#i'm dipping my toes back in

[stilesscott]

[emziess]

I have seen pictures of time The frames still in motion Your mind is a stream of colors Extending beyond our sky

Steve Harrington + Slightly altered Lyrics from Light my Love - Greta Van Fleet & Credit for the picture frames

[romanitas]

homesick (3/?)

summary: It's Annabeth's wedding day. She leaves the groom at the altar.

Or, the day she runs away for the last time and everything that follows.

chapter three:

She gets a call for an interview at an architecture firm in Freeport the morning Percy’s set to come over. It’s kind of an annoying commute, but she has to start somewhere. She could live outside the city, if she really needed to. Mostly she’s just glad to hear something from somewhere so quickly.  They hadn’t really made much in the way of plans beyond ‘Percy comes to Piper’s apartment,’ and she feels bad offering him food when it’s not her own, so Annabeth spends about ten minutes googling nearby restaurants and take out in case he’s hungry. She can pay for his meal. It’s the literal least she can do. She isn’t nervous about seeing him again.  Until she is. 

( read the rest on ao3 )

[livetogether--diealone]

MATTEO, ahead of the Davis Cup - Federtennis

[peaches2217]

Regarding a Certain Panda's Nightmares

AO3 Link!

~~~

“I just… I keep having these nightmares, y’know? Real stupid stuff.” Po scoffed and tried to pass it off as a laugh, as if that alone could convince Tigress — maybe himself, too — that those dreams were as meaningless as he wished they were. “It’s always the same. Like… it’s snowing, but there’s fire everywhere, and I hear screaming all over the place, but I feel fine. I’m not cold if I touch the snow and I don’t burn if I touch the fire.”

The smile he gave Tigress was empty, and his eyes, though glancing between the cabinets, the table, and her, were somewhere on the other side of China.

A part of him truly did die there, she found herself thinking, though she forced the thought from her head at once. 

“That’s, uh, that’s usually all there is to it.” Po propped an elbow on the table in the unlit kitchen and rested his cheek on his fist, looking over Tigress’ shoulder at an ever-darkening nothing. “Sometimes it ends pretty quickly. Sometimes I see bodies and, uh, blood ‘n’ stuff. And sometimes I just hear the screaming, and then eventually I don’t hear anything anymore.” He shrugged. “But tonight’s the first time I actually…”

He swallowed heavily and tried half-heartedly to hide it behind his cup of tea. It was still full, but it had long since gone cold.

Tigress glanced down at his paw as he set it back on the table. His claws had grown out. Nothing drastic, and nowhere near as sharp as hers, but the usually blunted tips were reaching a point. He used the tip of his index claw to trace meaningless patterns into the birch.

“She, uh… she recognized me. Called me her little lotus flower. Said I’d gotten so big. But it was like, right in the middle of the, uh… the attack. So that was weird.”

Po looked down at his teacup, maybe observing his reflection in the cooled liquid. He looked so tired. Not the kind of tired brought about by a single sleepless night; no, this was just one of many in the past three weeks. 

“Tried telling her to run. Tried getting her to run with me, y’know, but… she said that, uh, well, my story didn’t have a happy beginning, but she was… uh, she was happy with the way hers ended. Told me she was proud of me. Then I woke up.” He blinked a few times, then his shoulders lifted, like his departed soul was returning to his body. “Just a real stupid dream, y’know? Borderline wish fulfillment. I mean, who would say something like that, right? I know she wouldn’t say that.”

“Do you?”

“I don’t know, but like… how do you die and then say you’re okay with it? I wouldn’t be okay with dying like that, especially if it was because…"

And his eyes grew glossy again, going someplace that Tigress, try though she might, couldn’t reach.

“Y’know, I-I don’t know how many… I mean, dozens? Hundreds, thousands? However many, it’s too many. And they’re all, uh, they’re all dead.” Po smacked his lips and shrugged again. “Because of me.”

“Po. You were a child. Nothing you could have done would have stopped it.” 

Tigress kept her voice low, in part to ensure she didn’t wake their teammates sleeping just a few rooms over, and in part so that he didn’t startle and back down. Any semblance of judgment or any suggestion that he had upset her with his words, and Po would apologize and thank her for listening and go back to his room to feign sleep until the morning gong rung. 

For someone so hell-bent on being open and friendly with everyone he met, he was fiercely self-reliant. That much they at least had in common.

“Well,” and Po smiled ruefully as he spoke, “maybe if I was never born…”

Tigress bit her tongue so sharply she tasted blood, because that was all she could do to keep from shutting him down. No, scolding him for such harmful thoughts would get them nowhere, not yet, not right now. “You think things might be different then?” she ventured instead.

“Can’t wipe out all the pandas if you never get told a panda’s gonna kick your butt one day. And that can’t happen if the panda who’s supposed to kick your butt doesn’t exist.”

Tigress averted her gaze to the tabletop as well, breathing as deeply and steadily as her cracked ribs would allow. Though Po had always, to some extent, carried feelings of resentment towards himself, they had never run this deep.

Or if they had, he’d simply never told her. Tigress preferred to think the former was the truth.

“Fate works in odd ways,” she said at last, slowly, thinking and then re-thinking each word before they left her mouth. “We can’t stop it, and we can’t control it. I’m inclined to believe that your absence wouldn’t have changed anything.”

For a moment, Po didn’t respond, just kept staring blankly at the table. Were it not for the minute shifting of his eyes, Tigress would have thought he hadn’t heard her.

“...you think?” Something in the way he asked it, maybe the way his voice fluttered or his brows lifted and scrunched, suggested that he was really considering her words. That was a good sign, at least.

“If it wasn’t you, it would have been someone else.”

“But it wouldn’t have been me.”

“People would still be dead, but the Valley wouldn’t have its Dragon Warrior. That would just ensure even more deaths.”

“Maybe the other panda woulda been the Dragon Warrior. Beat Tai Lung, brought peace, kept everyone safe.”

“But we’ll never know, will we? Because you were born, and this life is yours alone.” 

At that, Po nodded, though his face betrayed his despondency. 

I wouldn’t be okay with dying like that, he’d said only minutes earlier. But Tigress knew better. If given no other option, he’d happily die to protect others, especially the ones he held dear.

A tickle in the back of her throat made her cough, lightly, but enough to send a sharp pain through her chest.

A death wish in exchange for the safety and happiness of their loved ones. That was something else they had in common, for sure.

“For what it’s worth…” Tigress mulled over her thoughts for a brief moment. Would someone just like him have come along had he never entered the world? Perhaps. Perhaps the days at the Jade Palace would still be made lighter, and perhaps the meals they shared would still be just as flavorful, and perhaps she would still have found comfort and joy when she had long since given up on such things being part of her life.

But it would still be a world without Po. And such a world was a world Tigress didn’t want to think about, much less be a part of.

“I’m glad that you were born,” was what she finally decided on. “And I know for a fact I’m only one of many who feels that way.”

Po smiled down at his paws. It was small, barely enough to be called a smile, really. But it was warm, genuine, almost alien yet achingly familiar.

“I’m… I’m glad you were born too.”

At that, Tigress smiled in turn.

They didn’t really say much after that. They sat in shared silence until the darkness lightened with the impending dawn, at which point Tigress suggested they at least try to rest, if only for an hour or so. And though these all-nighters had become routine over the past weeks, when Po bid Tigress a good night (“Er, uh— good morning, early morning, I guess”) and ducked his head in thanks, she noticed he looked less tired than he had since they’d returned to the Valley.

It wasn’t some miraculous recovery. But little by little, her best friend was returning.

The thought dulled the pain of her broken bones and quieted her racing thoughts, and it made an hour of sleep feel like a slow and blissful eternity.

[kehlani]

Bad News - Kehlani (2020)

[becasbelt]

appointment of a general rewatch mood board

[tohruies]

ha! 💌 ! except that i’m doing uno reverse and sending one to you! (and especially since you’ve already written it once for me and i even printed it out!!!)

dear coco, so i know how you always want to bring even the tiniest smile to people’s faces! you are the sunshine that peeks from behind the clouds during the cloudy days ⛅️ but i’m smacking you affectionately because oftentimes in your selfship dynamics you mention that your dear beloveds soothe your heart after you give it away to everyone around on an open palm — and you should listen to that inner voice! ✨ treat yourself first, be a little selfish, make sure to feel comfortable before you comfort others ❤️‍🩹 let me tell you again — i am shaking you and telling you this because a happy and healthy coco guarantees even more happy people around her! 🥺 i love your prose, love your poetry that you sneak so elegantly in between sentences and paragraphs — it’s been a while since i’ve read anything from you and i understand that there are things that you must focus on first, but no matter the passing time, yours will always be one of the styles that inspired me the most in my writing journey on here! 🥹 your presence here has been influencing my life in the most positive way ever since becoming mooties with you! you always put so much thought into remembering everyone’s personalities, lives, preferences and stories! 🌸 but i wanted to make sure that you know how it also feels to be on the receiving side of love (though i know i’m not the only one adoring you so much and certainly there are so many others who would stand right beside you if you only needed a shoulder to lean on) 🩷

༼ﾉ ´༎ຶ ﹏ ༎ຶ༽ ﾉ *: ·ﾟ💌 when manu wears the biggest ever size of meanie pants ever... /silly

(i will acknowledge & respond to your own 💌 to me in the tags, if that's okay!! 🥺 oh my goodness 🥺🥺)

3 days later and i think i have finally collected myself enough to respond to this WAH... I AM SO SORRY TO KEEP YOU WAITING MANU! 🥺 i am uno reversing your uno reverse >:3 hehe, i remember that i wrote you one of these last year, in april!!!! it's always been a difficult month for me, so it made me really happy + meant the whole world to be able to write something for you and have you receive it with all the love in your heart 🥺 so much so that you even printed it out (i cried tears of joy last year when you told me that AODKJFAJ i am so sorry 🙈). i hope you don't mind that i give last year's message a sibling LOL, with what i am about to say to you now!!!! (⁄ ⁄>⁄ω⁄<⁄ ⁄) 

dearest manu mousie, manu the great, my manumimii!

where do i even begin with youuuu ;w; /pos!!!!! maybe i can start with how much i love (and also fear /lh, because you are truly so... omniscient lol!) how perceptive you are... the way you make people feel seen (exhibit a, the contents of this ask asdfghjkl) and look so deep into their hearts... i think you are incredibly excellent at analysing people and charaters /POS and i feel like this is very evident in your fics and character studies!!!!! it is due in large part to your introspection which is another thing i love about you :D and why i think i find a great deal of comfort in you 🥺 because i am always especially drawn to these kinds of people!! people who you don't need to wear a mask around because they will be able to see through you anyway... it's very soothing in a sense to know that you are like this 🥺💗 and it only inspires me to be more perceptive too!! i hope i can be as caring and kind as manu is some day, heheh (๑•̀ᴗ•́๑)  💗

which brings me to my next point—i love all the ways in which you are quietly kind and looking out for your friends—again, as evidenced by this ask, wah... BUT ALSO!!! in how you do other things for them! 🥺 little blurbs in their mailbox (i revisit that xiangli one you wrote me not so long ago) or even drawings!!! perhaps i don't ship with haitham anymore, but the doodle you gifted me last year has always been a widget on my phone :3 and it will continue to be!!! that was the very first time anyone had ever drawn me something just out of the goodness of their heart, let alone gifted me anything of the sort!!!! 🥺🥺 so it is something i hold really really close. it makes me smile SO BIG!! and kick my feet all excitedly to see you do that for your other friends here too HEHE—when i look at femi's pfp... vana's pinned... i am reminded of just how big and bursting with love that your heart is 🥺💗

i love how much you have grown on here over the past year. ⭐️ in terms of your writing—which has been such a pleasure to witness over time how you've grown into a style that is so distinctly manu!! 🥺🥺 because like! 🥺 i remember so distinctly a certain post you made last year about wanting to improve your writing and your vocabulary and finding your 'own writing voice' 🥺 look at you now!!! with your lush descriptions and rich prose and dynamic characterisation, IT MAKES ME SO HAPPY!!!!! AND PROUD!!! and i hope you too, are proud of yourself friend 🥹💖 even aside from your writing, i'm so glad that you have grown more comfortable here in sharing more personal posts about yourself hehe AND OF COURSE YOUR SELFSHIPS!!!!!!!!!! :3 i am also very glad about how you have lots and lots of friends on here now!!! that all love and cherish and uplift and reassure you in the way you deserve to be 🥺

i'm just really happy you are here with us, babie. i hope you won't take it the wrong way when i say this, but i really do believe that you are so much stronger, kinder, and easy to love than you think yourself to be! 🥺🥺 i hope that you can continue to work on being less hard on yourself, and i hope that all your friends here can help with that in any way you'll let us!! i hope you will continue to share more of your heart with us here and let us cradle it and soothe it when you need it. i hope your studies will treat you as kindly as they can, and that you will succeed in them :3 i hope you know that all you need to do is try your best!! you have a beautiful brain and a tender, loving heart—so i am sure in due time that all the good karma will be returned to you 🥺💗 making you a steaming cup of pink chai with a dollop of condensed milk in it, and gently rubbing your hands in mine to warm them up 🥰 we love you so much manu, not just for all that you do for us, but for just simply existing as you are, and letting us bask in the warm light you radiate 💖💖💖

[keulixeutin]

Humdrum

a/n: a little sweetness in the pointless humdrum. not my favorite, but not everything has to be a banger, i suppose. summary: you get baseball tickets from your company to the newly built shochiku dome and decide to bring your favorite fire demon out to a ball game.  cw: fluff. reader applies make up at the start. no gendered pronouns used. gn!reader. wc: 3,489.

There was a soft thump outside your balcony. The glass door, generally left unlocked, creaked open.

“Right on time,” you said, applying the last bit of make-up product to your face. You glanced at the demon that stepped into your studio apartment without so much as a grunt of acknowledgment. Your white cat crawled out from under your bed and headed toward him, rubbing against his leg. Hiei stepped over her, and though he ignored her affectionate purring, you knew he petted her when you weren’t looking.

“Give her a pat and let’s go,” you announced. “We are watching a baseball game tonight!”

“No. Go alone,” Hiei said instantly. You watched as he had the audacity to sit down on your bed and make himself comfortable after rejecting you—with his shoes still on.

“Uh, no, we’re going together,” you corrected. “And get your shoes off my bed, Hiei. Maybe shoes are okay in the Demon World, where you live in caves and pits, but that’s a cotton fucking mattress.”

He glared at you but shifted so that he was sitting on the edge of your bed as you moved around the apartment; you selected a small fanny pack that would allow you to get in and out of the stadium with ease as well as the miscellaneous items that would go into it.

“Anyways, it’s the Dragons versus the Wasps at the new Shochiku Dome, and my company so kindly”—the word was spit with venom—“gave me baseball tickets as a reward for working a hundred hours this pay period, even though I would’ve preferred a raise… And, actually, I don’t even like baseball—”

“—It’s pitiable how you think I care—”

“—But, we are going and we are going together,” you finished, unperturbed by his interruption.

“Hn. Fascinating,” he remarked, “but I’d sooner impale myself on my sword.”

You rolled your eyes at his dramatics. He was looking down at your cat; the traitor was laying down next to him, pawing the air. Even though Hiei’s feet weren’t on your bed anymore, he still didn’t take off his shoes, leaving them to dirty your rug. Asshole.

“Fine,” you said abruptly. “It’s to be expected. The great Hiei is scared of a little unknown.”

“Why the hell would I be scared?”

You kept your face nonchalant, even though you were snickering triumphantly inside. You went through the motions of preparing to leave—buckling the fanny pack, slipping on your shoes, checking your outfit in the hanging mirror—not sparing him any passing glance. 

“It’s okay, Hiei. It’s understandable. Maybe you’re big and bad in battles, but you’re at a complete loss when it comes to anything regarding humans. Of course you would be a little hesitant in coming to the baseball stadium where you would feel so small and out of your element. You know what? It was my fault for even asking; I didn’t even take into consideration your feelings on the matter.”

“Don’t waste your breath,” Hiei retorted. In a show of (attempted) dominance, he kicked his shoed feet back onto the bed, now with the traitorous feline curled on his lap. “I’m not so simple-minded that I’d give in to such an obvious baiting tactic.”

You felt your eye twitch, but forced your face to stay cool and unbothered. He didn’t need to be so simple-minded; just simple enough. 

“Mhm,” you hummed with a nod. “Well, I’ll be sure to let Kuwabara know, next time I see him, that, to prove you weren’t scared of baseball, you sat in my apartment. Alone. In the dark. With my cat.”

With that, you turned off the overhead lights, closed the door, and left.

Forty-five minutes later, when you made it to the front of the stadium, Hiei dropped down next to you with a scowl, startling the couple behind you who had just rounded the corner. They looked back and forth to each other, and then glanced up to the sky, but neither you, Hiei, nor God were going to answer.

In response to your victorious grin, he said, “If this is dull, I’ll kill everyone in the stadium.”

“Hiei! That is not something you can say in public!”

He looked away as though uninterested, but you saw the quick upward twitch of his lip into a half-smirk for a half-second.

&&

Hiei walked out from behind a corner after you made it through security, having jumped over the process because he wasn’t going to relinquish his sword. He stood by your side, and the two of you looked at the huge crowd of people and the hustle and bustle of workers, you in awe and interest and Hiei in annoyance and apathy.

“Welcome to the Shochiku Dome,” you said. “They finished it a few months ago.”

There were dozens upon dozens of stalls selling Japanese and western foods; there were vendors selling merchandise; and, following the excited pointing of an elementary school kid with their parents, you saw that there was also a train about a hundred feet above the field, sculpted to look like the Shinkansen. You wondered if it was just there as interesting decor—but then you saw a man waving from inside it. Suddenly the train began to move forward on its tracks to the loud enthusiasm of the kids.

“Wow, they really went all out,” you said, but Hiei didn’t respond. He often didn’t, but you didn’t mind. Without warning, you linked arms with him. “Let’s get some food before we find our seats.”

“Let go or I cut it off,” he hissed, arm tensing in your hold..

“The crowd’s crazy, Hiei; this way, we don’t lose each other. Some of us dinky humans don’t have super senses or teleportation skills.”

You released him when you got in line and linked arms again when you decided on another stall. The strategy of not holding onto him for long seemed to work well; he endured the quick, forced proximity without further threats of forced amputation (much like your cat tolerating a three-second hug before violently thrashing in your arms).

Rather than having him pick anything out, you opted to buy whatever you found enticing. You didn’t want to overload his senses; you were already physically dragging him around in crowds. You were pretty sure he was bluffing about the whole murdering everyone in the stadium, but you didn’t want to test it. A demon was a demon, after all, and he had never explained the rules and politics of the Demon World, so maybe there were terrible things he could get away with and you were simply none the wiser.

Finally, all the food was gathered, and the two of you juggled everything back to your seats. Takoyaki, grilled wieners, yakitori, nachos, shaved ice, and one large soda with two straws to share, all balanced either in your hands or on your laps. You gazed down with a salivating smile, but Hiei looked as though you were offering him slime.

“It looks repulsive,” he said.

“Don’t be dramatic,” you said. “You can’t go wrong with sports food. Which one do you want to try first?”

“None.”

“Great, takoyaki it is!”

Even though Hiei had expressed the absolute opposite of excitement or even slight interest in the food, he still ate it. He ate whichever one you pointed out, and he sipped the soda, too (from the same straw as you, you noticed). And, after trying everything once, he continued to eat. That was how you figured out he liked the takoyaki, nachos, and shaved ice best; he didn’t care much for the grilled wieners or the yakitori, which was surprising. You would’ve bet that, of all the options, the demon would at least like the meat on a stick, but you supposed Hiei was surprising in a variety of ways.

As you watched him reach for another cheesy nacho chip, you couldn’t help the knowing smile. “Got the itch to slaughter the stadium yet?” you teased.

He sent you an annoyed look as you gently bumped his shoulder with yours. “No,” he said, though before you could celebrate, he added, “but there’s plenty of time to change my mind.”

You laughed, leaving the last takoyaki for him and finishing the rest of the yakitori. 

&&

Eventually, after the two of you ate all of the food and tucked the plates and trash under your seats to keep them out of the way, all that was left was to watch the game. Once your focus shifted to the game, though, it finally dawned on you that you were quite far from the field. It wasn’t that the seats were terrible, but considering that they were supposed to be a token of appreciation for your work and loyalty, you were feeling more than miffed that your company couldn’t offer a little more than not-nosebleed seats. It didn’t even matter that you didn’t care for baseball; it was the principle of the matter.

Hiei, noticing your abrupt slouch and frown, asked, “What?”

You sighed. “We don’t need to be in the VIP box, but damn, it feels like the train is closer to the field than we are…”

After a beat, he said, “Explain.”

“What, the VIP box?”

“The human custom. Company rewards. Explain it.” He had his arms crossed, staring bored down at the diamond field, looking liked he’d rather be fighting in the pits of hell than watching a baseball game—but you still felt like he was looking at you, like he was seeing you, just by the mere fact that he was listening, that he had asked.

“Basically, when you’re working for a company, they give you rewards. What you want are bonuses—more money at the end of the year, usually—or raises, which is ideal. My dumb company is trying this new thing where, instead of giving you bonuses or raises, they give out more rewards like gift cards or gift baskets, or tickets to events like baseball games.”

A few more beats passed, and you thought he wasn’t going to respond, but then, to your surprised, he asked, “Why?”

You were simultaneously aggravated by the topic of your company trying to get away without paying its workers what they deserved and elated that Hiei was taking so much interest in your feelings and “human customs.”

“It’s cheaper than giving you a raise or a bonus,” you explained. “I don’t follow anything baseball related, but it was either this or a rice cooker, and I already got a new one, so…”

“That is the overall consensus?” Hiei asked. “The workers would prefer raises over base ball gifts?”

“Well, yeah, pretty much.”

“Then just slaughter them.”

“Huh?”

“The supervising humans. Threaten to take their heads if they do not answer to your demands. Simple.” 

He said it like it was the most obvious thing in the world, and you had to bite back a smile. “Nice, but…not how it works here in the Human World,” you told him. “We can’t just kill the execs. Thanks, though, I guess.”

Hiei scoffed. “That is why we’re here wasting our time with a sport neither of us understand in seats designed to torture its user.”

“Yeah…the seats are pretty ass,” you snickered. “…But at least we have each other.” For emphasis, you nudged his shoulder with yours again.

“Idiotic.”

Abruptly, there was sharp clack—the ball flew overhead: a potential homerun, this much you knew. Everyone stood up excitedly; even you sat forward in your seat and Hiei tilted his head to squint at the ball soaring high above, beneath bright stadium lights—and then a rival player caught it and there was a great cheering on the other side and a grumble of disappointment on the home team’s side.

“What does that mean?” Hiei asked.

“Who knows, but that was kind of exciting, right?” you said with a cheeky grin.

“How is your understanding of your own species’ custom so pitiful?”

“Alright, I understand some things,” your protested. “Um. Okay, so there are two teams.”

“I can see that, obviously.”

“Shut up!” you snorted. “There are two teams, and each team gets a few tries to hit the ball with the bat, and you want to hit it far and high enough so you can run around the bases—those little diamond things in the ground. When you make it all the away around, that’s one point.”

“What’s the purpose?”

“To get the most points.”

“And the purpose of having events like this?”

“It’s just for fun. I mean, it’s their job, too. They bring honor and pride and, uh, gloating rights to the team and city. People like it.”

He snorted derisively. “Humans waste their time running around diamonds embedded in the dirt than train.”

“Well, humans don’t have to fight monsters every day,” you pointed out, but he didn’t seem convinced. “Don’t demons do anything for fun?”

The scornful look Hiei gave you told you that most, if not all, demonic hobbies included spilling other demons’ blood.

“Things aren’t done for fun,” he said mockingly. “They’re done for power. Strength. Ensure your rightful place at the top.”

“Um—if you’re a good sports player, humans consider you at the top in a way.”

“Hn. Foolish.”

The entire game was spent like that, small conversations here and there about rule clarifications (which you mostly deflected or completely made up) and questions about the odd things that people did (what players did for good luck before stepping to bat or why the home team chanted to support them). Then, small talk led to discussions about the difference between demonkind and humankind. You learned that there was more variety among human culture and customs. The Demon World didn’t seem to have the same comfort or luxurious that Earth provided. It was a constant fight for resources and survival. Much of the demon customs seemed to revolve around who was the strongest, which explained a lot of how Hiei viewed the alien world around him.

It was interesting. It was sweet. There wasn’t anything affectionate that was said, and nothing was even said affectionately. Most of the time, Hiei didn’t make any eye contact with you, but his focus was on you—you knew by the reactions, by the gentle beats in conversation, not a lull but a pause, a breath, a moment to gather thoughts and ask you another question or answer one of yours.

At one point, you got up to go buy popcorn and get a drink refill. You offered him a piece of popcorn after a few minutes, and he accepted. One bite became two became three, and soon, you gave him the bag to hold and eat. You leaned your shoulder against him, and when one minute became two became three, you took the chance to lean your head against his shoulder. Hiei tensed up under you, but he didn’t say anything. He didn’t move, didn’t eat another bite. You wondered if it was because he was uncomfortable, or maybe he was insecure or unsure, or maybe he was just trying to keep from jostling you.

The heat of his body warmed you. Maybe it was even warmer with you so close—not because of how close you were to his body, but how close you were to him (here was a difference, you thought). 

You could fall asleep like this, if the seats weren’t so painful.

Suddenly, there was another clack, a loud smashing of bat against ball. This time, it really was a homerun. Everyone cheered as the ball went overhead, disappearing into the lights. The crowd cheered and, caught up in the energy of the people around you, you sat up, grinning, looking back at Hiei who quietly met your gaze.

&&

It was only the fireworks left, but Hiei seemed to be getting antsy. You had told him that it would only be fifteen more minutes, but he had stood irritably and glared at you impatiently, telling you to get up with gritted teeth.

You sighed, following him out of the stadium. The fireworks would’ve been a nice close out to a nice night. You wondered if that meant that you were the only one that had been enjoying it, if you were the only one that had been happy with the time spent with him and he was the one who was barely tolerating it. You hadn’t thought it was that bad: he had eaten the food and the snacks; he had conversed with you; he had even let you lean against him. You had even caught a brief, impressed look on his face at one play. Perhaps you should just be grateful that he even comes to visit you when he he had no need to. Perhaps you shouldn’t ask for anything more.

But then, as soon as you stepped outside, he grabbed your wrist and led you to an area hidden out of view.

“What the heck are we doing?” you asked.

“Quiet.” He looked around before turning his back to you. “Get on.”

“Huh?”

“Hurry up before I leave you here,” he said.

You stared at his back, thinking of the first time you had met him; he had saved you from a demon—and he was shirtless. You could still see, clear as day, his back and shoulder muscles tensing and flexing as he moved.

“Today, fool.”

“Shut up,” you muttered.

You squeezed the top of the popcorn bag together to scrunch it close, keeping it from spilling. You stepped forward, throwing your hands tentatively over his shoulders. When you lifted one leg to wrap around his hip, your face warmed. You jumped off with your other leg, dropping your weight against his back; Hiei grabbed your thighs. You could feel the heat from his coarse fingers, pressed against the fabric of your pants. You wondered if he could feel the softness there underneath.

Before you could ask what his plan was, what he wanted, if he could feel your heartbeat, so rapid against his back, Hiei shot up straight into the sky, the vertical path parallel to the stadium. You couldn’t tell if the gasp you heard was one that had left your diaphragm or the diaphragm of the man that had just stumbled drunkenly around the corner.

The city was beautiful. The sky was so, so big from up there. Lights flickered beneath you of people eking out a quiet existence. Buildings tried to scratch their height into the clouds. The winding streets lit up with a thousand pedestrians, their phones lighting up roads like starlight. 

Hiei jumped off the stadium wall and a tall tree, landing easily on the stadium roof, the part of it that wasn’t open. There was a giant gap in the middle from where the roof had parted, showing the field and the seats far down below. You walked up next to Hiei, grabbing his arm to ground yourself; you were so high up that your legs and feet were tingling uncomfortably.

“Holy shit,” you said. “We should’ve been up here from the very start.”

“It wouldn’t have helped the view.”

He was right. Everyone was too small from up there. You wouldn’t have seen any of the plays, any of the balls flying across the heads of the players, but as you looked out at the crawling expanse of the city and its lights, you thought you wouldn’t have minded. You had never seen anything more romantic, or breathtaking, or wondrous.

You tugged on his arm to signal to him and he held you steady as you sat down, the tingling feeling never leaving your feet. Hiei sat down beside you, leaning back on his right arm that was propped a little too close into your space. (The part of your hips closest to his hand was tingling, too.) Music started to play from below, and just as the notes swelled, fireworks lit up the night sky in a crescendo of colors and shapes. One flower after another shimmered against the dim dark, sparking and chattering in the way that ember did before exhaling into smoke. Shadows dipped and disappeared across your face followed by the glimmering explosions highlighting your nose and cheekbones, a continuous cycle of the day and night sweeping across your cheeks.

“What’s the purpose of this?” Hiei asked, his voice strangely low and strangely surrounding you.

“Another thing for fun,” you replied. “Just ‘cause.”

“Humans do a lot of pointless things.”

You shrugged. “Maybe because we lead a lot of pointless lives.”

He grunted, laying down and crossing his hands underneath his head. “Wake me up when it’s over,” he said, closing his eyes.

—But maybe that was a pointless thing, too, because you caught him glancing at you under the red glow of the fireworks, and he caught you wondering if he’d let you lay in his arms.

[vampireloreskill]

downloaded obs studio, now have the power to record and stream. will i? unclear!

[chocobito]

2024 art summary! ✨✨

See you all next year!!!

[summertaters]

Oh my gosh!! I’m gone for a week and you make a years worth of wonderful things?!? Thank you so much!!! The angst, the fluff, the humour!! It’s all so goood I don’t know which one’s my favourite!!

I love more unhinged Hinata content, she’s such a little menace 😭😭 She would totally be the kid that has lured some kind of creature into her room that eventually multiplies 😂 Kacchako has to watch her like a hawk for sure

The soft doodles with silly faces mixed in always makes me smile. The range on your art from sweet gentleness to ugly goblin expressions is always amazing and I love it so very much!!

Villian Uravity is always such a fun concept, did you have any ideas about what lead her to this point or was it just pretty inspired by Arcane? I love the implication that she’s lifting up massive amounts of the Earth, her quirk has the potential to be so dangerous on a grand scale

I love the consistent return of your costume redesigns!! It makes me so happy to see your style and ideas incorporated into the little sketches and doodles you do. So glad you explored it more, it’s still one of my favourite redesigns!!

Sorry about the little ramble and I hope you’re doing well too!! 💜💜

Have a sweet kacchako doodle, anon~ You deserve it!

I think they'd eventually have to give in to Hinata's feral-ness on some level, and get her some kind of pet. I'm thinking a pair of rats, or mice, haha. Or maybe she'd find a stray animal that just keeps coming back.

Katsuki would be the most opposed to adopting it, but would eventually accept their new family member. He'd be the dad that says he doesn't want a pet, then have that pet favour him, and vice versa, LOL.

I have ideas rattling in my head about how/why she'd be acting villainous, but, you may just have to wait to get more info... Ehe!

But, YES. She has so much potential danger if she wielded her quirk for bad. I love playing with AUs, and 'what ifs'. I'm glad you enjoy when I play around with things!

Thank you anon(s) for all of your wonderful messages, comments, and compliments. I haven't had much time, or energy lately to respond to all of them, even though I want to! (I will try to eventually respond to them all eventually as I LOVE engaging with y'all)

Your messages always brighten my day, and I love your rambles! (Hello, fellow rambler here~)

[rockitmans]

*shuffles sheepishly into the room six weeks later*

Well hello hello hello. I'm here. I'm queer. I'm covered in blood. Metaphorically speaking.

I had a very fanfiction moment where I took a guy I met at a stag do to a wedding (unrelated wedding) just as a friend and then we ended up near enough shacking up for three weeks. And now we've merrily gone our separate ways, richer for having known each other. And more sore.

I was tagged by @forabeatofadrum as ever. Thank you my darling. I was also tagged by @shame-is-a-wasted-emotion at some point. And also possibly @bitbybitwrites.

I have been doing a little bit of writing. I'm still working on my straight!Blaine fake dating story. Progress is slow but I'm just being chill about it.

~~~

"Is this why you were always so into butt stuff?" Holly demands after a moment.

Blaine freezes. Kurt makes a noise halfway between a laugh and a wheeze. Blaine wonders if it's possible to just spontaneously combust. Being questioned by his ex about his sexual proclivities in a busy cafe in front of his best friend/fake boyfriend as of five seconds ago. Perfect. He swallows noisily.

"Butt stuff has nothing to do with it," he says as sagely as he can manage.

~~~~

Tagging whoever wants to do it! I'm out of the loop 😬

[ana-cantskywalker]

Alright Milevens, serious question here.

What music artists/ songs would Mike and El bond over. Like what songs would both of them like? Modern and 80s, I'm writing an AU and I am awful at deducing what music tastes characters would have except in specific cases (ie: it is revealed to me via a dream at two a.m. and I just roll with it because it is accurate)

[mistythedritten]

The final chapter

over a year later and with a 68 page document, my first co-authored fic is finished.

thank you to everyone who read and kudos and commented. can't wait to see what the new year brings us all!

[byanyan]

it's a wholeass month after pride has already ended but i finally changed my icon