#i want to make more before i posted but meh

[foundtherightwords]

🏛 👑⚔️"Gladiator II" thoughts 🏛 👑⚔️

Before I start, I have to say that (and please don't throw me into the Colosseum for this) I think the first "Gladiator" is just okay. A solid epic historical/action flick, sure, but to me it's no more than that. And... well, "Gladiator II" is more or less the same, but with a less tight script and therefore less emotional resonance.

It's my biggest issue with the movie. The spectacles are great and the action sequences are solid, but I'm not interested in any of the characters (with the exception of the emperors and Macrinus.) They're all very one-note. To be fair, Acacius doesn't require a lot of dimensions and Pedro did a good job with the character, but Lucius and Lucilla... meh. For a movie that is 148 minutes long, it feels oddly rushed; I felt like I never had the time to get to know the characters or become invested in their fates.

On to the good parts: like I said, the emperors and Macrinus. The review that says Denzel is acting on another level and Joe is the only one that comes close to matching him is spot-on. Out of all the characters, Geta and Macrinus are the only two with some depth. Denzel is amazing, affable and gregarious one minute and then chilling and menacing the next. As for Geta, maybe I'm just biased, but it's so easy to make him one-dimensional too, except Joe imbued the character with nuance and subtlety, so although we don't get to spend a lot of time with them, we understand these two emperors and their dynamic very well. Fred also did great with Caracalla - in fact, if his character wasn't so deranged and erratic and Fred didn't play that to perfection, Geta wouldn't stand out as the sane one as much as he did. They really were the perfect double act.

OK, so those are my spoiler-free thoughts. If you haven't seen the movie, click away now! It's going to be all spoilers from here! This is your last warning! (Oh and I'll start posting my Geta fic next Tuesday. Here's a preview; if you want to be tagged, drop me a comment!)

Now if you don't mind spoilers, read on...

When we found out that Ridley Scott had done a switcheroo and made Geta the elder brother (interestingly, the subtitle at my theater has Caracalla as the elder, which suggests the translator did more historical research than Sir Ridley and his writer!), I guessed that the movie would still follow a bit of historical facts with Macrinus manipulates Caracalla into killing Geta (OK, the bit about Macrinus manipulating Caracalla is not historical, but Caracalla killing Geta is), and then Macrinus would kill Caracalla to take the throne. Well...

And Geta's death is... my God. I gasped out loud in the theater. The head afterward was a bit goofy, but I can't say it's not effective. Poor Joe. Not only his characters always get killed, they often get killed in the gnarliest ways too.

I'm very annoyed at those early reports saying that the emperors have about 20-30 minutes of screen time though. It's more like 10! This video?

That's basically all of Joe's scenes! (Fred gets more, obviously, but not by much.)

And again, I wish they would stop using cut scenes as promo (like with AQPD1), because this still?

Never happens.

The final fight between Lucius and Macrinus is weirdly anti-climactic. Macrinus is never set up as a great fighter anyway, so there is no tension in Lucius facing him.

Also, I know I complain a lot about the lack of historical accuracies, but the ending particularly annoys me because it makes it seem like Rome is finally getting better, except it wasn't! After the terrible reign of Caracalla, we get the even worse reign of Elagabalus, and then Severus Alexander, which is basically the calm before the storm that is the Crisis of the Third Century. So if Sir Ridley is doing "Gladiator III", I'd like to see how he wriggles his way out of that!

[heretodefyfate]

some alt vs trainer sprites and Rhodea <3

[randomuzerthelozer]

Insanity is infact wirting a long and over complicated rewrite(or at least making up a concept for a long and over complicated rewrite), that keeps in old plots you actively dislike BECAUSE you have this like "they could have acctually make this decent" but also adds new plots that you think would have been better, Knowing dam well I'll never post it

[pomefioredove]

Hiii!! Could you possibly do headcanons of overblot boys + adeuce with a s/o who likes to collect figures or like manga or something along those lines? Also I love your writing you’re awesome sauce. feel free to delete or ignore if you don’t wanna do it!! I understand :3

<3<3 ofc

*ੈ✩‧₊˚ collector! reader

type of post: headcanons characters: riddle, ace, deuce, leona, azul, jamil, vil, idia, malleus additional info: romantic or platonic, reader is gender neutral, reader is yuu

looking at... [vaguely gestures to Heartslabyul] all that, I can't imagine Riddle has any grounds to complain about knick-knacks or clutter. he literally lives in a minimalist's worst nightmare. he also gives the impression of a collector of odd trinkets. like stamps or antique tea cups. grandma vibes. probably gets you a nice display cabinet for your things

*ੈ✩‧₊˚

Ace is a sixteen year old boy who balls and thinks of himself as a lady's man. and, I mean, he loves you, but you can tell what he's about to say before he even opens his mouth. weeeeeeb... then he saves up all year just to gift you that one ridiculously priced figure for your birthday. like I said, he loves you, he just has a very... defensive temperament

*ੈ✩‧₊˚

I feel like Deuce is a really good listener (or, at least, he knows how to be quiet when you're talking, unlike a certain other Heartslabyul first year), even if he doesn't quite get it. besides maybe Jack, he's the most willing to watch your favorite shows with you, read your mangas together, hear about each individual trinket you own... even if he still doesn't understand. it makes you happy <3

*ੈ✩‧₊˚

Leona is more of a meh guy. "what do you want, a cookie?" is probably in his top ten favorite expressions. things to say when he doesn't care about something. and. listen. he cares about you, he does, but he's not really the type to pretend. he'll let you talk about your collection, though. as long as you're happy with him, you won't seek out Idia and become completely intolerable (his words, not mine!)

*ੈ✩‧₊˚

Azul is having flashbacks to all the junk that Jade and Floyd hoard. but, hey: at least your collection isn't of broken toasters or wild mushrooms. he can respect the pride you take in your hobbies, and the care you... wait, how much does all this cost?

...yeah. okay, he understands. definitely not toasters or mushrooms. your room is practically a museum

*ੈ✩‧₊˚

[Jamil voice] "once you're done playing with your toys will you come help me clean up the lounge"

no, he doesn't get it. you haven't said how much all of this costs because you think he might have a heart attack if he saw the numbers, and you keep your belongings tidy enough for him not to stress. so he doesn't complain

(and also because he knows they mean a great deal to you)

*ੈ✩‧₊˚

[Vil voice] "once you're done playing with your toys will you clean up the lounge" lol

he's not exactly jumping for joy when you spend all your allowance on plastic merchandise and picture books. I mean, he's already had to lend you his winter coat, and there was that week you had to stay at Pomefiore because the water at Ramshackle was out... but making purchases seems to make you happy, so he begrudgingly accepts it

there are worse hobbies to have, after all. [side-eyeing Rook]

*ੈ✩‧₊˚

I don't even want to write Idia's part. I'm afraid he'll materialize in my room and start fangirling over this (rip idia shroud you would have loved x readers)

but seriously, he's been recommending you his favorite mangas and animes and games. he probably buys you authentic figures that are thousands of thaumarks on a whim 'cause you kinda like the character. very sweet. very thoughtful. when should I book your wedding. etc

*ੈ✩‧₊˚

you'd think that Malleus would be astonished? WRONG this guy lives with Lilia "hip with the kids" Vanrouge. who is not only a hoarder, but someone who most certainly has a shelf of manga and figures from his favorite games somewhere in the cavernous hole he calls a room. Malleus has probably gotten him one for his birthday (after the 5 hours it took for him to figure out how to buy things online). so like. it's no big deal to him. if you ever mention wanting new manga or figures or... anything... he will give you twice the amount of thaumarks necessary. he's like that

[maxlarens]

requests open?🤭 oh boy here i come!!!

ok so my latest #love is fluffy, adorable, down bad boyfriend!oscar (who is shocked. no one. i feel like i have shouted this from the rooftops). just the sweetest imaginable, always being so vocal about how much he loves and sooo much affection (dying). prompts 33 + 35 from the kissing list had me sighing and crying a little. imagining the whole list tbh but anyway!!! this is so long omfg

whatever you feel like writing with the above description and if you feel like writing nothing feel free to trash this, i can take it hahaha

WAHHH okay!!! i loved 33 but couldn’t find a good way to fit it into this so i did 35🤭 i want to maybe do another one with 33🤨🤨 maybe drunk!oscar babbling about how much he loves u. would be cute.

35) gentle stroking of cheeks while kissing

You and Oscar aren’t particularly prone to PDA, especially not during race weekends. It’s just how the two of you are— you’re weird about cameras being pointed in your face and Oscar likes to stay focused on the driving.

People on the internet think it’s weird. They call into question how much you love him, how much he loves you. They wonder why you’re not at every race, why you don’t post each other on social media much.

You’re a bit baffled by it. You’re also not bothered. Oscar loves you. You know this irrefutably. All your friends know it, all the people you hang out with on a semi-regular basis know it. You don’t think the entire world needs to know it. And besides, if they knew what he was like out of the public eye no one would ever bother to question the two of you—

You’re sitting on the kitchen island, waiting for pasta to boil on the stovetop when Oscar pads in. Wearing an old, oversized hoodie and sweat shorts that have food stains on them. Ones you can’t wash out, not that you’d want to. It’s typical Oscar, shorts when it’s freezing. A hoodie to keep him warm anyway.

“Aren’t you cold?”, you ask, even though you’ve asked the same of him many times before only to get the same answer.

You hold out an arm for him to slot into. He does, half his mouth pulling up into a toothy smile. You put your other arm on his shoulder, pass your thumb back and forth there and let your fuzzy-sock clad feet press into the back of his legs.

“Meh,” he answers, hands going to your waist, “M’fine.”

You sniff, “Okay. But I’m not putting the heating on.”

He scrunches his nose, makes a face, “I didn’t ask.”

“Mm. You will.”

He rolls his eyes jokingly, presses his fingers into your sides and kisses the top of your head.

“You’re cute,” he mutters into your hair, “Have I told you that before?”

You shake your head, pulling him closer. Shifting forward on the counter so you can wrap your arms around him, the hoodie making him soft and squishy.

“Don’t think so,” you laugh.

“Well, you’re very cute.”

“Just cute?”, you ask, tipping your head back so you can look up at him.

He shrugs. For a second there’s a tangle of limbs while he moves his hands so they can rest on your face. Long fingers splayed out, touching your neck, your ear. His thumbs press into the squish of your cheeks.

“Just cute,” you prompt, more of a tone to it as he tries to get away with his silly little joke.

He breathes a laugh, looks down at you, his eyes sparkling, “No.”

“What else?”

“Hot,” he offers, “Beautiful.”

You smile, biting down on the inside of your mouth, rubbing the flat palm of your hand across his back. Slipping the other under his hoodie to touch the bare skin at his waist.

“Really?”

He nods, thumb dragging across your cheekbone. As he leans down to you, you feel butterflies in your stomach like the first time you kissed him. Right here in your kitchen— crowded against the same counter.

His lips, warm, soft, meet yours. The kiss deepens quickly, the two of you so in sync that it turns quickly to a slip of tongue and the clink of teeth. You feel something taking up the expanse of your chest, right in your diaphragm. Longing for something you already have, boundless affection. You sigh, a high, whiny quality to it, into Oscar’s mouth.

His thumbs press into and smooth across your cheeks as he pulls you closer, into his solid chest.

“Love you,” he says into your mouth, barely understandable as he guides your head back.

The slip of tongue again, a hand on the back of your head. Pressing into each other like you’re going to disappear under the other’s fingertips. Like you could get so close as to crawl inside one another.

Loveyou, you answer, love you.

send me a prompt/req + a driver and i’ll write something. pls check if my requests are open first💖

[audliminal]

It's just a game, right? Pt 2

Masterpost

"It's like. Crazy, y'know?" Bernard's voice echoes in Tim's ears as he fiddles with his mask. "Like, when they started posting, I was kinda meh about it? I mean the first few videos they posted were just like. Basic shitty, scrambled audio, and the first clues were just like, real simple. Basic word replacement stuff; mostly vigenères, right? But now it's- they're using everything! The current drop is. It's layers, man. And I think it's intentional."

"Isn't it supposed to be intentional? I thought that was like, the whole point of an ARG."

"No I mean, like yeah obviously the clues are intentional, but like. The way the difficulty curve is just increasing. When this started it was so easy, but I don't think it was because they like, didn't know what they were doing or anything. Which, cool yeah that makes sense, you want people to buy in before it gets super hard or whatever, but there are, like all these threads that never went anywhere. And everybody kind of wrote them off as red herrings because they didn't seem to fit into the narrative that we had so far, but I can't stop thinking about them, you know?"

"I mean, they could still be red herrings, couldn't they?"

"Well, technically, yeah, but like. Why? It's one thing to have a dead end that maybe calls back to a previous clue or, like, reaffirms some detail from before but having something completely unconnected seems like a weird choice. Especially when the creator keeps telling us to dig deeper."

"What the fuck does that mean?" Tim asks with a laugh.

"No that's the thing!" Bernard's voice goes intense, and Tim momentarily stops putting his mask back together. "Literally every fucking drop those exact words are hidden somewhere in the mess of encryptions, and as things get more complicated, it's showing up more not less. And that together with all the fucking loose details that don't seem to fit in anywhere? I'm literally on the verge of going back to the beginning of the whole thing and solving it from scratch, bc I think we're missing a lot." Tim kind of forgets, sometimes, how similar he and Bernard are, but the in his boyfriend's voice is one he's intimately familiar with. That combination of obsession and frustration - and obviously it's not really serious because like, it's an internet game, but it doesn't matter what the stakes are, being stuck on a puzzle fucking sucks, and he can't exactly patrol what with his broken ankle, so maybe a fun, no-stakes challenge would be good for him.

"We were planning on hanging out on Friday, so what if you walked me through it from the start, and maybe together we can come up with some answers?"

"Seriously? Dude that would be so awesome! I will teach you everything I know about code breaking!"

"I mean, I do know some things, you know. You think I didn't have a spy phase as a teenager?" Tim smiles at Bernard's responding laughter. It'll be nice, he thinks, to mess with a puzzle where nobody's life is at stake.

[lyneira]

♡ sorry, they're already taken ♡

-> someone confesses to you, his dear lover, in front of him, how would he react?

lyneira's 1.2k milestone event

Watches from afar

Cater, Jack, Silver, Neige, Jamil, Kalim, Che'nya

He trusts that you'll turn them down and he knows that you know how to handle the situation, so he doesn't see the need to step in. They're just expressing their feelings and there isn't any real harm done from it, after all. It would also be a funny story to recall later in the future.

Though, don't be fooled by this calm nature of his. If they dare try to touch you or make any physical advances towards you, he will be on the perpetrator in an instant and will ensure that they regret it.

Confronts IMMEDIATELY

Epel, Floyd, Leona, Ace, Riddle, Sebek

When he sees them confessing to you, he'd scoff, absolutely astounded. Has he not made it clear enough to everyone that you two were together? He's always had his arm around you, always talked about you, and was almost always by your side, so to say that he was shocked that a person had the audacity to confess to you even after all that was an understatement. So he'll confront them immediately, telling them to back off since you two are already together. And if they don't, he won't hesitate to get physical

Don't worry though, if you tell him to calm down, he'll listen to you. As long as they understand that you're already taken- by him specifically- he'll be able to cool his jets.

After they leave, he'll huff while grabbing you and hugging you protectively, muttering to himself that he should make it more clear to others that you two are together. Maybe he'll find more ways of doing so, whether it's giving you one of his belongings to wear, or giving you love bites in places for everyone to see 😏 he'll find a way so that something like this doesn't happen again, as much as he can help it

Finds it 'funny'

Malleus, Jade, Rollo, Azul, Lilia, Rook, Vil

He'd be amused by the situation. (Not a funny "haha" type of "amused", but a rather one of intrigue and surprise) Look, he understands why they hold adoration for you. He understands it himself all too well, so he can't find himself blaming them. At the same time, just because he understands doesn't mean he's willing to let you go or share you. It seems that it must be reiterated that you're his and he's yours.

He'll be "kind" enough to let them finish their confession before standing his ground by approaching you, pulling you close to him by the waist and giving an ever so subtle threatening smile to the confessor, "I understand your sentiments towards my lover, truly...and we would appreciate if you'd take your leave now"

Basically, he'd act possessive asf in this situation, just like in the previous category, except with a different and less explosive demeanor

Awkwardly steps in

Ruggie, Idia, Deuce, Trey

He'll step in if he sees that you're feeling awkward about the situation (otherwise he'll let you handle it if he sees you have no problem dealing with it)

But tbh he'd definitely feel just as awkward in attempting to explain it to the confessor. It could be a possible misunderstanding or that they didn't know that you were already taken, so he'll set things right, albeit sheepishly.

It's not until the confessor underestimates him and tells you to ditch him does a surge of confidence suddenly flow within him and he'll become more forward and direct in proving that they won't be able go break you two up.

He might be awkward in certain situations, but when it comes to defending you and the love that you two share, he won't hesitate to fiercely protect it.

a/n: tbh I felt "meh" about this one, but just wanted to have something out there and check if my posts are finally showing up again in the tags aaaa

© 2023 lyneira. PLEASE DO NOT COPY, PLAGIARIZE, OR REPOST MY WRITING ONTO OTHER PLATFORMS

[cbrownjc]

My thoughts about Devil's Minion right now after Rolin Jones' comments (spoilers):

A meta so thorough, that I first wrote in a post/reply elsewhere, I'm putting it into a separate post, (with some more added to it), just because. And especially since I know I've gotten a lot of followers over the course of Season 2 because of my Devil's Minion posts as well, and I want this all in a separate, individual post for quick reference, just in case.

Fair warning: if you are totally happy and fine about what happened -- i.e. how Armand turned Daniel -- then yeah, what I am going to say here isn't for you. I'm not trying to harsh anyone's vibe, especially if you are just happy that Daniel is a vampire now, okay? This is just about how I feel and see things about it at the moment (particularly regarding RJs comments about it). So if you're not up for criticism, critique, as well as speculation about Devil's Minion right now, then yeah. IMO, just skip this post, please.

Okay. So. Rolin Jones just gave an interview with The Hollywood Reporter and this is what he said about Daniel's turning by Armand:

Jones confirms that, just like in Rice’s books, Armand is the one who turns Daniel into a vampire. “Will we see that moment of turning? No, but Armand finally made a vampire and clearly made him out of spite,” he says with a laugh. “It looks like it was really not a great moment [between him and Daniel], but that connects those two characters. They will have scenes going forward, obviously.”

-- Rolin Jones, Hollywood Reporter, 06/30/24

Okay so, to start. For me, someone who has been waiting since 1995 (when I was 17) for Devil's Minion, for Armand and Daniel's relationship to finally be adapted in some way, I'll be honest. There are only two ways this can go now that I can see at the moment: either Rolin is lying/trolling to hide the truth about all of this, or he is telling the truth and this is truly the way they are going with this.

If Rolin is lying/trolling to hide something about all of this, then I'll forgive that lying/trolling instantly once it's revealed that he was. (Put a pin in this.) Having to flat-out lie or troll is sometimes par for the course when it comes to running a show and not wanting to spoil anything about what might be coming up in it. So honestly, if that's what's going on with what he said here? Meh. No skin off my nose.

If he is telling the truth, however? Then I'll have zero desire to watch the show anymore, once I see it 100% confirmed in some way with my own two eyes in some way on screen somehow. (Again, pin in this.) Because I have very much learned my lesson when it comes to TV shows and lazy writing/bad adaptations after Game of Thrones.

Because Armand turning Daniel out of spite is the antithesis of what Devil's Minion is supposed to be for both characters. It is an utter and complete misunderstanding of both characters and their relationship together. It's an utter downgrade of their relationship from the books, and I am not here for it. I literally do not care what "romance" they might later have planned for them if this is how Daniel was turned.

Look. If you are someone who only ever cared about Daniel just being a vampire, then this is all likely fine for you, and that's okay. But not me. Because Daniel being a vampire never was, or has been, the important part of Armand and Daniel's relationship. Not in my eyes and, frankly, not when it comes to the original story. Daniel becoming a vampire is not the important part of the Devil's Minion story. The actual love and romance before Daniel is turned is because it is during that part of it that the actual character development and growth both of them go through from it takes place. Especially for Armand's character.

And that only has any depth when Daniel is human and Armand is forever refusing to turn him because of his hangups about making another vampire.

And Armand finally turning Daniel out of love was a huge step that showed Armand beginning to move forward and heal -- from not only his time in the Children of Darkness cult, but begin his healing when it comes to his Marius issues as well.

Armand turning Daniel out of spite undercuts all of that. It undercuts the whole story. And flat-out guts some of the major depth of the relationship and Armand's character development overall.

Not to mention it makes Daniel no better than someone like Claudia wrt Armand turning him now. Maybe even less than her since at least Claudia got turned out of Lestat's love for someone else. Daniel doesn't even get that? The person who is supposed to be his eternal companion doesn't even get turned by him out of love, an important point to the bond between such Maker and Fledgling eternal companions, but out of hate and spite instead?

Yeah, no thank you.

This is not what I've waited since 1995 to see with these two and the fact their relationship may have gotten treated like this -- if this is true -- utterly astounds me how this show could get Loustat so right (and even upgrade them so beautifully in so many ways such as with Louis' turning) and utterly fail Devil's Minion so badly. Because yes, it's failing them. It's a terrible and, moreover, just a shallow adaptation of Devil's Minion if this is how it really all goes down.

Because there is way more to Armand and Daniel than them just Daniel being a vampire and them finally "getting together." Or at least there is supposed to be. And this ain't it.

(Pin!) Now, with that all said? The fact that Rolin flat out says that we'll never see Armand turning Daniel? Yeah okay, I'm sus on that one. Because really. The only reason not to show Armand turning Daniel next season -- and visually confirm that Armand did it -- is if because . . . Armand never actually turned Daniel in the first damn place.

Or, if he did, it maybe was not fully Daniel.

I mean, you're not going to ever actually show Armand turning his first-ever fledgling (who he's supposed to go on to have a romantic relationship with at some point) after making a big ass deal out of the fact that Armand has never turned anyone before? Ever?

See I know damn well that Armand is being framed as a villain right now. He very much has to be given how the end of the book IWTV and how the upcoming book The Vampire Lestat, goes. Armand is the main villain/antagonist in it. Even in the present day, it is clear Armand hasn't gone yet gone through all of the growth that he does from Queen of the Damned on. So he's still back in his villain-era mode right now. And his post-breakup with Louis mode in the present day. Which is fine, it's how his story -- and the story where it is right now -- goes. I am thoroughly okay with that.

And the very idea that Armand turned Daniel out of spite? Very much plays into that framing-him-as-a-villian state where Armand's character is right now. And will be for the majority of Season 3, which I've already before now suspected and said.

So here is where the speculation on my end of things comes in. Because yeah, not only can I not help myself but because -- until I see this play out with my own eyes -- I'm willing to be reasonable and look at the various ways this all could still play out that doesn't completely gut out the very heart of Armand and Daniel -- as characters and their relationship together. (Or at least not have it be so damn shallow by the end when they inevitably get and stay together.)

So as @nalyra-dreaming can confirm, I gave her a few scenarios that could be behind Daniel's turning weeks ago, when I first suspected it was going to happen (before the screener leaks about it started). In one of the scenarios, I said that if Daniel's vampire eyes are any color other than violet, then that is NOT Daniel's spirit/soul/consciousness in Daniel's body that has been made a vampire.

As the saying goes, "The eyes are the window into the soul." And am I really supposed to think this show got Lestat and Louis' eye color dead on correct but just missed Daniel's iconic eye color? Really? (Because no, I do not find it romantic that Daniel has his Maker's eye color, or whatever. Besides, vampire eye color doesn't even work like that -- the show didn't even do that with Louis and Lestat who are the main, grand romantic couple of the damn show.)

As I said here in this reblog, I stand by my opinion/theory that no way this show gets Daniel's iconic violet eye color wrong, even on accident. I said so weeks ago, before even seeing Daniel's eyes in that final shot in the season finale, and just predicting that he was going to get turned.

No way this show got Daniel's iconic eye color wrong when he became a vampire, not when they went to all the damn trouble creating those vampire contacts and gave Jacob's Louis green eyes to match book-Louis.

And yes I damn well know they could just have Daniel pop up with violet vampire eyes in the Season 3 premiere and there goes all of that, and it really was all just laziness, incompetence, and a mistake when it came to the color of Daniel's eyes in the finale. But right now? I'm treating Daniel's eye color as the equivalent of Rolin saying "Lelio is so boring!" as to the question of why Sam's Lestat was playing Harlequin and not Lelio in the Season 2 theater flashbacks. Something the show changed on purpose and for a reason.

Because we all damn well know that we are going to see Sam's Lestat as Lelio in Season 3, correct? Because we are.

And yes. I know some people really hate the idea of a body swap scenario regarding Daniel, but I'm sorry. At this point, it really is the only scenario out of this whole storyline that I can see right now, that will keep it anywhere close to retaining the heart of the Devil's Minion storyline, especially if Armand really did turn Daniel out of spite here (even though, again, we'll apparently never see that turning to confirm that in full. Uh-huh, okay.).

And two things that I think do set up the possibility are:

1.) Louis says Daniel was turned after he left Armand alone with him. But Louis actually wouldn't know something like that unless he was told since he wasn't there. All we can really assume at the moment is that Daniel told Louis what happened after Louis left the room. And as RJ and Assad said, we'll never see the actual turning. So who knows when the hell it happened.

2.) Raglan James, via those direct messages asking Daniel for "reciprocation" for getting him a copy of the script, with Armand's handwritten notes, of the trial-play. Between that request and the Talamasca publishing Daniel's book, that loops Daniel into the James orbit very much. And ties Daniel very close to any Talamasca going on even more.

And, quite frankly, I've thought since Season 1 that David Talbot's character was out and would be merged with both Louis and Daniel on the show. And Sam pretty much confirmed in his interview with Autumn Brown that some characters from the books will be merged together with others in the show. So, yeah. David's character is very much a character I always thought they were doing that with, and I know I'm not the only one who's thought it before now as well.

And honestly, I can much better deal with some type of scenario in which Armand maybe ends up turning two versions of "Daniel" -- and therefore technically having two fledglings, even though they are kind of the same person -- over what is being put forth about this right now. One turning -- in spite -- of Daniel's body without his true spirit/soul/consciousness in it, and the other turning -- out of love -- of Daniel's spirit/soul/consciousness inside a different body of some kind. (Which I won't go into now, as that is a whole separate long meta if I did.)

Because at least with that scenario then, in a weird way, Daniel being Armand's only fledgling would still hold. 🤷🏾‍♀️ Along with a few other things that can happen regarding Armand's character growth in between each turning.

But that is it. Because there is no way they can have Armand turn Daniel (as fully Daniel) out of spite -- as Rolin directly says he does in this interview -- and actually keep the heart of the Devil's Minion story and romance now. Not even if the Devil's Minion chase and parts of the relationship happened in the past IMO . . . another thing they are clearly avoiding talking about, btw. Which, at least right now, just tells me that, if we're lucky, we'll only -- once again -- get one episode that flashes back to that time in Season 3. Can't really be helped, since Season 3's primary focus will be regarding Lestat and Lestat's backstory. (As I've said before Daniel isn't even in that book. So whatever we get with him in Season 3 really will just be extra, added stuff.)

Oh, and something else I very much recognize is that Loustat shippers -- particularly book ones -- have gone through it these past two seasons, but now seem to be coming out of that darkness. Maybe now it's time for Devil's Minion shippers like me and others to face the same damn thing now. Because of something Assad let slip a few weeks ago about not getting Armand's full story until Season 4, I think that is how long we're going to have to wait to see the full of this play out.

But I advise right now that if some of you think you can't handle that and would just rather quit the show and binge things later, I totally get it. Waiting two seasons -- basically 4 years minimum -- is going to be a pain in the ass. I already know right now that there are some things I'm not going to have the patience for during the hiatus times in between, particularly this one. (One thing I can already say, at least right now, is that I'm not inspired to write any show-based Devil's Minion fanfic this hiatus like I did during the last hiatus).

But quitting the show altogether? No, I'm not there yet. Because yes Rolin does like to troll. Plus Hannah's tweet. Plus what was said about Devil's Minion at ATX Festival. Plus my thinking, long before now, that David Talbot was always out wrt the show, and the fact that Raglan James is here and Daniel's character has been heavily tied into The Talamasca plotline of the show.

And given everything I've seen this show do wrt it's writing up until now, I just can't fully believe they would really make Devil's Minion this damn shallow and devoid of its depth and heart. And just have Armand turn his one and only canon fledgling and immortal companion out of nothing but spite. When Armand loving Daniel and finally having to trust in Daniel's love for him, as well as his own love for Daniel over his own fear was a major point and culmination of the Devil's Minion storyline.

After everything I've seen these first two seasons wrt this show, I can't think these writers would miss such an important heart and point of the Devil's Minion storyline and romance so completely.

Not yet at any rate.

[seirei-bh]

Summary and opinions of Jason's route ep 5! SPOILERS

Well, well, well, if you're the Jason route, congratulations, my friend! We're celebrating here with cocktails and ugly sobs because we FINALLY get a moment with Jason that last more than two minutes! + a moment alone with him! applauses!

In general it was a good ep, I liked it! I still need to play it with other routes to get a complete opinion, but I enjoyed it.

And now, before continuing, this post contains BIG SPOILERS!!! about this ep in this route, so if you prefer to enjoy the content of the ep by yourself I REALLY recommend that you wait until the day of the general release and play it before read this.

Btw keep in mind that I'm going to make this post with humorous notes on purpose, so pls take it in good vibes!

As soon as I started the ep I got angry because Thomas was two hours late to work without any consequences -Devon was 100% ok with that, like???- while my Sucrette was awake since 7AM as a clown, and then she had to hear how Roy and Amanda argued over a cool project and about how Thomas got the coolest one and then they let my Sucrette take care of the shittiest project of all, thanks Devenementiel! I felt loved and considered! I'll be happy to betray all of you soon! :D Except you, Elenda, you're a sweetheart and wonderful, pls be my wife. I love you, honey.

My sucrette Lily proceeded to take on the project herself without ask help and without making any calls to the client (because she's stupid and because I wanted she suffered alone so Jason could manipulate her later, I'm evil yeees), and ofc she ended up screwing up. Then Elenda tried to cheer us up and then my sucrette went for a walk alone to catch a depression for having disappointed Devon, her coworkers and even her goose. Dishonor on your goose, girl!

Then we found Jason in the park!! Basically our girl was seeing her life passing away in front of her eyes and then our lovely knight came to make fun of her, like a perfect Fool knight in a fairy tale. I swear this man has to have a location chip on us that also detects our emotions, otherwise Idk how we match up with him in every episode XDDD I guess his cell phone alerts him and he will go into "OMG my future wife need my bad jokes! I must go with her so she notices me!" and he runs out of his office.

In short, he offer us his help while he tries to hide his horns, his trident and the infernal flames from the ground , we end up telling him our problem because Sucrette is an idiot, and we make a deal with the devil, but not before Jason telling us to ask him nicely like "pleasee help me", and my Sucrette goes into: desire to kill increasing mode. Jason calls Danica to get info about the project, and while we wait for her response, Jason smirks and thanks us for liking his Instagram photo, while Sucrette tries not to k*ll him. When he gets the info very proud, she also mocks him and comments that "If you track everyone like this, it's no wonder you already have gray hair." and Jason responds that it's not from stress or age, it's poliosis, and that it's hereditary, and his father had them too. And there I wanted my Sucrette to shut up, lol, I'm embarrassed, girl.

Then comes my favorite moment: Jason takes us to Goldreamz!! Here we get a tense scene in which he touches Sucrette's back, they look at each other intensely, she has contradictory feelings because she thinks she's betraying her Devenementiel's coworkers, she doubs about his intentions, and then… *laughs* I love sm this:

Jason is sooo proud of his office and his company that asks Sucrette her opinion about it, Sucrette comments that she has no opinion on it, like meh~ I'm not impressed, man, this is Ikea, and Jason responds like a total offended diva XD Then he counterattacks by making fun of Devenementiel's decoration and both tease each other like always. I love my two fools.

His expression was priceless. And she doesn't give a f***, lmao, tell him, girl. This pathetic man wanted to impress sm his queen and he failed. Someone should call the ambulance, the rival boss is having a shock *laughs*

Next, they both discuss the processes they will follow for the project, Sucrette contributing ideas and Jason getting her very good and surprising contacts. Then there's another of my favorite moments, Jason shows briefly vulnerable when Sucrette asks him a couple of personal questions about his childhood. Jason reveals to us that his parents were not millionaires, that his birthday parties were quite modest, and that his father died when he was a teenager, and then he ends the conversation. And I wanted to hug him.

Here I want to give my opinion. This is the first time that we get info about his family and I'm surprised! Because I thought Jason came from a rich family, like Amanda, and the plot twist about his father leaves me intrigued. The only thing I can theorize now at least is that Jason became an ambitious person perhaps due to this, and I wonder what exactly happened to his father, whether he died from an accident or illness.

Finally, Sucrette thanks him and Jason tells her that she shouldn't forget that now she has an outstanding debt with him that she'll have to pay at some point, dramatic pause----! He doesn't tell us what he wants, but I've a couple of ideas: either Jason will try to get something from Devenementiel by using us (despite Sucrette told him she would never betray Devenementiel) or he will try to get us to go on a date with him to a dinner or an event, without we won't be able to reject his invitation, to try to seduce us.

I already suspected that Sucrette on his route would end up visiting Goldreamz at some point, but I admit I didn't expect it to be so soon! It was a pleasant surprise. We didn't meet Danica and Spencer yet though.

After that, Sucrette presents to her colleagues at Devenementiel the project she has worked on with Jason, without meantion him ofc, Devon congratulates her, Elenda hugs her (my queen Elenda being the best girl always), and Sucrette feels horribly uncomfortable because she thinks she is betraying all of her coworkers by hiding the truth about Jason's help. Hahaha, I'm really would like Devon and the others finds out that Jason helped us, I want to see their reaction *evil masochistic laugh*

At the end I had the date with Roy at the pool, since I will do the ones with Amanda and Thomas in a few days. I loved it! Roy's illu is so beautiful, so colorful and bright! <3 Although Beemoov are cowards for not giving us mermanRoy, he'd have look so hot! U__U Regarding Jason's illus with him in the company, I also really liked the intimacy and tension of the scene, and the detail that their faces are in shadow, as to emphasize the forbidden nature of that secret meeting and that you're making a deal with the devil.

About the PAs, I spent around 1.700, but I forgot to use jokers this time, so I guess for other people could be cheaper.

You can also get a sea background for your room and furniture of that theme in your closet at the end of the ep. They are available to buy whatever you want. I used the background for my bedroom and I love how it looks!

[the-fab-fox]

Could you possibly do a Drabble with Idia x Reader with the cute pocky game you had going on?

@ Anonymous,

Thank you for the request. Literally no one has been requesting any so I was super excited to get yours. And it's Idia which tickles me. Lol.

I hope you enjoy and sorry about the wait. A lot of stuff came up. (I have gotten a lot more requests since the initial drafting of this. Also, I'll be making a collection of these on AO3 so if you'd like me to gift the fic to you, please drop your AO3 in the notes.)

Original Post

Without further ado—

Idia x f!Reader

[ One-Shot under the cut. ]

Idia was legit not surprised with how the game the Ramshackle Prefect introduced to them all had spread like wildfire throughout the campus.

They were teenagers, after all. Meat suits with raging hormones and maybe a couple handfuls of brain cells shared between the whole of the student body. And several of those brain cells were held in vice-like grips by specific singular students, making the overall pool of available brain cells even smaller for the rest of them.

The Ignihyde Housewarden was just glad that no one with half a brain would ever consider inviting him to play.

As if I'd want to? A game designed for normies who just want an excuse to suck face? No thanks! I'm good. He rolled his eyes. Tch, it's so cringe it hurts.

At least, that's what he continued to tell himself. If he didn't really buy his own words... well, that was his business and no one else's.

The problem wasn't the game itself, he supposed… if he really stopped to think about it. But he didn't want to think about it.

Ugh. Hope some new cringe fad comes out ASAP! This really triggers my rage.

He sighed as he watched his game load bar slowly inch toward completion. Because, of freaking course, the server would be hella saturated today of all days.

Groaning, he CTRL + ALT + DEL’ed out of the game rather than wait for it to load before exiting out.

This thing’s got me not even wanting to play my games. FML! This is the WORST!

He got up and jerkily opened his deskside food cabinet. Pulling out a random noodle cup, he slammed it onto his desk. Luckily, it wasn't hard enough to crush it. Much.

It was still functional, in any case, so whatever.

Smoothing out the cup as well as he could, he opened it and added some hot water from his electric kettle. Setting the lid over it once more, he idly played with the little ingredient packet as he grabbed a spoon from the little plastic drawer set on his desk.

Why can't these idiots think about anything, but making out and shit?

In reality, Idia knew why.

He was one of the idiots, after all. Not that he was going to admit that to anyone. In fact, he tried his very best to ignore it completely.

Admitting that he wanted to make out with someone would mean he'd have to think about the very person he wanted to make out with.

That person?

The one who had set this whole mess into motion.

“Meh,” he muttered, glancing at the little digital numbers at the bottom left hand side of his desktop screen. Meh, meh, meh.

After a few more minutes, Idia couldn't wait any longer. He pulled the top off the noodle cup and tossed it aside, giving it no mind to where it drifted. Ripping open the packet, he poured the ingredients in and used the spoon to stir them. Some of the broth spilled with how aggressively he stirred, which only further fueled his ire.

Damn it. Damn it all to Tartarus.

He began to eat, ignoring the slight crunch to the noodles as well as he could. He had just finished up his impromptu meal, downing both a small energy drink as well as half a bottle of water, when a sound rose in the air that he hadn't expected.

Knocking.

Glaring at his door, he was about to yell at whoever was on the other side to just leave him alone to his misery when he realized that there were only two people who would knock on his door.

The other Ignihyde students would never. If they needed to get ahold of him for any reason, they knew well they would need to contact him via technological means. Ortho-chan would just come right in. None of his peers outside the dorm would come to see him. He had no friends after all. Not really.

Well… maybe…

No. Especially not her. Like yeah, okay. She was like really sweet, and nice, and actually seemed interested in what he had to say when he went full fanboy and otaku mode, but that was just her being nice. Nothing more.

And yet, she was one of the two people who would be on the other side of that door.

The other was Crowley, but considering the fact that he was Crowley, the man would more likely just summon him to his office rather than pay a visit to his dorm.

Which meant it could only be the Ramshackle Prefect.

As if proving him right, another knock came upon the door, followed by the annoyingly cute sound of his crush’s voice.

“Idia? I know you're in there. Can I come in?”

What kind of event did I trigger? Idia sighed heavily. He hated this.

Somewhere along the line, Idia had come to realize that when it came to the otherworlder, he had a very hard—if not impossible—time denying her anything.

He brought his hands up to his face, letting out as quiet and muffled a groan as possible before pulling his hands away once more. Taking a shaky breath, he stood and crossed the space between his desk and the door.

The third year wondered if he should just ignore her. After all, if he didn't answer, she would have to leave at some point right?

“Idia Shroud!”

“Eep!”

“I'm not leaving until you let me in, mister!”

Idia tried and failed not to smile.

He could just picture her. Standing on the other side of the door, hands on her hips, glaring cutely at the door like some romance anime heroine.

For the love of STYX, why was she so freaking cute?

And why was she so determined to see him?

It made no sense.

Except that she likes and cares about you, another voice said. His mind, and the rest of him, silenced the thought as quickly as it came.

His face became a grimace and he decided that now was the time to get this visit over with, so that he could get back to his raging pity party.

Whatever she wanted couldn't take that long, right?

Just rip the bandaid and be done with it.

Spite forced his hand in the end. He unlocked and pulled the door open, his face still a deep scathing frown. The moment his eyes met those deep, warm brown eyes—however—he felt his demeanor and posture go shy.

“Ah, h-hey…” he said by way of greeting, with the smallest smile on his face. Then he remembered he was supposed to be annoyed, and tried to force the grimace once more. He wasn't sure if he managed, but the moment he took in the rest of her, he had to keep himself from laughing.

If he had to hazard a guess, he imagined he looked a lot more like the nauseous emoji rather than a scathing one.

The reason for his sudden urge to laugh was that the Ramshackle Prefect was, no cap, standing with a wide, determined stance with her closed fists on her hips as she looked up at him.

That made him feel off-kilter for a moment. He kept forgetting how short she was compared to him. She could still no doubt kick his ass TKO style, because who couldn't, if he was honest—but she was just so… fun sized and cute.

He longed to hug and cuddle her. He wanted to hold hands with her. Wanted to whisper soft couple things into her hair as he embraced her from behind. He wanted to keep her safe, since she didn't have any magic of her own. And to support her in whatever she wanted to do because, damn, this was a young lady who was going places. He wanted to beg her not to leave if a way was ever found, because who would he talk to then? (Other than Muscle Red, of course. But even then, this was different.)

“There! That's better isn't it? We can definitely talk better this way.”

Idia felt himself start to nod and smile along with her, before shaking his head and frowning.

“What do you want?”

Her brows rose and slowly she began to frown. Then her brows knit together and her stance became even more stern than before.

“You won't talk to me like that, Idia! No, sir. We're friends, remember? Besides, I brought you a gift. Doncha wanna know what it is?”

Idia felt his conviction slip.

A gift? For him? Had he really triggered some kind of event?

He frowned.

If it had been anyone else, he would have thought it was a trap. The problem was, it wasn't anybody else.

It was the girl of his dreams.

“Why?” He heard himself ask. He frowned, but he wasn't sure if it was at the situation itself or himself. “Why would you get me a gift?”

The Prefect sighed, now crossing her arms. Idia called himself several kinds of idiot.

That stance is never a good one in anime and manga.

Now he'd likely ruined everything, and she was going to leave, and he'd be in an even worse funk than before.

“I already told you, Idia. We're friends. Sometimes friends give each other gifts. And I care about you. Gift giving is a great way to support the people you care about.” She then grinned. “Or just chock it up to the fact that I wanna. Okay? Now—” She fell silent and only continued when Idia looked up, into her unfairly gentle and pretty eyes. “Can I please come in?”

Idia said nothing. He just scoffed under his breath and moved aside, ignoring the rush of affection he felt as she quickly moved into his room. That quickly turned to dread as he suddenly realized how much of a pig sty his room truly was.

Shit, shit, shit.

She didn't seem to notice, however. In fact, she didn't even seem to look around. She just turned back to him and the moment he closed the door, she moved in closer and closer.

Was she about to go plot twist villain on him? Well, he supposed there were worse ways to go than being murdered by a ridiculously beautiful girl in a school girl uniform.

“W-What are you—”

She stopped in front of him and rummaged in her book bag before pulling out a rectangular, shiny yellow box. He frowned.

He was a little ashamed to admit it, but he already knew what it was from the sight glimpse.

A box of Pocky.

A box of banana-flavored Pocky.

His favorite.

“What are you—”

She said nothing, only smirking as she opened the box, then the unopened package inside. Pulling one out, she held it up as she held his gaze.

“I'm guessing you've heard about the game?” She asked, though it wasn't really a question. She knew he knew it well. “Wanna play it with me, Idia?”

There was something new there. A sort of hint of something. A variation.

He would never vocalize his guess, but if he wasn't mistaken, it sounded a lot like flirting.

“M-me?”

She groaned and threw up both hands, the Pocky rising with the one that held it.

“You're not as dumb as you like to think, Idia—about people, I mean.”

She held his gaze firmly. He just continued to stare dumbly at the shorter girl. Slowly, it dawned on her that he had absolutely no clue what she was talking about.

“Okaaay… so you don't get it.” She sighed. “Fine. I'll tell you. In a way that even you won't be able to find a single way to deny it.”

Idia just blinked.

“I like you, Idia. A lot. And I want to be more than friends. But you're also really skittish. I only introduced the game in the hopes that I'd be able to play it with you, and the kiss would tell you the rest.”

Idia just stared. And stared some more.

She sighed, moved in closer, and held up the Pocky.

He took it without thinking.

“If me being your girlfriend is something you are on board with, play the game with me…”

Idia didn't think he had ever put anything into his mouth as fast as he did the Pocky.

There it was, just the tip of the flavored part of the cookie stick held between his lips. It was worth it, though. The Prefect smiled so brightly, a light tinge of pink coloring her cheeks.

“So you do like me!”

He sighed. Here it came.

Time for the ridicule to commence in 3, 2, 1—

“I'm glad.”

That's what I thought you'd say, because duh—wait what?

“You're… glad? Why?” It wasn’t easy to talk with a piece of pocky being held by his lips, but through luck or maybe he had a high enough stat, he managed.

She sighed. This time, however, it sounded fond.

“If you don't know, I'm not going to tell you.” She then beamed and Idia felt himself mirroring her without his consent. “But I'll give you a hint.”

She then closed the remaining space between them, took the other end of the Pocky in her mouth, and quickly nibbled through it until she'd reached his end.

Idia was pretty sure he short circuited for a moment. He blinked rapidly until he was finally able to register what was happening.

The Ramshackle Prefect had kissed him. Was kissing him.

Their lips were still touching.

He swallowed the bit of banana Pocky in his mouth and closed his eyes tight. He'd never kissed anyone before, except his mom and his figurines and—though he would take it to his grave—a couple of his character and idol body pillows when he was feeling particularly needy.

Still, he let instinct take over and did his best to match her actions.

Pulling away, he opened his eyes to meet her gaze.

“I knew you liked me back. Thank you for finally telling me.”

Idia blushed. He felt his throat trying to work, but all that came out was something like squealing—but less cute and more strangled.

Apparently, the Ramshackle Prefect had no trouble finding it endearing, if the fond smile on her face was any indication. Then a conspiratorial grin slipped onto her face.

“So what do you think about the game from my world?”

Idia had liked it. He was pretty sure she knew it too. She just wanted to hear him say it.

Unfortunately, he couldn't bring himself to do that just yet. Instead, he let some of his hair fall forward to obscure his face as he brought his index fingers together, tapping them against each other a few times.

“I don't… um… not really sure.” He cleared his throat, trying to speak up, but mumbling worse instead. “Maybe we should try it again… a few times… just to get a good sample size…”

The smile that radiated off her face in that moment took Idia to a whole other realm. His room no longer felt so gloomy and depressing. It looked brighter somehow.

His attention was immediately snapped back to the short Prefect, who still stood very close. He blushed as he realized how close, before reminding himself that they'd just kissed, which had been a hell of a lot closer. That only caused him to blush more deeply as the realization sunk in.

She had kissed him.

Him!

And he had, technically, kissed back.

His face felt like it was radiating heat.

She giggled and pulled out another Pocky stick, putting the cookie tip in her mouth. She then raised her brows and grinned.

A clear invitation.

It was one of the only invitations Idia had gotten for anything (outside of gaming) that he immediately RSVP’d on.

As they kissed, Idia felt his muscles loosen and his body warm. At some point, long after the cookie was gone, petite arms wrapped around his neck as his hands awkwardly settled upon her waist. He had successfully passed the surprise event and achieved the Best Ending.

Maybe I can convince her we'll need to go through the whole box, just to be absolutely sure I like the game.

He smiled into the kiss at the thought.

[charbies]

linktober 31 - HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!

I thought for the last day I'd write a little retrospective on what this whole thing was like and what I learned. I'm too tired to draw literally anything else I'm due for a break lol

So this was my second time ever attempting a linktober/october drawing challenge, but my first time managing to complete all the days and prompts. I feel super proud of myself and accomplished for pulling it off.

There were a number of things that were surprising and that were challenging for me that I wasn't expecting this month. If anything, I think this challenge really highlighted my flaws and mental blindspots with how I approach making art.

For one thing, I came away from this not liking everything I made. I think I only like about 9 or 10 of the 30 pieces I put out there. When I don't like my art, I tend to get stuck in this mental stalemate of refusing to finish a piece until I like it, but also refusing to retrace my steps and erase/rework what I have so far for fear of losing progress or not being able to replicate the line/angle/color/etc that I liked.

It was surprisingly hard to accept when I didn't like a piece but had to move on for the sake of time and post it anyway. But once I did it a few times, it got easier. I realized prioritizing my standards over my available energy is not gonna promote progress. If I kept sinking myself into one piece and not moving on until it was optimal, I never would have finished anything-- that was the pitfall that ultimately made me bail out 10 days in last year.

I also realized my sunk cost fallacy/"what if I erase this and can never redraw it good again" stems from some real lack of confidence in my knowledge and techniques with art. I'm self-taught, and I think I tend to believe that everything I make is a dumb happy accident, even though I have mental rules when I draw, use tons of references, and have a process lol. There are a few pieces I started over 2-3 times before I got them right, and that's starting to feel liberating instead of like failing to me now, which I never expected to come out of this experience so that's cool.

Another place I had to learn to let go of control in this was with allowing for style variation. I really wanted each and every piece to be coherent and painterly, like they all came from the same book or something. But then I couldn't decide whether I wanted to do all/no lineart, all/no detailed background, all/no heavy rendering, etc. At the end I settled on just keeping the same canvas dimensions and just prioritizing filling up the space. Glad I ended up doing this, because I really would benefit from continuing to chill out and scale back how much I default to making dramatic, high-render pieces. I gotta break out of my comfort zone and make more sketchy little guys!

Sometimes my attachment to the prompts fluctuated; some prompts I thought I would love and then just wanted to get them over with. Some prompts I thought I would hate and subsequently half-ass, then I ended up redoing them and putting more effort & time into and loved the end result!

It was funny to also see how some pieces that I loved straight up did not get a whole lot of notes or attention. Some pieces I was "meh" about did crazy numbers lol. I'm used to posting maybe 5-6 times a year on here, so I'm usually indifferent to getting notes (by which I mean, I'm super grateful for likes & reblogs and the super sweet & funny messages in y'alls tags, but I'm not butthurt when I don't get notes because whatever happens, happens). Churning out 30 pieces in 30 days made me sometimes get bewildered by what did and didn't get notes, but frankly in the end I think it helps reaffirm that I should continue putting whatever I want out there because it! is! not! graded!!!

So would I do Linktober again? Probably not, sorry! it was a lot of time & effort and took me away from fall festivities more than I would have liked. I kinda only managed to pull this off because I was transitioning between jobs this month and had a week off to just draw. But I also completely see the value in taking on a challenge like this and finishing what I started, I'm super glad I did this, I think my art improved from it. I would definitely do future drawing challenges/prompt things that are quicker or have less prompts!

My advice to prospective future linktoberers: pace yourself and be gentle; this is a great chance to do something exciting and new with your art, but above all it's about you having fun. There are no prizes at the end except for what you've learned and how you feel about it, and that's for the best!!

One thing's for sure, I am zelda'd out lmao so I'll be branching out towards some little projects I have lined up for personal art and other fandoms I'm into right now

So anyway thanks to all of you who read this or who gassed me up this whole month, I appreciate you!!!!!!!! ヾ(＾∇＾)

[ordinary-barbie]

sexy to someone - porco galliard x reader

summary: After scrolling social media you're feeling particularly insecure about your looks. Your boyfriend, Porco, is determined to convince you that you really are pretty.

word count: 2.3k words

tags: fem!reader, pet names (babe and baby), reader has a tooth gap bc I'm nothing if not self-indulgent, dirty talk, oral (fem receiving), face sitting, vaginal fingering, doggy style, breast play, praise kink, consent checks, reader is self-conscious about her body and struggles with mental health issues

minors and ageless blogs dni.

title comes from the song "sexy to someone" by Clairo.

Normally you loved scrolling through social media, but you just couldn't do it today. If you saw one more vacation photo or one more bachelorette party with someone's former sorority sisters, the already deep pit in your chest would cave in. And it wasn't anyone's fault: you couldn't get mad at your friends or random influencers and celebs for simply posting about their lives. To put it delicately, you were just feeling like a steaming pile of garbage compared to everyone else on your Instagram feed.

Today you hated pretty much everything about your looks. Your tooth gap looked like an eyesore. Your eyes seemed dull and sleepy. Your nose? Meh. Your figure? Nothing to write home about. It was a wonder that anyone liked your Instagram photos at all, and especially unbelievable that you managed to snag a boyfriend, especially someone like Porco Galliard.

Porco was an absolute babe. You'd never been hugely into blondes, but something about him and his undercut had got your heart racing when you met him at a frat party that your bestie Pieck, a Delta Zeta, had invited you to. You were always pretty reserved, and especially nervous to be around a bunch of frat dudes. Luckily, Porco eased your nerves by making you laugh, and the rest was history.

He was funny, confident, and hot as hell, while you were more reserved. When you'd first gotten together, you felt like the nerdy female protagonist in an 80s teen movie who managed to land the most popular guy in school. That had subsided after five years of dating, but now you couldn't help but feel the insecurity clawing at your brain again. Porco could easily get any woman he wanted - why you, of all people? Was he simply settling until someone better came along?

You rolled over onto your stomach and buried your face into one of the couch's armrests, quietly sobbing. Why were you like this? Why couldn't you be hotter so you could look like someone who actually belonged with Porco? Porco shouldn't be with someone like you. There were plenty of cute sorority girls he could've gone after in college, including Pieck or your other friend Sasha.

You recognized (thanks to months of therapy) that you were in a thought spiral, but you felt powerless to stop it. Normally you would go on your phone to distract yourself, but since social media had triggered your insecurities, you decided to settle for a nice little depression nap. That ought to make you feel better, right?

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When you woke up, you didn't feel as crushingly awful as you did before, but you were still in a bit of a shitty mood. You snuggled tightly in your blanket and stared up at the ceiling, not even moving when Porco came home from work.

"Hey babe, I'm home! Traffic was nuts today - that podcast you recommended to me honestly saved my ass from dying of boredom," Porco joked, kicking his shoes off and making his way into the kitchen.

When you turned your head towards Porco but didn't react, his cheery expression morphed into worry. "Baby, what's wrong? Is everything okay?"

"It's nothing, don't worry," you hurriedly assured him, not wanting to be a burden, especially since he'd had a long day at work.

Unfortunately, Porco was a stubborn motherfucker, so he kept prying. "Come on, don't do that thing where you try to sweep shit under the rug. I can tell something's bothering you. You know you can tell me anything."

You sat up, protectively wrapping your arms around your midsection and chewing at your bottom lip. "I just - why are you with me, Porco?" you asked, your voice wavering. "I mean, look at you. You could be with anyone you wanted and you settled for me."

Porco furrowed his brow. "Baby, where is this coming from? I picked you because you're funny and kind and fuckin' hot."

You snorted. You appreciated Porco complimenting you in his Porco way, but you weren't totally buying what he was selling. "Please, Porco. Gigi Hadid is fuckin' hot. Pieck is fuckin' hot. I'm just..." You gestured to yourself vaguely, making a face.

Porco scoffed, shaking his head. "First of all, Pieck is like a sister to me, so don't even go there. Second of all, yeah, Gigi Hadid is pretty, but she's not you. You're actually the hottest woman I know. I honestly feel like I outkicked my coverage here."

"Porco, stop acting like I'm some big prize," you insisted. "Especially when I scroll through social media and every woman I follow is pretty much a smokeshow, including my friends."

Porco said your name sternly, making you jump. "Is that where this is coming from? Babe, please don't compare yourself to Instagram. You know everyone curates their feed to only share the good shit, even the celebs."

"I know, but that doesn't change the fact that there's so many gorgeous girls out there, and I'm just...me," you responded, staring down at your lap.

"Hey! Look at me," Porco commanded, and you reluctantly met his gaze. "You are so desirable to me. I love you. And I wish I could fight your shitty brain for making you ever think otherwise."

You sighed. "Porco, I love you. I just wish I could see the person you see. I looked at myself in the bathroom mirror earlier and just felt ugly. I hate that I can't just make these thoughts go away."

Porco moved closer to you, kissing both of your cheeks. "Babe, you are a fuckin smokeshow to me. Please let me prove it to you..."

"And just how do you plan to do that?" you asked, arching an eyebrow. You tried to look impassive but you couldn't help but rub your thighs together in anticipation.

"Like this," Porco simply replied, ghosting over your lips with his own. You shuddered, still amazed at how turned on Porco could make you without touching you. "But first - are you sure you want this? And you remember our safe word, right? Just say 'red' and I will stop, no matter what."

You nodded. Porco frowned. "Use your words, baby."

"Yes, I want this. Please touch me, Porco," you whined impatiently, your mind now clouded with lust.

"I mean damn, if you insist, babe," Porco joked before kissing you deeply. He draped his body over yours on the couch, suddenly enveloping you with the smell of his favorite cologne. It was heavenly.

Since your mouth was occupied, you tapped Porco's shoulder, and he instantly ceased his movements. "Everything good, babe?" he worriedly asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine, I just - could we move it to the bedroom, please?" you shyly asked.

Porco smirked. "Okay, dirty girl," he teased, leading you by the hand into your bedroom. Once inside, he slammed the door with his foot, deeply making out with you and letting his hands roam all over your body. You made a motion to take your bra off but Porco stopped you in your tracks.

"Please let me do it, baby," Porco begged, and you happily obliged. After tossing your bra to the other side of the room, Porco shoved his hands under your shirt, massaging your breasts. "Man, I'll never get tired of these tits. They feel so good in my hands."

Porco bit at your bottom lip, and you let out a moan. Porco was driving you wild right now. "That's my good girl," he praised, and those four little words sent a shockwave straight to your core. "I love it when you moan so prettily for me. Now take those clothes off, baby."

That lit a fire under you. You quickly rid yourself of your t-shirt (really one of Porco's, a vintage shirt from the university you both went to) and sweatpants, standing nakedly in front of Porco except for a simple pair of black undies.

Porco let out a breath. "Oh fuck, baby. You're so goddamn sexy." You shyly smiled at him. "Now take a seat for me; I need to taste you."

You sat down at the end of the bed, gazing at Porco as he kneeled in front of you. The fact that he was still dressed in his light blue button-down, navy tie, and khaki slacks from work made this even hotter, somehow. Porco pushed your panties to the side, moaning when he saw gossamer strings of your slick clinging to the fabric.

Porco dove in, lapping at your clit with his tongue and grunting as you arched your back in pleasure. "Can't believe you think I'd want anyone else when I have the sweetest pussy right here. You taste so fuckin good, baby."

Your mind was blank, devoid of any coherent thoughts except for how fucking amazing your boyfriend was with his tongue. You were in the throes of ecstasy, grabbing at his hair to push his face even closer to you.

Porco removed his lips from your clit, eliciting a whine from you. "Easy there, baby," he said, chuckling. "I'm gonna eat you out; I just wanna finger fuck you too. Is that okay?"

Aroused, you reached for his hand, but Porco tutted, shaking his head at you. "Use your words, babe," he reminded you.

"Porco I need your fingers inside me," you whined. "Need your mouth and your fingers in my pussy."

Porco smirked, a dark glint in his eye. "Can't possibly deny you when you ask me so nicely." He returned to sucking on your clit while his fingers pumped in and out of your opening. "Babe, I can't believe you're so wet for me. I could fuckin drown in your pretty little cunt."

You gasped, feeling a warmth in your belly. You felt like you were about to burst, and Porco could sense it too. "Come for me, baby," Porco encouraged you, fingering your clit. "Make a fuckin' mess on my face."

Before you knew it, you were cumming, coating Porco's face with your wetness. Porco wiped his mouth with the back of his hand, moaning happily as he licked his fingers.

"Let me return the favor," you offered, your gaze focused on the way Porco's erection strained in his pants.

"Nah, not this time," Porco refused. "This is all about you, baby."

You softened you gaze, beaming at your boyfriend. You truly did adore this man.

"Be a good girl, lose the panties, and lie on your stomach," Porco instructed as he unbuckled his belt. "Get that pretty ass of yours in the air for me."

You quickly obeyed, tossing your underwear onto the floor and lying face down on the bed, sticking your ass in the air. Porco hummed appreciatively, rubbing your butt cheeks in his hand and lightly biting at the skin before soothing the pain with his kisses. "Can't believe this amazing ass is all mine."

He got up from the floor, retrieving a condom from his bedside table to slide over his dick. You scooched farther up on the bed to give him more room, and the two of you moaned in unison as Porco pushed himself into your entrance. Porco had an average-sized cock, but what he lacked in length, he more than made up for in girth.

Porco growled as your cunt clenched around his length. "Fuckin love the way your pussy feels around me. So warm and so damn tight."

Porco pulled out of you and slammed back in, making you see stars. He pumped in and out, snapping his hips and muttering praises in your ears the entire time. You tightly gripped the sheets, feeling your body light up in pleasure every time the tip of his dick grazed that special spot that made your toes curl.

"Are you close?" Porco asked as you writhed under him. You hummed affirmatively, unable to form words anymore. "Me too. Play with your clit for me, baby. Let's cum together."

You rubbed at your clit, feeling a second orgasm about to wash over you. You came with a yelp, feeling Porco's cock spasm inside you as he spilled his seed into the condom, moaning your name. He tossed the used condom in the wastebasket next to his bedside table, and then two of you laid in bed for a few minutes, drenched in sweat and panting heavily.

"Porco...thank you. I needed that," you admitted, lovingly squeezing Porco's hand.

Porco tenderly looked at you, softly pecking your lips. "Of course, baby. You know I always want to make you feel good. And I hope me blowing your back out is proof that I actually think you're hot."

Your mouth dropped open. "Porco Galliard!" you shouted, playfully hitting him in the shoulder.

Porco snickered, but his face soon softened. "Seriously though, I'm glad I could give you what you needed. You know I love you so much, even on your bad-brain days."

You felt a warmth in your chest. Porco could be cocky, sarcastic, and crass, but he had the biggest heart. You were overwhelmed with love for this man who had been by your side through years of highs and lows, who always encouraged you and looked at you like you hung the moon in the sky.

"I love you so much, baby," you said, nuzzling into Porco's chest. He kissed the top of your head and tightened his grip around you.

"Hey babe?" you asked after a few minutes, wiggling a little in Porco's grip.

Porco cocked an eyebrow. "Don't tell me you're ready for round two already. I mean I'm down, but let a man take a shower first."

You good-naturedly rolled your eyes at him. "No, you dingus, I just have to pee."

"And they say romance is dead," Porco quipped, loosening his grip so you could get up and use the bathroom.

"Okay, mister drama king," you playfully replied. "Cut the sass and maybe I'll help you get cleaned up." You waggled your ass at him before disappearing into the bathroom.

Porco grinned, fondly gazing at you even while you were on the toilet. "You're incredible, you know that? I can't want to marry your ass someday."

You chuckled. Just Porco, being Porco - and you loved him for it.

[rissi-chan]

Gale x Tav/Durge on their Period

Yo, I started bleeding this weekend and so now, of course, I have to get these hcs out into the world for how Gale would react to his Tav/Durge being on their period (some slightly NSFW ones further down, highlighted in red, MDNI):

-One hundred thousand infinity percent would use magic to warm his hands, then hold them from behind and gently rub their belly. Would also probably give little kisses and nuzzles to their shoulders and neck <3

-Would cook anything they wanted and insist that they need to eat SOMETHING even if their appetite is meh due to cramps, etc. "At least some broth, my love. It will warm you up." He'd even cook vegetables for them. "I read that cooked vegetables are preferable to raw vegetables during this time, as they're easier on the stomach."

-On days he had to leave them to teach at Blackstaff, he would assign Tara as a belly warmer (probably bribe her with some beholder jerky) which she would initially act averse to, but she secretly loves having a lap to curl up in in Gale's absence, and she'd spend the day purring attentively and dozing with Tav/Durge until Gale returned (almost definitely with a little gift such as chocolates or a new book to indulge them with)

-Would buy ALL the bath salts/teas/herbs and soaps and lotions and prepare the most luxurious bath for his love, catered to their scent preferences (and of course he would join and wash their back if they so desired)

-Would massage their lower back, once again with magically heated hands and their favorite scented oils, before bed and upon waking up in the morning.

-If they were feeling emotional he would prepare some comforting tea and wrap the both of them in the coziest blanket he could find, peppering them with soft kisses and words of love and encouragement. "Whatever you need - to cry, to laugh, to sit in silence - I will be right here with you."

-He would actively ask how they were and check in with them, never shying away from hearing details of their experience and, in fact, using every period as a learning opportunity to better understand his partner and the nuances of their time-of-the-month - because it definitely is different for everyone.

-If they were feeling particularly sensitive/their hormones were acting up (ie if they were feeling horny af lol), he would GLADLY indulge them in whatever intimacy they desired: soft and sensual, rough and needy, quick and efficient, slow and prolonged, magic or no magic, bed sex, bath sex, desk sex, top or bottom and anyway imaginable. He is DOWN for it. Knowing that pleasure eases the pain adds to his already insatiable desire to please his partner. Tav/Durge is the priority. And he will make sure they are not only relieved but COMPLETELY satisfied.

-Would take aftercare seriously making sure to handle all the cleanup himself and helping Tav/Durge get comfortable however they needed (a bath/wash, a fresh, comfy change of clothes, a post-sex snack, a massage, etc.)

-∞/10 would eat his partner out on their period. No question. No hesitation. That man would FEAST.

Feel free (and please do) add any more of your own HCs on this subject! We can never get enough Gale content <3

[nobodysuspectsthebutterfly]

Thoughts about the supposed direction Rhaena's storyline is going in Hotd and the apparent Nettles erasure? Disappointing but... I can sort of see where they could take it? Idk... looking at grrm's posts in hindsight kinda makes me even more disappointed if he is as well (he just can't get his adaptations right atp but idk)

Well. Pre-ep7, we're still pending any Rhaena-Sheepstealer bonding, but I'm basically 😑🫠 about the rumors. (I dislike borrowing trouble, I'm not even sure how many of the rumors are true -- actually I'm pretty sure many of these supposed "leaks" are straight up lies -- and yet. Still *disgruntled meh* and *"we're all fine-everyone's fine here" dread*.) Rhaena is one of my more beloved F&B characters (it's the Sansa parallels, I can't help myself), and Nettles has been a super fave since TPATQ and TWOIAF. (Particularly TWOIAF, since the Burned Men fire-witch reveal; heck, I think my little dollmaker is still one of the few fanarts of Nettles in the mountains.)

I mean, sure, I understand that Rhaena's book storyline during the Dance, where she's offpage from basically the start of the war until nearly the end of it, socializing in the Vale and waiting for her egg to hatch, would be difficult to adapt in an action-oriented visuals-oriented television show. (Like Rhaenyra this season sure isn't just catatonically crying from Luke's death until Jace's.) And I'm glad Rhaena's getting more to do, and I'm glad it's directly addressing her feeling slighted and ignored by her family since she doesn't have a dragon. However...

I do not want Rhaena merged into one character with Nettles! I do not want Rhaena to have Sheepstealer and not her hope-for-the-future (doomed hope, and yet) baby dragon Morning, that hatched for her. Also note how pink Morning, worn as a fashion accessory, so suited Rhaena's coquette personality vs her sporty, adventurous twin sister... I mean, I've said before, I understand adaptations can be different, this still wouldn't make HOTD even close to a "loose adaptation".* But I do not want this adaptation to lose Rhaena's personality that I loved.

Or for that matter, to lose Nettles's character, and her importance to the themes and worldbuilding of ASOIAF. (See also.) And her importance to the plot -- but god knows, they're doing all sorts of things with Daemon and Rhaenyra on this show, toxic romance or what have you, who knows if once Daemon reaches his emotional breakthrough or whatever at Harrenhal this season, if they want to backslide him into a cheating plot in S3 while Daemon is again stuck in a castle for months.** Nevertheless, I'd be deeply disappointed to lose scenes like "as well as her dragon, the girl had taken to riding Daemon", or the last morning in Maidenpool scene... and um, you can't really fit Rhaena in there, or if you did, it would certainly put the lie to the ship denialists' "he just treated her like a father, platonically bathing naked together!" (Also the pretty blatant fake S3 leaks including one where Rhaenyra decides Rhaena has betrayed her... are pretty blatantly fake, sorry.)

And then there would be the frankly racist erasure of the one book black character. "Oh but the show made the Velaryons black, so it's not erasing, it's adding more!" No, sorry. (1) I was and am all for adding more racial diversity to the show and especially to Valyrians, but face it, when you take the book's secondary character Velaryons, two who get killed off early and are portrayed as lesser to the "true" Daemon/Rhaenyra marriage, and make them black, you've already done a lot of hinky damage there. (2) What, it's that hard to write three distinct black girls with very different personalities and one from an incredibly different background? I don't see Addam and Alyn getting merged. I don't see Aemond and Daeron getting merged. I don't see Hugh and Ulf getting merged. But I'm not really one to speak here, for this particular discussion I'd point you to @ride-thedragon and @venusintheblindspots-blog and @chrkrose, among others, they have many many posts on this subject in far greater detail and better argued than mine.

OK, so. I still have hope that Nettles -- even if not cast for this season (sorry y'all, that extra is an extra) -- may appear next season, and all this worry will turn out to be a tempest in a teapot. Per last report from the HOTD panel at SDCC, the rumor of Rhaena and Sheepstealer definitely doesn't happen in ep 7, though, yes, there's one episode after. And if it does happen... I'll be strongly disappointed. Deeply, deeply disappointed, and probably far more suspicious of future adaptational changes. But, for me at least, it's not a dealbreaker like GOT S5 was.*** I won't be happy at all about the storyline, but I would like to think the show will remain high quality re themes and character and all. Time will tell, though. Time will definitely tell.

As for GRRM, when his complaints seem to be "wild dragons shouldn't be in the Vale" and "the heraldry with four legs is wrong", well, I struggle to see that he's that disappointed in the adaptational changes. Believe me, I am well used to reading between the lines re GRRM and adaptations, something like the fact that he's not visiting the HOTD writers' room when he's in the UK is nothing. Catch me if at Worldcon or his Oxford lecture in August, GRRM again says that he could write a whole novel about Nettles, or if actually says something about non-Valyrian dragonriders, ok?

*I was just reading up on The Beast (2023) vs Henry James's “The Beast in the Jungle”. lol HOTD doesn't compare. Don't even think it, man.

**You know, this reminds me of how the Dance in F&B is not paced very well for individual characters, they keep going offscreen for months at a time. From shortly after Rhaenyra's crowning to the Fall of KL, Daemon just sits at Harrenhal and occasionally ventures out into the riverlands. From shortly after the Fall of KL until the Battle Above the Gods Eye, Daemon just... sits at Maidenpool and occasionally ventures out into the riverlands (with Nettles). Yeah, obviously a show would need to write more for him to do, he's a main character.

***Thank god HOTD isn't the sort of exploitative shitshow that GOT was. All y'all thinking it was a better adaptation because of your nostalgia goggles (and/or shitty memory) need to actually reread the books (especially AFFC/ADWD) and then submit yourself to the real-world misogynist and homophobic nonsense of S5-6 again, ugh.

[queen-of-reptiles]

𝚆𝙷𝙰𝚃 𝙻𝙾𝙾𝙺𝚂 𝙶𝙾𝙾𝙳?

description: in which charli meets her future girlfriend in a coffee shop in london problem however - she’s bethany england’s cousin

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charli grant x female reader

disclaimer: this is all fiction! Do not take any of this seriously.

warnings: language, cuteness

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y/n just posted

liked by, y/f/n1, y/f/n2 and 609 others

y/n smiley :))

tagged bethanyengland4, daisy_c1 and 6 others

view all 200 comments

y/f/n1: vibe 😎

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y/n: ikr 😏

y/f/n2: so many smiley faces

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y/n: 🙂🙂🙂

y/f/n3: ☺️☺️

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y/n: 😘😘

bethanyengland4: 💙💙

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y/n: 💙💙

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username1: omg who is this ?!?!??

y/f/n4: that night was a weird vibe tbf

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y/f/n5: i blame y/n 🤷‍♀️

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y/n: oi fucker

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y/f/n6: you kiss your mother with that mouth 😏

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y/n: no but i kiss yours 😏

mart.thomas: what fun!!

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y/n: love you marta !!

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username2: how does she know the spurs girls ?!

username3: 🧐🧐

y/f/n7: coffee, fashion, night out, wanna be aesthetic, bethany, TRAIN, daisy and the best band set up ever

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daisy_c1: thanks for the info 😭

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y/n: why did he just dissect my post lmao

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daisy_c1: oi leave him alone - he can do whatever he wants 🖕

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y/n: you wanna fight 🧐

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daisy_c1: Y E S

see more comments...

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y/n hummed as she flipped another chair over, the morning sun slowly pushing through London, Bulls Cross road was just starting to get busy as people rushed toward the centre of London for work.

y/n flipped the sign at the door, smiling at Daisy the two workers letting out a joint sigh as they waited for the usual morning rush the coffee shop always had.

Since y/n could remember, her parents had wanted to own a coffee shop, and when y/n's father passed away when she was 18, her mum decided to do it.

The woman baked the best sweet treats and savoury paninis which people adored, she and her five kitchen staff worked out back - switching shifts and y/n with her rotated seven out front worked serving the customers.

y/n enjoyed the ability to bond with people over drinks, and the fact she and her mother mainly employed college/university kids who really enjoyed working and did so with a smile.

The bell echoed and the three shared a look before bursting into it, rushing and bustling as they worked swiftly for the next two hours, battling the morning rush, until the clock finally hit 9am.

"Oh my god!" Daisy groaned, the two slumping onto the counter in relief that the cafe was finally empty. The bell went once more and y/n sighed.

"Slacking on the job?" A voice asked, an amused tone shining through.

"Beth!" y/n grinned, rushing over to her cousin who scooped her up in a tight hug.

"Hey mini!" Bethany cheered. "Here for my morning dose of caffeine!" She adds and y/n nods as Daisy starts making Bethany's usual coffee order.

"How are you?" y/n asked her cousin as she moves back behind the counter.

"Good, we have a new signing starting today, so I'm excited." Bethany nods and y/n smiles.

"Yeah, Charlie Grant right? The Australian?" y/n asks and Bethany nods.

"You do pay attention, you do care!" Bethany says, grinning at the fact her cousin, who didn't really like football knew who their new signing was.

"Meh, a little bit." y/n laughs, holding up her pointer finger and her thumb to make a small space between them.

The two cousin's share a laugh before Daisy hands Bethany her coffe, the woman thanking her as Daisy shrugs it off, miming to y/n she was going to go outside for a minute and have a vape which y/n allows with a nod and a smile.

"I will see you tonight yeah, for dinner?" Bethany asks y/n who nods happily.

"Yeah of course." y/n smiles and Bethany grins, leaning over to press a kiss to her younger cousin's cheek.

"See you tonight! Love you." Bethany calls.

"Love you too!" y/n calls out, before the door shuts and the cafe is quiet once more.

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Only twenty minutes after Bethany had got her coffee the door opened again and a blonde wondered in, eyes wide as she looked around at the menu, mouth every so often moving along with the words of the items on the menu.

Daisy had been sent to get some school work done in the staff area out the back, y/n telling her to come back just before quarter to eleven, which was when their lunch rush would start until 2 - Leonard would also be in by then and then once 3 hit Daisy would go home.

"Hiya, can I help?" y/n asked, a smile on her face as the girl looked at her and her cheeks reddened.

"Oh, hi. Um, what's good in here?" The woman asked and y/n smiled at her.

"Depends, what do you like the look of?" y/n asked, turning to look at the menu which was big enough to have some variety on but not stupidly big.

"I like the look of you." The girl said, seemingly without thinking and y/n's head snapped to her, the girl covered her mouth in embarrassment and y/n giggled.

"Thank you, however I am not on the menu." y/n laughed and the girl giggled slightly. "I'm y/n." She added, holding out her hand.

"Charli." The girl introduced, shaking y/n's hand.

"I'm guessing from the accent, you're not for around here?" y/n asks.

"No, I'm from the motherland of Australia." Charli smiles and y/n chuckles.

"Well Charli, welcome to London! Now what can I get for ya?" y/n asked.

Once Charlie had ordered her drink, y/n got on with making it quick and putting it in a to go cup. She then handed it to the woman opposite, ignoring the way their finger bushed as Charli took it.

"Can I get your number, maybe you could show me around London, y'know?" Charli asks and y/n smiles.

"Tell you what, come back tomorrow morning, and I'll give you my number." y/n nods and Charli grins brightly.

"Okay, I'll see you tomorrow chick!" Charli before she leaves the cafe and y/n smiles.

"Wasn't that Bethany's new signing?" Daisy asks, y/n jumping in shock having not heard her appear in the back doorway.

"Maybe." y/n chuckled, Daisy rolling her eyes playfully. "What?" y/n asks. "She's really really hot." She adds and Daisy chuckles, grabbing a diet coke at the fridge and going back to studying.

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daisy_c1 just posted on her story

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y/n just posted on their story

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y/n huffed as she pushed through the restaurant door, moving toward the loud noise of what she was sure were the Tottenham players.

She lid off her coat, her relaxed yet classy dress being on display as she moved toward the table, Becky being the first one to notice her and get up.

"y/n!" Becky cheered, pulling the girl in for a hug.

"Hi Becks!" y/n smiles hugging her as several of the team also raised to their feet. After doing her rounds and saying hi to everyone, y/n noticed Bethany and Charli walking back from the bar, clearly having ordered some non-alcoholic drinks for everyone.

"There she is!" Bethany cheers, moving over to y/n and pulling her in for a tight hug. y/n looked over Bethany's shoulder, winking cheekily at Charli who was watching her with wide shocked eyes.

"Hi Beth, you okay?" y/n asks pulling away, her cousin nodded as she dragged Charli over.

"Charli, this is my cousin and the best coffee maker in town, y/n." Bethany smiles.

"Hi." y/n smiles offering her hand.

"Hey." Charli nods, shaking her hand as Bethany pulls y/n down to sit, Charli the other side.

"I ordered you your usual?" Bethany asks her cousin and y/n nods thanking her with a kiss on your cheek. Bethany then gets into a conversation with Marta, so y/n turns to Charli.

"So, Bethany is your cousin?" Charli asks. "My captain?" She asks again and y/n chuckles.

"Still want my number?" y/n asks hopefully.

"You are really fit." Charli sighs and y/n chuckles, the two sharing a laugh. "I guess you'll just have to see if I come in tomorrow." Charli hums.

"You better." y/n warns and Charli just giggles, before the two turn to separate people to talk.

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The next morning, y/n went through the rush and the watched the door impatiently, hoping to see a familiar blonde walk through the door.

At 9.05am y/n sighed and assumed Charli had gone straight to training so started making herself a hot chocolate, and one for one of the newbies that was currently studying out back.

"Can I get some service?" A voice asks and y/n jumps, turning to see Charli waiting with a cheeky grin. y/n furrows her brows wondering how she didn't here the bell of the door.

"You came." y/n said with a small smile.

"Well you see, there's a really good offer on the table of this beautiful chicks number." Charli sighs and y/n chuckles.

"Oh yeah, want me to go get her?" y/n asks and Charli nods.

"Would ya? She's stunning and may be related to the Tottenham women captain." Charli nods.

y/n chuckles before spinning on the spot and mockingly gasping at Charli, as if she didn't know she was there, at this Charli bursts into laughter.

"Charli, lovely to see you." y/n smiles and Charli smiles softly back.

"So..." Charli says, resting against the counter.

"You looking for this?" y/n asks, holding up a napkin with her number scrawled across.

"Yes I am indeed." Charli nods, leaning over and snatching it from y/n's hand before she could blink. The blonde had the number in her phone and ringing quickly.

y/n's phone vibrated on the side and Charli nodded, happy to know that the number was correct and y/n now had her number. y/n chuckled slightly as she grabbed her phone and added Charli as a contact.

"I have to go." Charli says softly. "But do you think we could meet up, outside of Spurs dinners and coffee shop counters?" Charli asks and y/n smiles softly, texting across her answer.

to charli: tomorrow here, 7pm.

Charlie looks up back at y/n, a bright smile on her face when she realises they are going on a date and she nods her head.

"Okay, I'll see you tomorrow." Charli nods before leaning over the counter and pecking y/n's cheek. "Bye!" Charli calls before rushing out.

y/n bit her lip, smiling softly before running a hand over her cheek, she then sighs and opens her phone quickly texting Bethany, who replies far quicker than expected.

to bethyyyy <3: if I asked to date one of your team-mates, what would you say? x

from bethyyyy <3: this abt Charli?

to bethyyyy <3: wtf - what the actual fuck - how did...

from bethyyyy <3: please a lesbian always knows

to bethyyyy <3: hahahahahahahah

from bethyyyy <3: go for it btw! xx

to bethyyyy <3: love you x

from bethyyyy<3: love you too xx

y/n smiled as she looked up from her phone, before grinning at the ceiling and fist bumping herself - all she had to do was take Charli to a good first date. And she had just the place.

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charli_grant just posted on her story

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y/n just posted

liked by daisy_c1, bethanyengland4 and 108, 287 others

tagged charli_grant, bethanyengland4 and 6 others

y/n umm hi everyone ?

view all 4099 comments

y/f/n1: soooooo many people omg 😶😶

^

y/n: 🫣🫣

y/f/n2: a lotta coffeee that day ! 😝

^

y/n: it was quite the day ! 😅

^

y/f/n2: 😂😂

username1: is it me or is she so pretty ?!! 😍😍

samanthakerr20: was great to meet you pookie !! I WILL BE RETURNING FOR YOUR MOTHERS CAKES 😍😍

^

y/n: 🥰😘

beckyspencer91: that night was so good ‘kiss me martinis’ yummm 😌😌

^

y/n: 💋💋

username2: so she’s bethany’s cousin?!?!

charli_grant: i need to STOP taking selfies on your phone ! 😭

^

y/n: no I like them !! ☺️

^

cailtlinfoord: ‘no i like them’ 😶

daisy_c1: omg those flowers 😍😍

^

y/n: you got them for me ?!!!!

^

daisy_c1: i know i just wanted to make sure everyone knew what a great bff i am ☺️

^

charli_grant: 🚨 DAISY IS A GREAT BEST FRIEND 🚨

^

y/n: 😂😂😂

bethanyengland4: love you little one!!

^

y/n: Love you tooo!!!!!

kyracooneyx: that last photo took Charli and I wayyyyy to long to do 😅

^

y/n: in the rain as well

^

charli_grant: NO Y/N WAIT YOU HAVE TO GET THE AESTHETIC ANGLE - kyra after making us stand in the rain for five minutes 🙄

see more comments...

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y/n chuckled as her phone continued to go off, neither her or Charli bothered as they continued to skate around the empty roller rink, everyone having gone home.

y/n held her hand out for Charli, the blonde grasping it as they rolled over the wood, singing along to the music as they did so, Charli pulled y/n slightly, arms wrapping around her waist as she pulled the girl into her chest.

y/n breathed in shock, arms wrapping around Charli's shoulders as the blonde skates them both, y/n not attempting to skate backwards, just letting Charli bring her along.

"I really enjoyed tonight." Charli whispered quietly, pushing a strand of hair away from y/n's eyes.

"Does that mean you want another one?" y/n asks hopefully, Charli smiling as she skates them toward the exit.

"I'd love to." Charli nods, as she holds y/n's hands, letting her get from the rink.

"Yeah?" y/n asks, smiling as Charli nods.

"Yeah." Charli smiles, the two taking their skates off and thanking the workers before sliding their trainers back on and walking back outside.

"Come on, there is one more thing to do." y/n smiles, dragging Charli toward her car where the two get in, turning the heat on to keep them warm as y/n drives to a spot just outside the woods, the Tottenham training centre the other side of them.

"Have you brought me here to kill me?" Charli asks as they get out, coats zipped up.

"Shut up." y/n laughs.

"No, cause I warn ya, I'm scrappy." Charli says and y/n laughs more.

"Oh shush." y/n hums climbing onto the roof of her Volvo. "Come on." She adds as she lays back, Charli joining her with a furrowed brow.

"What are ya doing chick?" Charli asks her.

"Lie down and look up Charl." y/n says, Charli doing as she was told, a gasp falling from her lips. "Out here, the light pollution isn't as bad, so you can actually see all the stars." y/n smiles at her.

"It's beautiful." Charli says, y/n humming in agreement as she watches the scene above her. "Thank you for tonight, it's been fantastic." Charli admits softly.

"I think the company's been the best thing." y/n says, turning her head to face Charli, the blonde doing the same.

"You know, I would agree." Charli smiles softly, her hand reaching out to find y/n's, the two linking their fingers as they turn back to the stars.

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charli_grant just posted on her story

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END

okay there will deffo be a part two to this but once I have fought my way through requests!

-

Queenie! x

[cloudspotterclub]

reckless (j.p.)

Pairing: james x fem!slytherin!reader

Summary: You tend to keep everyone at arm's length, and they are more than happy to stay there. But not James Potter. It seems he's made it his life's mission to make you miserable, but you're usually able to tolerate his petty jabs. That is, until he pushes it too far and uncovers a truth about you. After that, the secrets just keep tumbling out, and James learns that some cuts can't be undone.

Word Count: 5.9k

Warnings: sooorta enemies to lovers, moderate injuries, cringe banter, slight angst, fluff, ending's a bit meh

a/n: I know I said I might post this in December, but I've just now stopped hating it enough to post it lol I'm sorry!

“Y/L/N.”

“Jesus, Potter!” You startled, scowling when your eyes landed upon the laughing Gryffindor.

James smirked as he looked down the length of the fourth-floor corridor, which was completely deserted. “Aw, what’s wrong? Did the floor clear out the second you stepped in?”

“I know you’re a bit dim, so I’ll spell it out for you. I’m not fond of company, and I came here specifically to avoid the likes of you. Do me a favor and kindly piss off,” you spat, turning back to the book in your hands.

James snatched the book away, strutting around as he obnoxiously read the front cover, “The Philosophy of the Mundane.” He paused, arching his eyebrows. “Hang on a minute, what are you doing with a muggle book?”

You felt your face redden in a mix of embarrassment and annoyance as you stared him down. “It’s not a muggle book. It’s a book about muggles.”

“That doesn’t answer my question. Slytherins hate muggle stuff.”

You fought to contain the building frustration within you, knowing James was baiting you. You weren’t going to give in this time.

You got up, walking right up to his chest. “You don’t know as much as you think you do, golden boy.”

The bespectacled boy leaned down, challenging you. “Yeah? What don’t I know?”

You matched his determined glare as you leaned up, your nose barely brushing against his. You allowed your eyes to briefly flick to his lips before meeting his pupils once again. 

“I’d tell you,” you breathed, watching as the daring look began to leave his face.

“But then I’d have to kill you.” You smirked, ripping your book out of his now-lax grip.

“Hey—”

“Don’t tempt me, Potter,” you said boredly as you sat back down on the ledge by the window. “I already want to kill you, it’s just a matter of how soon you force my hand.”

He ignored your threat, sitting across from you in the cramped space. “What was that about, Y/N?”

You pouted your lips sarcastically. “Aw, what’s wrong? Never been flirted with before?”

James shook his head in disbelief, “You were flirting with me?”

You looked at him flatly. “No. Now go away.”

“No, wait, you never answered my question. Why are you reading a book about muggles?”

“Why do you always know where I am? Are you stalking me?” you asked accusingly.

James’ flustered expression was quickly replaced with a cocky grin. “I’d tell you, but then I’d have to kill you.”

You groaned, regretting ever trying to engage him at all. You should’ve known James Potter wouldn’t stay rattled for long. “What’s it going to take for you to leave me alone, Potter?”

He clasped his hands behind his head, leaning on the wall behind him. “Tell me what I want to hear.”

“You’re Slughorn’s favorite.”

He snorted. “I don’t care about your stupid club.”

“Stop acting so jealous of everyone in it, then,” you shrugged.

“Come on, Y/L/N, stop deflecting,” James puffed out, “why won’t you tell me?”

You stared at him incredulously. “We’re not friends. I don’t owe you anything. And I especially don’t need to be civil with you, so consider it a favor that I haven’t hexed you yet. Leave while I’m feeling courteous.”

A disbelieving expression sat upon James’ face. “You don’t fool me. You wouldn’t risk detention for anything. Too ambitious for your own good, as your fellow Slytherins say.”

His words stung you in a place you’d tried so hard to never let anyone reach. That familiar rage and shame began to build within you.

Your voice shook as you tried your best to conceal your bubbling emotions. “Shut up, Potter.”

His smirk only grew wider. “So, what is it? Plotting the most effective way to murder muggles once you graduate? Got your Dark Mark already, Y/L/N?”

You gritted your teeth, digging your nails into your palms. “No.”

James clapped his hands in mock excitement. “Oh, don’t tell me you’ve got a soft spot for them now! What did it? Got your eye on a muggle-born, perhaps? No, that can’t be it. The only one you care about is yourself, you’d never care enough to—”

He cut himself off, his mouth hanging open. “Hold on.” The longer he thought about it, the more it made sense. “Are you a muggle-born?”

Fear pulsed through your entire being as James looked upon you in genuine shock. You’d tried so hard to get through school without anyone catching on. You were nearly there—just one year to go and you’d be free from the social hierarchy you’d tried so hard not to play into. Now, everything was ruined because you allowed James to get to you.

Angry, embarrassed tears poured down your cheeks. “You don’t know a thing about me,” you seethed, rushing to gather your belongings.

James’ face dropped as he took in the impact his words had on you. He began to reach for you as you got up. “Y/N, wait, I’m not going to—”

You furiously tore yourself away from him, glaring at him as hard as you could. “I don’t care what you do! Just stay away from me. I mean it.” Your voice quieted as your bottom lip quivered, “You’re a real dickhead, James.”

James was, for once, at a loss for words as he watched your figure storm away.

~

“Oy, Prongs, what’s the matter with you?” Sirius asked, jostling James’ shoulder.

“Huh?”

The long-haired boy frowned. “I asked if you wanted to try that new hex on Snivellus, and you just kept staring out the bloody window. Is Y/N out there or something?”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” James asked a little more defensively than he’d intended.

Sirius cocked an eyebrow. “What’s got you so riled up? I just meant you’re always on her case. It’s all you use the map for anymore. Look, I’m all for messing with greensleeves, but she’s a bit of a dull subject. She hardly ever retaliates, and she hasn’t got any friends. Even the other snakes don’t hang around her. Pathetic enough on her own, don’t you think?”

James felt a nagging displeasure in the pit of his stomach. “Knock it off, Sirius.”

It wasn’t often that James felt remorse for his actions, but ever since he’d found you out a week ago, he had trouble feeling anything else. You had looked at him with such fright, as if he was about to attack you. He couldn’t shake the image of your tear-filled face, traces of disappointment evident as you uttered your final words to him. You’d called him worse things before, but you’d never said anything with such hurt and sincerity.

If Sirius responded to him, James didn’t hear it. He haphazardly threw his scarf on as he pushed past his friend. “I need to get some air.”

James briskly walked out of the boys’ dormitories, heading straight for the quidditch field. Maybe he could throw a quaffle around—physical activities usually helped clear his mind. As he made his way past the courtyard, he spotted you slumped beneath the shadow of a tree.

Your knees were curled nearly all the way to your chest, with just enough of a gap left for a book to be propped up against your thighs. James observed that you weren’t really reading it. Your eyes were looking far ahead as you made lazy motions with your wand, absentmindedly growing and shrinking a blade of grass. He took note of the way the other students were seated several meters away from the area you took up.

James ran a hand through his hair, the guilt nibbling away at him once more. This was a new experience for him, one that he wasn’t sure how to deal with. James figured there was nothing a little magic couldn’t fix. He hid himself behind one of the wider columns and stuck his wand out just enough for his spell to hit its intended target.

Your head shot up in confusion as your facial muscles forced their way into a smile. You scanned the courtyard, noticing James’ messy tufts of hair poking out from behind a pillar. Marching your way over there, you tried your best to rearrange your lips into a scowl.

James’ eyes widened as he saw you barreling towards him. Your demented grin was enough to send him running toward his original destination. He knew he was faster than you, but he gravely underestimated your willpower. As he came to a stop just outside the quidditch arena, you crashed into his back, sending the both of you tumbling to the ground.

You used the momentum to pin him down, sitting on his chest as you displayed your unnerving smile over his face. “Potter! Undo this right now!”

James bit back a chuckle as he fished for his wand. “Sorry, Y/L/N, didn’t think it’d turn out so psychotic.” He lightly tapped the corner of your mouth, sending relief throughout your face as you regained control of it.

You rubbed at your jaw, frowning down at him. “What the hell were you thinking?”

“I don’t know, I thought you could use a little cheer. You were looking miserable out there.”

“Yeah,” you muttered, “I wonder why. Look, will you stop torturing me and just get it over with?”

“What are you on about?” James furrowed his eyebrows, eyes darting to where your body met his. “You want me to kiss you or something?”

“No, you daft pig!” You reeled, hastily scurrying off of him. “I meant you should stop dangling my fate in front of me and just expose me to everyone already.”

He pushed himself up on his elbows. “What? Is that what you thought I was going to do?”

“Yes? Why else would you have been avoiding me all week? You’re taunting me, and you know what? It’s working. So just take your win.”

James cringed a little as he uttered his next words. “I was avoiding you because I felt bad. You looked so freaked out when I asked if you were a muggle-born. I was never going to tell anyone.”

You stood up, taking a few cautious steps away from him. “Don’t play games with me, Potter.”

“Blimey, Y/L/N, you really do have trust issues.”

“Forgive me if I’m hesitant to believe the boy that planted dungbombs in my bag for a whole term.”

James sighed, tugging at his curls. “Fine, don’t believe me. You’ll feel real stupid when you realize I was telling the truth.”

You narrowed your eyes at him. “I already feel stupid giving you a chance.”

“It’s a natural urge.” The boy shrugged, getting up and dusting off his pants. “Want to fly around?”

“What? Hey—” James grabbed your forearm, pulling you into the quidditch arena. “Potter, what the hell do you think you’re doing?”

He picked out two broomsticks, throwing one at you. “Making you trust me.”

~

“JAMES POTTER, I’M GOING TO KILL YOU!”

James snickered, paying no mind to your horrified expression cast towards the ground, which was now about fifty meters below you. You had been hesitant to get on the broom in the first place—flying wasn’t really your forte—but James promised he only wanted to show you the goalposts up close. To your horror, the second you reached them, he knotted your brooms together and rocketed up into the open air.

His cackles rang in your ears, as did the growing wind. Your hands tightened around the broomstick’s handle, knuckles paling along with your face. After the initial adrenaline rush, you had been rendered silent by the overwhelming fear of plummeting to the ground.

As James got the last few laughs out of his system, he looked over to see your petrified face still staring downward. “Uh, earth to Y/L/N?”

You didn’t respond, eyes glued to the barely-visible field below you.

James’ eyes flitted towards your hands, shaking with the force with which you were gripping your broomstick. Again, he was hit with that annoying sense of guilt that had been plaguing him since your last encounter. He wished desperately for that feeling to go away.

He hesitantly placed a hand on your broomstick, causing your head to snap up towards him. He was struck a little by the intensity of your gaze—not hateful or upset, but pleading.

James offered you a clunky smile, quietly saying, “You’re okay. I’ve got you.”

Although your grip relaxed ever so slightly, you still didn’t respond.

James frowned, that horrible feeling intensifying. “I’m sorry I lied. I really thought you’d like it up here.” He paused. “I should probably stop assuming things about you, huh?”

You gave him a small nod, slightly perturbed at the strange gentleness in his voice. “Yeah. You should.”

To say James was acting unusual would be an understatement. Since when did he care whether you were comfortable? You looked from his hold on your broomstick to the lines between his eyebrows. Something was definitely off.

“Do you want me to get us back down?”

Your face contorted in surprise and confusion. “Really?”

James gave a small, breathy laugh, shifting his eyes away from you. “Don’t look at me like that, Y/L/N. I’d really like for you to trust me.”

You weren’t sure if it was the high altitude or the new shyness in James’ voice, but you were beginning to feel dizzy.

You blinked at him. “Why?”

“I don’t know,” James tugged at his hair, gaze still averted. “Lately, I’ve been feeling like I’ve been an ass to you. I know you don’t think I’m capable of it, but I am trying to be a better person. And that includes not making your day harder than it needs to be.”

You considered this. “So…I’m some obstacle to tackle in your quest to be all self-righteous?”

“What? No, that’s not at all what I’m saying. Y/N, I sincerely want us to be on good terms.”

You narrowed your eyes, reminded of your conversation the week before. “Is this some hero complex thing? Befriend the lonely Slytherin mudblood so you can look big in front of all your friends?”

James was hit with unexpected hurt. Though he figured he deserved it, he hadn’t realized just how deep his actions had affected you before. The overwhelming shame he felt was only eclipsed by his intense desire to reassure you that he didn’t think so lowly of you. That you didn’t deserve to have anyone make you feel that way. That your pained expression made him want to do all he could to stop you from feeling that way again.

“Y/N, please,” his voice strained, “you have to know that’s not how I see you. I—I’m sorry that I’ve messed up so many times and so badly that you may never believe a word out of my mouth, but—” James stopped himself. But what?

The second you saw James’ face crumble, you knew you were wrong to accuse him of using you.

You waited expectantly for him to go on, trying to control the thoughts threatening to overtake you. You weren’t sure there was anything he could say that would get you to let your guard down. You were determined not to let him weaponize your vulnerability again.

Then again, you’d never see him so distraught. So desperate for you to understand. The soft voice, the wounded expression—you couldn’t tell if it was a performance. Either way, it affected you in a way that you didn’t like one bit.

James took another glance at your stony expression, and any hope he’d had that he could fix things with you died within him.

He hung his head, quietly uttering, “Nevermind. I’m sorry. I’ll take you back down.”

As James guided your broomsticks towards the ground, you felt an odd sense of disappointment. While you were confident it was pointless to hear him out, a small part of you was curious to hear what he had to say.

An even smaller part of you wished your moment in the air wouldn’t end so quickly.

Maybe he was telling the truth. Maybe he really did want to be friends.

Your head spun at the thought. Not because it was so outlandish—truthfully, you occasionally did enjoy the banter you had. Perhaps your unease was because the thought of you being proper friends was…disappointing.

You’d been feeling disappointed often lately, but never in this way.

Although body was turned away from him, his face flashed into your mind.

You’re okay. I’ve got you.

You flushed recalling his soft-spoken words when he made a genuine effort to comfort you.

Dread filled you. Could you actually have feelings for—

“Mr. Potter! Ms. Y/L/N! Detention!”

~

The air was tight with tension as you navigated the darkness of the Forbidden Forest. While you were unnerved by the mysterious echoes bouncing off of the looming trees and shadows that seemed to move every time you looked, you were more bothered by the frost that had formed between you and James.

Madam Hooch stopped abruptly, clapping her hands together. “Right! We’ll settle here, then. This is where I saw a few rogue broomsticks crash the other day. I want the two of you to find all three.”

You eyed the seemingly desolate patch of dead leaves and mossy boulders around you, nervously biting your lip.

James took notice of your stilted demeanor, hating that he’d subjected you to yet another awful experience.

He cleared his throat, speaking up, “Madam Hooch, I think it’d be much more sensible to have us search when the sun’s out, don’t you think? Besides, I’ve got a quidditch match tomorrow and I know you hate to see unrested players on the field.”

The flying instructor didn’t budge. “You should’ve considered that before using school-owned broomsticks and flying around the quidditch arena without permission. I’m surprised you don’t think yourself capable of this simple task, Mr. Potter. As a show of trust, I’ll be waiting just outside the forest. Shoot off a signal if anything happens.”

With that, she took off towards the castle, leaving you with two lanterns and a frustrated James.

He tugged at his hair, kicking at the ground. “I’m sorry, Y/N. Again.”

Your eyebrows knit together as you watched his shoulders hunch. With the way he tried to bargain with Hooch, you thought he’d returned to his usual cockiness. But here he was, avoiding your gaze again.

You shook off your thoughts, picking up a lantern. “Nevermind that. Let’s just find those broomsticks and get out of here.”

James quietly obeyed, walking behind you as you led the way deeper into the forest.

As the minutes went on, the silence between you was making you jumpier than the ominous howls that seemed to follow you.

Why isn’t he saying anything?

You snuck a look back at James, who was still walking with his head down.

This is ridiculous. You hate his stupid, squeaky voice. His unintelligent remarks. His insensitive insults. You hate him.

But right then, you hated the quiet even more.

You stopped. “Um, Potter?”

James nearly ran into you, looking up at the last second. “Shit, sorry. Did you find a broomstick?”

“No, just…are you alright?”

Your question took James by surprise, and he found himself smiling idiotically at you for the hundredth time that day. “I’m alright, thanks.”

You nodded, resuming your trek. “You were being real quiet. Thought you had died or something.”

He chuckled, falling into step beside you. “I assure you I wouldn’t go quietly. You’d know if I was dying.”

“Good,” you teased, “because I’d hate to miss it.”

James lightly bumped your shoulder, small smiles on both your faces.

You weren’t sure if you were ready to let him in just yet, but you were certain you were enjoying whatever this was. You figured this was as good a time as any to get some answers.

“Hey, James? Why do you hate Slytherins?”

He frowned, shrugging. “I don’t. I just pick on Snape because he’s such a dick to muggle-borns.”

Your eyes widened. “But he’s always been cordial with me.”

James scowled. “Because he doesn’t know you’re a muggle-born.” Noticing the discomfort on your face, his voice softened, “He’ll never find out as long as we’re at Hogwarts. I swear.”

You stared into James’ hazel eyes, finding nothing but sincerity behind them. His gaze bore into you, communicating far more than his restrained words allowed him to. It was like a vice that you didn’t want to be released from.

“Thank you,” you breathed, forcing yourself to look at the path ahead.

James tilted his head, keeping pace with you. “You’re not going to ask why I picked on you too?”

You chuckled humorlessly, “It doesn’t take a genius to figure that one out. We’re in rival houses and I’m an easy target. It’s not like you were the first.”

“What? No, hold on—”

You sucked in a sharp breath as James lightly grabbed your shoulders, turning you towards him.

“Y/N, that is not why I picked on you.” He tugged at his dark locks. “I mean, maybe at first. Sirius and I kind of went off on any Slytherin we could mess with during first and second year. It was dumb and I regret that immensely.”

James squeezed your shoulders, taking a small step forward. “But I continued to seek you out for…other reasons. Reasons that I don’t think I was even aware of until last week. When I was a complete dickhead. When I thought I’d done irreparable damage—that put a lot of things in perspective.”

Your heart pounded harshly in your chest. His words and the heat radiating off of him were making it hard to think. “James, you don’t mean…”

James took another step closer to you, forcing you to look up to see his face, which was now hovering just inches above yours.

His voice dropped to a whisper, “I think I do. Y/N, I—”

A loud growl interrupted James.

You both turned to see a large, gray wolf baring its teeth at you just a few meters away.

Your breath caught in your throat. You’d never seen a wolf that size before, at least not in the muggle world. It was easily two meters tall, with bulky muscles beneath every inch of matted fur.

While you struggled to react, James quickly pushed you behind him, shielding you as best as he could behind his larger frame.

“Y/N, signal Madam Hooch,” he commanded, though his voice was still low and tender.

You scrambled to shoot off a burst of light from your wand, which traveled up into the sky and towards the castle.

“Good, now listen to me,” he whispered, “I’m going to distract it while you run as fast as you can back to the castle, okay?”

“What? James, there’s no way you can outrun that thing—”

“Please,” he begged, looking into your eyes. “You might see me do something odd, but I don’t want you to stick around to question it. You need to run the second I tell you to. The second. Understand?”

His authoritative tone left you speechless, only able to nod.

“Okay,” he took a long inhale, “three…two…one…run!”

You took off as quickly as your feet could take you, but you were able to glimpse the scene you were fleeing long enough to see what James was talking about.

Standing in the spot where James had been was a large, brown stag.

Your pace slowed for just a second as it dawned on you.

He was an animagus.

You didn’t have much time to process this new information, desperately running in the direction you came. Whatever his plan was, James wasn’t going to hold his own against a giant wolf for long. You needed to get Madam Hooch before it was too late.

Your lungs burned as you blazed through muddy ground and jumped over fallen branches, your only thought being James. If something did happen to him, you didn’t know what you’d do.

You couldn’t lose him. You wouldn’t.

Just as the edges of the Forbidden Forest came into view, so did Madam Hooch. You frantically led her towards the spot where you’d left James, panting as you explained how the wolf had appeared.

As you arrived back at the scene, you saw the animal readying itself to swipe at the stag it had pinned to the ground.

“Y/N, you find James and bring him here. I’ll drive the wolf away,” Madam Hooch instructed, chasing the creature away from the clearing with a powerful spell.

The moment they disappeared from view, you rushed to the stag. In mere seconds, it transformed back into the Gryffindor boy, but something was horribly wrong.

You gasped, dropping to your knees as you looked over the cuts and bruises littering James’ body. A cut on his temple trailed blood down his face, and the area around one of his eyes was purple. Your breathing quickened as you saw the extent of his injuries, the worst being two deep gashes across his chest. “James. Oh my god.”

He gave you a pained chuckle, voice hoarse. “Surprise. Sorry for lying to you again.”

Tears pricked your eyes. “That’s—that’s not funny. James, we’ve got to go.”

He groaned as he attempted to push himself up, his arms immediately giving out the second his back was off the ground. You slid yourself under him, allowing his head to fall into your lap instead of the forest floor.

James winced through a smile. “Jeez, Y/L/N, if I knew this was all it took to get you close to me, I would’ve gotten hurt much sooner.”

Your mind was fractured, overwhelmed and unable to form a coherent thought. “What?”

“C’mon, love,” he coughed, spitting out blood. “You must know I like you by now. Or do I need to go fight off another wolf?”

The hopeful look on his face was like a knife in your gut, and it was enough for you to burst into tears.

“James, I—you didn’t have to do that! God, I never should’ve left you,” you cried, bringing a shaking hand up to stroke his cheek. Your other hand entangled itself with his, squeezing hard. “I’m so sorry.”

James grinned, leaning into your touch. “Don’t be. What matters is you came back for me.”

“Did you think I would leave you here, you git?” you half-laughed, half-sobbed.

“Nah, like you said,” he took a labored breath, his voice cracking, “you’d hate to miss me dying, right?”

You shook your head, tears spilling out even faster. “No. No, that’s not going to happen. I’ll kill you if you die on me now, Potter. Just focus on your breathing, James, please.”

He squeezed his eyes shut, letting out another low moan of pain. “I’m trying.”

Your grip on him tightened. “You’re okay. I’ve got you.”

Just then, Madam Hooch returned and immediately levitated James’ nearly-limp form, hurrying the both of you back to the castle. You were numb the whole jog back, only able to stare ahead as Madam Pomfrey tended to him.

“What was that boy thinking, trying to fight off a wolf?” Madam Hooch tutted, shaking her head. “He’s a brave one, but I’m glad you had the sense to run, Ms. Y/L/N. Consider yourselves exempt from further punishment. But don’t let me catch you on the field unauthorized again.”

With a pat on the shoulder, she left the hospital wing.

As you zoned out, you were interrupted by a commotion.

“Mr. Potter, settle down!”

“No, where is she?! Y/N!” James shouted, limbs flailing as he attempted to launch himself off the bed.

You quickly made your way over to him, watching as he stopped fighting and sank back into the mattress. “James, I’m right here. I’m okay.”

He sighed, reaching for your hand. You entwined your fingers once more as you slid onto the small chair by the bed.

“Sorry,” he muttered, turning to Madam Pomfrey, “can she please stay? I might throw another tantrum otherwise.”

“You children will be the death of me.” She frowned, finishing up with his now-bandaged chest. “Don’t get any funny ideas or I’ll throw you both out.”

You turned back to James as she walked back to her desk. His face was considerably less pale, but one of his eyes was still nearly swollen shut. You could feel yourself beginning to tear up again as everything hit you all at once.

James frowned, squeezing your hand. “Can I get through one day without making you upset?”

You shook your head. “No. I don’t think that’s ever going to happen. How do you feel?”

“Awful. The girl I like doesn’t like me back,” he joked, though his delivery faltered.

You looked at him as though he’d grown another head. “First off, that’s not what I meant. Second, you’re an idiot if you think I’m sat here crying over you and holding your hand because I pity you.”

“Well, I’m sorry, but I can’t trust my instincts at all with you. You’ve made me feel so many nasty emotions this past week.” He began counting them off his fingers. “Guilty for disappointing you, ashamed for hurting you, and insecure for liking you.”

You giggled. “Good. You deserve to be as conflicted as I’ve been.”

“What did you have to be conflicted about?”

“I thought I hated you. No, I definitely hated you while I thought you were going to tell everyone I was a muggle-born.” You smiled. “But you didn’t. And then you were nice to me. Granted, your idea of ‘nice’ could use some work, but still. When we were up on those broomsticks, I started to wish there wasn’t so much animosity between us. And then in the forest, I realized I liked having you around. A lot. And then when the wolf attacked—I just knew I couldn’t lose you yet.”

James was smiling so hard, his lip was beginning to split open again. “Fuck, Y/L/N, either I’m about to pass out or you’re making me swoon.”

You shoved his shoulder. “Not funny. I don’t know how you can joke like that when you literally almost died.”

James chuckled, reaching a hand up to cup your cheek. “I don’t know how much longer I can sit here waiting for the girl I fancy to tell me she likes me too.”

You rolled your eyes. “Back up, Potter. I think I have the right to grill you first.”

“About what?”

“You’re kidding, right? You’re an animagus!”

James cringed, averting his eyes. “Yeah, I was hoping you’d forget about that by now.”

“Because you’re unregistered?”

He shot you a look. “What do you think?”

“You could end up in Azkaban for that!”

“I’m far too skilled at getting away with things.”

“Clearly,” you said, thinking back to all the times he successfully sweet-talked professors into getting out of trouble. “How’d you learn to transform?”

“A lot of trial and error. Took me a couple years.”

“How long have you been able to do it?”

“Since fifth year.”

Your mouth hung open. “That’s…kind of incredible. Hold on, are all of you animagi? You, Remus, Sirius, and Peter?”

James hesitated. “It’s not my place to say.”

“Right. Okay, do you have any other wild secrets I should know about?”

A smile crept onto his face. “Maybe. But I can’t possibly tell you everything right this moment. Gotta keep things interesting.”

Your brows furrowed. “Fine. As long as none of these other secrets get you killed.”

James’ thumb grazed the back of your hand. “The agony of waiting for you to tell me how you feel will kill me far sooner than any of my secrets, Y/L/N.”

You sighed. “Honestly, James, could you be any more melodramatic?”

“My melodrama is what kept us alive. Who else would be stupid enough to fight a wolf to save a damsel in distress?”

“Well, I’m not about to argue that you’re not stupid.” In spite of your light tone, the heaviness in the pit of your stomach remained.

James was right. If he hadn’t thrown himself at the wolf, you never would’ve come away from the encounter unharmed. His inflated ego definitely contributed to that decision, but it was a selfless act nonetheless. One he’d done for your sake.

You scanned his battered face, his relentless optimism shining through his features. You used to think this expression was a smug display, a symptom of his belief that he’d come out on top in any situation. But now, his wide eyes and faint smile held no sense of self-assuredness. Rather, they were brimming with tentative hope.

You cleared your throat, wiping the remaining tear tracks from your face. “Let’s get a few things straight. First of all, I am not a damsel in distress. I am perfectly capable of handling myself under normal circumstances. The only reason you had to step in today was because I do not normally get myself into such ridiculous predicaments. You got us into this because of your recklessness. Can we agree on that?”

James nodded. “Definitely an accurate assessment.”

“Right. Which brings me to my next point.” A breath. “Obviously, I care for you too. And I really would like to give us a chance, but,” your voice softened, “you’re reckless with a lot more than just hexes and broomsticks, James.”

James’ smile faltered, the implication of your words clear. He sat up, shifting towards you. “You’re right. I thought our exchanges were all in good fun, but I realize what were jokes to me were deeply hurtful attacks to you. I didn’t mean for them to be, which just goes to show how ignorant I can be. I know I can’t take it all back, but I am sorry for all the harm I’ve inflicted on you.”

His hazel eyes searched yours for a brief moment before he gingerly took your face in his hands. “But if you’ll allow it, I will try my hardest to make it up to you. I want to be someone you can trust not to break your heart.”  You shivered as his thumb ghosted over your cheek. “I’ve never been trusted with anything precious, but I’d like to be worthy of you.”

You were rendered speechless at his earnest declaration. So, instead of replying, you closed the small distance between your lips. James instantly reciprocated, his hands squeezing your waist as he deepened your kiss. Your own hands tangled in his hair, tugging as he lightly nipped you.

You pulled away, slightly dazed. “What are we doing? We’re in the hospital wing!”

“I’m sorry, love. I meant what I said, but I’ve got to keep some of the mischief in my life.” You let out a small shriek as he suddenly pulled you onto his lap. His lips brushed against your ear, “You’re quite the temptation, Y/L/N.”

You were certain your face was beet red, but you couldn’t help the breathy giggle that escaped you. “You are a piece of work, Potter.”

He planted a kiss on your temple, sturdy arms secured around you. “I know.”

Another irritatingly cheeky smile was plastered across his face.

But for the first time, you were looking forward to being the reason for that smile.