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mysaldate · 1 month ago

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Lilith should go back to what they had before

Crossposting from Reddit because I am tired of how the new AFK Arena writers keep trampling over incredible lore.

This is gonna be long so TLDR: Anything from ALucius onward has been one continuous middle finger to the lore community with insane retcons that ruined both characters and the world of Esperia and I just wish the game went back to what it had before.

Okay, now with the TLDR out of the way, let me preface this with brief history of my involvement with the game (just to avoid any comments accusing me of not knowing the game): I've been playing on and off pretty much since launch (missed about two or so weeks at launch) but got really into it before the Overlord collab. One thing that kept me invested for years to come was the lore. Lilith has done an incredible job crafting an interesting varied world full of all kinds of people and characters. I've been creating fanworks, crafting theories with my fellow lore nerds, bought the artbook as soon as it was announced, and also got invited to the official dev and players meeting in Germany last year. I adore old AFK lore because it is the most well-crafted world I've ever seen in a mobile game and it was definitely the main reason I've stayed for so long.

However, things shifted around the time ALucius released. His story completely retconned Lucius' original story which is what made him so lovable for me and a lot of my lore-interested friends. Lucius isn't someone who didn't join the army on a whim because he didn't want to. He was deeply traumatized as a child and even tried the military before realizing it just wasn't for him. No, instead now he's more like a petulant child who just didn't want to follow the family tradition. And let me tell you, it didn't get better from there on out. The biggest offender though, of course, are the Draconis.

The Draconis as a whole are a mess. Firstly, they completely retcon Dura's involvement in the Age of Arcana which completely breaks the world. To explain a long story very quickly, Dura gave humans magic which led to an arms race between the humans and the gods, making the gods send Annih to deal with it, leading to the creation of the Ya who would later split into Maulers and Wilders, which then led to the Cinder War where humans basically turned on each other, Quaedam was one of the powerful mages who died during this time, and finally, it made Annih the scapegoat for when the post-war mortals found out about what the gods (or rather, just Annih in their eyes) did, and of course, Annih then created the Hypogeans. If you take Dura out of the equation, there's no arms race because there is no need for it. If you remove her involvement, 4/6 factions in the game wouldn't even exist in the world. This seemingly insignificant detail (that was only edited to make Dura seem better anyway) completely breaks the world but oh boy, we're just starting.

During the Cinder Wars, dragons were nearly driven into extinction. According to the old lore, the last few remaining dragons hid underground and fell into a deep slumber to recover their strength. In their dreams, they created Tasi to guard them and ensure their safety. This was true up to when Gavus and Eugene were added into the game as they literally had a run-in with a dragon in its underground lair. These dragons also have a deep-rooted hatred for humanity to the point where even seeing two babies is enough to send them into a blind rage and try to kill them. They would've gone into hibernation before year 1 CE, meaning at least 35 years before the first Hypogean invasion even began. Instead, in the new lore, Dura took the dragons (but not the other enslaved and tortured races) and dropped them on a random island with the condition that they would "help when the need is worst" or something. And the dragons now also fought in the first Hypogean war which now supposedly happened before they were taken to the island? And nobody has any records of them fighting in it at all? And of course, they are totally fine helping out humans (let's also not forget that originally, it was Dura who gave humans the means to enslave dragons in the first place and we've seen from Gavus' story and the Chains of the Covenant comic that the dragons have little respect for the Celestials exactly because of that). There is also the idea that the dragons have always been noble and protectors of humanity but that is far from the truth too. During the Floating Isles Abyssal Expedition season, we got confirmation on what was already suggested earlier – the dragons of old were slavers themselves, kidnapping entire settlements to serve them and viewing every other race except the gods as beneath them. Given that some of the dragon characters we get in the game are supposed to have lived through that era, it certainly casts them in a very different light.

But let's not forget, the Draconis lore isn't even consistent within itself. For example, it claims that young draconis cannot control their transformation well, yet Gwyneth was supposedly able to turn fully human as a newborn baby and keep up her disguise for sixteen years (because yes, despite getting plastic surgery to get massive boobs and ass, she is supposed to be sixteen) and it only started showing because a wyvern (another retcon) suddenly got close to the capital… even though she already killed a wyvern before with no issues popping up. The Draconis lore also claims that many on the dragon isle were around during the Age of Arcana and yet, their enslavement is supposedly a secret so closely guarded that they would lock people up in isolation if they found out about it? Cassius supposedly found out through careful study and it was such a big deal he had to go on a hunger strike before Hildwin appointed him a scribe for the dragon council but in the Dwyneth webcomic, Cassius is already a scribe and Hildwin has to take him to a secret island off the dragon isle and tell him about all the history.

Let's also talk more with Dwyneth. Her story, once again, retcons what we've known about her and what made her so interesting. By making her a part of the king's hunting party who went to look for the wyvern, they got rid of her quick thinking and rather impulsive nature. And let's not forget that this wyvern was now supposedly a part of a whole group of wyverns terrorizing a nearby city? Wyverns and any draconids are supposed to be extremely rare in Esperia for reasons I'll get into later. The original story had the king's party be on a stroll and accidentally waking up the wyvern from its slumber because they didn't even know it was there. Gwyneth's quick thinking and strength gained her the respect of the king and she was subsequently allowed to join the Royal Garrison. That is not even mentioning that Gwyneth was heavily implied to be a child of the robbers Hendrik killed before he adopted her. Her strength was strange, sure, but it never needed an explanation in a world where squirrels can turn people into acorns and undead mermaids float in the sea. And then we get to her actual awakening story…

Listen, if you need to kill an NPC to make your new waifu seem cool, I will already think it's cringe. But if you kill the single most popular NPC your lore community has, one with insane history and all that, it just starts to look like you hate your own content and/or audience. Kane's death makes no sense. He is a battle-hardened warrior with elemental powers (heavily implied to once have been the elemental guardian – we'll talk about how the draconis mess those up later) with a dragon mount (demoted to a wyvern because we can't possibly have an evil dragon now) who has been around since long before the first Hypogean war. Not only is he killed by a sixteen-year-old girl, she also only just got her powers and has supposedly no idea how to use them. And she also bested him in close-quarters combat despite being an archer and Kane being a legendary swordsman. Sadly, this was not the last time a Draconis-related storyline decided to kill off an important NPC with no regard for their lore.

Next we get to Antandra. Once again, the story retcons her entire backstory, events, and personality. It actually makes her more in-line with Journey's Antandra than Arena's which is a whole another can of worms I will not get into right now. Instead of Antandra being the tribute to the temple, she now apparently chose to go and become a temple warrior. After she was banished from the temple, she apparently never saw Satrana again (retconning her union story with Satrana as well as multiple time-limited and permanent events). She is also apparently a mother figure to a lot of children living around where she is staying… which should be the Land of Exiles since she was, you know, exiled and banished. There shouldn't be any children there, it is by far the most dangerous part of the desert. The idea that there's a whole tribe of children who see Antandra as their mother figure just running around is kind of stupid to be honest. Let's also ignore that she is probably the one who gave Dwyneth her new chest because Antandra's went the opposite direction. Let's also compare how previous awakened characters got their powers vs how Antandra did: Thane and Baden went on a huge journey to learn about cooperation and self-sacrifice and took immense risks to protect their loved ones. Safiya nearly died in a game of 5D chess against one of the deadliest enemies in the desert and destroyed an entire clan's kingdom. Antandra? Well, she girlbossed extra hard and Hildwin gave her a gem for it.

Eironn's story is baffling to say the least. Not only is it copy-pasted from Journey's beta where that was pretty much the exact backstory for Bryon (before they decided they don't want a disabled character to be playable) but it doesn't fit Eironn's character. It presents Eironn as someone who chases after glory and thrill of the fight and doesn't care about the people around him. However, Eironn has never been this person. He'd been awkward and struggled to rely on others, yes, but he would never abandon his comrades to chase after a powerful enemy. And of course, he doesn't even get to be cool in his own awakening story, Dwyneth has to swoop in after deciding he was "worthy" and save him at the last minute. At least there aren't any giant retcons to his backstory I guess.

And then there is Thoran and oh boy… So remember when I said Kane wasn't the only NPC who got done super dirty and killed just because the writers could? Same thing happened with Quaedam. Forget the fact that Thoran and all the other graveborn who made a contract with Quaedam are supposed to be like a hivemind that Quaedam can tap into and read at any time. Forget that Quaedam doesn't have a body or anything material and is a spectral entity on a similar power level to the Celestials at this point. Forget also the fact that Quaedam has the Eldritch Council – a whole line-up of similarly powerful necromancers who have been working for him since the Cinder Wars. Forget the fact that Quaedam most likely had enslaved dragons and thus would absolutely be stronger than them. Forget the fact he doesn't have a material base due to his immaterial nature. No, instead, Thoran makes a deal with a dragon behind Quaedam's back, steers the Hypogeans into Quaedam's base, and then strikes him down with a single swing of the sword. Oh, and let's also not forget, the necrodragon isn't supposed to just be out and about. It was a minion of the god of the hunt, Adrax, kept in a pocket dimension of his private hunting grounds.

The other characters who have released since ALucius have been a huge hit or miss but I won't get into each of them individually because that would be way too long (I say like the post already isn't) but to quickly summarize: Raoul is mostly fine aside from the fact where he doesn't look anything like what a character from Esperia would look like. Villanelle retcons Quicksand Claws to make them more stereotypically perpetrators of all evils and sins when they should be a very directly focused mercenary group. Misha's story mentions some "Wilder goddess" who has never existed or, if they mean Dura, was everyone's goddess. Journey, however, does have some Wilder-specific gods (and they suck and break the world further). It also mentions some incursion "decades ago" which… makes no sense? There hasn't been any incursion mere decades ago. Timelines don't timeline with this one. Randle is mostly fine but retcons Niru and how the Whispering Doom (I refuse to call it Doom Spire, stop changing good names, Lilith) works. Aurelia is fine except for the part where her story makes Flora into a lazy bum who doesn't want to do her job. Knox is kinda okay except for the part where his story suggests all Hypogeans are an organized monolith. Most of the Draconis stories are already involved in what I talked about so I will just point out the biggest offender on the list is Lan and no, it is not because she has the vibes of a self-insert Mary Sue. It's because she makes the elemental guardians completely obsolete since dragons can control the elements and direct rain and wind and whatnot.

I've heard from an inside source that pretty much the entire writing department got sacked and the game was handed off to new writers, around the same time it happened with Journey as well, and I have to say, it certainly does feel that way. Between the retcons of huge world lore and warp of pre-existing playable and non-playable characters beyond recognition, it definitely feels like a spiteful rewrite where someone is trying to erase the original and do it "better" except they just end up ruining everything they touch. I'm just frustrated because I invested a lot of time and money into everything AFK-related, bought merch, commissioned art, wrote fanfiction (even won a contest by Lilith with one of my works), started running a DnD campaign set in Esperia, and more. Seeing it all go up in flames like this makes me sad and I just wish things could go back to what it was before. The War of Truth storyline was one of the peaks of AFK's storytelling ever so to follow it up with tis makes it even more jarring. The lore community right now is basically non-existant. Most of my friends left the fandom entirely or only pop in to make fun of how badly the new characters are written. Lilith killed their own lore nerds and it's a damn shame.

But anyway, that's just my rant. If you read everything, thank you a ton, I know this was long and I apologize. Please let me know what you think, if you noticed any more retcons and mistakes, etc. If you don't care about lore, this post is probably not for you so I apologize for wasting your time with it.

#afk arena #afk journey #afk news #lilith games #afk lore #afk gwyneth #afk draconis #afk eironn #afk antandra #afk thoran #afk kane #afk hildwin #afk cassius #afk misha #afk gavus #afk dura #afk annih #afk hypogean

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recurring-polynya · 11 months ago

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Izakaya Kamenoya

I am re-watching the Captain Amagai arc, which I love because it has just a shit-ton of Seireitei slice-of-life worldbuilding. Early in the arc, Kira goes to the bar with Renji and Iba to sob about how his new Third Seat is better than him, and it made me wonder-- do the lieutenants always go to the same bar, or does the anime just make up a new one every time? Episode 172 had a nice shot of the exterior:

I immediately went to Episode 355 (the second New Year's episode), because I'm always thinking about Rukia shotgunning that beer while Renji gazes on lovingly, and it certainly *looks* like same place, but again, maybe that's just a very standard-looking izakaya.

I decided that trying to translate the kanji might help. They're more visible in the first image. The ones on the paper lantern, 酒処 were easy, because they just say izakaya (literally, "alcohol" and "place"). That just supported the idea that this was just some generic bar. For the kanji on the wooden lantern, which appeared to be the same as the ones on the sign above the door, I managed to puzzle out the bottommost one, 屋, which means "shop" or "restaurant." Hmm.

At this point, I was feeling a little stumped, so I went looking for other screen shots.

Other bar scenes I could remember took place in: Episode 179 (Ukitake and Kyouraku try to angle Amagai into a threesome). This had a clearer shot of the sign, and it's definitely the same as the lantern.

Ep 305 (Kira and Hisagi go for drinks after work and run into Unohana having "Ladies' Night" with Soi Fon, the Kotetsu sisters, and Yachiru ????)

And finally, Episode 265 (the end of the Sword Beasts arc, Ladies' Night again, I guess, this time with zanpakutou)

and bingo, they actually translated it for me, this time!!

In, the only one that didn't turn out to take place at Izakaya Kamenoya was from Ep. 303, the first New Year's episode. The SWA holds their holiday luncheon here (the sign says 茶屋, or "tea house") .

It is also not the place where Rukia and Renji announce their engagement in WDKALY, that place is called Safflower, and it's fancier and it's specifically mentioned that it's way classier than everyone's usual digs.

That's neither here nor there, let's get back to Izakaya Kamenoya!

Later on, like when I was 90% of the way through writing this post, I realized there was an earlier shot of the sign in episode 172 that was also translated (which I thought I remembered and then assumed I had hallucinated when I couldn't find it, but it was from a separate trip to bar with Kibune and Kira's shitty subordinates). Conveniently, it's also probably the most readable out of all of them. EDIT: I didn't notice when I pasted this in here, but they translate it as Kamegameya here, which seems like a mistake? B3 suggests they might have read the second character as a repetition (with the k turning into a g, which I don't know all the details of, but I assume it's that thing that happens in Japanese when a word is in the interior of another word and it gets a harder consonant, the same way the s in "sakura" in Senbonzakura becomes a z). Google also tells me that the name of Yugi's grandfather's game shop in Yu-Gi-Oh is called Kame Game, so I wonder if the subtitler here was just working on muscle memory 😂. I'm sticking with Kamenoya, although Turtle Turtle Bar has its own charm)

The three characters in the upper left are 居酒屋, which is just a different way to spell izakaya.

"Kame" was easy to translate, it's the leftmost large character on the sign, 亀. It means "turtle", but the second meaning is "heavy drinker," so I'm guessing this might be a bit of a pun. Unfortunately, googling didn't turn up any further detail on this.

I puzzled a little over the middle character, until I realized that it might be 之, which is an older version of の. Oh, says me, who only speaks the Japanese I picked up from anime, it's Kame no ya, the way all the inns in Kakuriyo end in "ya." It just means "House of the Turtle", or "Turtle's Pub."

Turtle's Pub. Can we just take a moment to reflect on the fact that the lieutenants (and sometimes captains) like to hang out at someplace called Turtle's? I am so charmed by this. I have not been so excited since the time I realized that Renji was wearing the koi hoodie in the Bount Arc OP.

It's possible that it was just named by a guy who has "kame" as part of his name or who likes turtles, or as I said, maybe it's a pun, but there are two other possibilities I thought of:

In line with this post on the naming scheme for the Seireitei Gates, perhaps it's in the north part of the city, and named after Genbu the Black Tortoise-Snake

When I am making up business names in my fanfic, I often like to associate them with the squads they are near-- dragons for stuff near Squad 10, fish for 13, firebirds for things that are more city-wide. It's partially trying to tap into squad solidarity, and partially so people have a clue where your place is located in this stupid maze city. I love the idea of some former captain with a turtle-themed zanpakutou, whose is fondly remembered because someone happened to name a good bar after them.

I looked up that extremely questionable Blood War era Seireitei map, wondering if maybe Squad 3 was near the north gate:

It turns out it is not (assuming the unlabeled squads just go in order), but you know what is? Squad 10. So if Kamenoya is named after the North Gate, I assume everyone drinks there because it's close to Matsumoto.

(thank you very much to @kaicko for checking my work)

#izakaya kamenoya #posts you bring to your autism assessment #this is probably going to be a part one of three i have a *lot* of interior shots i want to talk about #thank you for coming on this translation journey with me i'm kind of an idiot but i had fun #for the record i did try throwing these in google lens and it said ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ so i had to do it myself #this is especially funny to me b/c my local state university has a turtle mascot so we literally *do* have a lot of bars named after turtle #turtle bar turtle bar TURTLE BAR #if anyone has any additional sightings please feel let me know!#do you think byakuya has ever been to izakaya kamenoya? i feel like he got dragged there occasionally as a lt and he hates it deeply #anyone know how to campaign for a new bleach wiki article? asking for a friend

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shojoqueendom · 11 months ago

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"Shinjo Mayu: Exploitation of Mangakas by Publishers"

I didn't know what to start this blog with until yesterday, I woke up and read a tremendous article of manga artist Shinjo Mayu. I couldn't resist talking about this queen who has been shaking up the Japanese publishing world recently, and I would like to share her experience and thoughts.

First, let's get to know Shinjo Mayu and how she has reached this point.

Shinjo Mayu (新條まゆ) is a Japanese manga artist who was born in Nagasaki Prefecture in 1973. She graduated from Yukokan High School and made her debut in Shogakukan's Sho-Comi magazine in the special edition released on February 14, 1994, with "あなたの色に染まりたい." Her success skyrocketed with "Kaikan Phrase" (1996-2000), published in the same magazine as her debut, which was also adapted into an anime between 1999-2000, totaling 44 episodes.

On May 23, 2007, Shinjo Mayu announced on her blog that she would be leaving the Shogakukan publishing company to become an independent artist. Without giving many details, she mentioned that she planned to experiment with different things.

Nearly a year later, she opened up and stated that she left because the demands from her editors were too stressful and degrading. She even disclosed being threatened by an editor that her previous works would cease to be printed if she left. Seeking legal advice, fortunately, her works continued to be printed. She has expressed that many writers feel dissatisfaction working at Shogakukan due to excessive pressure. Even her editor, when she began creating manga, told her that "she was a manga creator akin to a worm who would never become a serialized manga creator no matter how hard she tried." She revealed that as a mangaka at Shogakukan, she had drawn up to 120 pages a month with an average of 3 hours of sleep per day.

During this time, she has become a highly versatile manga artist, creating works spanning various genres such as shojo, shonen, seinen, and BL. Additionally, she oversees a comprehensive housing production called Maison de Cocon. In 2021, she started a new series titled "Nijiiro no Ryuu wa Megami wo Daku" which is available on various manga applications.

Many authors, including Shinjo Mayu, feel distressed by the sudden passing of mangaka Ashihara Hinako. Even today, her case is still being discussed in the news and on social media. I will make a separate post about this topic, but in summary, Ashihara Hinako posted on January 26th on her blog a critique of Nippon TV because the television adaptation of her manga "Sexy Tanaka-san" was not faithful to her original work. She emphasized that she had repeatedly told Shogakukan to urge them to take action, but without success. She later deleted the post and apologized. However, on January 29th, her lifeless body was found in Nikko, Tochigi Prefecture, under suspicion of suicide.

Since then, Shinjo Mayu has expressed that not a day goes by without her remembering Ashihara Hinako and what led to her tragic end. Through social media, she denounces the mistreatment that manga artists receive, specifically at Shogakukan. She mentioned that when she wrote the blog about her departure from Shogakukan, an editor told her that there was a meeting where they said they "should control the writers so they don't make such big statements." On the other hand, at Shueisha, they said: "Before something like this happens, let's find out if the writers are dissatisfied."

Clearly, there are very good relationships between editors, manga artists, and publishers. However, as we have seen, there are also times when relationships are not so good. But it was yesterday, February 14th, where she exposed the Japanese publishing world by publishing an article on note.com titled "The Era is Beginning Where Manga Artists are Being Exploited by Publishers."

She has firmly expressed that she doesn't care about the consequences her statements may have on opportunities with other publishers, although she feels it is necessary to do so. From their manga, manga artists only receive 10% of the profit. In the past, working with an editor made things easier for manga artists as they only had to worry about drawing the manga. Editors, on the other hand, took on many responsibilities such as promotion and distribution. This is how they consolidated their role in the publishing industry. Therefore, the remaining 90% of the profit was considered "necessary expenses." However, now, in the digital era of e-books, manga delivery is simplified as the manga artist only has to create the manuscripts and send them. The functions between the editorial department and the publisher have been divided. Publishers are now responsible for granting distribution licenses to platforms and transmitting data. Overall, publishers have less work than before, so what is the true involvement of publishers in e-books? The royalty rate for manga artists in e-books is between 15% and 20%, but few people receive 20%. Previously, negotiating to increase e-book rights put distributors in a very vulnerable position due to threats from Shogakukan, as Shinjo makes clear: "without manga provided by the publisher, there was nothing to distribute." But the situation has now reversed, and it is the publishers who ask for works to be converted into e-books. Over time, more authors realized that publishers were charging too much in terms of e-book royalty rates. In this way, the publisher becomes an exploiting intermediary. Distribution companies don't charge as much because they aren't the authors; but publishers, who own the related author rights, receive significant rates without doing as much work.

Shinjo Mayu denounces that publishers are paying very low salaries to their staff and encourages manga artists to seek fair and equitable compensation for their work. She also urges publishers to recognize and adequately support those who contribute to the creative process.

Currently, she works at the distribution company "ナンバーナイン," which has an editorial department. Therefore, the company itself is responsible for sending data to applications, conducting advertising, negotiating, and managing the data transfer and management process on behalf of the mangaka. However, their editorial department is responsible for providing feedback on manga, creating data reports, and offering advice and guidance. Shinjo Mayu considers these companies to be modern and flexible, so it's a good idea to try negotiating manga and distribution fees. In fact, she says that one can be a manga artist without needing to go through a traditional publisher.

I wonder if publishers could be in danger in the future for not offering their workers the respect and rights they deserve. I love magazines, but Shogakukan is getting a terrible reputation for not taking care of its artists (and for quite some time). Some are even encouraging a boycott of the publisher.

"Who can truly say they are supporting manga artists when those who work the hardest are the ones receiving the least money?" - Shinjo Mayu.

Sources:

https://www3.nhk.or.jp/news/html/20240208/k10014352711000.html

https://www.sponichi.co.jp/entertainment/news/2024/02/07/kiji/20240207s00041000428000c.html

https://note.com/mayutan126/n/n54607a9ecd37?sub_rt=share_b

https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2007-06-05/sensual-phrase's-mayu-shinjo-leaves-shogakukan

https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2008-06-10/sensual-phrase-shinjo-explains-why-she-left-magazine

https://book.hikaritv.net/book/static/141015_magazine/data/index.html

https://twitter.com/shinjomayu/status/1755101152188969429

https://twitter.com/shinjomayu/status/1757622214437072975

#shoujo #retro shoujo #shinjo mayu #hinako ashihara #manga #shoujo manga

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olsenmyolsen · 1 year ago

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An Album, Apologies, and A Movie Premiere

Part 40 of On The Inside With Elizabeth Olsen

Word Count: 5.7K

masterlist

March 20th, 2022

IndieMusicNow "Well, the rumors are true! TikTok musician and record-signed artist Hex (real life name being Y/N Y/L/N) was announced by their record label to be releasing an album later this year. The exact details are still being kept under wraps. But this is one artist we don't want to miss."

Billboard Today "Following posts on all social media platforms today, Republic Records announced that newcomer Y/N Y/L/N, whose stage name was also announced to be Hex, will be joining the lineup of album releases this year. First-timers usually don't get this lucky; someone must've heard something. We just can't wait to see what it was."

PopCrave "Looks like All Eyes On Me artist Hex is going to be releasing an album later this year."

Entertainment Celebrity "Fans of Elizabeth Olsen's rumored partner have been spreading since the musician followed an account with their own stage name in the handle. Most are convinced that it's the artist themselves. And while we agree. We're just going to sit and wait."

"Edit: 3/22/22 @ 2:16 pm In a new tweet posted below; the artist confirmed that it was indeed them!"

"And again @ 2:23 pm."

"And @ 2:28 pm."

BuzzFeedMusic "Everything we know about the TikTok artist turned album maker Hex. Who are they? Where did they come from? And have they done shady things to get there? Plus! You'll never guess who they're dating!"

@lizziesfutureex @BuzzFeedMusic not only is this shady writing but publicly blasting Lizzie and Y/N as a couple when they've never confirmed that they are together again is actually horrible

@hexthestars13 @lizziesfutureex wait... Hex is rumored to be dating Lizzie Olsen?? THE ELIZABETH OLSEN?? SASAHJKGSK

@lizziesfutureex @hexthestars13 again only rumored but yes. you're a Hex fan did you not know??

@hexthestars13 @lizziesfutureex im new to the fandom after discovering her TikTok's and watching her performance from LA last year on YouTube. so no. i had no idea!

@lizziesfutureex @hexthestars13 omg wait that's the show lizzie went to last year?!? The one with Ro***e!? Okay maybe I should open Spotify 👀

@hexthestars13 @lizziesfutureex 😊

@scrunchnoselizzie @hexthestars13 @lizziesfutureex no but fr they be fuckin'. uhauled and everything.

@MadMaxMoore @yikesitshex fuck 'em ❤️🫶

@romanoffthereal @yikesitshex never taking another one of their quizzes again 😌

@witcheswhores @yikesitshex i know buzzfeed of all people just ain't make our Hex sad!??!

May 2nd, 2022

Y/N POV

"I'm still having nightmares..."

I breathe out and shift my body on the brown leather couch. Cliché, I know, but Sofia, my therapist, loves it.

"Have they gotten worse?" Sofia asks me. I briefly look her way before nodding. Guilt and shame I still carry with me. "Would you like to go into more detail?" She questions as I swallow the lump in my throat. "Umm." I start. "Basically, it starts out the same..." I clear my throat and move myself into a much less relaxed position.

"Liz will be gone for the day, and I'll be at home on the phone with my mom waiting for Liz to return.. Sometimes, she'll show up in the kitchen's entryway like before. Or... Other times, she won't show up at all..." I clear my throat and run my hands up and down my knees. "The times that she does show up, it's just like how it happened, except she doesn't hold back. And nightmare Liz says things I know Liz wouldn't... but it feels real. So real."

"Have you told Liz about these nightmares?"

I nod. "I did."

"Did?" Sofia writes something down before looking up at me, waiting for me to continue. I shrug. "I can't bring myself to tell her about the more gut-wrenching and violent nightmares."

Sofia takes a second before replying.

"I could understand that. But do you think there might be another reason?"

I do, and it's stupid. I exhale and feel small at this moment. "I- apart of me-." I close my mouth and start over. "There's this voice in the back of my head. And I don't know whether to listen to it or not."

"What's it telling you?"

"That Liz doesn't trust me anymore."

I feel a flash of embarrassing warmth runs over my body. My body is telling me not to trust the words my brain is making me believe. "What do you think? Do you think Liz has lost trust in you?" I move my eyes away from Sofia and onto my glass of water sitting on the cork coaster four feet from me. It hasn't been there terribly long, just long enough that some condensation has set in on the sides of the glass.

"Y/N?" Sofia calls for me to focus up. I slowly do, bringing my eyes back to her. I shrug. "I could see her losing her trust in me." Sofia sits quietly as I open and close my mouth. "And... I know you tell me that it's not my fault, but it is. What happened to her was my fault because of my lack of actions."

Sofia shakes her head. "I'm not here to tell you what you choose to keep to yourself was bad or awful. I'm here to listen and to help you. But yes, I don't think it was your fault what happened." Sofia leans back into her chair. "So why do you think Liz does?"

"I didn't say Liz did." Sofia looks at me with a really face. "Y/N." She puts her pen down. "We've been seeing each other for half a year now. I like to think that I can read between the words that you're not saying. So let me ask you and be honest with me. Do you think Liz has lost trust in you because of what happened with her who shall-not-be-named because we made an agreement? And if so, could you give me a reason?"

I smile at her agreement and then try to think of a reason. Slowly, wondering if my mind was just being cruel or not.

Liz POV

"Sounds like you guys need to have sex."

I slam the pantry door close and turn to my sister. "Oh my God! Courtney! I am not having this conversation with you!" I shake my head and pull my water bottle close to my lips. Unscrewing the cap as I roll my eyes. "I can't believe you sometimes." I take a sip of my water before closing it. "We're supposed to be having a nice breakfast. You ask about Y/N. One thing leads to another, and you say that!"

Court puts her hands up, straightens her shirt, and laughs as she steps away from her empty plate.

"Besides, you know it's more complicated than that." I grab the plate and turn towards the sink. My mind starting to wander away as the water gets hot.

But it's true. Y/N and I haven't been exactly on the same page for a bit now.

"I know Lizzie. I'm sorry it was a bad joke."

Court walks up next to me and bumps me out of the way so she can wash her dish. "It's okay." I breathe out as I scoot away.

"Is it? Are you?" Court asks as she shuts off the water.

"Some days are better than most. Those days, we feel like we're how we were before. But.. but then there are moments where I remember and feel hurt." I rub the spot on my wrist where the bruise has faded. "And I know it wasn't purposeful, but... I don't know it just-"

"Just would've been easier if she told you from the start."

I nod to my sister.

No one aside from Max, Courtney, and Kathryn Hahn knows what happened. I didn't want to tell my mom and the twins because as much as they love Y/N, I'm afraid they wouldn't be as understanding as I want people to be like Kathryn and Courtney.

And I know Y/N told Max. Max not so subtly sent me a text recently talking about how amazing Y/N is. I think whenever Y/N called Max, the most damaging parts of her mind were telling her things that would never happen.

"I'm sorry, Lizzie." Courtney places the plate on the drying rack and dries her hands. "But like you said, you know it wasn't on purpose. Y/N just didn't want to believe it was someone that was so vile and abusive towards her." I nod with a sheepish look. "I mean.. if I were in Y/N's shoes, I probably would've done the same... maybe. I don't know." Courtney shakes her hand and tosses the drying rag onto the countertop.

"Where is she, by the way?" Courtney asks, pulling my focus away from the talk I need to have with Y/N. "Oh, Uhh.." I tilt my watch towards myself. "She should be on her way home."

Courtney looks at her Apple Watch. "Therapy?" I nod. "She's been having nightmares. She thinks I don't know." I pull my phone out and sigh. "But whenever she shoots awake, it wakes me up..."

"Do you know what they're about?"

"Me. Her. Naomi." I grimace at that final name. "Ah." Court replies. I can tell she wants to ask or say more about the situation but doesn't.

"Is she still ubering?"

I smile and quickly breathe in and out at the conversation moving along before making a kinda motion with my hand. "Sometimes. She took the Prius this morning."

"How does she not have a car yet?" I shrug. "She didn't need one in New York or her for a while, so there was no need. But we both know she needs one now. So she's been looking at some."

"Oh yeah?" Courtney smiles, getting excited. "Like what?! A jeep? A Tesla? Oh, wait! A convertible! Oh my God, Y/N would look so hot in one!" Courtney goes wide-eyed and shuts her mouth closed as I stare at her. "What I meant to say was... is that I hope it's a nice car. One she can look modest in."

I once again roll my eyes. "Uh-huh. Does Ness know about your little crush?" I make a teasing face at my little sister. She rolls her eyes back to me.

"Yes, she does." Courtney smiles before quickly masking it. "It's not a crush, by the way!! I promise! I just love your girlfriends music."

"And her looks," I mumble. "What was that?" Court asks. "Nothing." I smile as I walk the two of us outside to the garden.

"Wow. It gets more impressive every time I come over." Courtney stands there in awe as I pick up my garden gloves to get to work. "Thanks." I smile back.

"Has Y/N done anything in the garden?"

I shake my head. "She can sometimes have the opposite of a green thumb. And she's a complainer." I laugh as Court nods, finding a spot on the outdoor couch. "Must only be an Olsen thing. Ness can't water a plant to save her life." I chuckle and bend down in the dirt. "I tried teaching her a while ago, but it ended up with me banning her." I hear Courtney laugh. "Maybe I'll try again in the Summer. Maybe after the twins' birthday." I add on as I start snipping.

"I like that." Courtney vaguely says. "Like what?" I lift my head to her. "That even though you're in this place with Y/N now. You still see a future with her."

I lower my hands and think. She's right. Of course, I see a future with Y/N. We've already gone through so many hardships and times without one another. Why would I want that again? Why would I even be with her now if I don't see a long future with her? Us. Marriage. Kids. I see it only with her.

"Yeah, yo-you're right." I lift my head up and smile as the lump in my throat goes down.

I love Y/N with all my heart.

I don't want this distance between us to be present anymore. I want her.

I look at my watch again. She should be home soon. "Lizzie..." I look over at my sister as I snip at another plant. "Hmm?" Courtney puts her phone down and looks at me. "Dad's trying to get me to convince you to talk to him again." I sigh and groan. Courtney nods. "I'm not going to do that. I just wanted to let you know that he's been trying."

"He can try all he wants. You. The Twins. Jake. I don't want to talk to him." Courtney nods again. "I know... how many times this week has he tried calling you."

"Twice."

Courtney hums. "Well, even if he's tried repairing the bridges with the rest of us, we're still in your corner, Lizzie." I smile and thank her before I spend the next few minutes in quiet. Thinking about Y/N.

I know she would never do anything to hurt me, and I know how incredibly guilty she still feels for everything that happened. I feel a pang of guilt as well. I sigh, rip off my gloves, and throw them into the dirt. My mind won't let me focus on the greenery today.

Instead, my eyes focus on my left hand. Empty.

I look around the garden and look into the house. This is our home. Ours. I smile at the memories we've already made and think about the future.

I look back to my hand before looking at Courtney. "Hey, Court..." Courtney shoots her head up from her phone. "Yeah?"

"I'm not saying I want to, but how soon do you think is too soon to get eng-"

"Liz? Babe?"

The sound of Y/N's voice shuts me up as I quickly stand up and brush the dirt off my hands and pants. "Hi!" I smile and walk towards my girlfriend as Courtney stands up to steal a hug first.

"Hey, Courtney!" Y/N smiles widely and hugs my sister.

They've been in contact since Thanksgiving, and she is always happy to sit and talk to her like a friend she's known for years. It's been great to say.

Even Mary-Kate and Ash got a little jealous.

"What are you doing here?" Y/N asks as I wrap my arms around her and kiss the side of her head. When I pull away, I see a flush on her cheeks. She looks at me and smiles. It reaches her eyes for the first time in... well, anyway, I smile back and give her an I missed you look.

She sees it.

"Oh, you know, just stalking you-" Court says clearly without thinking before nervously laughing and covering her mouth. "Oh my God! That was supposed to be a bad a joke! I didn't mean-" She gets more flustered and has a scared look on her face as Y/N and I just stare at Courtney.

It's obviously a sore subject still, but we know Courtney didn't mean anything but it.

"It's alright," Y/N assures her with a flat smile. "Let's just..." Y/N stops talking as Courtney quickly looks at me with a sorry look. "Courtney was just helping me get some stuff done around the house before tonight!" I interject and brightly smile. "Yes! I can't wait!" Courtney catches on and shows her excitement for the premiere tonight of Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness!

"Aren't you excited!" Courtney asks Y/N, who nods her head. "Just nervous, honestly." I rub my hand up and down her back. "About what?" I question as Y/N sheepishly looks at me. This worries me a bit.

I think Court catches onto the slowly shifting vibe and makes the decision to grab some waters for the three of us. "Y/N?" I tilt my forward. "What's up?" Y/N avoids my eyes and holds my hand. Leading me to the shade-covered outdoor couch.

She holds my hand before lifting her beautiful face to me as we sit down. I smile at her and wait patiently. Silently letting her know that I'm here.

I'm here.

Y/N nervously opens and closes her mouth before finally saying: "I love you, Liz."

"I love you too, Y/N," I reply back with the same inflections as her.

"Are we okay?" She asks, and I don't waste a second tightening her hand in mind. "We are," I reply, only to earn a shake of the head. "No, Liz, really... are we?" I swallow the feeling in my throat and nod once again. "We are. We are Y/N."

"And y-you trust me?"

Y/N asks with a shaky breath. Clearly, this is a question that's been plaguing her. "More than anything." I close my mouth and scoot more into my girlfriend's touch. "Y/N... look at me."

Y/N lifts her head to me, and I see how much sadness is being held in her eyes; before I can think of what to say, my mouth starts rambling.

"I love AND trust you more than anything..." I sigh when I think about how the two of us have been walking on eggshells with one another when we've done this song and dance before.

"I'm sorry for giving you distance when you didn't need it. Or for making you feel bad or guilty when that wasn't my intention... I don't blame you." I catch my breath and give a sad smile. "I was just so upset... I'm sorry." Y/N keeps her eyes on me as I softly speak to her before I see them dip down to my neckline. I look down and know that I just so happened to be wearing the necklace she gave me on our second first date.

"Y/N, I trust and love you, and all I want is for us to put her in the rearview. It's you and me, remember."

Y/N nods and gives me a watery smile with her bright eyes. "I remember." She sniffles. "I just never want you to be hurt because of me again, Liz."

Tears threaten to spill.

"I won't because you won't. Okay?" I can see the relief on Y/N's face as a tear falls from her chin. "Oh, baby.." I wrap my arms around her and let my girlfriend collapse into me. Her face falls as she buries it into my neck. Her tears landing on the exposed skin.

"I'm sorry..." She whispers. "There is nothing to be sorry for," I whisper back. "I just love you so much. I'm so happy to have you in my life, Liz." I kiss the side of her head and allow Y/N to let herself fall apart in my arms as I whisper sweet nothings into the top of her head.

When the tears slow, Y/N eventually lifts her head to me as we're settled into the corner of the couch.

"I love you, Elizabeth Chase Olsen." She speaks in a hushed tone as her fingers dance along my knee. "I love you too, Y/N Y/L/N." I smile at her touch and take ahold of her chin, quickly giving her a peck on the lips before asking: "Is there anything else on your mind?" Y/N barely budges as she gives me a little shrug before nodding.

"Your premiere is tonight." I nod along to her words. "Uh huh.."

I watch Y/N close and open her eyes. "Am I coming?" I stop and tilt my head, confused. "Of course, you're coming! I have your outfit picked out for you and everything! We talked about this a month ago." I look into her eyes that, hold a look of loss and confusion. "Oh..." Y/N simply states. "I don't remember us talking about it."

She furrows her eyebrows, trying to remember. I do the same because she should remember, right?

After a moment of silence, I look to the door to the backyard and see Court smiling with a thumbs up before she disappears into the house.

"OH!" Y/N breaks up the moment between us. "I remember you talking about it. It was... it was right before Kathryn's party." She starts explaining as I nod. "That's right!"

"You looked stunning." Y/N winks with her tired, cried, and dried eyes. "As did you." I kiss her head as she continues. "I think that's the moment I knew I would never write a break-up song about you."

I smile and let out a laugh through my nose. "Is that right?" Y/N nods. "Clearly left an impression, but I think while you were talking about my outfit for the premiere, I was thinking about a song for you..." I sit up, shocked that this is the first I've heard about this. "A song... for me!?" Y/N sniffles and laughs, clearly a little shy about it. "Yeah..."

"Hey! What- why- I." I can't even form a sentence as I'm trying to find the right words to use before settling on it. "Can I hear it?" Y/N takes her left hand in my right and kisses it. "Not yet... not right now." The corners of my mouth dip down slightly, but it's Y/N choice. I'm just happy to have her here and to be a part of her process, no matter how big or how small. "Sorry." She says, but I'm quick to shake my head. "I'll listen to it whenever you want me to. Can I ask what it's maybe about?"

Y/N thinks before saying: "It's about being yours. Your one. Our future..." I see Y/N's eyes dart to my left hand before moving to my face. "I know we've barely scratched the surface when we've talked about it, and I'm sorry if this is a little scary, but after the past month and day I've had, I just need you to know, Liz, that I'm with you. For better and for worse."

"It's not scary." I'm quick to tell her. "And believe me, I know this because I'm yours, and I'm with you. For better or for worse. It's you and me."

"You and me."

I smile as Y/N's lips melt into my own. She lifts herself up and crawls onto my lap, facing me. She kisses me again and again before kissing my jawline, smiling. I react by finding my lips on the side of her face. Marking my way up to her ear before Y/N giggles and backs away. "We shouldn't." She says with a look in her eye and a smile that screams WE SHOULD. "Why?" I ask with a smirk.

"I don't want to traumatize Courtney."

Shit. I forgot she was here. Instead of answering, I roll my eyes and kiss Y/N softly as she places her head next to mine.

"Liz?" She whispers into my ear. "Yes?" I whisper back as my hand moves up and down her body.

"We're not engaged now, are we?"

My hand movement stops, obviously catching Y/N's attention. She rapidly leans back into my hand and looks at me in the eyes. "Just to be clear!" Y/N's anxious voice comes through. "I don't think we are! But! Everything we just said to one another would make it seem like we did just propose! Right??"

I swallow the last remaining calmness I probably had as my body starts to grow nervous and anxious. Because Y/N is right. "You don't think we are?" I ask, not knowing why I said that! "Are we??" Y/N goes wide-eyed! "I don't want this to be how I propose to you!"

"You want to propose to me!??" My pitch and tone matches hers. Y/N lifts her hands and covers her face. "I mean, obviously! I'm dating Elizabeth Fucking Olsen. I didn't want to do it today! If that's what just happened!!"

She lifts her hands and runs them through her hair before breathing out. I can't help but look at how adorable and fucking precious Y/N is being in this shared anxiety-inducing moment.

"Okay," I say as Y/N looks at me. "Okay?? Okay, what?!?" I hold my hands and take hers.

"Yes."

"Yes?"

"Yes," I confirm. "I would love to marry you and accept your proposal... but it shouldn't be today." Y/N's smile doesn't falter as she takes a breather before nodding. "It shouldn't be." She says back. "Is that okay?" I ask. "More than okay." Y/N laughs as she's coming down from her high.

Her heart probably going as fast as mine.

"You really want to marry me?" She says as her hands find my hips. "Someday. Yes." I hear Y/N whisper, "That's cool." Making me smile and say: "And what if I want to propose?"

"Then just do it before me, Olsen."

"Hmm, okay, Y/L/N." I lean up to kiss Y/N, but she backs away before my lips reach hers. "I'm taking your last name, just so you know."

"As if you couldn't get any sexier."

After a while of kissing and talking, Y/N falls asleep on top of me as I lay holding her on the couch. I clasp my hands around her body, kiss the top of Y/N's head, and smile as I switch the ring on my right hand onto my left ring finger.

Someday. Not today. But someday...

Later That Day

Republic Records "Grabbing some candles and blankets for a special livestream this Friday!"

@multiversemother @yikesitshex calling it now the album name is gonna be called Midnight!

@scrunchnoselizzie @multiversemother didn't they say that the album was going to be self-titled?

@hexthestars13 @scrunchnoselizzie @multiversemother omg what if it's called debut like Taylor Swift!

@lizziefolkmore @hexthestars13 @scrunchnoselizzie @multiversemother why would it be called Taylor Swift???

Y/N POV

I sit next to my beautiful and elegant girlfriend as we sit in the back of a black Escalade on the way to her world movie premiere here in Los Angeles!

Liz is dressed in a full black set of Alexandre Vauthier blazer and pants with Jimmy Choo platform sandals to match. And I can't get over how much my mouth waters at the sight.

Earlier, she gave me a treat of kisses before her makeup was finished so I would be on my best behavior. If my nerves weren't threatening to spill out all over the backseat, I probably wouldn't be.

Well, anyways, in contrast to her black, I'm wearing a Scarlet Red Michael Kors jumpsuit with heels to match. I thought about wearing sneakers, but I'm fairly certain Liz had Courtney hide them from me.

Speaking of Courtney in the car behind us, she is also wearing red in the form of a dress that makes her smile shine brightly.

Damn the Olsen and their genes.

I smile at Liz as she is locked into the camera on her phone. Looking at herself and the way her hair is. She was sculpted by God and yet worries about a strand of hair from time to time. "Babe, leave it. Sascha did great!" I playfully smack her hand away from her hair, making her quit. Also, so I could wrap my fingers around hers. I guess my grip was a bit too strong because Liz was immediately pulling away to take a proper hold of my face.

"Y/N? Are you okay?" I try to slowly nod yes but fail. "I'm nervous," I tell the truth and watch a sympathetic smile form on her face. "Do you want to tell me what about..?"

I swallow. "It's our first time being somewhere like this. Being a couple. In public together." Liz nods along. "It's not like when we were in Austin for Love & Death, and it's not like here when we go incognito to Target together. This... this is different."

Liz carefully thinks over her next few words to me before speaking. "We don't have to go public if you're not ready. I'm ready whenever you are."

"I know, but that's just the thing. I'm ready now. We've talked about it, Liz, and I am ready. It's just scary."

"It is scary." Liz agrees. "But there's no one I'd rather do it with. Plus..." Liz smiles and takes my hand back to wrap her fingers around mine. "Think of all the people like us... I'm thinking of Geneva right now." I smile at that. "I bet she's watching the live streams," I say with a shake of my head as my phone glows with a new text.

"Whose that?" Liz leans into me to look at a message from Bo in his new publicist role. "Looks like the record company is pushing my new identity everywhere." Liz reads the text over again and then looks at me. "So if we do interviews on the red carpet, you're going to be introduced as Hex?!"

I nod. "I mean, it was going to happen eventually, I guess.." I like the name and the idea of promo starting now, but starting on the premiere of Liz's new movie feels weird to me. "Hmm." Is all she says before turning away.

"Liz?"

"Yeah?" She turns back to me. "Is this okay with you?" I can see it in her eyes that it's not 100% alright. But her being perfectly supportive, I watch her lie and say: "Of course."

"Liz..." I whine, making her remain stoic. Damn, being a fantastic actress. "Talk to me."

"I'm fine." "Liz." She goes to argue that she's fine again, but I drop my phone and stare her down. "Ugh." She groans. "I... I just wanted the world to know Y/N first. Not Hex."

"Oh..."

"But it's a part of your and our life now, so it's fine." She turns back to look out the windows, as her words hurt me more than she realized just as we pull up to the premiere. The driver parks as a man in a tux walks towards the door, getting ready to open it.

Without warning, I reach over Liz and lock the door. "Y/N!" She exclaims as I turn her to look at me. Her eyes moving away from the man, trying to open the door but failing. "I will always be Y/N Y/L/N before Hex or before we get married, and I change my last name to Olsen so for tonight and however many moons after you call me Y/N. Not Hex. Just Y/N like I know you want to. Like you always have."

"Y/N I-"

She goes to argue, but I unlock the door and watch the man stumble backwards as the door flings open. Making a few people behind him laugh. I ignore the looks from my girlfriend as I give a wait-one-second look to everyone outside waiting before closing the door again to kiss Liz.

Because to me, she's Liz. Like to her, I'm Y/N.

"You and me." She says with a bright, pearly white smile before bringing her thumb up to wipe her lipstick off my lips. "You and me," I reply as her soft thumb leaves my red lips.

"Stay here," I whisper to her as I exit from my side of the car and come around to her side full of flashing cameras and screaming fans. I take a quick second and do my best to calm my nerves before opening the door to my girlfriend, whose smile blesses itself down onto me. I extend my hand to her to help her get down and out of the car, and when she does, she turns to me and kisses me. In front of the whole world.

Elizabeth Olsen and I just became public.

Liz POV

I'm going to be honest. I didn't plan on kissing Y/N just then, but she just looked so fucking sexy, and I could tell she was so anxious about tonight that I couldn't help myself. She's mine, after all!

Regardless, the amount of photos of us quadrupled when I did it. Meaning if it's not trending, it will. Everyone will see it. Max, Y/N's label (which should help them), Aubrey, My Dad, and a crazy ex who is awaiting a meeting at a courthouse.

Isn't it so weird how doing something considered normal by most will make you trend?

Anyways, I take a hold of Y/N and don't let her go throughout almost all of the photos I'm forced to take for my job. I laugh and help Y/N as she struggles to find her angle in a sea of cameras, but by the time it's time for my solos, she's nailing it.

Her stage name gets called, and she plays it as if she's heard it a million times before.

I watch in awe and amazement at how far she's come.

"Ms. Olsen!" A staff member surprises me as they appear by my side, letting me know that interviews are set to start and that I need to move along. I thank them but let them know that I'd be waiting for my girlfriend, and to say they did a double-take would be an understatement. But with one quirk of the eyebrow, they retreated.

Thank you, Scarlett, for that life hack.

"Hi!" Y/N is all smiles as she greets me. "Hi!" I reply back. "You ready?" I ask, knowing that the same staff member already told Y/N that we'd be doing a majority of the interviews together. "Yes... wait!" I stop and watch Y/N pull out her phone and point her camera towards me! I pose and smile at her antics before stopping when she looks down at her phone.

"Okay, now I'm ready!"

A/N: And before you ask yes! Y/N met the actors for Billy and Tommy and took silly selfies with them :)

Oh, and Xochitl Gomez tried her best to get Y/N to spill any details about the upcoming album.

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apple-salad · 1 year ago

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Mary Magdalene Faltetto (Farutetto) Dress Unboxing + Details

2023 edition, navy (sample) and mist (2017) colorways.

Please keep reading under the cut for more detail pictures, descriptions, waxing poetic etc.

Note: This dress is commonly translated as "Farutetto", but I will be calling it Faltetto from here on as Mary Magdalene has previously translated it as such.

Other note: If the video isn't loading on my blog, you can view it on my instagram, but the quality is a lot worse and it's split into parts.

Words cannot describe how elated I am to own these two pieces, which I have had quite the history with! And, I feel incredibly lucky to have obtained not one but two pieces from Mary Magdalene's sudden update.

The mist colourway especially had been an item that I had been pining over for a long time and had always regretted backing out of paying a SS to preorder it when advance reservations for this new colourway (which later became "exclusive reservations" when MM failed to open any general reserve to the public after, and to this day) opened to attendees of a Chinese event in Guangdong, in 2017.

And the navy...I had preordered it via a Chinese SS for the Le Panier event in Shanghai in 2018 (announced to be an exclusive colourway, along with a lilac), only for it to be cancelled a year later! So I am very happy to own this sample version which is likely the same one used for the Le Panier event.

I have written a long, rambly post that goes into more detail of the history of where the Faltetto samples might have come from, + Mary Magdalene's activities that I am aware of from around 2017, so please check it out if you like.

Actual worn/coord photos will be in a separate post (or a few separate posts), but following will be some detail photos with a little bit of overlap from the video.

The bedspread I used is super wrinkly in the video and my photos, so I apologize in advance for that.

This was my first time purchasing directly from Mary Magdalene! I'm super thankful to rabbitreverie, who let me know that MM had suddenly updated their website with a message that they were planning to upload a few items the next day (or that night? I can no longer remember), with only a vague time frame given (in the evening). We both stayed up all night refreshing, and everything MM uploaded sold out in about 5 minutes (a lot of the stock was sample pieces, so only one was available, I reckon).

So as it follows, this was my first time receiving a Mary Magdalene branded box. I had the package sent to a forwarding service and asked them to keep the shipping box for this reason!

Unfortunately, the box did get super banged up not only in shipping, but also when it was consolidated, and it's quite misshapen now. Plus, the warehouse clearly opened up the box so I don't get that "freshly cracked open" experience, oh well. At least the pieces inside seemed to be untouched.

Both dresses came in a plastic garment bag with a very ordinary, flimsy plastic hanger, which was then folded into a thin non-woven dust bag, and further packaged in a "Mary Magdalene" logo branded plastic bag (without handles).

Since I'm a terrible hoarder of branded items, it was nice to get some more Mary Magdalene bags. I have just a couple that came with some coats I bought many years ago. I believe there was a point where Mary Magdalene shipped branded wooden hangers with their pieces, but no longer (I am not sure if such a thing was a special novelty for larger items like coats, or if it was commonplace back then).

Here are the hangers--at the point of photographing I had removed the dresses, so just imagine the dresses in there like the video. For whatever reason, the hangers are different, but they are both cheap plastic so it's whatever.

Only the Mist colourway came with a fabric swatch--I assume this is because it was a non-sample and was considered to be the 2017 standard release (so, this is how the dress would have shipped in 2017). One interesting thing is that both tags have the pink tag design, even though I swear I saw a red tag design on the maroon faltetto dresses from last year.

It's somewhat impressive that Mary Magdalene printed a tag for the sample pieces at all, as they really didn't need to bother (I feel like most brands don't)!

On to the dresses! I didn't take any extra photos of the two pieces side by side, so you can reference the very first photo in this post for that.

The colours are just gorgeous. I had wanted the mist for a very long time, but I'd be hard pressed to choose only one out of the two if I needed to. The mist is a lovely blue-toned gray which seems to change depending on the lighting, but the mature dark tone of the navy is also lovely!

Mary Magdalene had noted two differences between the navy sample piece and regular releases of faltetto: first, the chemical lace at the bodice is different; and second, the buttons that secure the neck ties to the bodice are different (regular release have sort of matte textured buttons that match the dress in colour, the samples have plain clear buttons). Both are minor and the construction of the piece seems to be the same as a typical release of faltetto.

I have to personally wonder if the sample pieces are handsewn by the designer (Rieko Tanaka) herself, though!

A closeup of the skirt section. One difference I've noticed between newer faltetto dresses released in 2017 and after is that the rose lace on the tier here is gathered along with the skirt. I don't think I've seen it gathered on the older faltettos (or at least, not on the other ones I own, of which their release year is technically unknown).

Hopefully this photo portrays the difference in lining. Usually faltetto uses a kind of satin textured lining, but the navy lining is a very ordinary polyester lining with a slightly cheaper feeling. It doesn't change the dress very much, but I can see the choice of material adding to the "sample" factor of the dress.

This is the back of the bodice. Part of faltetto's design appeal is the partial shirring panel at the back, which makes its sizing a lot more forgiving than a lot of other Mary Magdalene.

The image might be a bit small, but perhaps you can also see the difference in neck tie buttons.

The bustle ties are tied in bows at the back of the navy! I wonder if tying them is something leftover from when it was worn for the Le Panier fashion show...?

A closer look at the bustle ties and the little loops that you thread the ties through to bustle it.

The fabric of both is a textured chiffon--I think it's sometimes called georgette or pearskin by brands? I was concerned that the fabric would be thin because the chiffon used on my 2017 maroon faltetto is quite thin, but the fabric on both mist and navy seem to match my other faltetto releases.

That was all the mist/navy faltetto photos I took, so while we are on the topic of 2017's maroon, here are more comparison photos between those two. I figured it might be interesting putting them side by side because allegedly both of these pieces were produced in 2017 for Chinese lolitas who had pre-reserved (I bought the maroon secondhand in 2018, so I can say relatively confidently that it is the 2017 release and not 2022).

As far as I could tell, aside from the main fabric used, the construction seems to be pretty identical. The lining on the maroon might be a bit wrinkly from storage, but it has that satin sheen like the mist.

Maybe not the best photos, but hopefully these close-ups express the difference in fabric texture and thickness between the two. The chiffon used for maroon definitely feels somewhat cheaper and common, somehow.

Lastly, here's the washing tag. They also seem identical, except unfortunately it looks like the previous owner of maroon cut the tag and removed the extra button for some reason (the other side of mist's tag has an extra necktie button attached). The navy has no washing tag at all, which I suppose makes sense with it being a sample (however, it does have a "Mary Magdalene" brand tag sewn into the inner facing of the bodice).

By the way, while I was loading petticoats under the mist JSK for photos, I discovered that it had a minor factory defect!

It seems that one of the threads tacking the main skirt fabric to the lining was sewn down to the wrong seam of the lining. There is both a side seam and a side back seam to the lining, with the side back being where the lining's snap is attached (for the bustle). With the skirt fabric attached like this, when you try to raise/bustle the lining with the snap, there is a puckering effect.

Thankfully, it's an easy fix (I undid the thread tack and re-knotted it to the right seam), but not what I expected from the mist colour technically being first-run quality!

Fixed, and now the skirt can be bustled nicely!

That's all for this post, I think! At this point I have all of 5 faltetto dresses, which is...ouch. I never thought I'd end up with so many. I may need to find some way to utilize all 5 at once...

#lolita fashion #farutetto jsk #mary magdalene #classic lolita #unboxing #faltetto jsk #farutettojsknv #farutettojskmist

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estellamiraiauthor · 2 years ago

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The Stars May Rise and Fall: The Annotated Re-read (Chapter 26)

Welcome back to chapter 26! This one was also pretty straightforward, but there are a couple of fun little things to comment on.

Spoilers, including spoilers for chapters beyond this one, under the cut!

Not a lot to comment on in the beginning. Teru goes back to his own apartment to get all his winter clothes so he can essentially keep living at Rei’s. I guess Rei is probably paying the rent on Teru’s apartment at this point, even though no one is using it, and… that’s an interesting choice. I think it’s partly just that Rei is still a little afraid of rejection, and that if he says “We’re living together anyway, why not make it official?”, there is a chance that Teru might say no. (He absolutely wouldn’t at this point, but Rei is super anxious about rejection so you know he’d worry about that.) But I think it’s also for Rei to give HIMSELF a way out…

Teru runs into Yasu in a music store where they’re both looking for bands who are looking for new members (nowadays this is probably done online, but people used to post fliers in places like this). They have an interesting conversation about the rest of the band, particularly when Yasu says he thinks Seika will be doing music forever, but he’ll be just as happy if he never makes it big. That’s a little bit of foreshadowing as well, since other than Teru, Seika is the slowest to say yes to the offer they’ll get later from a record label.

They leave the music store and walk over to Tokyu Hands, which was one of the few places you could easily get stage makeup. This section ended up being really nostalgic, because the area between Shinjuku Station and Takashimaya/Tokyu Hands has COMPLETELY changed since I wrote this.

They walk past a Starbucks (which at least WAS real; I’m not sure if it’s still there) where two girls are reading a manga together at the counter by the window. Teru internally comments that the girls probably aren’t a couple any more than the schoolgirl and the biker chick on the cover of the manga, but it would be nice if they were. This is pretty much a throwaway detail, but there are a couple of things happening here. First, the schoolgirl and the biker chick on the cover are Hiromi and Emika, the main characters from a second manuscript I had written, that I expected at the time to be my second book, so I added a little cameo in editing. It’s not a REAL cameo, because those characters were 18 in 2016, when their story was set, so they’d only be toddlers, but I put them in in manga form. (Teru and the band also had a cameo in THAT manuscript, where one of the girls says to the other, “You know the singer’s gay, right?”… Even if I never write a full sequel about what happens to Teru and company going forward, I was so excited to at least be able to make it canon that he’s still performing 16 years later, and is either publicly out or at least out in an “everyone knows even though it’s never been officially announced” sense.) The other thing going on here with this wistful “it would be nice if they were a couple” thought is probably that Teru IS wanting to be a little more like a normal couple with Rei… which leads into his next conversation with Yasu.

(That second manuscript is unfortunately never going to be published BTW… I hit a brick wall with editing and just generally have a lot of trauma over the whole process.)

The department store is decorated for Christmas in garish metallic colors that were kind of meant to highlight the difference between manufactured beauty and the inherent beauty of real, imperfect things just kind of as an ongoing theme. Yasu asks Teru if he and Rei have any plans for Christmas… Christmas in Japan is mostly a secular holiday. Only 1% of the population is Christian, so unless you’re a little kid or the parent of a little kid, it’s mostly a holiday for couples… so having some kind of romantic plan for Christmas would kind of be expected. Teru sort of confides in Yasu that they don’t go out much because people stare and Rei is self-conscious, and when Yasu suggests a love hotel, Teru admits that the one time they tried that, it didn’t go so well. Then we get what’s probably my very favorite moment from Yasu in the entire book, when he admits that he’s self-conscious sometimes too, about being “the fat kid who wanted to be a rock star”, and suggests that continuing NOT to have sex with Teru probably isn’t doing much to boost Rei’s body image. This gives Teru a lot to think about, and he lets Yasu load him up with a bunch of pamphlets from a travel agency.

Here, again, he tries to come up with a plan that Rei would enjoy, and I think he does better than he has in the past. Teru rightly thinks it wouldn’t be a lot of fun to take a plane. Even though this was pre-9/11 and security in Japan is more relaxed than in the US, Rei would still need to show his face and would probably set off all the metal detectors, so Teru finds a place they can get to by train, with hot springs (good for pain) that can be accessed via a private bath attached to the room… no need to be naked in front of strangers.

I think it’s very cute that Teru has to ask Seika if the hotel he finds is going to let two men check in together… of course when you think about it, it’s kind of a silly question. People go on vacation with family members or on business trips with colleagues or whatever all the time—no one would even have to know they were a couple. But it’s something I would probably have worried about at Teru’s age, and it feels very in character for him to have that fear!

And then we have the call from Minori, which is going to completely change the fate of the band in the next chapter.

#the stars may rise and fall #annotated #phantom retelling #writing process

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whileiamdying · 2 years ago

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Rita Lee, Brazilian rocker with feminist message, dies at 75

Rita Lee, Brazil’s “queen of rock” who gained an international following with her colorful and candid style and songs that helped introduce Brazilian society to feminism, died May 8 at her home in São Paulo. She was 75.

The death was announced in a statement posted to her official Instagram account.

With a career spanning six decades, the singer left a lasting mark with her irreverence, creativity and hits such as “Mania de Você” (1979) and “Ovelha Negra” (1975). She also publicly addressed her struggles with drug abuse.

Although Ms. Lee regarded her voice as “weak and a little out of tune,” she enjoyed a long run of top-selling albums, including “Rita Lee” (1979) and “Rita Lee and Roberto de Carvalho” (1982). Dozens of her songs were featured in widely watched telenovelas in Latin America. The behemoth television network Globo used her rendition of the song “Poison Weed” in three of its programs.

“I was not born to get married and wash underwear. I wanted the same freedom as the boys who used to play in the street with their toy cars,” she told the Brazilian edition of Rolling Stone in 2008. “When I got into music, I realized that the ‘machos’ reigned absolute, even more in rock music. ‘Wow,’ I said, ‘this is where I’m going to let my fangs out and, literally, give them a hard time.’”

She was a singer and songwriter praised for her versatility, playing at least five instruments: drums, guitar, piano, harmonica and autoharp. She was also one of the first Brazilian musicians to use electric guitar.

Eventually her popularity extended beyond Brazil. She performed in Portugal, England, Spain, France and Germany. In 1988, the British newspaper Daily Mirror revealed that Prince Charles admired her 1981 song “Lança Perfume” (“Spray Perfume”) and considered her his favorite singer. She won a Latin Grammy in the Best Portuguese Language Album category in 2001 for her album “3001.”

Rita Lee Jones was born on Dec. 31, 1947, in São Paulo, the daughter of immigrants from Italy and the United States. Her father’s family, which relocated to Brazil soon after the Civil War, retained many American customs, including speaking English at home, according to a biographical sketch in Contemporary Musicians.

Ms. Lee rose to fame with the group Os Mutantes (The Mutants), starting in 1966. Colors and creativity, as well as irony and irreverence, were Ms. Lee’s trademarks from the start. By the mid-1970s, after selling 200,000 copies of the 1975 album “Forbidden Fruit,” Ms. Lee began to be called the “queen of rock” on the music scene.

The most popular and interesting stories of the day to keep you in the know. In your inbox, every day.

In an interview with the music website I Have More Records Than Friends! in 2017, Lulu Santos, judge of the Brazilian version of “The Voice,” recalled seeing Ms. Lee play autoharp at a concert.

“She brought that thing onstage, in those clothes … it was completely mythological,” the musician said. “There really is a lineage of ‘girls’ tied to rock in Brazil, of which she is a legitimate representative. But I see her as an element that distances herself from the cliches of rock. She, from her feminine point of view, sees the clumsiness of the worn-out cliche of the male rocker, the one who plays with his legs open. She saw right through him.”

She was one of the first public figures in Brazil to popularize feminist themes, such as infusing the lyrics of her 1979 song “Mania de Voce” (“Mania for You”) with female sexuality and pleasure. Similar songs followed, such as “Amor e Sexo” (“Love and Sex”), which contrasted the two in detail, and “Lança Perfume,” an ode to unbridled hedonism.

Later in life, she became a vegan and animal rights activist. For decades, she kept her hair bright red and often wore matching glasses, a popular look that she discarded in recent years as she allowed her gray to grow out. She resolved in 2015 to reinvent herself as a white butterfly.

In her autobiography, published the following year, she described the sexual abuse she suffered as a child at the hands of a man who had come to fix her mother’s sewing machine.

She also referred to herself as a “rebel” and “hippie communist,” and wrote of sneaking out the windows of her house as a teenager to play, being arrested during the dictatorship for possession of marijuana, and her multiple stints in rehab clinics for drugs and alcohol.

“I recognize that my best songs were written in an altered state, and my worst too. I only regret my delay in realizing that the ‘medicine’ had long since expired,” she wrote. “My generation suffered the claustrophobia of a brutal dictatorship, and using drugs was a way to breathe airs of freedom.”

In an interview with the television program “Fantastico” in 2020, she explained that physical frailty had prompted her to leave the stage eight years earlier.

“Getting old, for me, was a surprise, because I’ve never been old in my life,” she told the show. “I was left wanting to live my old age away from the stage, without sharing it with the public.”

Survivors include three children and her husband, musician Roberto do Carvalho, with whom she shared a 44-year musical partnership. In 2021, they released a new song, “Change,” and a remix of some of the singer’s biggest hits.

Years before, she imagined her death: “I will be in heaven,” she wrote, “with my soul present playing my autoharp and singing to God, ‘Thank you, Lord, finally sedated.’ Epitaph: She was never a good example, but she was good people.”

Washington Post staff contributed to this report.

#rita lee jones #rita lee #obituary

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astrarchee · 2 years ago

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updates [03/13/2023];

hello everyone!

apologies from the get go, for my silence. i know that this blog is pretty much run on a queue of various quotes / prompts / writing things / etc., and not even many people following... but to those that are here, following because you enjoy my work, i wanted to provide an update on what's going on with everything:

[to save on space, everything is below the cut. TL;DR also below the cut.]

chasing down the gods ⇨

the update is much, much later than i had previously promised. this is due to some things that happened offline, and threw my mind [and - generally - everything] into a bit of chaos. it's been hard to find inspiration, so i was giving myself some breathing space. my hope and goal is to get the chapter done this week, since the following one is already completed. i had considered posting that, but i don't want to time-skip quite yet. i don't think it's fair to all of you who have stuck with me for... 8 years, if my math is semi correct. in the interim, i actually made this fun page for it [link also in the sidebar/drop down titled "check the page"]! my hope is to make one for every work i've posted / am working on [aka, WIPs and completed]. feel free to check it out! i hope you all like it [it's dark mode, and should be mobile friendly-ish].

now, speaking of WIPs...

untitled gd fic ⇨

if you check this blog's homepage much [i will not blame you if you don't], you will have noticed a new work was put under the right sidebar [dropdown menu on mobile]. this was titled "untitled gd fic," and i am happy to announce that i am ready to reveal some first insights! as with cdtg, a WIP page has been made. as much as I would love to share it, due to a title being... not there, the url is a bit choppy. so, to make it up a bit, here's a photo so you all can have a sneak preview:

a couple notes:

this will be multichapter

this will be close to complete / mostly completed prior to uploading beginning

current ETA for uploads starting is may 2023 [forgoing more unforeseen life issues]

none of the bigger "archive warnings" for AO3 will apply [i.e. no non-con / major character death / etc.]* * only exception might be gore, but the plan is to not have extreme graphic details. think more criminal minds prior to it going to paramount+ and thus being able to show more.

when we are in april, my hope is to have the page itself available for everyone to check out. i am hoping to use these across the board

anything else ⇨

as said, these pages will be made for every fic. so, that includes mending bones and packed lunches and misplaced mistletoes. i will be putting links to these... somewhere. i have not gotten that far in my thought process. but, this allots a bit of time to actually work on things for this blog / towards my muse and writing inspiration, rather than just sitting and waiting.

one more thing [almost posted without mentioning this]: i will be linking to my main blog for a fic rec list. there, you'll find fics i've read and recommend for various fandoms. they were basically all wlw, but i don't know what else anyone would expect from me here. i will link both the mobile friendly edition, and the desktop version. i tend to prefer the desktop, but i know that tumblr mobile has become a lot more popular than when i first started here. i will note: i need to update it [has not been updated since... early february, i believe], but if you want something to read, check it out! my blog will also have a book rec page up eventually. that one takes a lot longer since that library is also expansive. if you want to go ahead and see recs now in the interim, here's the link to my blog's page with the direct links to said pages.

that's it though! i know i wrote a lot here, so:

TL;DR:

cdtg update will come as soon as life stops being messy + a fun WIP page

a new fic for a new fandom coming soon to a theater near you

pages for all previously completed works [aka all two of them] will be added to the blog very soon.

feel free to reach out, if you want to chat or anything. tumblr notifications are wonky as heck - but i will reply as swiftly as i can. hopefully i can do these kinds of updates biweekly / monthly. those of you here for the fic and the quotes, let me know if that sounds good to you.

much love - C

#*bwu

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goldfishlover73 · 2 years ago

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Fic-Frog Sage NARUSAKU

This needs another good edit before I post to AO3, but I'm happy how it turned out and am looking for some insta-grat to carry over into some of my other WIPs (looks at all the open doc tabs)

Most of my fics don't reflect my life, but this one does. Sort of.

I dedicate this story to Froug, the frog I found freeloading in one of my plants last week. May you live to spring.

As with every other NaruSaku story I've ever written, it's a study on writing smutty stuff. It's only heavy petting, as I started getting self conscious that all I've been writing lately is NaruSaku porn, but it is fun with them.

This is also a study in a conversation I had with a reviewer of 'Heartbeat' about Naruto and Sakura's love language being touch. So it's pretty touchy-feeling.

Enjoy!

Title: Frog Sage

Pairing: NaruSaku

Rating: Hard T to M

Summary: When Sakura finds a frog in her plant she goes to the Frog Sage to save her.

After the war, Kaka-sensei presented each of them with a trimming from Mr. Ukki.

“May it never die under your care.” he said off handedly, though the longing glances he gave to each small potted plant as they pried them from his fingers told them how much confidence he had in his young team.

Yamato-taichou had either more or less confidence in them; he gave them detailed instructions and set up visitations so he could review the health of Mr. Ukki’s offspring and cater those instructions to the wellness of the plant. “Once you get the hang of taking care of a plant, it becomes addicting,” Yamato-taichou promised, “I’ll be here to help every step of the way.” Sakura wasn’t sure if he was saying that for their benefit or for Kaka-sensei’s. Regardless, Sakura hated how they all gave her a knowing, pointed glance. More so than Naruto.

She huffed, puffing her cheeks out as she stomped away, clutching her new plant, grumbling that ‘if she could keep them alive, she could certainly keep Ukki-chan alive as well.’

At least Naruto cheered her on. Sai ended up needing her help later that afternoon for unrelated circumstances.

Ukki-chan sat outside on Sakura’s sun-facing balcony. When Yamato-taichou asked which sun, she could only point to the giant ball in the sky. But, despite Yamato-taichou’s blank stare, Ukki-chan seemed happy sun bathing in the warm summer glow with waterings every three days. She watched with the love that only a mother could know (she guessed) as the small twig of a plant grew new leaves and became thicker and more plant like.

Until fall came.

Their bi monthly meetings became weekly as Sakura struggled with the yellowing plant. Yamato-taichou scolded all of them for over watering, though his unimpressed glower was directed as Sakura more than the rest.

Except for Sasuke, who’s plant was in the opposite shape of everyone else. He was not watering at all.

Yamato-taichou did say a little neglect goes a long way (“though you do have to water them, Sasuke-kun!”). With a strained smile, wooden fingers moved to the roots of Sakura’s somewhat healthy and somewhat soggy plant, fixing the damage that she’d done. So Sakura took a page out of Sasuke’s book and left it out on her sunny balcony and left for a month long mission.

She came back and Ukki-chan was thriving.

It was shortly after Naruto’s birthday that Yamato-taichou announced it was time for them to present their Ukki offspring so he could gauge how well they were doing before they brought them indoors for the winter.

Naruto’s looked a lot like hers, leafy and alive, though Sakura hated how it seemed ‘more green.’ than it’s sister. Sai’s was less leafy, it’s leaves browning at the tips, but very much alive. Sasuke’s…was taken out of his care completely. Sakura winced as Sasuke’s eyes blinked red as Yamato-taichou held the plant to his chest, whispering into it’s leaves as he promised they would be alright. The rest of them were sent home with care cards and follow up appointments, and a heavy laden threat about overwatering.

Sakura scowled right back at him.

III

According to Yamato-taichou’s card, Sakura was to set her plant right inside her balcony door where it could soak up the sun but stay warm through the winter months. She was to water it lightly once every two weeks and to ‘let it plant’ the rest of the time.

Whatever that meant.

Sakura dutifully ‘let it plant’ for two months, watering it when she remembered and otherwise just looking down at it fondly when she ate breakfast.

Until snow littered the ground and her balcony on January morning.

Before going to work, she decided to move it away from the door. Just enough for the leaves to not be cold. As her hands gripped the sides of the pot, she ‘tsks’ at the terra cotta’s coldness. “This will not do, Ukki-chan.” She let her hand run on the leaves, pretending that she was passing some of her warmth to the plant. She felt her cheeks warming. “Yamato-taichou is going to be so impressed that you’re not dead.” Moving it back a few inches, she admired how not dead it was. Ukki-chan was doing remarkably well. Her soil wasn’t soaking wet and her leaves were only mildly yellow at the very tips. “Maybe I’ll skip watering you a little longer…” She lifted the plant and spun the plant, her mind rationalizing that letting some of the back leaves face the sun when she moved her hand and watched slowly as two black eyes blinked up at her slowly.

The world slowed as Sakura slowly put the plant down and moved her hand back and retracted her hand close to her chest before she screamed.

III

Naruto vaulted out of bed as his door threatened to come off its hinges. He took a step before falling, his legs were ensnared in his blanket. He crashed to the ground and the knocking became more frantic.

“Naruto!?” He swore loudly as he fought with the thin blanket. He closed his eyes, sage mode flaring as he searched for an enemy outside his cotton captor. After four agonizing long seconds, he freed himself, launching himself towards the door, swearing as he didn’t feel anything out of the ordinary.

Except for Sakura banging on his front door. He grasped the handle, flinging the door open. “Sa-Mhm!” he winced as Sakura knocked him hard in the head.

Her eyes were wild, her face strangely pale and flush at the same time. Her hands were trembling as she grabbed his hand and yanked him out of his home with no shoes or pants.

III

Curious, dark beady eyes blinked up at him. It was a sharp contrast to the light gray of her body as she seemed to try to look as much like a rock as possible. Though a curious rock, nonetheless.

He looked back at Sakura-chan, unimpressed. Her left arm was tight around her waist as she bit her thumb on her right. “You pulled me out of bed because you have a freeloader?” Sakura’s face started to redden so he looked back to the pot. Her freeloader was a small, gray tree frog. It was sitting on the lip of her Mr. Ukki pot, rock-like, watching him. His own golden eyes, he supposed as natural chakra swirled through him, blinked back. Naruto couldn’t help the laughter that bubbled in his chest. “She’s not going to get you. She’s harmless.” The small frog looked back up at him.

He looked back in time to see Sakura-chan leaned forward and smacked his shoulder lightly. Well, light for her. It’s why he hadn’t dropped sage mode. “I know that!” she snapped, her face flush. “I just-” she shrugged, her eyes finding the poor little lady. “I didn’t know what to do.”

Naruto looked from her to the frog that was slightly bigger than his thumb. He looked back up at Sakura-chan. “Do?” He gestured to the small frog. “What is there to ‘do’?”

She smacked him again. “I can’t put him outside! It’s too cold! He’ll die!”

Naruto frowned, looking back down at the small frog. It blinked at him. “So you woke me up?”

“Who else was I going to wake up?!” He looked back at her as she waved her hands, “You’re a fucking frog sage.”

He blinked his natural chakra away. “Toad Sage.” he corrected. She huffed, “I have a contract with the Toad Sages.” He pursed his lips as rolled his eyes. “Should I call you for any slug problems that might come up, Sakura-chan?” He held up a hand to block her as she came in for another swipe.

Sakura-chan groaned, grabbing his shoulders and shaking him. “What do I do!?”

He shrugged, leaning back, away from the frog. Now that their eyes didn’t match, her eyes melted into her body, making her look like a blobby stone. “Let her be?” He looked up to Sakura-chan, who’s bright green eyes widened in maybe horror. He shrugged, “She hasn’t bothered you all winter, just wait until Spring-”

“No.” She shook her head quickly. “Out of the question.” He opened his mouth and she went to swat him again. “I can’t just have a wild animal in my house! You’re bad enough!” Before he could clap back, her face paled. “What it jumps into my bed while I’m sleeping?!”

Naruto looked back down at the frog before looking down the long hallway to where Sakura-chan’s bedroom was.

Probably, he didn’t know for sure. He’d never peaked through her window to verify this

Never.

“She’s not jumping all the way down there.” He smiled softly, shrugging, “She’ll just hang out here. If she hasn’t moved in the three months she’s been here, then she’s not going to now that you know she’s here.”

“You don’t know what he’ll do!”

“I’m the frog sage, remember?” She huffed, crossing her arms. He sighed, leaning forward, cupping his hands around the pot. She squawked as he coaxed the little lady into his hands. “I guess I am a frog sage since I know the difference between a male and a female tree frog.” He cupped the frog in his hands and turned to see Sakura-chan’s cheeks as puffy Gamatatsu. He stood, smirking as he looked down at her. Her puffy cheeks faltered as they flushed. “I’ll take her home.” He said softly. “Then maybe we-” he gestured to his hands. The little lady hadn’t so much as moved. can both get some peace and-” he didn't’ get to finish as Sakura-chan’s squwaks and swats chased them out of her apartment.

III

Naruto was woken up later that day to less extreme pounding on his front door.

Though it was the same person.

“Nice scrubs.” Sakura was in pale blue scrubs with little white slugs splatter across it.

“10 hour surgery. Saved a life. What have you done today?” Bright green, less frantic eyes met him as she shoulder checked past him, her arms carrying a small bag.

He smirked, “Snuggled up with my new girlfriend.”

She wasn’t nearly as impressed as she should have been. She kicked off her shoes, “I got him -” Sakura-chan froze in the entrance way, staring into his apartment. His stomach churned unpleasantly as she looked into the mess. She turned to him, her lip curling. He rolled his eyes. “Your place-”

“Wasn’t prepared for the harem of women it encountered today.” He closed the door. “Don’t worry, Sakura-chan,” he sang “all the clothes are mine, ya know.” Maybe he should be embarrassed by the amount of clothes piled near his bed, but he wasn’t. She wouldn’t get close enough to smell them. Luckily she also wasn’t going to go into his bathroom. He brushed past her as he went to collect the scattered empty styrofoam bowls. “Next time you throw yourself at me, like you did this morning, I’ll make sure the sheets are washed.” He really should do that anyway. It had…been a while. He looked back at her, smirking as her face reddened, her eyes looking down at the bag in her hand. He tossed the bowls in the overfilled trash. “Or at least the kitchen table.” He said suggestively, crossing his arms, lifting an eyebrow and the corner of his lips. “The wall-”

Her eyes snapped up as her lips curled and her eyes narrowed, “You-You-”

He wanted to go on. To continue poking the angry pink bear, but he didn’t want to get too uncomfortable. He could already feel his skin warming as his imagination started to run away with his words. “What did you bring her.” he snatched the bag out of her hand.

She took a deep breath. “Just some things to hold him over until winter is over.” Her face faded into a pink that matched her hair. He ignored the flutter in his chest. “I think.” she jostled him as she opened the bag in his hands. She smiled brightly up at him as she pulled out a rock.

He looked down at her unimpressed. “Sakura-chan, there are rocks all over the place outside-” She smacked him again. “It’s a rock home.” she flipped it over to show him it was hollow.

“She’s a tree frog, Sakura-chan, she doesn’t need-”

“And I got these!” She interrupted, digging into the bag again, almost ripping it as she pulled out a long flat bowl that kind of looked like a hollow smushed rock. “Frogs like water!?” She seemed to be trying to convince herself. He nodded slowly. She shrugged, looking back down at the tray in her hand.

He nodded slowly, “As the resident ‘frog sage’ I agree with this statement, ya know.”

She sucked her teeth before her shoulders sagged. She shook her head, throwing her arms up. She almost hit him with the smushed rock. “I don’t know, I just thought it would be nice for him to have a place to hide and some water.” she swallowed thickly. “But I don’t even know if this is going to fit in the pot. I just-”

“Sakura-chan,” he could help the laughter that bubbled. His hand cupped her cheek. It wasn’t until he felt the warmth of her skin did he realize he was holding her arm as well. She hadn’t seemed to notice or else he might have been a dead man. “You kicked her out.” she flushed, looking away. He couldn’t stop himself from poking the bear again; his thumb rubbed her check. Softly. So soft. “Why are you here?”

“She” she emphasized by pushing against his hand, but to his delight, didn’t push away. Or pull away “can’t live with me. I can’t wake up to her in my covers or on my face - “ he was about to point out half her life was spent sleeping on the forest floor on missions, but she cut him off “but if she has to live here, until spring…” she shrugged, her shoulder brushing his arm. “Then she should be comfortable?”

Naruto wasn’t sure why she hadn’t smacked him for holding her like this, but he wasn’t about to question it. Or let go. His mouth went dry as he nodded, “Yeah, but she’s just a frog.”

She gaped at him, pulling out of his grip, “Just a frog?! You’re a frog sage!”

He felt air rush into his lungs as he rolled his eyes. “Sakura-chan-”

“Where is she?” She brushed past him, her eyes narrowing on the potted plant on the sill next to his bed. She pointed. “Is she over there? In the pot?” He sighed, moving towards the window. “She’s hiding.” He explained, picking up the pot and bringing it over to where she stood in the kitchen. Her bright eyes narrowed over the pot as she stared hard at the soil. Naruto rolled his eyes. She’s not even in the pot. She was on the window sill, sunbathing on an actual rock. He smirked, his fingers tightening on Ukki-kun before he made a poor life choice.

It would be worth it, ya know?

“Ohtheresheis!” he jostled the pot, thrusting it up towards her.

Sakura-chan’s eyes widened as she screamed, wrenching the pot out of his hands and throwing it against the wall.

The sound of terra cotta shattering was louder than Sakura-chan’s scream. And the sound of dry wall exploding.

And the sound of his neighbor banging on the wall.

III

Sakura spent the next hour cleaning his apartment. It had first started with picking up the pieces of the broken pot, but as he covered up the hole in the wall, she swept and wiped everything else down, shoving the trash into his hands and demanding that he take it out. When he came back, she was at his neighbor's door, apologizing for the noise. He didn’t get a chance to make it inside before she hooked her arm in his and drug him to Yamanaka’s flower shop.

She was eerily quiet.

Naruto frowned, watching Sakura and Ino talk as he inspected the pots.

Ino was laughing, slapping her hand on the counter. “You and your monster strength, Forehead!” Sakura told him he needed to pick out a pot that was large enough for the rock home. He watched as Sakura’s face fell. “It’s just a tiny frog. You could squash it like…like well a frog. And that’s when you’re not being all scary.” Her shoulders sagged as she looked over to Naruto. He went back to the pots, grabbing a large black one. Ukki-kun was going to be comically small in this pot, but he figured he’d grow into. He turned with a bright smile. Ino rang them up and Sakura grumbled as she paid for the pot and soil. Ino threw in a small frog statue on her.

They left the shop with a thick tension between them.

Naruto nudged her, laughing. “Kaka-sensei is going to murder you!”

He relaxed as she huffed, though he could tell her heart wasn’t in it. “Me!?” She shoved against him hard. He hardly stumbled. “You’re the idiot! Why would you do that?!” She’d asked him more times than he could count after she shattered the pot. Especially when he told her she wasn’t even in the pot. He was lucky she didn’t kill him on the spot.

“It was hilarious, Sakura–chan.” He only cackled, using the pot to protect his stomach as she tried to elbow him. “Who would have thought that the strongest woman alive would be afraid of a teeny tiny little frog?”

She puffed out her cheeks like Gamatatsu before she huffed. “I’m not afraid.”

Naruto shoulder checked her. “Are you sure?” He was poking the pink bear, he could almost hear her growl. It made him grin wider. “You have taught everyone that tiny things can be very scary.”

Her puffs faltered as did her eyes. He cursed himself as they walked in silence towards Ichiraku’s. She promised to treat him for the hole in his wall. “You don’t…you don’t think I’m scary, do you?” He paused. Her voice was so small. So unlike Sakura-chan. A lump formed in his throat as he studied her walking ahead of him. She stopped, turning. He hadn’t seen her look this unsure of herself since they were 13. He swallowed thickly.

Of course he found her scary. He found her terrifying. She could break him with her little finger. He had dreams of her small hands crumbling the earth beneath him, crumbling him. Causing his heart to lurch, his blood to boil and for him to wake up with slick skin and a painful erection.

Of course he found her terrifying. But that was something he loved about her.

He wanted to tell her how her strength was amazing. How he could be confident that she won’t break. Break under the pressure. Break under anything.

Maybe…he inhaled shakily Maybe break under me one day. He felt his ears warm as his body grew tingly. He swallowed at the thought of trying to find that breaking point. Of her finding his.

Instead, he shook his head. “No, I don’t think you’re scary at all.” he hoped it sounded halfway as convincing as he was trying to be.

She studied him, her eyes piercing into his soul. His heart hammered in his chest and the strongest woman alive sized him up. Challenged him, in her own way. He wanted nothing more than to kiss or. Or at least try.

But he had a mission coming up. And Kaka-sensei would kill him if she killed him over trying to kiss her.

She nodded slowly, her face flushing the color of her hair. “Let’s get that ramen.”

He relaxed.

III

Yamato-taichou promised Ukki-kun would survive his traumatic crash, but threatened them both to remove their plants from their care if it happened again. He also promised to not tell Kaka-sensei - he had enough on his plate with being Hokage to worry about his little genin (“And Jounin!!!”) and their plants.

Sakura-chan smiled brightly as she put the rock home and water dish in the pot before taking a large step back as Naruto placed the small frog in the plant.

“What is she going to eat?” Sakura-chan asked, her eyes doe like. They were sitting in his kitchen chairs. The pot was too large to fit in his window so it sat in the floor near his balcony. She was leaning toward the plant, inspecting the small amphibian as Naruto sat next to her. He felt the small frog watch him and he couldn’t help but morph his chakra slightly. His eyesight changed. The frog seemed to relax and close it’s eyes.

He snorted. I am her protector from the crazed pink one. The crazed pink one shouldered him hard, as if hearing his thoughts.

Naruto shrugged, feeling Sakura-chan’s shoulder still against his. “It’s winter, so she might not eat, ya know? She’s essentially hibernating.”

Sakura-chan nodded. Naruto thought he felt her lean into him more, but he might have imagined it. Must have.

“What are you going to name her?” She looked at him seriously.

Naruto snorted, leaning into Sakura slightly. “She’s not mine to name. She’s her own person. Frog person.” Their forearms were flush. His heart leapt to his throat as she pressed her upper leg to his. He nudged her. “You name her.” he whispered.

Sakura-chan, oblivious to it all, nodded solemnly. After a few minutes, she spoke barely above a whisper, “Gamako.”

He nodded sagely, “Very original, Sakura-chan.”

She huffed, slamming back into her chair. He slowly leaned back, matching her crossed arms huff. But he was smiling down at her. She looked up, her eyes meeting his before searching his face. “Isn’t that hard?” She asked, gesturing to his face.

He wished she had hair in her face so he could brush it away, so he could hold her face again.

No such luck.

He nodded, “Extremely.” Especially when she was sitting so close, with her calf inching to be flush with his. “But it’s second nature to me now.”

She shrugged, mildly impressed. “Katsuyu doesn’t have a…slug mode or anything.” She said, watching Ukki-kun.

“You can make it rain slugs.” He offered. “Healing slugs. That’s pretty cool.”

She smiled, “It is, isn’t it.”

He shook his head, bracing himself, “Though you’ll never have eyeshadow this on point.”

Her lips pressed against each other as she tried not to smile. She looked up at him, trying to look annoyed. He grinned brightly. “Would you like me to help you with your makeup, Sakura-chan?”

She poked him in the side, making him cackle.

III

Sakura wasn’t sure what was going on with her. At first, she blamed Gamako for her odd behavior around Naruto. For her constant stopping by his place, but the frog hadn’t moved in two weeks from its spot under the fake rock and she was going over to check on her anyways.

With fresh groceries. And a recipe for homemade ramen. And cleaning supplies.

Naruto seemed just as perturbed, but didn’t say anything. He didn’t offer to help (thank all the deities above and below) but he did hover. Just out of her arm and knife reach but still within his. His fingers found her upper back as he smelled the broth, his fingers trailing down her arm as he reached for the fridge. His knuckles on her hip as he moved around the small cooking space. She was aware of it all. She felt her skin itch for the contact. It made her mouth water and dry at the same time.

Or maybe it was the ramen.

He didn’t have real bowls, so they washed the styrofoam ones that littered the table. She had to stop her mind when it started talking about getting him new ones.

She held her breath as he slurped down the first bite. His regular, not brilliant, blue eyes closed as he chewed. She pressed her lips together as he swallowed. She gripped the table as his absolutely normal eyes opened again. It whined under her fingers as he contemplated the food.

And then he smiled. His smile made her breath hitch as butterflies erupted. It’s because he’s taking another bite she told himself as he began to devour the food. She did not watch his lips.

“I’ve never had it home made before.”

“And is that a good thing?” She asked, her heart beating loudly in her chest. He hadn’t said he liked it, or hated it.

He cackled, “Ah, Sakura-chan, if you made this everyday for me, Teuchi would go out of business.” He slurped down his noodles. He scrunched up his face, “Has a lot of vegetables though.”

This. This feeling, the feeling of anger and annoyance, she could deal with. She felt her body go into autopilot as she went off on him not eating enough vegetables as he coward slightly, grinning broadly. This I can deal with now.

The rest, she supposed, could wait.

III

Sakura left for the night as Naruto showered and settled on the impossibly clean floor next to Ukki-kun as he closed his eyes. He inhaled softly as he focused on the natural chakra around him. He felt Gamako move and he held his hand out, smiling softly as he felt her sticky skin land in his open palm. As he settled into his meditation, he felt her half crawl, half hop up his arm and up to his shoulder.

He smirked, wondering what Sakura-chan would do if she knew that he let the frog climb the side of his face as he meditated.

He was a toad sage. But all toads were frogs and she, obviously, felt more relaxed when he was in sage form.

He felt her settle on his head, barely aware of her light weight in his hair.

Naruto smiled, thinking how Sakura teased him about his eyeshadow. “Gussying up for his new girlfriend.” his smile widened as he closed his eyes.

Because of Sakura’s new obsession with a tiny frog she was afraid of, he had cleaned his bathroom, did his laundry and made sure his trash was taken out far more regularly than he had ever done in his life. He’d even washed his sheets. Usually, when he did this, his house seemed empty and far too spacious. But…Even with his apartment clean, there was still remnants of her;

One of her scrub tops was piled in the corner next to his jacket. She’d warmed the place up using the stove to make stir fry. There were two bowls in the sink with a matching pair of cups. She had threatened him with bodily harm if they weren’t clean and dried and put away when she came back tomorrow. Her favorite brand of rice was shoved in the corner of his counter as well as her favorite cookies. There was mochi ice cream in the freezer and dango in the fridge.

For tomorrow. When she came back.

His chest expanded. His home was clean and bare, but it…it was cozier.

The small frog on his head moved. He laughed, more to himself than her. “Though, if Sakura-chan keeps coming around, you’ll have some stiff competition, eh, Gamako-chan?” He cackled to himself as he felt tiny hands on his forehead.

III

Spring came too soon.

“You can start to put your plants back outside.” Yamato-taichou said on their way back from a mission. “Just make sure you bring them back in at night.” he warned.

Sakura’s eyes bored into the back of Naruto’s head. He was in front of her, bickering with Sai when Yamato-taichou made his declaration. Sakura knew that Yamatao-taichou brought this up now in hopes that the two would stop arguing, but Sakura couldn’t help but feel fear curl in her stomach as Naruto looked back at her.

If Gamako leaves…What would she do now?

And what the hell kind of thought is that?! She felt her mind scream as it raced.

With spring, Gamako would go back outside, awaken from her rock covered slumber and hop off on her merry way. Then…Sakura would stop coming by Naruto’s on the pretense of checking in on a frog.

Things would…go back to the way they were. How they had always been.

Naruto’s eyes caught hers, making her heart skip. She could almost feel his shoulder against hers as they chopped vegetables together. His hand warm on her back as he leaned over her to sneak a taste. His leg touching hers under the table.

I…I don’t want that.

That wasn’t true. There was the look he gave her when she’d leave for the night. The way that he bit his lip. It looked like he wanted to lean down and -

She pushed those thoughts out of her mind, coming back to the now. He was looking at her in the same way now, making her stomach tingle and her mouth dry. She bit her lip and a jolt went through her as his eyes dilated slightly. She didn’t want him to look away, but after two long heartbeats he did, scowling at Sai before they went at each other’s throats again.

She gripped her pack, her chest almost as tight as her throat.

Whatever is going on…I don’t want it to stop.

III

Naruto looked from Sakura-chan to Gamako. The small tree frog was outside her rock home and on the edge of Ukki-kun. She was looking at him with her black froggy eyes. Naruto looked back with his golden ones.

Sakura huffed, leaning forward in her chair, her elbows on her knees and her chin in her hands. “She’ll need to go back outside.” Sakura-chan said softly. She sounded disappointed.

Naruto’s hand went to her back, rubbing circles around the symbol between her shoulders. “It is where she belongs.”

She snorted, “So do you, but I haven’t kicked you out yet.” She sat up, his hands trailing up her back. His breath catching as he watched his fingers get lost in her hair. She didn’t say anything as his fingers found her neck. It was soft and warm.

She looked at him strangely, her cheeks flushing, but she didn’t pull away. “What happened to your face?”

He blinked. Then he felt his skin expand and bloat. He closed his eyes and focused. “Sorry-” he strained a smile. “I lost concentration when you said you hadn’t kicked me out of my house.” his fingers twitched against her neck and he watched in fascination as her eyes widened slightly before relaxing. His mouth went dry as she leaned back into them.

“You do act like you were raised in a barn.” her voice was like velvet. “And your house was like a pig pen.”

He bit his lip as he let his fingers become more bold. “It’s never been that bad.”

“A horse stall.” He ran his nails up her nape, softly. She exhaled almost as softly. “But definitely a barn.”

His tongue felt heavy as his fingers pressed into her neck a little more. A smile formed on her lips as her head slipped slightly, falling forward.

His skin was on fire as he struggled to breath. She was so soft.

“You’re losing concentration again.” she teased. His breath hitched as he spotted her eyes through a curtain of pink. “You’re looking a bit toadish.”

He struggled to concentrate but her neck moved beneath his fingers and his tongue -why am I aware of his tongue. It was better than focusing on the tightness in his chest.

Or in his pants.

He pulled her curtain of hair back, exposing her neck. It made his mouth water.

He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. His eyes focused on her smile. “Better?”

Her coy smile made it impossible to breathe. “Now you just look froggish.”

“Does it bother you?” he asked breathlessly.

She studied him for a moment before shaking her head. “No.” Her fingers found his face. “Not at all.” She fucking looked as his lips.

What about… he pushed those thoughts aside. He heard a voice in his head speak to him. A voice he didn’t know he had for twelve years. That was eerily silent for 15. One that barely shut up now. A voice that made other’s wary of him at best. A voice-

“Naruto-” that wasn’t the voice. He blinked and his vision was filled with Sakura. Fear gripped his chest as her fingers dug into his face. “You there?” She asked softly.

Toad eyes might be a little goofy, a party trick almost…

But what about Kurama?

She smushed his cheeks together, hard. She pursed her lips. “You there?” She called. When he blinked at her, she relaxed her grip, but didn’t remove her hands. “You ok?” She asked softly.

His eyes burned, but he nodded, ignoring the tightness in his throat and the voice in his head. She studied his face, peeling back the layers of skin. He kept his mind completely blank in case she tried to read it. Instead she pulled him down, their foreheads touching.

“Not. at. All.” She whispered. He felt her breath on his lips. He strained to look into her eyes as she gave him an almost playful smile. “No matter what your…” she shrugged, “animal of the day is.” he heard a dark chuckle in the deep recesses of his mind but he was focused on her lips, pressing together before she wet them. And then bit them.

His hand twitched on her neck.

“Plus…” Her voice was a whisper as she tried to look away. Her hands on his face pressed into his cheeks before relaxing and her blunt nails pressing near his temples. Her face was moving through the different shades of pinks and red. He couldn’t breathe. “I could handle it.” His eyes widened as all the air in his body rushed out. She licked her lips and he swallowed thickly as the hand not in her hair came to the back of her head. “You…you know? Because I-if you tried anything funny, I’d kill you.” she tried to end strong, but it was just breathy.

He nodded. “You are absolutely terrifying.” he said, unable to keep awe out of his mouth. Her eyes got wide as she tried to pull away. His mouth-well, his mouth was doing something odd. His whole body was. Because he was done for. It was over. He was all over. “I’m going to do something extremely stupid.” he announced, licking his lips and nodding. She blinked as he dipped his head. “Please don’t kill me.” He felt her nod as her fingers went from his cheeks to his neck, pulling him in.

“Only maim,” she promised against his lips as his world imploded.

He had always dreamt of what kissing Sakura for the first time (ever) would have been like. Her lips soft as they kissed softly before pulling back into look into each other's eyes before slowly moving back in for another, and another, and another.

In reality, he didn't feel her lips as her open mouthed begged to be tasted. His tongue found hers and his body ignited. The world crumbled around him like it did around her fist and he was falling. Her hands on his neck were the only thing keeping him grounded as her tongue lapped his before she bit it and then sucked it.

He groaned, and he felt like he was falling. The wind was knocked out of him when he felt her hands roam up his neck and into his hair, down his back under his shirt and her legs twist in his. His body throbbed painfully as his hips bucked he came crashing back to earth as she mouthed his name on his lips.

Literally.

His head shot up at the heavy thumping from the neighbor on his right. He looked around, dazed as he took in broken chairs and two small, beady eyes looking at him curiously over a terra cotta plant. They blinked at each other before he felt nails dig into his neck, pulling him down. He blinked down to see Sakura, messy hair fanned around her flush face, mouth parted as she alternated between biting her lip and licking it. Her heels dug into his ass, her legs tightening around him.

She was radiant.

Like a moth to a flame he dove in. Groaning as his erection pulsed painfully in his pants, his hips sought hers to find any kind of relief. His hands grabbed, pulled and tore anything that was between him and her soft skin.

She was doing the same thing; Seams ripped and he felt a draft as her hands shoved roughly at his shoulders, almost pulling his left out of the socket as she yanked at a sleeve that had once been part of his black shirt. Her hands dug into his shoulders as her tongue left his mouth and moved to his neck.

His breathing short circuited as he struggled to not collapse on her

His eyes rolled back as his body vibrated. His hands on her hips tightened, maybe bruising, causing her to bite down.

"Sa-sa-sa" he shivered, pulling her hips towards his. She gasped into his neck, stiffening before her tongue traced his clavicle and she dug her heels into his back and her hips into his. His brain short circuited. He pulled away, looking at her dazed.

Is this really happening!?

Her face was flush and so was her neck. And her chest, as it rose and fell under torn clothes, was mesmerizing. He felt something primal kick in as his skin licked with flames.

His hips rolled against hers and she let out a frustrated sigh. He smirked, watching as her eyes dilated, her lower lip going between her teeth.

"Sakura…" he was being pulled into her, he couldn't stop himself. His hips moved and he captured her lips. She kissed him back, teeth knocking together as they fought for dominance. Her breath hitched everytime he pressed his hips into hers, her hands gripping his hair painfully everytime. He would have moaned if he had any air left to breathe.

Her hand went to his hair and pulled roughly, tearing his lips away. "You're glowing." She breathed. Kissing him again.

"So are you-" he crooned.

She shook her head, their noses brushing "No, literally. Not frog." She warned. "Fox-"

He looked down to see she was right. He was literally glowing. And her hands were in his pants. She just couldn’t reach. His heart was beating so loud in his head it drowned out Kurama's laughs.

He killed that chakra.

"Sorry" he couldn't make his voice any higher than a whisper. Or figure out how to kiss her and have her hands delve further.

She shook her head, "S'fine." She promised. She pulled her hips off the ground, changing her angle, her hand brushed his erection. His arms almost gave out. "Hot."

He pulled back, his heart hammering in his chest "What?” Not bothering is one thing, but - but-

She growled, trying to pull him back in. "Naru," he watched her, wide eyed, as she went for his chest and her hand-

He shuddered, grabbing her wrist. Her eyes snapped up to him. She pulled against him. He flared his chakra as she charged hers. Her eyes narrowed.

He took a deep breath. He knew what he looked like; a golden glow with red eyes. She didn’t flinch. "It's not scary?" I'm not scary?

A monster.

He felt her chakra surge, flicking out of his grasp before she grabbed him hard. His eyes rolled back in his head as all thought escaped him because Sakura was touching him. Her wrist jerked up and he almost toppled over on her as her lips lightly peppered his neck. "You're an idiot." Was all she said.

His heart slowed as he closed his eyes, letting her pull him to her. He sighed into her kiss, letting the feeling of Sakura him.

The hand not in his pants raked through his hair, pulling and tugging at she sighed into him, arching her back as his fingers trailer up her body. He was drowning and he didn't want to be saved.

Especially when Sakura's moved steady against his-

"Meep!"

Sakura let out a scream like she’d been stabbed (he wished), shoving him off with godly strength, sending him careening into his kitchen table.

He wanted to sob.

Instead, he swore loudly, natural chakra surging as his head snapped to the little cock blocker.

Gamako was perched on the side of the small plant, blinking at him. He watched her air sack expand before she let out another "meep!"

"You fucking bitch…" he snarled, pointing an accusing finger. "What do you think you're doing?!"

Suddenly, Sakura laughed. All his anger disappeared as he looked over to Sakura, her hair as in as much disarray as her clothes. She had a large mark on her neck that he couldn’t quiet remember putting there, but pride swelled nonetheless. But it was her smile that held his attention as her eyes sparkled.

"I forgot we had an audience."

He grumbled, sitting cross legged on the rubble of his kitchen table. He glared at the small frog as it started into his soul and let out a tiny "Meep!" again.

His hands tugged his hair as he groaned.

"She must be hungry."

Naruto felt his ears heat. "She wants to get fucked." He mumbled bitterly. Sakura’s eyes widened. She opened her mouth but Naruto shook his head. "She's wanting to get fucked." He assured her. “It’s springtime.” Sakura turned to looked at the small, horny frog.

He knew the feeling.

And she hadn't stopped looking at him.

“I know the feeling.”

Naruto’s eyes widened as his head snapped to Sakura. She wasn’t flushing, just staring with a knitted brow at Gamako.

Naruto felt his lip curl. "She's got to go." Once she was gone, Naruto could focus on Sakura. Solely. Uninterrupted.

There was a knock on the wall. "And so do you!" A disembodied voice yelled. "I don't want to hear it. Take that shit somewhere else, Naruto!"

Sakura's face went from pink to the red of her torn qipo.

Naruto couldn't help but laugh.

“Meep!”

III

Sakura pulled Naruto's jacket tight around her, careful to not be obvious as she inhaled his scent.

She relaxed into it's warmth, ignoring the fact she had on nothing underneath as they stood under the red bridge in the middle of the village.

Naruto's pants were rolled up as he carefully placed the small frog on a rock next to the river. The smile on his lips warmed her more than the jacket as he ran his thumb over the top of the small frog. It blinked up at the sage before closing it's eyes and becoming one with the rock.

They stood there for a few more moments before Naruto stood up. "Get fucked, Gamako." He said lovingly.

She gave a small "meep" before she hopped away.

Sakura hopped, rock-to-rock to stand next to Naruto in the river. His arms immediately wrapped around her, pulling her flush to him. Her toes tingled as she felt his hand run through her hair, pulling her head to his lips.

"You did good, frog whisperer." She said, her fingers itching until they found his shirt, tugging it lightly. He hummed as her fingers brushed skin. His hand gripped her neck, turning her. "Can I kiss you again, Sakura-Chan?" He sang as he leaned down. She stood on her tip toes to meet him halfway.

"Whenever you want." She looped her hands around his neck.

He laughed. "Ah, don't tell me that.” His large hands ran down her neck, under the high collar of the jacket. "I won't stop." His voice dipped as he lowered towards her.

“Is that a promise?” She opened her mouth, her tongue meeting his as their mouths met. She sighed as he groaned. His hands went to the zipper, taking a few tries to yank it down.

She felt a draft and remembered what had happened to her clothes. She used all her self control to duck back and away. He followed her, yellow eyes lidded, and she couldn’t help but smile.

“As long as you put your hand back where it was.” She laughed into his kiss before pulling away, grasping his hand and leading him home.

III

AN: Gamako is based off of a Cope's Gray Tree Frog. Very lightly. The females don't make noises, so I took some creative liberties.

#narusaku #fanfic #naruto #sakura

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