintings seemed to swirl into one before bouncing back out into their separate exposees. 
 Because that’s what it was. 
 An exposure. 
 A stranger could pay to have me in their home. 
 The floor spun, vision spotting. 
 My lungs tightened, tearing me away from Renny, from Felix, from Andre. From Zayn, the artist who painted a confused girl so unashamed. So honestly. Savagely and Unabashedly. 
 “I didn’t want this.” 
 And it was when I was halfway out the door that I realized the voice had come from me, a mantra pushing my shell all the way home. 
part 22
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mcrmadness · 4 years ago
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Madness draws: Behind the Scenes of the “Alleine in der Nacht” die ärzte fan comic.
A few weeks ago I posted this comic:
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This post is yet again just another drawing behind-the-scenes post but You can go and reblog the original post here.
And as always, all my ramblings are under the cut!
This one was relatively easy to do because I just woke up one morning and internally died from laughter because this idea just happened like a random pop up window in my brain. I wrote it down to my phone notes and later on also into my sketchbook:
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I was laughing out loud when I was drawing those images, Bela’s face still is cracking me up :D And because I’m yet again trilingual with my comics, there’s only one word in my mother tongue and it’s: Bela laulaa = Bela sings.
And other fans might recognize the lyrics of the song, I needed to write them down in order to decide which ones would fit the comic the best.
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This one is then again me trying to see how it will fit on a A4 paper. Originally I saw it in my head more like a short, regular comic strip with 3 panels but somehow I couldn’t get it to fit into 3 panels. And 4 panels was too many in a row so I decided to go for a full page then. That caused bits of trouble to me because I normally don’t draw the comic book faces THAT big and it’s surprisingly hard to draw them in bigger scale. (With pencil drawings it’s the opposite, the bigger the better. It’s much easier to draw an eye the size of a finger instead of a size of a tip of a needle.)
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Here’s the first sketch! Just the shapes to see how and what I need to draw. Sorry for the awful photo quality again, my phone’s camera has really gotten really bad after these 3 years of use...
Anyhow, the third panel caused me some troubles because I knew how I wanted Bela’s arms and hands to be but I didn’t see them that good in my head so what I did next was to try different postures into my sketchbook:
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I also tried this foreshortening technique I saw in a video of after a Tumblr post, even tho I don’t find that too hard to do myself anymore but it was still interesting and can really help making the eye and brain to see the image in 3D. So here I finally figured that I wanted Bela to have is arms like he was singing something very theatrically. I think it turned out pretty good.
Next I struggled with the bedsheets and I figured that I am a bit too good at blocking out information when I draw because I tried to draw unmade beds from reference photos and I’m able to follow a line but also able to completely not see any other lines around the line I’m following. Like I’d often follow a line to somewhere and suddenly notice that wtf there’s SO MUCH MORE lines all over the place in the photo but I just did not see them.
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^Here’s two pages in my other sketchbook that I got for the comic stuff especially because the paper is actually white. The bigger sketchbook has light yellow tint to the paper so it can mess up with the colors when I need to try out and look for perfect colors from the colored pencils. (This sketchbook is also smaller aka A5 because Derwent sketchbooks are expensive but this was the only A5 one with a bit grainy paper in white. The A4 one is cheaper and from Mont Marte.)
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After a while I was done with the besheet and the rest of the second sketch. I don’t have a photo of the comic with just the lineart, only a photo where the first panel is already colored and now I actually need to talk about the coloring.
That caused me lots of trouble because I really love playing with lights and shadows in everything (drawing, photographing... everything) and I do know how to do the night effect in black and white, but I have only once before done that with colors and it’s never that easy. Plus that one was my first comic when I started drawing again in 2018 and it was not that good to begin with.
I run some tests with the pencils, as well as some shading tests:
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Käsi = hand, iho = skin. I use Derwent Flesh Pink (I have a 72 set of Derwent Watercolour pencils) for the skin color and was then trying out other colors to see which one would look the best for shading. It was actually really difficult to do and my sister suggested that I’d use only cold colors but like... how do you use cold colors on a skin without making the character look dead? :D
I imagined that there’s a moon shining in from a window that would be behind the “camera”. I almost ruined the first panel because I wasn’t exactly sure what was I even doing and what did I want from the colors:
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Here’s the lineart and almost finished first panel in colors. I really liked the lineart and this would have looked so nice in black and white too, maybe even better. But I just saw that blue background so strongly in my mind that I just had to go for it.
The first panel was really difficult to do like I said and I almost ruined it at some point. But it also taught me something because with the rest of the panels I knew to start with the skincolors and end with the black (I started the first panel with black, I think... kids, never do that, always start with the light colors! :D) and I think the last panel is the best what comes to the colors in the final comic. I also added light blue here and there to make it look more like the colors of a moon at night:
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I’m actually very happy with all of the other colors in this panel! It also reminds me of a book I had and used to read as a child. It was about this girl that went to an appendix surgery and all the images were drawn with either colored pencils, pastels or crayons and it looked grainy the exact same way as this one too. It also had lots of red and orange and brown colors in it. (I wonder if I still have the book here...)
Then there’s also the title and “Das Ende”. Originally I was going to do the late 80s logo they have e.g. on the 80s live vhs/dvd but then I just saw another post in my dä blog’s queue and I just needed to do this logo instead!
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I had just a couple of weeks prior ordered a pack of white Sakura Gelly Roll pens and needed to test what would make the best compination and with which black!
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I also had bought a white paint pen but it’s useless. As you see, it just looks grey after it dries and it just... doesn’t look nice. Plus it takes so much time to dry AND it’s extremely messy and I have paint more in my hands and a puddle on the paper but barely none where it should be. So my choice for the logo was to use either Pigma Microns or Promarkers (I think I chose the latter) and the thickest Gelly Roll aka 10. This was the result:
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And I’m actually super happy about how it came out! Couldn’t do that good looking spots on the letters because can’t make splashes with a gel pen so I did a few bigger ones here and there and then just poked everywhere with the pen to make it look more random. You can actually see how it’s slightly whiter than the paper if you look closely, but it’s not too strongly whiter so it looks pretty nice like this.
So, this was less work than the “Widumihei” one but it was also an interesting piece to draw. And I think I have now this comic drawing more freshly in mind so that drawing the next ones (there’s three waiting for sketching already) will be much easier as well :)
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kindrednerdspirit · 4 years ago
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Sometimes a Thing Feels so Right: Part 5
Excerpt: A slow smile spreads across Izzie’s face. “This time, I’m ready to broadcast our business.” “Oh yeah?” Casey murmurs. “Pretty sure we’ve already done that.” The curve of Izzie’s lips makes it hard for Casey to think about anything else, so she inches closer until their foreheads touch. The two giggle as they re-live the forehead promise from their not-so-distant past. To draw out the moment, Casey gently rocks her temples against Izzie’s, enjoying how tantalizingly close their lips are.
One Block Later. The Library.
When Izzie walks into the library for the student council meeting, she’s pleased to see Mel is early, too.
Mel looks up from her notebook. “Hey. I know we already have the safe space posters printed and ready to hang up, but I have some ideas for future designs. And ideas for other ways we can make Clayton Prep an LGBTQ+ friendly place.” 
“Great! Hold that thought.” Izzie quickly texts Jason to check up on him.
Hi Jase. Did mum help you and Alysha get ready for school?
The two girls jump into it. They’re about 15 minutes into their work when Harmony and Scarlet show up.
“Wow, you’re early!” Scarlet exclaims, looking at the girls. Izzie shrugs and keeps working. Scarlet scrutinizes her as she makes her way over to the table. Her eyes burn into Izzie, making it hard for her to concentrate.
“What?” She asks, her voice a bit too sharp.
“Your energy feels different, that’s all.” Scarlet ignores Izzie’s tone, continuing her visual inspection. “Did you hear anything else from Brad?”
The pen in Izzie’s hand stops in its tracks. The last people she wants to hear about are Brad or Nate or some other guy she cannot care less about. In the past, she’s repeatedly made this clear, but these two are relentless. Izzie sighs, because she knows It’s time to go public. Before she can change her mind, she looks directly at Harmony and Scarlet and straightens her back, so she’s not slouching in her chair.  “You know that I think Nate and Brad are assholes and I’m tired of repeating myself… so, I’m hoping you’ll listen to this--I’m gay.”
Harmony’s eyes widen and repeatedly blink. Scarlet doesn’t look much different than Harmony, but she’s able to form some words.
“Oh, shit, Izzie. I--we didn’t know.” A long silence fills the library. “Sorry.”
To her right, Mel shifts in her seat, but despite everything, Izzie feels fine. Actually, she feels an odd sense of relief. She realizes she rarely sees Scarlet uncomfortable, so she decides to enjoy the moment.
“Damn, you two, nobody died. I like girls, it’s cool.” Izzie looks over at Mel and the two burst out laughing. “We have to go ladies, but no hard feelings. Really.”
The two girls take their LGBTQ+ posters and leave, so they can start hanging them up in the hallways. Meanwhile, Harmony and Scarlet find themselves alone and digesting the news.
“Do you think her and Casey--” asks Harmony.
“Yes,” replies Scarlet with a firm nod.
“So, we probably shouldn’t have written ‘slut’ and ‘ho’ on her shoes then--”
“No, we shouldn’t have,” she says with a firm head shake.
Harmony inches her hand toward Scarlet’s. “Should we--”
The warmth of Harmony’s hand startles her, making her quickly pull away. “No.”
Concern clouds over Harmony’s face. “Should I--”
“Yes.” Scarlet replies a bit too quickly. She forces herself to look at the wall, anywhere but her friend. In a flash, Harmony grabs her notebook and pencil case, then scurries out of the library.
Break Between Classes. In the Hallway.
“I can’t reach any higher.” Izzie protests while on her tippy toes. She’s holding a stapler with an outstretched arm.
Mel is holding the safe space poster with ease against the bulletin board. “Would you like me to find you a box?”
“Haha. Very funny.” Iz rolls her eyes. “But, yes, a box would help.”
With a grin Mel takes the stapler from Izzie. “Or, you know, I can do this and you can hold the posters.” She proceeds to staple the top right-hand edge of the poster. Out of the corner of her eye, she spots Casey walking down the hallway.
“Yo, Izzie. Casey 4 o’clock.”
At the sight of Newton, Izzie sucks in a quick breath. This is her chance. “Here, Mel. Hold these or something.” Izzie drops the small stack of posters on the ground and whirls around to face Casey’s direction. Her body is shaking as she tries to find the right words.
“Hey. Can we talk?” Izzie’s voice quavers.
“Nope,” Casey replies firmly.
“I’m sorry.” Iz follows Newton to her locker, while Newton aggressively puts in the lock combination.
“I'm sick of you apologizing. You led me on, you're jerking me around. I hate it.”
“I really like you.”
Her pleading and stating the obvious irks Casey even more. “Yeah, in this moment, but in ten minutes, you might be embarrassed by me or kissing some random guy. Just leave me alone.” She slams the locker door, then abruptly turns and starts marching down the hallway.
“Newton!” Izzie is on Casey’s heels. “Will you stop for two seconds so I can explain?” 
It’s as if Casey is seeing red. She’s exhausted from avoiding Izzie at track this morning, nevermind what is currently happening. Needless to say, when she turns to face Izzie, she is done with this conversation.
“What?” Her brow is furrowed, but when she notices Izzie’s close proximity, her eyes soften.
They are close enough for their bare legs to touch. One of the few perks of a Clayton Prep skirt. Izzie hovers close before dipping her chin up. “I’m done being weird,” she murmurs. Casey’s heart is practically bursting as she watches Izzie’s lips part. It’s deja vu of the dance. The two of them in the exact same position with their lips close, but it’s different this time. This time, Izzie initiates. But like before, time slows as the two enjoy one another’s presence and touch. Their legs gently bump together as their arms intertwine.
Her lips taste delicious, like soft, warm vanilla beans. Exactly how Casey remembers. She brushes away a strand of Izzie’s hair after pulling away. Their eyes are locked on one another, a happy glow emitting from the couple. 
Izzie hasn’t felt this good in weeks, not since the dance. She figured she’d feel self-conscious after kissing Casey in front of everyone in the hallway, instead she feels fine. More than fine, even. There’s a strange sense of pride. She’s happy to show off what she has with Newton to Clayton Prep.
“That was pretty weird.” A dumbstruck grin spreads across Casey’s face. This is not what she imagined happening during her walk from Biology to English. She’s still wondering whether the last few minutes actually happened.
Doubt sets in at Newton’s response. Izzie feels her inexperience showing. Was the kiss okay? Did Newton feel the same?
“Bad weird?” She tentatively asks.
Casey just chuckles and throws an arm around Izzie’s shoulders, leading her toward their next class.
“I have so much to tell you!” 
Iz giggles, ecstatic to have her girlfriend holding her close, to have her favourite person back.
“First of all, I told my dad that I love you.” Casey feels her body being pulled back, as Izzie’s feet stop moving. Her eyebrows shoot up as she struggles to find the words.
“Wow, Newton, I--”
“But he thought I meant as a friend.” The two girls laugh at the ridiculousness of it all. “I would’ve corrected him but.. I wasn’t sure about us.” There’s an uncomfortable silence for a few beats. Iz presses her hand firmly against Newton’s. 
“You can be sure about us.”
A Few Weeks Later. Getting Ready for the School Dance. Gardner’s House.
When Casey walks down the stairs in her 1980s-style yellow and black patterned button-up shirt with black suspenders, Elsa feels a surge of pride in her daughter. She cannot restrain herself, she has to throw her arms around her girl and squeeze tight.
“I’m so proud of you!” Casey’s outfit matches the 1980s theme of Clayton Prep’s dance, and it’s reminding Elsa of her first high school dance with its overabundance of neon, big hair, and hormones.
“Mum!” Casey protests with an eye roll. “It’s not like it’s prom or grad, it’s just a dance. Or what you kids used to call it, sock hops.” She’s waiting in the living room, so she can make a quick escape with Izzie when she shows up.
Elsa is now leaning on Doug, enjoying the moment, ignoring her daughter’s teasing. “Can you believe that our youngest is going to her first dance with her first girlfriend?” Her eyes are starting to water. Doug pulls Elsa in with one arm, so her chin is resting on his shoulders. 
“They grow up fast.” He says quietly enough so only Elsa hears.
By this point, Casey has noticed the water works are starting, so she wanders over to Sam who’s sitting on the couch sketching. She gets all up in his personal space by resting her chin on his shoulders. There’s no hesitation or pause in the pencil’s movements. It’s as if Casey isn’t even there.
Ding-dong.
Within seconds, Casey is flinging open the door. She needs a quick exit to escape from the Elsa paparazzi. Except that as soon as she sees Izzie, the quick exit gets scratched. Izzie is wearing a denim jumper, somewhat similar to her own, but more stylized with buttons and rolled up sleeves. Her ears are adorned with her usual hoop earrings, but she’s paired them with a Boy George inspired hat.
A sheepish smile spreads across her face. “Hey, Newton.” She peers around her girlfriend to look at the Gardner family. “Hi Gardners!”
There’s a flurry as Elsa ushers Izzie and Casey inside. “You girls look so cute! Come in, I just want to take a few pictures.”
Casey gives Izzie an apologetic look, but of course, Izzie doesn’t mind. It’s kind-of nice seeing Casey’s family wanting to document and remember this moment. There are pictures taken of them as a couple, then they move on to taking some pictures of the Gardner family.
Sam pauses while Elsa is taking one of him and Casey.
“Are you and Izzie more serious than you and Evan?” His question is genuine.
“Dude, what the hell?” Casey exclaims before glancing over at Izzie. Izzie laughs, not bothered by his question.
“I need another person to go to for advice, like Evan, but I don’t know if I should expect your relationship status to change.”
Casey playfully punches her brother’s shoulder.
“Ow!” His face is scrunched up. “Why did you do that?”
“Because I’m your sister. It’s basically my duty to communicate with you in annoying ways.” Casey walks over to Izzie, wraps her arm around her, then pulls her in for a kiss on the cheek. “I can’t say she’ll give you advice, weirdo, but she’ll be around for awhile.”
***
Synthesizers and dreamy British, New Wave sounds fill the gymnasium. There is a lot of neon, big hair, hormones, and bright lights on the polished gym floor. Izzie stretches out her arm, holding up an inviting palm to Newton. A slow, confident smile spreads across Casey’s face before she takes Izzie’s hand.
“You look…” Her brain is at a sudden loss for words.
“You too.” Izzie finishes her sentence, then promptly blushes before looking at her feet.
“C’mon, let’s show these Clayton Prep losers how to dance.” Casey proceeds to reach into her pocket and pull out fingerless gloves. Izzie’s eyebrows shoot up. 
“I got them from Elsa’s closet.” 
“My girlfriend is unbelievably cool.” Iz says with a wink before placing Newton’s fingerless-gloved hands around her waist. “Hold Me” by Fleetwood Mac begins playing from the speakers. In response, Casey pumps a fist in excitement and carefully but skillfully dips Izzie with her other arm. 
“The power of the fingerless gloves.” She giggles.
“And you think Sam’s a weirdo?” Iz smirks.
The two begin Snoopy dancing to the upbeat piano and guitar licks. Elsewhere, Harmony and Scarlet are dancing suspiciously close, while Mel is talking up some girls at the punch bar. Despite the entire student body surrounding her, Iz doesn’t feel self-conscious at all. She’s just happy she’s no longer hiding anything.
“Time After Time” by Cyndi Lauper begins playing, so the girls ditch the Peanuts-inspired dancing. Izzie cannot help but think of the hotel party as the familiar electricity between them pulls their bodies together. Her hands slip around the small of Newton’s back as their bodies rhythmically sway together.
A slow smile spreads across Izzie’s face. “This time, I’m ready to broadcast our business.” 
“Oh yeah?” Casey murmurs. “Pretty sure we’ve already done that.” The curve of Izzie’s lips makes it hard for Casey to think about anything else, so she inches closer until their foreheads touch. The two giggle as they re-live the forehead promise from their not-so-distant past. To draw out the moment, Casey gently rocks her temples against Izzie’s, enjoying how tantalizingly close their lips are.
Iz bites her lip. She wants to resist the urge to taste Newton, but her deliciously warm lips are too inviting. Goosebumps appear on her goosebumps. She feels the familiar tingly feeling that only Newton has ever given her. She could get used to this. This whole being happy at school, time away from her home responsibilities, being comfortable with her identity. Iz feels the remaining tension in her body loosen and the warmth of Newton’s arms around her. She feels safe in her embrace. Neither wants to let go, so they continue moving back and forth, as one, with their foreheads pressed together well after the song ends.
The End
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Note
These Fanfics of Shin and Carla of nice and all...but we want the story on how Carla Tsukinami stoke your ham sandwich! The greedy bast*rd he is...
Anon, this is one of my favourite asks ever and I love you. Thank you so much for giving me an opportunity to shamelessly insert myself into the world of DL I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I did writing it :)
I wrote myself as a nameless herione (because I don’t think most of you know my name) which also means you can treat it as a reader insert if you want to, but bare in mind this is based on how I would react in this situation and there are some details that are a bit specific to me.
“Hm, I wonder if I’m allowed up here?” The girl glanced back at the door to the rooftop of Ryoutei Academy, trying to spot any sort of kanji that could translate to “Keep Out” but found none. Shrugging to herself she concluded that if anyone caught her up here when she wasn’t supposed to be, then she would have to play the confused foreign student card and hope for the best.
A mild scolding seemed better than going back to the cafeteria anyway.
She looked down at the slightly sorry looking lunchbox in her hands and loosed a sigh. It was only her second day at her new school and already she felt herself desperately missing her friends and the familiarity of her old school. 
The other students had all been pleasant enough- aside from the boy with glasses in her class, who she’d caught eyeing the hemline of her skirt with obvious disapproval, as though it was somehow her fault that whoever made the school uniform had not done so with five foot nine female transfer students in mind- but the thought of trying to navigate getting food when almost all of the signs were in kanji she didn’t recognize made her gut roll with anxiety.
Besides at least the rooftop was pretty, with troughs of well kept roses lining the space and a perfect view of Kaminashi town, just beyond the iron railing, the lights from the small shopping district a warm glow against the midnight blue sky.
The girl walked over to the edge of the rooftop, intent on giving herself a moment to admire the townscape when a nearby rose caught her eye. It’s petals were such a dark red, they looked almost black in the modest illumination provided by the few lights lining the roof. She crouched down on the balls of her feet and set her lunchbox carefully to the side. Something about the scene, the dark flower with the night sky behind it, made her fingers itch with the urge to sketch it. 
“I don’t think I could do the dark colors justice with my watercolors and I can’t do realism with markers so maybe colored pencils would be best?” She muttered to herself she tried to find the perfect angle for some reference photos she could use later, while reaching into her pocket for her phone. “Acrylics could work I guess but I don’t have any canvas here and I-”
“What are you doing?” A low voice came from right beside her ear. The girl let out a high-pitched shriek and jolted in surprise, barely catching her balance in time.
She loosed a breath before turning her head in the direction of whoever had spoken, but before she could, they spoke again.
“Hahh, that’s no good… Hmph!” A rough shove sent her sprawling into the roses. Thorns scratched at her skin and she cursed as her hands plunged in the damp mulch, just barely stopping her from face-planting into the dirt. The rest of her however, was not so lucky, and she knew from the way her torso had landed in the soil that her skirt’s hemline had just become the least of her worries as far as her uniform was concerned.
A cruel laugh came from behind her and she turned to look up, filled with some mixture of anger and embarrassment. 
But whatever had been brewing petered out the moment she laid eyes on the culprit. He was quite possibly the most beautiful boy she’d ever seen; short choppy, strawberry blonde hair framed pale face with an eye the most incredible shade of gold. 
He was utterly stunning.
The effect was promptly ruined however, when he opened his mouth, face twisting into a sneer.
“Haha, how pathetic, crawling around in the dirt.” He continued to chuckle as she pushed herself up onto her hands and knees, wincing slightly at the way they stung where they’d scraped against the ground. 
“Heehhh, aren’t you going to say something?” The boy asked, the humor in his expression dying down as he regarded her as one might a spot of mould on a piece of bread. “Or is it that you’re so stupid, you can’t understand what I’m saying?”
The girl froze slightly, unsure how to navigate whatever was going on. Was this guy a bully? Her strategy for dealing with bullies until now had generally been to avoid them or ignore them, neither of which seemed like a good idea here.
“Oiii Miss idiot, are you going to keep ignoring me until I do something like this?” Before she could react the boy placed a heavy black boot on her hand and started to put his weight onto it.
Shit.
“What do you want from me?” She blurted out, praying silently that she hadn’t messed up the Japanese grammar, which really shouldn’t have been a concern given this encounter could feasibly end with a broken hand.
The pressure stopped briefly and she took the chance to tug her hand out from her under his shoe and get to her feet. The girl was a little surprised to find that the boy was no taller than she was, although his general aura of menace certainly made him intimidating enough without needing any extra height. 
“Ah, so you can talk. As for what I want… why don’t we start with an apology for shrieking in my ear earlier? It hurt you know?” He made a show of obnoxiously cleaning out his ear with his finger and the girl found herself completely lost for words. Well, that wasn’t entirely true, there were a lot of words swirling in her brain, all of them English and not to be used amongst polite company.
Biting back the urge to tell him to fuck off, she reminded herself that she was currently alone with this guy on a rooftop and angering him further probably would not end well. “I apologize for shouting in your ear, you surprised me. I’ll be going now.” Lunch forgotten, she went to make a hasty retreat to the rooftop door but was stopped short when the male put himself directly into her path. 
“Not so fast, you haven’t answered my question yet. What were you doing up here, sticking your head into the roses like some kind of animal?” The girl tried to keep her breathing even, as she felt panic rise in her veins.
“I wanted to take pictures as drawing references, I didn’t realize that-” an arsehole like you would show up “-someone else was already here, forgive me, I’ll be on my way.” She went to take a step around him, when the boy took a step towards her, forcing her to take one back. Soon her back was pressed up against the railing and she internally cursed.
“You just wanted to draw some pictures of the flowers? Isn’t that a bit childish? Well, I guess you still wear kid’s underwear so I shouldn’t be surprised.” The girl spluttered and instinctively went to yank down her skirt, a slightly ridiculous action, considering he must have seen everything when he pushed her earlier. 
“That-that doesn’t have anything to do with it,” she said, eyes on the ground as her face burned with shame. “Please, just let me leave.”
“You know, you still sound pretty demanding for someone who’s shaking and is covered in mud. Also,” he paused, sniffing the air briefly before glancing down at her knees, “ah I wondered where that awful scent was coming from, geez human blood really isn’t appealing at all.” The girl looked at her legs and caught sight of red liquid staining her knees, but that wasn’t what made her pause.
“Human blood? What are you-” A cold dread spread through her as she looked back up at the boy and the inhuman color of his iris. This had to be some sort of awful prank right?
“Oh, maybe I spoke too much, but that reaction isn’t bad, haha. Hey, what do you think I am?” He asked her, opening his mouth just wide enough to reveal a pair of gleaming white fangs.
“That’s… There’s no way… You can’t…” The girl struggled to process the image in front of her, trying to find some sensible sounding explanation. He had to be a nutjob with fake fangs right? A nutjob who liked to terrorize girls on rooftops and happened to go to a night school.
“Ah how boring. Shouldn’t most girls be crying with fear by now? I don’t want to but, would you react a bit more if I pierced you with these fangs?” He lowered his face and panic surged through her. Lunatic or something else, she had no intention of being bitten by him. The girl went to shove him away from her, but before she could blink he had her arms pinned above her head.
“It seems you still haven’t learned that I’m not the sort of person you should fight back against. Hey, how much would it take to make you cry?” His grip on her wrists tightened and she winced at the strength in his grip. “Your wrists are pretty thin, I’d barely have to use any of my strength to snap your bones.”
“Please stop!” She begged, as she silently prayed for someone, anyone to intervene.
“Oi Shin, what are you doing?” An incredibly deep voice came from the entrance to the rooftop and the girl said a silent word of thanks.
“Huh,” Shin looked over his shoulder, allowing the girl a glance at her savior. He was tall, with long white hair, that appeared dyed pink at the tips. A dark scarf covered the lower half of his face, while above it were a pair of piercing golden eyes. 
A shudder ran down her spine as her gaze locked with his for a moment, suddenly feeling a lot less safe than she had just a moment ago.
“Ah brother, I was just having a bit of fun.” The girl wasn’t sure which part of this statement horrified her more. That her so called savoir was actually related to the demonic pile of steaming garbage in front of her or that this was Shin’s version of fun. 
“That’s enough, we have matters to discuss.” The man walked over from the door to the roof, his footsteps stopping just behind Shin.
“Tch,” Shin let go of her arms, only to grip hold of her chin, moving his face uncomfortably close to hers. “Hey, if you tell anyone about what happened here, I’ll rip your tongue out, got it?” His fangs caught the light as he spoke, and the girl felt very close to tears as she muttered a soft yes. 
Shin flashed her that nasty smile of his before letting go. “Well then, get out of here!” 
Needing no further prompting, she hastily got away from him, pausing only to grab her school bag. As she did so, she caught sight of her lunchbox in the older boys hands and faltered. 
“Go!” Shin yelled and the girl concluded that the ham sandwich and peanut butter flavored chocolate bar contained in the hundred yen tupperware were not worth her life as she borderline ran to the rooftop door, slamming it shut behind her. 
***
Carla watched the girl flee from the rooftop with a dispassionate expression. 
“What exactly did you do?” He asked, more concerned with trying to keep their low profile as they furthered their objective than anything else.
“Nothing much, I just toyed with her a bit. She’s only a human so it doesn’t really matter does it? More importantly, why did you keep hold of that?” Shin nodded towards the plastic container in Carla’s hands. 
Carla said nothing as he opened up the box and pulled out a modest sandwich wrapped neatly in clingfilm. Removing some of the wrap, he sniffed it briefly before muttering.
“I thought so.”
Shin took a deep breath through his nose. “Ah, I see, a dry cured ham sandwich huh?”
“Normally I would never eat something prepared by human hands but to take away the taste of that polluted blood, it can’t be helped.” Carla lowered his scarf and took a bite of the sandwich, chewing a few times as he deemed it to be palatable before swallowing. “Oi Shin, take this.” He threw a plastic wrapped bar at his brother and Shin caught it without effort.
He turned it over in his hands before spotting the reason why his brother had given it to him. “Peanut butter huh? Well at least it seems that girl’s good for something.”
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sanderssidesfanfiction · 5 years ago
Text
Royal Growing Pains - Chapter Twelve
Warnings: Homophobia, transphobia, misgendering, sympathetic Deceit
Royal Growing Pains Tag
Who he saw on the other side of the door surprised him. “Damien?” he asked. “What are you doing here?”
“Well, Father’s meetings are over and we were about to have dinner, so I figured I could walk you down there. I hope that’s all right?” Damien asked.
“Oh, yeah! Sure!” Roman said, walking out and closing the door behind him.
“So, I saw that you had a sketchbook when Virgil found you about to pass out in the hallway,” Damien said. “Anything interesting in there?”
Roman flushed and tried to ignore the way his heart hammered as he thought about his sketches of Damien. “Uh, not too much. Some flowers, trees, faces, people. Just little random things that don’t take too much effort to draw.”
“You wouldn’t happen to have drawn me, would you?” Damien asking, smirking.
“I...uh...what?” Roman asked. Did Damien know? Worse, had he flipped through Roman’s sketchbook?!
“I’m merely teasing, my dear,” Damien said after a half-beat of silence. “I know I’m not much to look at.”
Roman laughed. “Well, that’s a complete lie.”
Damien turned to Roman with a slight frown. “I beg your pardon?”
“Then beg,” Roman said. “You’re not ‘nothing to look at,’ you’re rather attractive.”
Damien turned bright crimson. “I can only assume you’re the only person here who thinks that,” he managed to choke out. He mumbled something that sounded vaguely like, “The only person that matters,” but Roman couldn’t figure out exactly how deep he wanted to go down that rabbit hole, so he let it be for now.
“I mean, I have heard several people who are either visiting or are new workers talk about you and your looks in a positive light,” Roman said conversationally. “Which is not to say that people who have known you longer think you’re less attractive, just that you at the very least hold yourself well around others.”
“At first glance, to be sure, but the fact that it’s only people who don’t know me speaks more to me than you’d like to admit,” Damien said. “I can only act proper for so long before I have to be human again.”
Roman laughed and offered Damien a soft smile, which caused Damien to stare, even as they kept walking...and he proceeded to tumble down a flight of stairs as a result. “Oh, god!” Roman exclaimed, rushing down the stairs and stopping on the third step, one step above where Damien’s legs had landed, as he was sprawled on his back, blinking up at the ceiling with a wince. “Are you okay?!”
“What can I say, my dear?” Damien weakly laughed as guards rushed into the room. “I can’t help falling for you.”
Roman laughed, only slightly hysterical. “Damien, you nearly snapped your neck and that’s all you can say?”
Damien sat up with a groan and rubbed his head. “Relax, my dear, this is hardly the first time I’ve fallen down the steps. I’m what you might call a ‘klutz,’” he joked.
“So am I, and I’ve fallen down my fair share of stairs, which means I know how much it hurts,” Roman said. “Are you okay?”
“Aside from my head and back throbbing, I’m fine,” Damien said. “It’s not every day I land on my head and proceed to do a flip down the stairs. That’s impressive, even for me.”
Roman laughed again, and he definitely was hysterical this time. “I’m so sorry,” he apologized.
Damien shrugged. “Could be worse. I could have been holding a child,” he offered.
“Considering your track record with balance, I don’t think anyone would hand you a child, let alone allow you to carry one around stairs,” Roman said drily.
“Okay, you have a point,” he said, standing shakily. “But I’m fine.”
“Uh, I’ll be the judge of that,” Virgil said, walking in. “Down the stairs again, Damien? Really? Are you and Roman trying to make me go gray this week?”
“No, but it’s always an added bonus,” Damien said, offering a cheeky grin.
Virgil retaliated by shining his flashlight in Damien’s eyes, causing Damien to groan. “Well, no immediate signs of a concussion,” Virgil said. “But if you puke, you’re answering to me for not looking where you were walking again.”
“It was my fault,” Roman said. “I distracted him.”
“Listen, Roman, I don’t care how pretty your smile is, Damien needs to look where he’s walking. It’s his fault.” Virgil scoffed. “Damien may have the hots for you, but that’s no excuse.”
“I do not—!” Damien sputtered. “How dare—You little—Oh, I’m going to kill you when we spar next.”
“Good luck with that,” Virgil said simply. Then, he turned and called down the hall, “Everything’s fine, His Royal Highness merely fell down the stairs...again!”
Faintly, the Queen’s laughter floated into the room and Roman giggled, walking down the rest of the steps and guiding a very red Damien to the dining room. “I can’t believe you hijacked my joke!” Roman exclaimed in a hushed whisper. “You hi-joked!”
“What, so you have a monopoly on ‘falling for you’ jokes?” Damien playfully scoffed.
“Yes!” Roman exclaimed. “It’s the only good joke I’ve got! Allow me that joke, please!”
Damien rolled his eyes, though the smile he wore ruined the effect. “What will you do if I don’t?” he asked. “Kiss me into quiet?”
Roman squeaked and turned red, looking away. Oh, god, why did Damien have to be this cute? Anyone else and Roman could have easily shouted them down. But with Damien, he actually wanted to do that. “I might tell your parents that you’ve been nothing but cheeky with me for the whole day.”
Damien chewed his lip. “They wouldn’t be pleased with that,” he admitted softly. “Okay. The ‘falling for you’ jokes are all yours...for now.”
Roman grinned victoriously just as they walked into the dining room, and the Queen and King laughed. “I’m sure whatever just happened between you two must have been something, with a smile like that,” the King said.
Roman blushed a little but his smile didn’t dim as he and Damien sat next to each other at the table. His mother was across from him and the King was across from Damien, with the Queen next to the King. Patton and a few cooks walked out, and Roman grinned. Soup, with bacon and potatoes as the main ingredients, if Roman wasn’t mistaken. “Try not to spill any soup, Your Highness,” Patton teased. “I know you’re a klutz but you want to come across as somewhat competent.”
“Ha ha ha. You’re hilarious, Patton,” Damien said with an eye-roll. “Believe it or not, I can work a spoon for soup.”
“Just reminding you,” Patton said. “Seeing as how there was a crash loud enough that we heard it in the kitchen, I figured you must have dropped something.”
“Yeah, that something was himself. Down the stairs,” Roman said, smirking.
Patton laughed. “Oh, Your Highness, what are we going to do with you?” He shook his head, laughing with the other cooks as they retreated to the kitchen.
Damien sulked as Roman laughed with the King and Queen about Damien’s track record with balance. “Chin up, Damien,” Roman said, nudging him. “When we dance again, you get to laugh at me all you want.”
“My dear, I don’t want to laugh at you,” Damien said. “I’m just tired of being known as a klutz.”
Roman sighed and gave Damien a small smile. “I know the feeling of not wanting to be branded as something for life.”
Roman’s mother gave him a searching stare. Roman pretended not to notice. Maybe that last comment gave too much away, but he was certain to be in trouble should he look up nervously now. “So, Damien, anything you can talk about in the meetings you attended today?” Roman asked.
“Not much that would be of interest to you, I’m afraid,” Damien sighed. “I will say that during the talk about security, Virgil did bring up security risks, and true to form, everyone gave me a stern look. But they did joke about me sneaking off the grounds in the middle of the night to escape the wedding.”
“If anything, that would be me,” Roman laughed. “You live here. It wouldn’t be fair to make you run away from your own home.”
Damien offered Roman a teasing smile. “Oh, you’ve put thought into this,” Damien said. “Not getting cold feet, are you, my dear?”
“I would argue that my feet were never warm in the first place,” Roman said. “But your hospitality has acted like a pair of fuzzy socks.”
Damien’s eyes lit up. “You genuinely mean that?”
Roman took a sip of soup as he nodded. “Mhm. You’ve changed my mind about this whole ordeal. I’m not...you know... thrilled or over the moon, so to speak, but you make the thought more bearable.”
Damien looked down at the table, grinning wide, before glancing at Roman and looking like he was about to squeal. “I’m happy that I can make you more comfortable in this ordeal,” he eventually said.
Roman offered Damien a smile. “I’m rather happy that you make the effort. I don’t know many people who would do that with complete sincerity.”
Damien reached out hesitantly before giving Roman’s hand a gentle squeeze. “Of course, my dear. It just wouldn’t do to allow you to remain uncomfortable if I have the power to change that.”
Roman nodded. Simple chivalry. That’s all Damien was offering him at the moment. It wasn’t a bad thing, and there wasn’t any worry about him offering feelings that Roman wouldn’t know what to do with. He had boyfriends before, sure, but never when he was out as being trans. Not when the other party knew he was trans. And he didn’t know what he would do if someone accepted him in his entire identity.
So why did some part of him feel disappointed that’s all it was?
“Veronica,” his mother said. He threw her a glance, and she continued, “What do you plan on doing this evening?”
“Why?” Roman asked. “The doctor said I needed rest, I can’t exactly push myself.”
His mother tsked. “Would you have the energy to talk to your father? He’s been asking after you and I think if he heard your voice it would calm his worries.”
Roman cringed. “Father wouldn’t want to talk to me,” he said. “At the very least, I don’t want to talk to him. He’s still convinced he’s right over our argument and I very much do not want to devolve into a shouting match.”
“You know that your father and I were right in that, Veronica,” his mother warned.
“No. I don’t,” Roman said. “Neither of you would listen to my position, my reasoning. And I will not blindly follow you off a cliff. You may be trying to prove your point, but all I see is cowardice and ignorance on yours and Father’s front. How scared of change do you have to be to toss anything that you don’t like changing to the side, like trash? Do you really think so little of me? That you would rather I stay quiet and miserable than speak my mind and feel comfortable?”
His mother was outright glaring at him, and he just scowled right back. “And you wonder why you feel like I’ve been avoiding you,” Roman scoffed, “When you refuse to listen to my side of the story! I know myself, Mother! Better than you or Father do! Maybe I’m not the Crown Prince, like Remus is, but my opinions still matter!”
Damien put his hand on Roman’s. “My dear, perhaps we should go somewhere private to eat? Clearly, there are some fresh wounds that you may need to talk through, away from those causing those wounds in the first place.” The last part was said with a pointed look at Roman’s mother.
Roman’s mother turned her ire onto Damien. “Damien, you do not know the way our family functions. To have you only listen to one side of the story would be unwise.”
“If this argument is the one related to the ‘stunt’ you referred to last night, then I have already heard your thoughts on the matter. You are right that hearing only one side of the story is not wise, but so far I have only heard yours,” Damien said coolly. “Perhaps a gentler touch than the one you’re providing is needed.”
Roman’s mother gasped and the Queen softly warned, “Damien, that was out of line.”
“Well, I cannot sit here and watch as my fiancé suffers!” Damien protested. “Has Her Majesty told you what has been going on within their family?”
“She has,” the Queen said. “She explained to me last night.”
“Then you must understand how that sort of tension wears on a person! All I want to do is make sure that my betrothed has the space needed to vent, or to cry. Truth be told, I am beyond incensed at this entire situation! I do not want to be part of some little scheme to ‘set someone straight,’ I wanted to have the freedom to marry someone who I truly loved! You took that from me!” Damien’s voice cracked as he stood, and Roman was frozen in place. He had never even considered Damien might feel that way. “I spend time with Veronica because neither of us wanted to be in this situation, but now that we are, the least we can do is make each other feel a little better! I understand that she’s sweet, and kind, and marrying her would be some sort of benefit to both kingdoms, but never, not once, were our opinions or feelings considered! I wanted to marry someone I truly loved, and I don’t doubt Veronica felt the same! You stole that from us! All of you! And you have the nerve to say that we shouldn’t speak our minds, and how we feel about this?! It’s not fair!”
The whole table was silent, and Damien grabbed his bowl of soup, saying to Roman, “My dear, would you rather we eat somewhere else?”
“Please,” Roman said, voice small. He grabbed his bowl and followed Damien out the door.
They walked in silence until they reached the mudroom, and Damien sat down on one of the benches, gesturing for Roman to sit. He took the opposite bench, balancing his bowl on shaky legs. “I’m sorry,” Roman blurted.
Damien blinked in surprise. “For what, my dear?”
“I...I never once considered how you might feel being forced to marry me. I knew that I didn’t want to be married, if only because you didn’t know who I truly was, but the option for you to marry someone you truly loved was ripped away in this scheme as well, and I never stopped to consider...” Roman swallowed, looking away.
“My dear, don’t blame yourself,” Damien said. “Like I said in the dining room, it was our parents who took that opportunity away from us. Furthermore, I don’t want you to blame yourself for saying you don’t wish to speak with your father, understand? That may have started this discussion, but I was bound to lose my temper sooner or later. Being around your mother does that to me.”
Roman snorted. “She has that effect on a lot of people.”
Damien actually giggled at that, slightly hysterically. “I sincerely hope this doesn’t affect the marriage. Much as I would love to court a man properly, your safety is paramount in this situation.”
Roman felt his heart skip a beat at that declaration. “Do you truly mean that?” he asked. “I understand if you would like to call this off, and I’m sure we could convince your parents to stop it if we staged a falling out...”
“No, Roman,” Damien said. “I want to make sure that you are safe. Remember our first true discussion out at the cliff? We can always choose different lovers than each other, if we so wish. And so long as they understand that this is consensual, there wouldn’t be any issues.”
Roman nodded reluctantly. Truth be told, he didn’t want a lover other than Damien, not now, maybe not ever. But if Damien had his heart set on another man, it wouldn’t be fair to Damien for Roman to stop him. After all, Roman was the one who was just dropped into Damien’s lap and everyone expected Damien to be fine with it. If there was someone else in Damien’s life, it wouldn’t be fair for Roman to expect Damien just drop him for the sake of their arranged marriage.
They ate their soup in silence for a few minutes, before Damien sighed. “Roman, I don’t know if you realize how close I was to throttling your mother. When this whole ordeal is over, I may make plans to ban her from the kingdom.”
“She wouldn’t want to come back if I continue my transition and ‘become’ a man,” Roman sighed. “It feels a bit like a moot point.”
“I’d still do it,” Damien said. “Especially because of the distress this caused you. I can’t tell you how close I was to telling your mother that I knew, and that she needed to respect you. But seeing as how calling you ‘Roman’ would have let her know that we had discussed this, I tried to keep my language as gender neutral as possible.”
“I know, and I greatly appreciate it,” Roman said. “I’m sure your parents are relieved as well that you didn’t do that. You would have put them in a very tricky position, between telling you to calm down and trying to convince my mother that they were on her side without hurting me.”
“My parents’ comfort comes second,” Damien said. “If they were uncomfortable with you being transgender, I wouldn’t care how uncomfortable they were. I would still use your real name.”
Roman offered Damien a soft smile. “You’re too kind, Your Highness.”
“I would argue you expect too little, Your Highness,” Damien shot back, mischief in his eyes.
“Oh?” Roman asked, smirking himself. “And how do you propose we settle this dispute?”
Damien offered Roman a shrug. “I don’t know. I suppose we could always go the cheesy rom-com route and kiss each other for a full minute.”
“Tongues battling for dominance?” Roman teased. “Like a certain fanfiction of Remus’ I may or may not have read wherein he tried to use every single trope he hated in a single fic?”
Damien howled with laughter and Roman snickered himself. “Oh, god, it’s been far too long since I’ve heard that phrase. I don’t suppose most fanfiction writers have grown out of using it?”
“I think it depends on the age and experience of the writer,” Roman said with an eye-roll. “I wouldn’t know for certain, however. Remus is the writer, I’m the artist.”
“Ah,” Damien said, nodding. “Makes sense. I haven’t read fanfiction in a while. All the shows I was interested in either ended or didn’t have much of an online fanbase, so I just...stopped.”
“You should try and pick it up again, if something sparks your fancy,” Roman said, finishing the last of his soup. “You never know, you might find a really good fic that makes you reevaluate your very existence.”
“Or at the very least find a new kink,” Damien muttered.
Roman choked. “Okay, see, that falls under reevaluating your very existence, for me, but you just sounded so much like Remus in that moment, I want to take a moment to appreciate that.”
Damien chuckled. “Your brother likes inappropriate jokes?”
“Oh, you have no idea,” Roman laughed.
Damien huffed a laugh. “Shall we put our bowls in the kitchen and find somewhere to hide from our parents for a while longer?”
“Sounds like a plan,” Roman agreed.
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