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is0gild · 4 years ago

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Ice Cream and Fire Oven Pizza - Chapter 28

Pairing: Elsa x Lea/Axel || Side Pairing: Riku x OC

Summary: Modern AU. She's an introvert ball of nerves who works at Ice Palace, a mall food court ice cream shop. He's the outgoing, sassy goofball who works at the Pizza Planet across the way. Hilarity, snark, and fluffy romcom hijinks ensue.

Word Count: 7,573

FIRST CHAPTER || PREVIOUS CHAPTER || NEXT CHAPTER

Credit for super friggin’ cute and super friggin’ amazing cover art goes to the super friggin’ talented ky-jane here on tumblr!

Turns out getting disowned is exhausting.

Oh sure, there'd been the initial rush of "I did it! I finally stood for myself to my family!" Then came the panic of "...oh dear god, what did I just do?!" Followed swiftly by the euphoria of "I'm finally free! Really and truly free!" Plus several other feelings that were all colors of the emotion rainbow, so many in fact that it became difficult to keep track of them all. They'd coursed through my body like electricity, keeping me going long enough to return to my old bedroom, hastily pack up what little I'd brought with me, march out the front door of my parent's mansion and straight into Lea's car before he'd sped off with us.

It didn't take long however. Just a few minutes on the road and poof! All that surging energy had scattered and abandoned me, like fleeing rats off a sinking ship. I slumped into the seat, suddenly feeling empty and so very, very tired. I didn't talk and Lea didn't try to make me. Instead, he just left me alone to listen to the low music coming out the radio as I stared vacantly out the car window. I suspected he was giving me a chance to process everything that'd just happened, figuring I'd speak up when I was ready. If I was ever ready.

I tried to process it all. I really did try. But it was like a thick, silent fog had descended over my mind, making thinking difficult. The lack of sleep from the night before seemed to finally be catching up with me. It was easier to just give in to the white noise of my thoughts as I watched the landscape outside blur by, my eyelids growing heavier with each passing mile. Eventually, I dozed off.

When I slowly stirred awake later, it was to the faint smell of leather mixed with a familiar cinnamony boy scent. Peeking one groggy eyelid open, I found myself still in the car seat but with Lea's jacket folded and tucked behind my head now as some sort of makeshift pillow. The car was no longer moving and the engine was off - perhaps that was what had woken me up.

"Rise n' shine, sleepyhead!" came Lea's chipper voice as I felt his hand on my shoulder, gently shaking me.

Rubbing my eyes, I glanced at where he stood next to the vehicle, one elbow propped on the top edge of my open car door as he grinned down at me. "How long was I out?" I mumbled, giving a little stretch to work out some of the kinks in my neck and back.

"Few hours," he shrugged as I noticed he was still wearing those silly heart sunglasses, only now they were perched atop his head. "You looked like you could use the Z's and I didn't wanna disturb ya, so I've just been driving in circles round Twilight Town for a while now. C'mon," he tossed his chin to one side, gesturing for me to climb out of the car.

I yawned and unbuckled my seatbelt, then felt his hand on mine as he helped me out. The sun was hanging low, making me wince and shield my eyes against it. Blinking a couple times to let my vision adjust, I then looked around and my brow furrowed as I recognized the parking lot we were in. "...the mall? Why are we here?"

"What d'ya say?" he tapped a finger lightly to my nose, his grin twitching wider. "Up for a lil adventure?"

I stared blankly at him for a few seconds. But his smile was infectious and I could feel a matching one slowly tugging at my lips. "Sure."

He retrieved his jacket, shrugging into it before slamming my door shut and locking it. Then his fingers laced through mine once more and he led me inside. I knew where he was taking me even before he turned us down the deserted wing of the mall that was under construction. It didn't take him long to pick the locked door and soon I was carefully following him up those winding, rickety old steps. As we reached the top of the clocktower and stepped onto the outer walkway, a warm breeze greeted us. I let him guide me around towards the clock face side and as we turned the corner, a tiny gasp escaped me.

By now the sun has dipped halfway below the horizon, setting the sky ablaze with orange and crimson. Soft, billowing clouds painted the heavens above while a warm, golden hue had settled like a blanket over the cityscape below. It made the buildings almost seem to glow and sparkle in the twilight as if by some sort of ancient yet whimsical magic. The sight of it all was beautiful. Overwhelming. Breathtaking.

"You're right," I murmured at last, unable to take my eyes off the view. "Sunset really does make this place sing."

"Told ya," he beamed, plonking his rear down onto the ledge and letting his feet dangle off the side. "I like to come here whenever I've had a rough day that's kicked the shit outta me. It usually helps me sort out my thoughts and feelings. Centers me. Gets me in a better headspace." He patted the spot behind him in invitation and I obliged, taking a seat next to him. Then he was reaching inside his jacket and pulling out two little red lollipops. He ripped the wrapper off of one, popping it into his mouth before offering me the other one.

I quirked an eyebrow down at it. "Not Sea Salt ice cream? Isn't that sacrilege? Won't Xion and Roxas kick you out of the club?"

He smirked around the sucker and shrugged. "I won't tell if you won't. 'Sides, I know you're not the biggest fan of Sea Salt, so figured this could just as easily do in a pinch."

"...thanks," I smiled softly, taking it from him.

"Course! Now just sit back, relax, and drink in all that majesty," he stretched a hand out wide before him to indicate said majesty before leaning back, bracing himself on his palms. "I'll be here whenever you wanna talk about it. Or not. I can also be here to just chill until you're ready for me to drive you home. Point is, I'm here for you, whatever ya need."

I didn't say anything to that at first, just gazed out once more at the amazing sight below. I inhaled slowly, as if trying to breathe it all in as I watched the thin, distant smoke plume coming off the tram while it wove its journey throughout the city. My hands were in my lap, fingers idly twisting the lollipop one way then the other then back again, leaving its plastic wrap unopened.

Since waking up in the car, I hadn't really given much thought to all that had happened today. I think part of me preferred to remain blissfully content pretending none of it had occurred. That it'd all just been a dream. I knew the second that I gave it so much as even an ounce of real thought, that it'd all suddenly become so very real. I was dreading it. But it also seemed I couldn't put it off anymore.

The memories of just a few short hours earlier were beginning to creep back into my mind unbidden, refusing to be ignored any longer. They welled up in my chest painfully until finally bursting out of me in the form of a shaky but derisive huff of a laugh. "So… guess I'm no longer a Fryse, huh?"

Lea snerked, drawing one knee up to his chest while swinging the other leg. "Somehow I doubt it's that simple."

"Grandfather seemed to think it was," I sighed heavily, setting my hand down beside me on the ledge. Apparently next to Lea's, for I could feel his thumb brushing against my pinky.

"Forget him," he razzed his tongue. An impressive feat around the lollipop. "He's just a big, whiny man-baby in a grumpy old blowhard suit throwing a fit and struggling to stay relevant. We didn't exactly hear your folks singing the same tune as him, did we?"

"...they weren't exactly disagreeing with him or leaping to my defense either," I hung my head as my eyes started to prickle. I blinked the sensation away.

"Hey now," he said gently, covering my hand with his. The warmth from his palm was soothing. "If anyone knows how hard it can be to stand up to family, it's you. Betcha it ain't easy for your pops to go against his old man's wishes. 'Sides, today was a lot, not just for you but for your folks too. Give them some time to let it all sink in. Who knows, before long they could be telling Gramps to take a hike and reaching out to you to try and patch things up."

I shook my head with a wry snort. "You don't know them like I do. Even if by some miracle they realize they had no right to be so controlling and overbearing, they're too stubborn and proud to ever admit it. No, rocks will break out into song and dance before they ever speak to me again, much less admit they were wrong."

"Wanna put munny on that?" he challenged with a grin and I just rolled my eyes. "You'll see. Just you wait. But for now, the important thing is ya did it. The hard part's over and your life is your own now to do whatever you want with it."

"Suppose that's true. It feels like a weight has been lifted," I smiled as I looked out onto the sunset once more.

My heart really was feeling lighter than it had in a long time. I was free to do whatever I wanted… now if only I knew what exactly that was. But ah well, one step at a time. For now, I'd just be happy with the fact that I had a job, some friends, and was tentatively exploring the world of theater. That was enough for me at the moment. I could figure out the rest later. I had the time now and nothing holding me back. Not anymore.

I glanced at Lea out of the corner of my eye, nose wrinkling slightly in amusement. "Can I just say though that you deserve an Oscar?"

He turned his head towards me, eyes crinkling. "Do I? What for?"

"When you got all in a huff over Grandfather trying to pay you to dump me and get lost," I hummed a low laugh, shaking my head. "I have to hand it to you, even I thought you were really mad when you came barging into the room to get me."

"Oh, I was hella pissed actually."

"...you were?" Both eyebrows shot up my forehead at his nod. "But why? It's not as if we were ever really dating. Heck, we were planning on breaking up," my fingers bounced in air quotes around the two words, "in a few weeks anyway. You could have just agreed to it, taken Grandfather's munny then did as he asked, at least as far as he ever knew. He would have been none the wiser."

Lea scratched at a spot behind his ear, lollipop stick shifting as his lips pursed to one side. "Well I… I guess it just ticked me off that the asshole woulda tried to pull something like that with his own granddaughter. That if I was someone you'd really been in love with, how he woulda just gone and broken your heart like that and expected me to help him do it." His eyes narrowed on the reddening sky, "Old coot's just lucky his brittle osteoporosis bones kept me from punching the crap outta him."

I blinked at him. Then one corner of my lips tugged up. "You're sweet, you big old softie," I told him, leaning into his side and resting my head on his shoulder.

"I, uh… shucks, El, you're gonna make me blush," he chuckled. I felt his arm come up slowly to wrap around my shoulders, squeezing them in a reassuring hug. Then he cleared his throat," So… your sister and your ex, huh?"

A grimace pinched my face. Somehow, I'd almost forgotten that part. I think I'd been trying to block it out. "...yeah."

"Ouch," he summed up eloquently.

"Tell me about it." I hesitated, staring down at the sucker as it still twirled to and fro between my finger and thumb. "They got together the day after the wedding fell through. Imagine… the centerpieces had barely been carted off by the caterers before Hans was jumping my little sister. And this whole thing?" I pointed back and forth between the two of us, "You and me? All just Anna's ploy to get Mother and Father so angry with me that they'd have nothing left when they found out about her and Hans."

"What? No, that can't be right. Anna cares about ya too much to ever do something like that to you."

I frowned. "Well… she did say she honestly thought it would help me deal with Mother and Father… that that was the main reason she pushed me into it. But she also admitted that a small part of it was for her own selfish reasons." There it was again. A tiny, aching twinge in my chest. I shook my head against his shoulder, feeling the material of his shirt rub against my cheek. "I just can't believe that she'd use me like that. That she'd go through with such a ridiculous, half-baked, harebrained scheme just to try and avoid getting into a fight with our parents."

His whole body shook with a snort. "Says the girl who just went through with a ridiculous, half-baked harebrained scheme just to try and avoid getting into a fight with her parents."

...doh.

Elsa, Queen of Putting Her Foot In Her Mouth.

"Touché," I grumbled, scowling straight ahead. "To be fair, it was still Anna's harebrained scheme. I was just the fool that went along with it."

Lea laughed, "Still, my point is ya both know how difficult your folks can be, so you can probably understand a lil where she was coming from."

A sigh. "Maybe a bit. Even so, at least I never threw her under the bus like she did me. I... don't know if I can ever forgive her for this."

"Give it time," his hand gently smoothed up and down my arm. "A day or two. Let yourself cool off. When Anna comes to talk to you - and trust me, she will - just try and listen with an open mind, 'kay? I have zero doubt you two crazy kids'll work this whole mess out. Plus ya gotta keep in mind, it's all thanks to her and Hans that you got that last kick in the rear you needed to finally stand up to your snooty family and tell 'em what's what and just straight up lay down the law. That oughta score her a point or two at least, right?"

My eyebrows knit together. "I guess… by that bit of twisted logic, yes, Anna showing up with Hans was the tipping point that made me decide enough was enough. If it weren't for her, I might have never told my parents the truth or-" my eyes widened with a sharp intake of breath. "Oh gosh, the truth! The whole mall- Everyone still thinks we're- That you and I are still- What are we supposed to tell them now?!"

I felt him shrug, heard his fingers scratching at his cheek. "...the truth?"

I groaned, "Ugh, wouldn't it be simpler just to say we broke up?"

"...yeah… maybe…" His voice grew quieter, more distant, with a note of… something else, but I wasn't quite sure what.

My lower lip tucked in in thought. Then, "You're probably relieved... what with this insanity finally being all over and done with. Now you can get your life back."

"I dunno," he hummed, resting his cheek atop my head as he gave my shoulders another small squeeze, thumb tracing a small circle against my arm. "Was just sorta getting used to it all. Gonna miss being your fake boyfriend."

A grin pulled at one side of my mouth. "...it was kind of fun, wasn't it? I think I'll miss being your fake girlfriend too. Almost makes me a little sad."

"Well buck up! Got just the thing to chase away those post-make-believe-relationship blues," he released me now, lightly rubbing my back as I pulled away. I watched as he was once more reaching inside his leather jacket, this time pulling out a-

"You've got to be kidding me," I deadpanned as he slipped the cartoon-lip sunglasses onto my face. I didn't even fight it. I knew it would have been a losing battle. "Just how many of these things did you steal?"

"Just the two," he smirked, flipping his heart-shades down to sit on the bridge of his nose. Lollipop finished, he flicked away the little white stick only to whip out yet another sucker to replace it. "Smoke 'em if you got 'em," he chirped, tearing the plastic off before stabbing the candy between his lips.

...well, when in Rome, I guess.

I opened mine as well and closed my mouth around it. Huh. Cinnamon. Who'da thunk?

"Atta girl," he chuckled, nudging my shoulder with his. "Rocking those sweet ass shades to boot."

I wanted to roll my eyes at him. But it would have been halfhearted at best and let's face it, the effect would've been totally lost behind the lip-glasses anyhow. Instead, a tiny laugh bubbled out of me whether I wanted it to or not.

So there we were. Sitting atop a mall clocktower, eating candy and watching the sunset through cheap, novelty sunglasses. And even though Operation Boyfriend But Shh Not Really had royally crashed and burned and now laid shattered in a million pieces that I still had to clean up and sort out… in that exact moment, somehow…

...somehow things didn't seem all that bad.

"Ya sure you're okay?"

"Yes, I'm fine," I said for what felt like the thousandth time. At Lea's dubious squint, I laughed softly, "Really."

I mean, I thought I was.

At least, I seemed to be as we made our way back down the clocktower's decrepit wooden steps. I wasn't sure exactly how long we'd stayed up there. Long enough for early night to fall and for the first stars to begin lightly dotting the sky, however much time that had taken. It'd been nice, just sitting there watching the reds fade to purples and blues. Comforting, in fact. An almost zen-like calm had fallen over me. I didn't blame Lea for being skeptical however. This was me we were talking about here. And after the day I'd had, even I was still kind of anticipating the inevitable meltdown that would totally be on brand for me and had still yet to come. Maybe it was just lurking in the shadows, lying in wait and ready to pounce when I least expected it. Or maybe it wouldn't come at all. Maybe watching the gorgeous sunset had been just the thing I needed to disperse it before it even began.

I could hope so, at least. Here's crossing my fingers!

We got to the bottom of the stairs and rejoined the mall proper. The stores were still open but it looked like closing time would soon be upon us, so while the crowd had thinned considerably by now, there were still some shoppers milling about making their last minute purchases. Just as those double doors leading outside to the parking lot came into view, Lea suddenly stopped, tapping the side of his fist into his palm.

"Almost forgot, gotta pick something up. I'll be super quick and meet ya at the car." He was about to take off but hesitated mid-turn, looking back at me with a small frown. "...you sure you're-"

"I'm okay," I insisted, huffing out a chuckle. My hand gave his shoulder a small shove, "Hurry up and go already."

However instead of going, he grinned down at me and stepped closer, his hand lifting towards my cheek. But then it froze midway, hanging there for one very long second before he hastily snatched it back to ruffle his hair instead with a weak laugh. "Heh… be back in a flash!" Then he bolted, vanishing into the throng.

I just stood there for a few seconds, staring after him as I bit my bottom lip. Pretty sure he'd been about to kiss my forehead out of habit, but had thought better of it at the last minute. We were in a weird grey area at the moment. Officially, our little dating act had come to a close. But no one at the mall knew that yet, so… were things like that still okay? At least for a little while longer? Probably not. We wouldn't want to complicate or confuse matters. He'd probably made the right call stopping himself. The smart and sensible call. We just needed to quit cold turkey.

It would be for the best.

Still, knowing that did nothing to ease the dull ache I now felt in my chest. I couldn't help feeling a little disappointed. I kind of wished he had given me that forehead kiss. Just one last time. Gosh, it was only now hitting me how accustomed I'd grown to all his little touches. I really was going to miss being his girlfriend, even if it had all just been for show.

Curse that boy and his stupid dating embargo!

Hugging myself with a sigh, I walked slowly out the mall exit. The night air felt good on my skin as I took my time crossing the parking lot towards Lea's car. True to his word, I wasn't waiting there long at all before I spotted him emerging from the shopping center to jog towards me with a white plastic bag in hand. He opened my door first before sliding across his hood to let himself in on the driver side.

"No peeking now," he winked at me as he plopped down into his seat, handing the bag to me.

I blinked down at it as I held it between my hands. It was knotted tightly at the top, making sneaking a peek not really an option anyway. There was no logo on the bag, nothing to identify where it'd come from, nor was it see-through. The only thing I could determine was it felt box-shaped inside. Arching an eyebrow, I held it up to my ear with a little shake.

Snerking, Lea's grip closed around my wrist, forcing my hands still. "None of that either."

My eyelids drooped at him but I relented, settling the bag into my lap and buckling myself in. Lea did the same before turning the key in the ignition, backing us out of the parking spot and hitting the road.

A few minutes later found me unlocking the door to my apartment and stepping inside with a, "Hello? Anyone home?" My call was greeted with silence from the totally dark room inside. Frowning, I flicked on the switch and as everything lit up, I noticed the door to my roomies' bedroom open and black inside. Nope, not in there either.

"Huh. Wonder where they got to," Lea mused from where he stood in the doorway behind me, toting my luggage he'd so gallantly volunteered to carry up for me.

"Their car wasn't in its parking space," I pointed out as I made room for him, moving towards the dining table to set the mystery bag down on it. "Figured Riku might just be making an emergency baby cravings run for Rayne and that we'd at least find her up here still… maybe they went to a movie?" I guessed, pulling out my phone to see if I'd missed any texts from either of them. Unfortunately, that's when I discovered the battery had died. Which made sense now that I thought about it. It had been running unplugged since the crack of dawn when I'd used it to pull up every variation of the scotcheroo recipe known to humankind.

Setting my bags down next to a kitchen chair, one of his hands went to his hip while the other rubbed the back of his head. "Well damn. Was hoping they'd be around to feed ya."

"Feed me?" I echoed, a crease forming between my eyebrows as I turned to face him, leaning back against the backrest of the couch.

He snorted at me from across the dining table. "Don't think I haven't noticed how you haven't had a bite to eat all day, missy."

"Not true," I folded my arms under my chest and looked away with a tiny scoff. "I'll have you know I filled up on scotcheroo batter all morning."

"Sure, cuz that's healthy," his eyes narrowed over his grin. "You didn't have anything at the party last night either. Maybe I should order you some takeout," he muttered as he pulled out his phone and swiped to unlock his screen.

I looked up towards the ceiling with a sigh and a shake of my head. "You don't have to take care of me, you know. I said I was okay."

"You also said you don't know how to cook. I can't leave ya to fend for yourself and starve," he said distractedly, frowning down at his phone while his thumb flicked across his screen a few times. Probably scrolling through whatever food options were still open at this hour.

"I wouldn't starve, I do know how to use a microwave," I countered, hand idly reaching for my braid. Except… no braid. That's right, it was still up in that haphazard bun. A rather uncomfortable, haphazard bun, I might add. I pulled it free, letting my hair fall down around my shoulders as my fingers shook it out. Ah, so much better. "Rayne's always leaving leftovers in the fridge for me to heat up."

"Ya sure? Really, I don't mind making a quick food run for y-" he glanced up from the screen to me just as his fingers seemed to have a malfunction and dropped his phone. He gave a tiny yelp and fumbled with it for a second before catching it firmly in hand once again, breathing a soft whew!

I arched an eyebrow with a snerk. "You doing alright there?"

"Yeah, uh… yeah! These things are slippery lil bastards, huh?" he waggled the phone in the air with a feeble chuckle, his face reddening from what I guessed would be embarrassment over his little bout of clumsiness. Pocketing it again, he took a step back towards the front door as he crossed his arms, wedging his hands into his armpits. "Well if ya think you've got the food situation covered, I'll probably just be headin' out then."

I frowned, pushing myself up off the sofa backrest. "You're leaving?" I'd been under the impression that he was going to stick around at least for a little while longer. The company would have been welcome, especially with Rayne and Riku not home.

He ambled another step back, looking down as he scratched the tip of his nose. "Yup, got a lotta… homework. Yeah! Tons of it. Mountains of it back at my place just... calling my name, heh! So, ya know… better get to it!"

"Oh… yes, of course," I mumbled, trying to keep the disappointment out of my voice. Obviously he had schoolwork to get back to. He'd had no time to do it all weekend thanks to me, so he was probably looking at a heavy backlog. I'd taken up too much of his time already burdening him with my problems. It was time to let him go. Taking a deep breath, I put on a brave front and forced a smile. "Have a good night. And thank you for… well, for everything. It… All of it has meant the world to me."

He hesitated for a few seconds, frowning but expression otherwise unreadable. Then he dragged his hand across his face with a tired-sounding laugh. "Don't mention it. Just… do me a favor? Get something substantial in your stomach before breaking into these," he approached the table once more, retrieving the little white bag and holding it up. "Til then, we'll just tuck them away in here so they don't melt," he said, moving towards the fridge.

Melt? Huh. Come to think of it, it had slightly been cold to the touch, but I'd hardly noticed it at the time. My head tipped to one side, "...do I get to know what they are now?"

"Guess it can't hurt to let the cat outta the bag at this point," he opened the freezer door, placing it inside before shooting me a grin. "Do the words Frozen Heart mean anything to you?"

I stiffened. "...as in the ice cream?"

"Yup!" Lea beamed now, closing the door again and propping his shoulder against it. "Whole pack of 'em! That's your fave, right?"

Blinking a couple times, I nodded slowly. I could feel it. This… weird, funny feeling in my chest. "How… When did you figure it out?"

He gave a half-shrug. "Told ya, El. Gotta gift. Knew it since day one, actually. Just kept the lil guessing game up cuz it gave me an excuse to talk to ya all the time and hopefully bring you a laugh. But figured you could use it after the day you've had. Just what the doc ordered, chocked fulla all the stuff you like - mint chocolate chip with a full strawberry in the middle, or the 'heart' at the frozen center, all coated in crunchy, crystallize sugar shell, aka the ic-"

I don't know how it happened. One second, I was just standing there with the space of the whole kitchen between him and me. The next, I'd closed the distance somehow and was colliding into his chest, forcing a small surprised oof out of him as my arms wrapped around his waist, hanging on for dear life. I felt his whole body tense with a confused, "El?"

"I'm not," I muffled into his shirt.

"...you're not…?"

"I'm not okay!" I looked up at him now, not letting go. My calm had cracked and feeling Lea's arms closing around me only served to shatter it completely. Every inch of me felt like an exposed nerve as all those emotions came crashing painfully in now. "I'm not! Nothing is right! Nothing… nothing except for you! You, with your warmth and your smiles and your ice cream and… and your silly nicknames and ridiculous sunglasses and your lizard and your sappy movies and your college course catalogues and… and…"

I didn't even know what I was trying to say anymore, so I seriously doubted Lea did either. He didn't seem to mind however, his hand with a slight tremor to it coming up to brush along my cheek, sweep a few pale strands behind my ear, slowly stroke down the full length of my hair. He just nodded and let me go on, his gaze softening as he rested his forehead against mine.

"...and everyone else is just so… so… I mean, Grandfather with his birthday party of judgement! And Mother! Mother and her sneaky lullaby, using the nose trick against me! The nose trick! That thing is sacred! But no, it was all just so she could find goth contraband for Aunt Yelena to throw in my face! And Hans! Hans, with his stupid sideburns! His stupid, sister-groping sideburns! And Anna! I still can't believe she… that she'd… I mean, I made her scotcheroos! Scotcheroos! Well, at least I tried to make them, but still, that should count for something, right?! And-" I felt his thumb wiping away something wet at the corner of my eye. Tears. I hadn't even known they were there. With a tiny jolt, I gave a weak laugh, "And I'm a total babbling mess! Sorry, I… I just need to not be thinking about this right now. Distract me, please. Anything to get my mind off of-"

And then he was kissing me.

I lost all sense of my surroundings as it all just seemed to fade away, no longer important. Every last thought in my head was obliterated. I could no longer tell left from right, heads from tails… nothing. I knew nothing except the warm caress of his lips against mine. Nothing except his scent, so familiar and yet in this moment, suddenly somehow new and intoxicating. My knees buckled but his arm wrapped around my waist, catching me and trapping me against him. His other hand had tangled itself in my hair as my fingers slid up his chest, clutching his shirt for support. I was dizzy and lightheaded and giddy all at once, my world completely turned upside down and-

Oh.

Oh wow…

...so that's what this is supposed to feel like.

All too soon Lea broke it off, drawing his head back slightly with a soft, shaky breath that I didn't so much hear as felt against my lips. He dragged his gaze from where it lingered on my mouth up to look into my eyes, his own now hooded and dark as they searched mine. Still trying to piece my scrambled brain back together, I struggled to find words and the only ones I could come up with were a breathy, "...not… quite the distraction I had in mind. I was thinking something... more along the lines of a movie?"

His eyes widened and his muscles went rigid. Then in the blink of an eye, he'd released me and backed away several steps, shaking his head as his hands raked through his crimson spikes. "Shit. Fuck! I shouldn't have done that. I had no right to- Crap, I'm sorry! I'm so sorry, El! God fucking damn it, what the hell is the matter with me? I'm so stupid! I never shoulda-"

I abruptly threw myself at him again, arms hugging his neck and pulling his head down as my lips found his once more. He staggered with a sharp intake through his nose, his whole body going stock still. My heart raced as I molded against him, sinking into his pleasant body heat.

Slowly, his mouth responded as his trembling hands reached for me, trailing down my sides, exploring the curve of my waist before coming to rest on my hips, gripping them tightly as he tugged me more firmly against him. My fingers toyed with the hairs at the nape of his neck, eliciting a soft groan from him as his kiss became more fervid, filled with such… such… raw, unbridled need. Abruptly, he was pushing me up against the fridge, pinning my body between it and him.

Something fell with a clatter. A magnet? I didn't really know. Nor did I really care. But the sound was enough to snap Lea back to his senses as he pulled away with a gasp and suddenly held me at arms length. "No! This isn't right! You're vulnerable right now, I shouldn't be- Shit, I don't want you to think I-" He released a frustrated snarl, pressing a fist to his mouth as he backed further away, angrily pacing now. Then, "I should go."

He turned, hastily making his way towards the front door. Halfway there however, he hesitated, steps faltering as he glanced back towards me. He swallowed hard, something in his eyes telling me his flimsy resolve was this close to breaking. "...I need to go," he repeated, voice hoarse yet determined now as he pushed forward, reaching the door and letting himself out, slamming it shut behind him.

I was still propped up against the fridge, barely standing. The room was quiet except for my soft pants to catch my breath and the booming of my rapid pulse in my ears. My face was hot and I could still feel the sweet ghost of his lips on mine. Feel my whole body buzzing from his touch.

...he was right. Goddamn him, he was right. Now wasn't the time for this… whatever this was. I should go to bed. I should rest up and approach this with a clearer, more rational head on my shoulders tomorrow. He'd made the right choice. The responsible choice. If we'd kept carrying on like that, it would have been a mistake and…

...and so what?

So what if it was a mistake? It was my mistake to make! That I wanted to make. Besides, I didn't think it actually was a mistake, not really. It's not like this was just some spur of the moment attempt to hide from my pain within his physical comfort. This… this was something I'd be wanting for some time. And so now, what… I was just supposed to put it on pause and wait? Just because of something so insignificant as… bad timing?

To hell with that.

I'd been pretending. This whole time, I'd been pretending. And no, I didn't just mean the fake relationship to fool my parents. I'd been fooling myself. Tricking myself into believing this was just a crush when it was really… I don't even know, but it was so much more than just some simple crush! I'd been pretending my feelings were trivial, pretending that… that I couldn't see those same feelings in Lea when really I'd known. I'd known all this time, but I'd been too afraid to face them. To face him.

I was scared of everything. Always stressing and second guessing myself and overthinking things. But not this. I wasn't scared of this. Not anymore. In that moment, I'd never been more sure of anything in my life and I-

I had to stop him from leaving.

I pulled out my phone, almost dropped it but caught in time, then pressed the power button.

...nope, still dead.

Right. I tossed it onto the table as I ran past, rushing for the door. Maybe he hadn't made it to his car yet. If I hurried, I could hopefully still catch him. My hand closed around the doorknob, yanking it open and-

-jumping backwards with a tiny yelp to avoid getting crushed as Lea suddenly came falling through it, his back crashing flat against the floor at my feet. He hissed in pain, wincing up at me.

"Are you okay? What..." my brow furrowed as I looked down at him, then to my door, then back. "...were you just… leaning back against the door?"

He hopped up to his feet, laughing self-consciously as he dragged a hand along the back of his neck. "Yeah! Sorry! Just… needed a sec to, er… to get my head on straight." He inched back a step towards the hallway outside. "Right, so uh…" Another step back. "I'm gonna..." he jerked his thumb over his shoulder with a click of his tongue, "...gonna get going now."

As he began to turn away however, I grabbed his hand in both of mine. He froze, looking down at where my fingers wrapped around his. Then up at me, confusion in his eyes.

This whole time, I'd been pretending. But now…

"...I don't want to pretend anymore," I told him quietly, stepping closer and gazing up the few inches that separated us. Recalling something he'd once told me, I added, "I… wish we were real too."

Lea sucked in a low, shuddering breath, hesitating for only a heartbeat more. Then a soft, "Oh thank god," came tumbling from his lips as he grabbed my face with both hands to kiss me again, pouring his entire being into it. Kicking the door shut behind him and still locked in our embrace, he backed me further and further into the room until my legs hit the backrest of the couch and we both went toppling over it, my back hitting the cushions with him on top of me.

Abruptly, he pulled his lips off of mine, but only long enough for him to sit up on his knees so he could jerk off his jacket and throw it somewhere. Then he came back down, his hands finding mine, weaving our fingers together to either side of my head as his nose brushed against mine. His mouth stopped just short of my own however and I could taste the hint of his breath as his eyes crinkled and he smiled tenderly at me. Oh gosh, there was that dimple of his again. That dimple was straight up murder. My heart spasmed and I bit back a grin myself. Then he was kissing me.

It was soft as slow at first, as if to savor it. Then his tongue was lightly grazing along my lips and the kiss deepened. It came as no surprise that he tasted like cinnamon - I probably did too at the moment. However, the flavor was way more enticing on his tongue than it could ever hope to be just coming from some candy. His lips were growing more urgent, more demanding. Fire. It felt like I was on fire. It felt like my insides were melting to mush.

He was gently pressing his weight down into me, his hand moving to hook under my knee and tug it up, wrapping my leg around his waist. Now free, my own hand wound itself into his hair again before trailing down his neck and further, feeling the hard planes of his back through the material of his shirt, digging my nails in.

Breaking our lips apart, Lea now traced hungry kisses along my jawline and down my neck until he found my pulse point. He swirled his tongue against it, causing my body to react on its own and arch my back up into him. His body eagerly pushed back as his teeth began to nibble at the sensitive spot where my neck met my shoulder. A hum of a sigh escaped me and he answered with a low growl deep in his throat, suddenly biting down hard.

My neck burned deliciously and I made a noise that was somewhere between a gasp and a moan. I'd never, ever made a noise like that before in my life. I might have been embarrassed if I had had half a mind to. Instead, I was too lost in the pleasure as he sucked on the now tender skin before chuckling, slowly trailing his lips just a bit further up my neck and lightly nipping at a fresh spot.

Oh dear lord, he was going to do it again.

I barely scraped together enough sense to breathe, "Lea, wait."

His whole body tensed as he went very still, his breath heavy and hot against my throat. Then all of a sudden he was pulling away, sitting up and quickly shifting to the opposite end of the couch from me. "You're right," his voice was husky, his face flushed as he hunched forward, elbow propping on his knee as he brought his hand up in an attempt to hide his tiny, guilty scowl. "You're right. Fuck, I was moving too fast. Sorry, I… I didn't mean to-"

"No," I said quickly, scooting closer to him. "That's… not what I meant. I just… I'm not sure when they," I glanced towards my roomies' empty bedroom, "will be home. We wouldn't want them to find us out here, er..." I cleared my throat, my cheeks doing the impossible and blushing even harder than they already were. I paused, trying to compose myself and gather my scrambled thoughts, absently licking my lips as I did so. He went very still, half-lidded eyes now very intently focused on my mouth. My chest fluttered under the intensity of his gaze and I cleared my throat again, "What I'm trying to say is that… maybe we should…"

Ugh, I was too flustered to say it.

Flustered, but not nervous. Or anxious or scared or awkward or… This wasn't making me feel any of the things I normally would've expected myself to feel in this situation. No, this…

This felt right.

This is something I wanted. Really, really wanted. I could feel it, deep down in my heart. And for once, I wanted to listen to what my heart was telling me.

And right now it was telling me to kiss him.

So I did. I slowly reached a hand up, softly tracing my fingers over his jawline before clasping at the nape of his neck and gently tugging his head down so I could press my lips to his again. He inhaled, long and slow, his warm hand cupping my cheek.

He seemed reluctant to end the kiss, his mouth following mine when I finally pulled away. But then I stood up and faced him, taking his hands in mine and drawing him to his feet as well. Smiling shyly up at him, I began pulling him towards the door to my room and as if in a trance, he followed. I led him inside, the door quietly shutting behind us.

Author's Note: Sooooo... pretty sure they know they like each other now, what do ya'll think? :P Oh gosh, writing and sharing this chapter all but made me burst into flames *blushing intensifies* lol! I tell ya, for someone who starts so many fics where romance is one of the major themes, it is VERY rare that I actually get to The Big Kiss (TM) scene, so this just had me squirming the whole time xD Lea, that dear boy, he tried so hard to be the responsible one, he really did, but a guy only has so much willpower! And I know, things weren't really talked out this chapter, but don't worry, a lil discussion is on the horizon xD Also, does everyone remember something Elsa said to Lea way, waaaay back in chapter 15 during their car ride up to her old condo? Something small but SUPER relevant here... xD On a different note, we finally know it! Elsa's fave ice cream: Frozen Heart, oooOOOooOOoo fancy! THIS one is not named after a keyblade - I really wanted to of course name it after Arendelle world's keyblade in KH3, but let's face it… Crystal Snow was kinda a bland name! Frozen Heart would have been WAY better, not to mention a SUPER obvious choice for a keyblade name so I dunno why the design team didn't go with that! Anyway, its Ice Palace menu listing might look a lil something like: "Blue mint chocolate chip with silver sprinkles, coated in an icy, crystallized sugar shell on the outside and a strawberry slice that can be found buried deep within its chilly center. Will you be the one to melt this frozen heart?" …or something equally cheesy xD Anyhoo, heads up guys, if you hadn't guessed, we're now entering the homestretch of this story! Figured that'd be okay to tell ya, since if this were a paperback that you could physically hold in your hands, you'd be able to tell when there were only a few more chapters left in that case too xD But I have some good news waiting for ya'll at the end of this story's final chapter, so hopefully that gives ya something to look forward to!

Next time… oh gosh, just what does the future hold for these two crazy lovebirds? Once the sea of raging hormones has ebbed, what will be left? Are these two finally gonna get together for realsies? Or will this decision they made in the heat of the moment be seen as a mistake? And what about all of Elsa's fam drama? Did she really manage to leave it all behind or will it rear its ugly head again? Do we REALLY believe Lea when he says he only stole two of the novelty glasses? Stay tuned!

Thanks for reading, I super duper appreciate it! And an extra BIG thank you to those of you who’ve liked, reblogged, and followed so far, seeing those lil notifications always brings the biggest, goofiest smile to my face!

FIRST CHAPTER || PREVIOUS CHAPTER || NEXT CHAPTER

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intjmd · 5 years ago

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Types of INTP

As many of you may have noticed, INTPs come in different flavors. Some of my closest friends are INTPs, and I have noticed some differences between them that I have not spotted in other types (ENFPs seem more homogeneous to me, I know a bunch and they have basically the same values, outlooks on life and even similar (or the same) interests). In consequence, I have decided to classify my beloved INTP to see if we can understand this better (or even arrive to the conclusion that some of my friends are mistyped). After thinking for a while, I have decided to keep it simple and describe only two different types or INTPs. I know it’s not enough, but I don’t have all the information that I would need to make an accurate description of other subtypes of INTPs (I think there might be at least another one). Feel free to comment, add or correct anything you may find here. Let’s go.

INTP 1 - AKA Chill INTP :

Looks/vibes:

This INTP looks like the most carefree person alive. Seriously. They are often cute and definitely have their style. Why do they say that INTP have a horrible fashion sense, then? Well, it’s just that their style is not the conventional style. They can be obsessed with certain parts of their bodies (e.g. perfect nails) and completely neglect others. Or they can aspire to look in a certain way (kawaii, really kawaii) that could look inappropriate in someone their age. They don’t care. They dress as they want, ignoring other wishes and advice. And sometimes it works out.

In general, they look rather sociable and happy. Try approaching them and you may be surprised. Sometimes, Chill looks even dreamy and you can tell they are fantasizing about having a dragon pet or whatever.

Habitat:

They dwell in their rooms and when they go out, they wish they were on their room. This type of INTP has watched more than 50 TV shows this last year, and probably reads a lot of fanfic. Their room is their sanctuary and is often filled with the interests of the owner, packed with action figures, tech, their clothes or maybe some painting that they did years ago and didn’t want to throw out.

Personality and interests:

Chill INTP is curious. He/She/That thing over there is an INTP after all. They remind me of an ENFP (Ne here) because the way they talk about about their passions and dreams. To put it bluntly: they can’t talk about a single topic for more than five minutes before changing the subject to something different. They do this with a bubbly/excited look and act like everything is possible for them (but then they are “too lazy” for achieving said dreams) (this has literally been said by two of them so it’s not an insult).

This Chill INTP loves series, fanfics, memes and the Internet as a concept. They have mastered every single shortcut of their computer and act like it’s part of their bodies.

Although Chill INTP looks approachable, they hate small talk and are very shy and private. Above all, they have trouble initiating conversations. If you befriend them, though, they will open up and flood you with an unending stream of ideas.

Academics: Chill is smarter than the average person, but also lazier than the average person. What’s worse, they know that they are smart and sometimes (only with their closest friends) can brag about it. While it’s true that they are bright and have no trouble understanding complex topics (actually the more abstract, the better), they lack motivation and often procrastinate. Sometimes, usually in hight school exams, they are able to successfully wing it and get good grades with almost zero effort. They will still whine a bit after getting an 8 in some subject that they didn’t even read, though. However, this “luck” (talent, actually, it’s raw intelligence plus a little bit of rhetorics and an innocent look) doesn’t last forever.

In the end, no matter how academically talented Chill may be, after missing a thousand classes and studying for maybe ten seconds, Chill fails. Hard. Usually for the first time in University. But it’s not that they can’t do it, it’s just that they don’t want to put in the effort right now. Maybe later.

Personal opinion:

This INTP is reaaaally fun to hang out with (I’m an INTJ, maybe we click because of that). They are witty, punny and can cheer you up with their innocence or random remarks. In addition, they get sarcasm (THANK YOU) and are not afraid of saying something regarded as “insensitive” if it’s true. This Chill INTP can be a bit stubborn, and will not change their behavior even if they admit it’s damaging them.

Overall, they are nice and don’t ask for much attention.

P.S: Chill INTP is NOT chill all the time. They can have breakdowns where all of their frustration gets out and they can cry in disappointment because the are not living up to their own standards. The agony disappears after a while, and they come back to their laptop and keep scrolling with a smile on their faces.

INTP 2 - AKA NERDY INTP:

Looks/vibes:

Nerdy INTP does not care at all about how they look. It’s a practical question, not a fashion contest, and they are going to pick anything as long as it covers the parts of their body that can’t be publicly shown. The plainer, the better, this way they can combine anything in their wardrobes.

Also, this INTP does not look “chill” at all. It’s more like a quiet fragile serenity that could explode anytime. There is a difference there. Chill INTP is very comfortable anywhere, even in the midst of a crowd, they just do their own thing and ignore everyone. Nerdy INTP is watching over you, analyzing your patterns and thinking, always thinking. This INTP is full of anxiety and is shyer than chill INTP. And when they are looking at a wall they are either thinking hard about the wall itself (colour, texture, design) or totally lost inside some theory inside their mind. The thing is that you know that they are questioning things.

Habitat:

Their rooms, but with zero clutter. It’s not minimalism, it’s a prison cell with the occasional coffee machine. They have a laptop, books and a bed, but that’s all. This INTP lives in his head, not on Earth. That’s why they don’t mind going outside, but they do this to think elsewhere, not to be elsewhere. Their heads are a mystery, I would describe them if I could.

Personality and interests:

Nerdy is not merely curious, Nerdy is utterly obsessed with knowledge and the truth. This means that they can research a single topic for like 40 hours nonstop and speak about it too, getting deeper and deeper and finding internal contradictions between the different sources until you (random listener) can no longer know anything. But they really understand it, and it just comes easy for them. They can keep their concentration forever and ever until their body stops working and they get into a random nap. Then they jump to the topic again.

Nerdy likes talking about different subjects. Unlike Chill, once Nerdy chooses ONE topic, he will remain in that area until nothing more can be said (which is approximately never) or until the other person changes the topic. Nerdy also strongly prefers one to one conversations, while Chill can manage up to four/five people at the same time.

In short, Nerdy seems much more focused and driven than Chill, but they are not natural achievers (#goalz #checklists) like an INTJ. Instead, they seek pure knowledge for the sake of it, to deepen their understanding of the world. They don’t need to change it, they just think that it’s interesting to dive into the most obscure and complex topics and master them. Their thirst is not for power but for wisdom.

Nerdy is as Internet addicted as Chill but it’s easier to find them looking for papers than watching Netflix on their own. They have three or four series that they love but they are usually complex (picture high fantasy) and the things they read are not the cliché YA novels in which Chill tends to indulge more.

Academics:

If Nerdy has chosen a career that sparks his interests, he will do great in his knowledge field. At least, Nerdy will spend hours and hours reading about this topic and becoming an expert. They will understand EVERYTHING and create a sort of “mind map” in their minds (just a map, then) with concepts and their connections. Nerdy is a bit lazy too, but their curiosity and intellect alone if directed towards the adequate career can take them to the top (or at least they are not whining at the bottom as sometimes Chill does).

Even if both Chill and Nerdy feel incompetent, Chill actually puts 3/10 effort and ends up getting a 5. Nerdy studies a lot (maybe not the most important things, they will probably get lost in the interesting bits) and try to do their best. Even if their results are great, they will feel as if they had failed because they are too perfectionistic.

To sum up, they work harder and get more results than Chill, but also set higher standards for themselves, which leads them to often overexert themselves and have higher levels of anxiety. This is why they do nOT look so chill.

Personal opinion:

For me, Nerdy feels like a caffeinated, stronger, sharper version of Chill. Maybe a little more hopeless and cynic, maybe more concerned with astrophysics than the newest One Piece episode. If Chill was fun, Nerdy is a hundred times funnier. However, Nerdy is also incapable of small talk (Chill knows how to, he just doesn’t want to do it and tries to avoid it) and has more trouble meeting new people. This INTP is only capable of speaking logically, and will destroy you incoherent arguments in seconds (yeah, every conversation feels like a debate). If you show any weakness, they will show no mercy. This side of them can bore or get tiresome for the more dictatorial (Nerdy will call out your bullshit, authority means nothing), harmony loving (debates are just debates, no feelings involved) (however, if you think that disagreeing equals hating each other, you are so fucked here) or happy-go-lucky (”Don’t think and be happy”) types.

If you are not ready to do some mental exercise, then leave alone Nerdy and go back to Instagram. If you go, try to chatter with Nerdy and then disregard all his ideas/hypothesis/arguments and it gets upset, you are a mere asshole. I actually love Nerdy INTP and think that his brain should be protected as World Heritage.

Things both (I think all INTP) subtypes have in common:

Curiosity about the most random things.

They hate small talk and initiating conversations.

They are so much fun for an INTJ.

They can be very insensitive when talking to other people (not a big bother for an NT)

All energy is redirected to their heads, their bodies are nOT fully operative.

They are always up for: COFFEEE, films or going to a new restaurant.

People love them and they don’t want to admit it.

They feel different but never complain about it (and never flaunt it as a virtue).

They have meltdowns and they saw them coming.

They love the Internet.

Kinky. Very specific kinks and you can’t kinkshame them. It’s better to join them.

They look innocent, like sweet cinnamon rolls but they are not.

P.S:

Maybe these two types are not well described and some of you think that Chill is just more well, relaxed Nerdy. Or that Nerdy has more willpower than Chill. I don’t know. I honestly think that both have different manifestations of the INTP functions and they are true INTP regardless of their differences. I also think that both are fun, smart and can become great friends.

P.S2:

@intp-the-thinker @intpmd this is for both of you, feel free to abort this unborn theory/hypothesis.

#intp #intptypes #intj

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playerfolie · 6 years ago

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°✧。 [ MARGARET QUALLEY , CIS WOMAN , SHE/HER ] it’s been two years since FOLIE joined velia from NEW ORLEANS , LOUISIANA , USA . apparently their name is MAEVE FOURNIER and they’re a ROGUE . they have been fighting as a REVENANTS member for a while now . didn’t people say they were not a beta tester ? i heard they turned TWENTY - ONE this year . let’s hope they make it out alive .

hey there demons ! it’s me , ya boy ( aka spence / 20 / they/them ) . i was in velia very briefly a little while back but had to dip because of school ( + i am recycling this account so that’s why there may be old messages from me in ur dms asfvad ) , but i have now finished finals and i am back to introduce you to my new baby maeve / folie ! if you’d like to plot with her , feel free to drop a ♡ on this and i’ll shoot you a message ( or shoot me one yourself if you wanna ) ! this is probably gonna be the longest intro ever because i ramble , so sorry in advance , but here we go !

𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐓𝐒

♡ username : folie ♡ level : 64 ♡ class : rogue ♡ cursor : green ( has been orange in the past ) ♡ guild : revenants , previously knights of the blood oath. ♡ position : recruiter ♡ mount : n/a ♡ pet : rabbit named cecil ♡ mastered skills : stealth , communication , searching ♡ proficient skills : luck , appraisal ♡ languages spoken : english , french

𝐁𝐄𝐅𝐎𝐑𝐄 𝐕𝐄𝐋𝐈𝐀

♡ maeve fournier was born with a silver spoon in her mouth and ballet slippers on her feet. her mother was a lawyer, one of the best defense attorneys in the south. her father came from old money, took complete ownership of a number of oil rigs off the louisiana and mississippi coasts after her grandfather died. her early life came with privileges, more than one could count, but it had its share of burdens as well. from the time she was toddling, maeve was expected to live her life like a painting ─ something to be viewed, showed off, bragged about by her parents to their wealthy friends. she was to have her mother’s smarts and grace, and her father’s power and charisma ; anything else was failure. ♡ of the many things maeve had handed to her, video games was not one of them. her mother was convinced that they would ‘ rot her brain ’, take her time away from the things that mattered like school, dance, french lessons, her violin. the first time she played a game was when she was seven years old, sleeping over at a friends house ─ pokemon white on an old nintendo ds that belonged to her friend’s father. she fell in love. ♡ as she got older, video games became her best kept secret. weekly sleepovers at her friend’s house became a sneaky rendezvous to escape into a digital world for just a couple of days. one day a week to get away from the constant pressure, to be a person rather than a spectacle. ♡ when her and her best friend heard of velia, they knew they absolutely had to have it. the pair were freshman in college by then, and although maeve still lived very much under her parents’ thumb ( loyola university new orleans was close enough for them to keep close tabs on her ), it was much easier to get video games in her own hands now that she was living slightly more independently. the two bought the game the second they could, and were off to the races. until they got stuck.

𝐈𝐍 𝐕𝐄𝐋𝐈𝐀

♡ when everyone first became trapped in the game, maeve and her best friend kept close to one another, but were hesitant to partner up with any other players or join a guild. the two had each others backs, and they were convinced that that was all they needed. that sentiment would later prove to be false. ( TW : ROBBERY, MUGGING, DEATH ). the pair were ambushed a few months into the game ; a party of five players threatening their lives if they failed to hand over their possessions. maeve, aware that the group was too big to be fought off by her and her friend alone, began to concede. instead of following suit, the other girl tried to take one of them on, and ended up catching quite the beating. maeve managed to get in a few good hits, finish the work that her friend had started on one of the group members, killing him. they dropped all they had for the remaining four and high-tailed it out before they got themselves killed. ♡ after that, maeve went near crazy. it was ironic, how much freedom she found in a digital prison, but living in velia was the first and closest thing to liberation that she had ever experienced. chaos was unfamiliar to her, fascinating, she even relished in it at times. but it also became to clear to her that in this world, you had to do what it took to survive, and doe eyes don’t last long. she never went out of her way to hurt other players if she didn’t have to, but strayed away from heroics. slowly, the reserved, polite, sweetheart that maeve was trained to be from birth slipped away. folie was unapologetic and fierce, and she’d steel you blind if you looked away for more than a second. two things mattered to her: surviving until the end of this, and her best friend. little did she know that she’d lose the latter. ♡ after getting robbed, and a couple of other close calls with less than savory players, folie admitted to her friend that she thought they should try to join a guild. there was safety in numbers and, with the right group, a significantly less amount of fear with going to sleep every night. her friend disagreed, thought that a group would only make you weak, that trusting other players was a huge mistake. the whole ordeal ended in an enormous fight, but no real answers. for the most part, folie got by through thievery, stealing everything she needed for herself and selling the excess. a week or so after her fight with her friend, folie was caught stealing from a couple of blood oath members, marking the beginning of a friendship that would later lead to her joining the guild. her friend stopped speaking to her after that. ♡ she was never a fan of blood oath’s heroics, but they were the biggest guild, the most powerful - her ticket home. so that day, when hercules stepped forward, announced the genesis of a new guild, rising from the ashes of the cardinals, it sounded awfully tempting. though folie had found a place in blood oath, gotten comfortable, she couldn’t help but feel disarmed by that same fact. she wasn’t supposed to be getting comfortable ; she was supposed to be beating this game. the revenants new found mission statement of getting out no matter the cost drew her in and captured her. it didn’t take much thought for her to step forward, abandoning her old guild for the revenants.

𝐏𝐄𝐑𝐒𝐎𝐍𝐀𝐋𝐈𝐓𝐘

♡ despite the fact that folie lost a lot of the qualities programed into her when she was younger, she’s not unnecessarily mean. that being said, if you’re expecting the saccharine-voiced angel from before you’re looking in the wrong place ( but she’ll sure as hell put on a good show if it’ll get her something she wants ). ♡ a little snarky, usually jokingly so, but if you make her mad she will turn into frozone’s wife from the incredibles and you will never see the end of it. ♡ not quick to trust. if you’ve earned it though, you’re likely to see some of the old maeve slip through the cracks. those who have had the privilege may have been on the receiving end of some misplaced altruism, maybe caught a shy smile or a soft moment, call backs to who she used to be and who she likely never completely be again. but she doesn’t talk about her life back home much either, aside from the arbitrary, another way of keeping that old version of herself, the one that couldn’t survive this, locked away. ♡ *mushu voice* a flirt ! she’ll flirt with your whole family ! she’ll flirt with you ! she’ll flirt with your cow ! i wish i could stop her but i can’t ! she’s never experienced this kind of freedom before, who could blame her for being a heaux ? ♡ still has sticky fingers, watch your shit around her if you want to keep it ! ♡ probably other things i’m forgetting but i am currently brain dead.

𝐖𝐀𝐍𝐓𝐄𝐃 𝐂𝐎𝐍𝐍𝐄𝐂𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍𝐒

♡ other revenants members › i mean duh,, gotta have those guild connections ! pals ? playful rivalry ? maybe even a little bit of mutual dislike ? gimme it all ! ♡ her old best friend › probably gonna put a wc on the main for this but PLEASE bring me her ex friend who stopped speaking to her when she joined the knights of the blood oath. i will SCREAM !! ♡ old folks from blood oath › people who she’s still friends with ? people she never got along with ? people angry that she left for the revenants ( esp if they were close before bc i love pain ) ? maybe even an ex ? *sharpay evans voice* i want it all ! ♡ flirtationships & fwb › like i said, she will flirt with a brick wall and she is living her best life as a heaux in velia asdadfvdf. let her be spici !!! ( lil notes : she’s bi + i’m chill w nsfw headcanons but i’m not super comfy writing smut in threads ) ♡ frenemies / enemies › let ! her ! be ! bitter ! that’s really it we can plot out why together i just love some good old fashioned hostility ( bonus points if there’s some underlying ~tension~ *eyebrow wiggle* ) ♡ an unlikely friendship › maybe someone who is more reserved who she can bring out a little chaos in or who can balance out the chaos in her ? maybe someone who has done something that she should hate them for, but instead they grew close ? a fun dynamic with characters who no one would ever guess would be as good of friends as they are ♡ anything else !! › if you have other ideas for fun connections please shoot them my way !! or we can brainstorm if ya want !!

#this is so long i'm so sorry afvsdf idk when to shut up #veliaintro

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bokunoherokomikuko · 6 years ago

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(Do not reblog the following)

Hi all my new followers!

I’m glad you liked my posts and such enough to follow me!

However, I should let you guys know some things now so you don’t find out later:

*My blog is not spoiler free, however I do tag spoilers with #bnha spoilers

**For the most part, I don’t really give that much of a shit about things cuz I’m here for a good time, ya feel//

Special Notice:

If you follow me and see something you don’t want to see, do Not come after me for it. This is my blog and I can post whatever I want on it. Do your own due diligence and make sure the blogs you’re following are the types you want to be following.

I ship Tododeku and Kiribaku as otp’s. I’m also into multishipping, polyshipping, and dekubowl

This is a multifandom blog with heroaca as a mainstay.

In this house we believe in ship and let ship

In this house we respect and love Bakugo Katsuki

Horikoshi Sensei can do what he wants with his story

In this house we do NOT tolerate hate, negativity, antis, or other such nonsense

DABI IS A TODOROKI FITE ME (lol) (LMAOOO SEE WE FUCKIN TOLD YOUUUU)

Bakudeku is valid, I don’t ship it, but I see the appeal, y'all good, lot of great content comes out of the bakudeku side of the fandom

Discourse? Not valid, keep it away from me. I do not want.

Politics? This ma fun blog, I don’t want it here. Although any kind of ’-phobe’ can fuck off. (I’mma add to this tho, because my conscience is weighing on me - Fuck Nazis, Fuck Supremacists, Fuck Discrimination)

Attacking other people? Definitely not valid. Keep that shit off here.

I support OTW and Ao3

I reblog and tag ‘NS/FW’. Do I draw it? No. But only because I’m not interested in drawing it, I could if I wanted to, though. I don’t have a problem with nu/de figures either since the body isn’t inherently sex/ual, but again I haven’t really drawn or uploaded that kind of content. I could if I wanted to. The most I’ve done so far is some very tame implied stuff, but that’s about it ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ ((Most classically trained artists will feel and tell you the same.)) Anything of this nature on my blog will be tagged as NSFT (Not Safe For Tumblr).

I’m not here to cater to people, I’m out here doing what I do for me. Do not expect me to cater to you, I am a person living my own life. Other people’s entitlement can get bent. I owe no one anything.

I do not allow reposts of my content, under any circumstances.

I’m a dumbass smartmouthed binch that yells a lot and can’t type //yeet//

----

Like I said, I’m letting y’all know now, so if you don’t like or don’t agree with anything I’ve said, you can hit that unfollow button with no hard feelings. You can block me, blacklist me, that’s all fine too. Just don’t go throwing any negativity my way and we’ll be golden.

I hope you guys don’t take this like I’m aggressive or whatnot, I just don’t want negativity here. And I don’t want anything that can’t be more easily resolved with a simple block and blacklist.

Tbh, I always feel nervous sending a post like this out because I feel like someone isn’t gonna like how I worded something or that I didn’t mention something specific. Like can you chill? You don’t know my story. You don’t know my traumas, my triggers, etc.

You can bet I’m not coming after you just because I disagree with you, so I expect the same treatment. But don’t take that as me not being willing to defend myself, because as friendly and courteous as I am, I’ve never said I was nice, and I am fully willing to prove that.

I don’t make this kind of post lightly, but if I don’t make my stances known, at least somewhat, then I’m going to have people I don’t want on my blog, and people who don’t want me, on my blog (for some reason?), and I don’t want that.

Sorry for bringing down the mood guys, I don’t posts things like this often, I just had to get them off my chest.

(on a related note, no one has sent me anything negative, at least nothing that’s hurt me in any significant way. I’m just a cautious person is all)

*I may update this in the future depending on necessity.

#personal #komikuko #before you follow #faq post #Do not reblog

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pattonly-perfect-in-every-way · 7 years ago

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Coffee Stains and Friends

Summary: Sanders Sides Human! AU. All Virgil wanted was a cup of coffee. A broken coffeemaker leads to a new friend. Just a short fic I was inspired to write. If people like it I may end up adding more to this universe.

Pairings: Platonic Moxiety

Warnings: None that I can think of! Let me know if you disagree and I’ll change it :)

Word Count: 754

All Virgil had wanted was a cup of coffee. But when he’d turned his coffeemaker on this morning it had started smoking. He'd quickly unplugged it before he managed to set fire to his apartment building. Again. And something told him his roommates, Roman and Logan, would be less forgiving if Virgil'd started another fire.

Knowing his roommates would need coffee to start their day, Virgil decided to go and pick some up. When he brought the coffee back they could talk about buying a new coffeemaker. So Virgil had slipped on his hoodie and stepped out into the cold.

The air was frigid, a brisk wind chilling Virgil to the bone the second he stepped off the front stoop. He hunched his shoulders and reminded himself that this was all for coffee. He set to walking the nearest coffee shop when he noticed a sign on the sidewalk in front of him. Apparently the new cafe that had been advertised for weeks is finally open. Virgil quickened his pace and stepped through the front door of the little shop.

A bell jingled as he walked in, its tone as bright as the atmosphere of the little cafe. It was a small place, with only a few tables here and there. There was a fireplace toward the back of the store, with a chocolate colored sofa set poised around it for people to sit and enjoy the warmth.

Not seeing any employees, Virgil walked up to the counter. Perched right next to the cash register is a small bell with a sign in front of it that read, “Ring the bell of you need help, and I'll be there in no chime!” Virgil chuckled at the pun and rang the bell at the counter.

Very soon afterward Virgil saw a man skip toward him from the back of the cafe. He was short, with brown hair and brown eyes. He was wearing a blue polo with a cat hoodie tied around his neck. The first word Virgil thought of to describe the man was adorable.

“What can I get ya, kiddo?” The man asked. Panicked because he hadn't actually looked at the menu, Virgil ordered the first thing he saw. “Uh… hot chocolate.” Virgil winced at how awkward he sounded, but the man didn't seemed phased. If anything he smiled even brighter.

“One hot chocolate coming right up, kiddo! Why don't you go take a seat and I'll bring it out to you.” Virgil nodded, and moved to take a seat in an armchair that was in an out of the way corner of the room. Virgil pulled out his phone and played a game while he waited.

He was suddenly pulled out of his game by a burning feeling down the front of his shirt. He looked up to the see the man with a very apologetic look on his face.

“I'm so sorry!” he said. Virgil watched the man suddenly turn into a mess of arms and legs as he frantically tried to dry Virgil off. Virgil stood and stopped the man’s napkin tirade by heading to the door.

“It's alright,” he heard himself say. Virgil stood and headed to the door. “I'll just go home and--"

“--You’ll do no such thing!” The man exclaimed. He grabbed Virgil's arm and pulled him toward the door behind the counter that the man had come out of originally. “It's much too cold for you to go outside drenched like that. You can borrow one of my shirts and hang out here while I wash and dry your clothes!” Virgil wanted to argue, but the man’s grip was strong. And Virgil also didn't want to turn down the free wash. He hated doing laundry.

So he followed--well, was pulled by-- the man up the stairs into a cozy little apartment. The man let go of Virgil and sped into another room. A second later he came back and threw a shirt at Virgil.

“Patton?” Virgil asked, reading the name on the shirt.

“That's my name! Don't wear it out.” Patton said. Virgil rolled his eyes at the joke. “No really,” the man said. “Don't wear it out. That's a pajama shirt. People will think you're weird.” Patton winked at Virgil, who grinned.

About two hours later Virgil’s clothes had been washed and he had coffee for everyone and enough pastries to feed an army. He also had plans to come back to the little cafe, and get to know the eclectic owner a little better.

#sanders sides #patton sanders #virgil sanders #moxiety #sanders sides fanfiction #lexicon writes

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stimmyvillainarchive · 6 years ago

Note

WHY does the android app gotta suck so much, when i click the faq link it just like refreshes the page,,,, this happens with all links in bios on the andoird app :[

NNNN lovin this broke ass app.

I’mma go ahead and paste the FAQ just under the cut, hopefully you should be able to read it now :’))

(FAQ is written by Mod Joker)

“Are requests open?”

We get this ask a lot. And while I don’t mind answering, it does get a lilll annoying sometimes since we’re essentially repeating ourselves constantly. Before you ask, please check our ask box! It will ALWAYS give our request status!

From now on if we receive requests when they’re closed, we’re going to delete the message entirely. You’re free to ask again when they’re open, but we need breaks!

“Can allistic/neurotypical people follow?”

Yes! So long as you’re respectful of stimming and understand it’s not an aesthetic or something to make fun of.

“It says there’s two mods, but I only really see Mod Joker post.”

There is! But Mod Boo is rather, well, shy. We both are, tbh. I’ve just gotten used to talking a lot on this blog. And to tell ya the truth I invited her to mod this with me because she considered making a blog but wasn’t sure how she’d do it, and was worried she’d be too awkward/quiet. But she actually tends to see your messages a lot! She just tends to let me handle things. But if you ever wanna talk to her, just say the message is specifically for her and I’m sure she’ll get back to you. She’s very friendly and tbh one of the best people to talk to!!

“How do you make gifs?”

I use the same method stimmybby uses! His tutorial’s right here!

“How do you make banners?”

I use photoshop and for backgrounds (depending on what type of background), I use paint tool SAI. I made a tutorial on how I do it here!

“Can we use your banners for posts that aren’t stim related?”

Absolutely! So long as credit is given and you’re not in our dni, then use it as you like! Discourse posts, art, vent posts, promo posts, whatever floats your boat!

“Can I use your gif/s?”

As long as there’s credit to us for the gif/s and you don’t apply to our dni, you’re free to!

“How can I credit you?”

There’s a few ways! Such as

- Including the credit in the post and/or under the cut (this is the best way people can access the original post and see the credit!

- Include the credit in the post’s captions

- Include the credit in the tags

- Include a link in the post to another post that has the credits in it

- Saying you got the gif/s from us in the post

“What are bad/wrong ways to ”“credit”“ you?”

- Saying “I don’t own these gifs”

- Saying “credit to the original owner(s)/gifmaker(s)

- Straight up not saying you took these gifs from people/including in no credits

- Claiming the gif/s are yours/you made them

If I see any of these I WILL publicly call you out on it and you WILL be blocked immediately thereafter. That block will not be lifted.

“What does REG mean?”

Reactionary Exclusionary Gatekeeper. Meaning people who try to exclude certain queer people from queer spaces. Such a biphobes, transphobes, aphobes, panphobes, and so on.

“What does TERF mean?”

Trans/Transgender Exclusionary Radical Feminist. Meaning radfems who are transphobic and are violent towards trans people (especially trans women).

“What does SWERF mean?”

Sex Worker Exclusionary Radical Feminist. They’re radfems who try to exclude sex worker from their feminism and often treat women attracted to men as less worthy.

“What’s the ADT community?”

ADT stands for “Actually Dysphoric Trans/Transgender” and was created by transmedicalists/truscum to break off from the trans community. It’s an insult to the trans community, an insult to the creator of the transgender pride flag (it’s removed the white that was there for people who ID as non-binary/outside the gender binary), and is there purely to start drama and create rifts in a community that’s already got enough enemies for simply existing in a transphobic world

“He/Him lesbians don’t exist/they’re transphobic towards trans men”

As a trans man who doesn’t think the world revolves around me and who understands that what lesbians decide to do it literally none of my goddamn business: get the fuck over yourself you whiny pissbaby

“What do you mean by people in the true crime community?”

People who sexualize, romanticize, excuse, and/or support serial killers and their actions/crimes. This doesn’t include people who are INTERESTED in the topic of crimes, serial killers, etc but acknowledging how these people are disgusting and their actions are unforgivable.

“Why are you anti-cgl?”

Cause we hate pedophiles and are decent human beings.

“You’re bigoted to kinksters just like homophobes are bigoted to gay people!”

I hate to break it to ya bud but I’m proudly kinkphobic and you’re a giant homophobe!!

“I’m a SFW cgl(re)/littlespace blog so I’m following/interacting uwu”

No the fuck you aren’t!! You’re a kink blog, there’s no such thing as a “sfw kink” even if you’re remaining two braincells are too busy fighting over the last pacifier to tell you some fuckin common sense. Your ass is getting blocked and I’ll also be using your blog to take a look at the people you interact and block them too just for safe measure! Eat a cactus, fuck nugget

“You hate lesbians if you hate TERFs”

You owe every lesbian an apology for assuming they’re all mysogynistic, LGBT+phobic pieces of horseshit like you are. Eat a dick.

“aces/aros aren’t LGBT uwu”

Wow… that’s so wrong Alexa play Fuck You by Lily Allen

“Me/Someone I know/(insert user/s) has been blocked. Why?”

There can be a number of reasons why you’re blocked, and I’m not afraid to block people as I want this place comfortable and safe for the mods and followers. So there’s several reasons as to why.

- You apply to our DNI (see BYF)

- You’re a (insert harmless children’s cartoon) critical blog (I tend to block those due to them saying LGBT+phobic things)

- You get into kin drama

- You’re an ace discourse, pan discourse, bi discourse, and/or overall REG discourse blog (this does not mean I block inherently block discourse blogs! I block the shitty ones)

- You’re a spam/porn/etc bot (if I’ve gotten this wrong, lemme know! I tend to block shady and empty blogs for this reason unless their desc/url/etc says it’s empty/weird for a reason)

- You’re a blog that frequently posts/centers around one or more of my triggers

- You’re an aesthetic blog (though I tend to soft block for them. But this is NOT an aesthetic blog and stimmy is NOT an aesthetic)

- You’re an “anyone can interact” stim blog

- You’re a stim blog that steals/doesn’t credit the gifs they use

- I feel you and I are going to argue and I’m just saving us the trouble of future unpleasant encounter/s

- You’ve been shitty to my friends or just been shitty to people in general and I’ve noticed it

HOWEVER I’ve made slip ups in the past! If you feel you don’t apply to any of these, you can contact me through my main and ask why. Sometimes I don’t always remember why I blocked somebody (sadly there’s a lot of shitheads on this site I’ve needed to block) or I’ve confused one blog for another person’s blog. Or maybe the person was more chill than I thought. Please contact me yourself rather than ask somebody else to do it though so I can get all the details! Even if I don’t lift the block, I won’t report you for block evading or anything.

“You used to be kidheart friendly and now you’re not, why’s that?”

Sadly, Raven (the creator of Kidhearts) has proven to be a bully sympathizer and feels it’s okay to compare agere to kinks/cgl and sides with regressionuncensored. She condones bullying/harassment/the sexualization of minors and I am not nor will ever be okay with that.

“But Raven sai-”

I don’t care what she says. She made it abundantly clear that she supports regressionuncensored and I don’t care that it came back to bite her in the ass. Bullies deserve no support, no sympathy, no nothing. And if you side with her than don’t come near this blog. This is agere safe and I will not allow people who support sexualizing it to interact. Kidhearts WILL be blocked on the spot, no questions asked.

“I’ve left a community on the dni list, can I follow/interact?”

Yes!

“Why are you anti-(insert thing on blacklist here)?”

Camp Camp: It’s racist + antisemitic

Dragon Maid: It’s pedophilic

Killing Stalking: It’s homophobic, ableist, sexist, perpetuates rape culture, and fetishizes abuse

Your Lie in April: It romanticizes child abuse and it literally starts off with a gross pedo joke when we meet the love interest in episode one

Split: It’s ableist

Hetalia: It’s antisemitic

Harry Potter/J.K. Rowling’s works: Actually there’s nothing inherently bad about the story. I just don’t like it. HOWEVER: I can’t stand J.K. Rowling as she’s a TERF/overall LGBT+phobe, and racist. So none of her creations will be featured here.

Sonic Boom: Nothing inherently problematic. I just can’t stand the show because it just fuckin sucks

13 Reasons Why: It romanticizes suicide and the creators refused to listen to actual mental health experts and have made the show potentially dangerous to anyone who even slightly deals with suicidal thoughts/urges

Detroit Become Human: It’s racist + antisemitic

Voltron: Legendary Defender: It queerbaits/it’s LGBT+phobic

“REG is a transphobic term”

I, Mod Joker, am trans. Try again.

“A-specs aren’t LG-”

*buzzer sound* wrong. So sad for you

“You’re not LGBT+ because you DARED disagree with me because you actually acknowledged that tumblr didn’t credit the community sweaty uwu”

We get this shit because a lot of you assume I’m ace or at the very least a-spec. And… Ya couldn’t be far from it. I’m a pan, genderfluid trans man. Even with all your gatekeeper (sorry, BULLSHIT) logic; I’d still be attracted to multiple genders and not be cis. I’m p queer. So no matter which way you slice it, I’m part of LGBT+. Die mad about it.

“You’re comparing aphobes to TERFs and SWERFs you fucking transphobe!”

Wow I didn’t realize setting boundaries meant that I viewed y'all in the EXACT same light. I’m so glad I have the lovely aphobes that have told my friends that they should kill themselves to set me straight.

Asking people not to interact doesn’t inherently mean I think they’re the EXACT same thing.

“Mod Joker is a gif-thief and reposts people’s content without properly crediting them!”

I have made this entire post explaining that’s wrong. Idrc if the post is too lengthy for you. Don’t talk shit if you don’t even have all the details.

Additionally, if you send me somethin about this in a negative light I’m IP blocking you. One strike and you’re out. If you want to believe people with false info and false accusations then that’s your baggage. Not mine.

HOWEVER if I’ve accidentally mis-credited, forgot to/messed up on crediting a person for their gif/video, or so on let me know! I’ll make mistakes, but I never do it intentionally.

#I realized the last link was a bit outdated anyway so whatever #this should help at least!#asks #anon #Mod Joker

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thedragontamerying · 7 years ago

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Stand By Me

Chapter nine is here! Sorry for the missed week and the small delay on this chapter. Like I said previously, I’ve been busy with multiple things, including finding a place to live for school. I’m nervous and excited at the idea of living on my own for the first time. ;w; In all honesty, writing this one was a bit more challenging because it was difficult for me to free write Ardyn without the game’s script helping me. He’s such a piece of trash complex character that it made it a bit difficult to find his voice. But hopefully I didn’t do too badly with him. I hope you enjoy!

Tagging: @seal-pai @insomniasix @theyearofdiamonddogs @zoeyredbird1 @ffxv-ocs-unite

Ch 1 <<< Ch 8 : Ch 10 | [Masterlist]

Chapter IX: He of No Consequence

The group had driven to the location that Talcott had referred to in his story about the possible Royal Arms. After avoiding a vicious midgardsormr, a giant snake that had Prompto chattering his teeth, and taking out a few shieldshears that provided inspiration for Ignis -- thanks to the new abundance of crab meat -- they found themselves at the entrance of the waterfall. The natural wonder was quite a beauty to witness; its water was a crystal clear blue and the sheer size of it was glorious. The light spray from the crashing current was pleasant against the group’s skin, especially after their small scuffle.

“The legend says to look behind the waterfall.” Prompto stated as the group approached the water from a small ledge along the cliffside.

“What does the waterfall say?” Ignis questioned, almost sounding doubtful. From the angle they were at it didn’t look like there was anything but stone wall behind said waterfall.

As they got closer and followed the ledge to the side of the falling water, an entrance into the cliffside revealed itself, right where the legend said. “I think it says, ‘come in’.” With that the others followed the eager gunman in, avoiding being drenched by the water and walking into the large cavern. At first the atmosphere of the cave wasn’t really noteworthy; it was dark and smelled of mildew, as to be expected given its location.

Although, as the group moved further in, the air dropped to a skin numbing chill and the darkness was suddenly glowing blue. The lights clipped on to their individual Crownsguard uniforms revealed that the inner formation of the cave was completely covered in ice. “This place gives me goosebumps,” Prompto rubbed his hands against his exposed arms, “Double back for our coats?”

“What’s the point?” Gladiolus scoffed, “A little chill won’t kill ya.”

Artemisia had to disagree as she felt her finger tips already becoming numb. Artemisia’s petite stature made contorting and flexible movement easy, but it was less efficient when it came to regulating body heat, even with the added muscle she’s built over the years. Despite having her jacket on, she could feel her body temperature nosedive as soon as they entered the cave. She tried warming herself a little by bringing her sleeves all the way down to her wrists instead of folded up at her elbows, as they usually are. It didn’t make much a difference, unfortunately, and rubbing her arms to create heated friction was only a momentary relief.

She was feeling for Prompto, who had no extra layers to protect him from any potential frostbite. She would feel bad for Gladiolus also, but she was too busy being bewildered by his complete disregard for the bitter cold instead. She knew he was usually warmer than most, but this was ridiculous. He’s practically shirtless, for Astrals’ sake!

“Easy for you to say, you walking furnace…”

“What was that?”

“Nothing…” Artemisia shook her head, dismissing Gladiolus’ question. “But I’m with Prompto on this: the faster we can get out of this cold, the better.”

“Indeed, we’re all at risk of hypothermia if we linger for too long.” Ignis retorted, cleaning away some moisture from his glasses. “I suggest we make haste.”

“Well let’s get moving then.” Noctis said impatiently, already moving ahead and taking the lead through the cave. The others followed him quickly, not wanting to be left behind.

Prompto blew a hot breath of air onto his hands in an attempt to warm up. “Well, looking on the bright side, maybe the cold keeps the daemons away.”

“Yeah, because daemons like warmth.”

“Ah, sarcasm.”

Maybe we can use Gladio as a repellent then…

Prompto brushed off the bigger man’s comment and palmed his chin in a contemplative gesture. “What if they’re frozen?”

“Encased in ice…” Despite his earlier sarcasm, Gladiolus added to the thought. He had to admit it was an intriguing idea. “Waiting for something warm to pass by.”

“And then--” Prompto scurried next to Artemisia and jumped, making her flinch back in surprise. “They jump out!” Despite his usual playful attempt to scare her, Prompto turned out to be the one with a shiver running down his spine. The sneeze and his chattering teeth hinted that it was due more to the cold than the previous statement.

Right before Ignis could berate the two for their wild fantasies, the foretold sign of daemons rose from the ground. The unprepared Prompto to jump back and Artemisia couldn’t help but smile slightly at the irony. “Thanks Prompto, you gave them ideas.”

“I didn’t know they were listening!”

Despite the small surprise entrance, the daemons weren’t particularly difficult. The glutinous flan daemons were slow and didn’t hit hard. The only difficulty was that they may impose was their resistance to most weaponry; having a liquid body came in handy considering swords and bullets just slide through you. A lone hunter caught off guard by a pack of them would be easy prey for the monsters. The royalty of the Lucian bloodline and his retinue, however, were a different story. Noctis launched a small fire bomb at the flans, melting the beasts until nothing was left. The group basked in the dying heat from the fire for a moment, taking in what warmth they could before the magical fire disappeared.

“Well done, Noct.” Ignis praised.

“No big deal,” the young king retorted in a dismissive manner, but Artemisia could see how he puffed his chest out in pride. “I am the Prince of Pain, of course.”

Gladiolus laughed hearing the nickname he personally called Noctis on occasion. Suddenly, a load of melted snow fell on top of the proud ravennette, drenching him and drowning his previous optimistic mood. Poor Noctis stood there frozen and completely silent, staring at his completely dry friends, daring them to go ahead and laugh at him. Gladiolus and Prompto stifled their sounds of amusement, knowing it really wasn’t appropriate even if the comedic karma was. “I’m noticing a pattern,” Noctis stuttered through the cold, “And I don’t like it.”

Ignis sighed, commenting about how he’ll be able to take a warm up once they return to Lestallum. Noctis shook off the snow from his shoulders and head before they continued down the icy path. No doubt he was even more impatient to get through the cave now due to his newly dampened clothes. The group followed Noctis until they came to the edge of the path before it turned into a steep slope into the darkness below. It was completely covered in ice; there was no way they would be able to climb down, or climb up for that matter.

“Heading down a slippery slope, in slip-sliding shoes…” Prompto muttered, staring down the darkened path.

Artemisia looked down the slope, unable to see as where it would take them. She would have rathered they try to find another way further in rather than take a leap of faith, but this appeared to be the quickest way in. Given the depleting temperatures and Noctis’ recently dampened clothes, the quicker they got in and got out the better.

“You have the lead on this, Noct.” She stated through her chattering teeth. “But for time’s sake, please don’t get us lost.”

Noctis scoffed. “Don’t worry, I got this. Let’s go.”

With that final word, he made the first leap, the group sliding down into the unknown cavern below.

“Noct, if I may--”

“Don’t ask.”

“Yep,” Gladiolus clicked his tongue, “We’re lost.”

“Don’t answer!”

Artemisia and Prompto groaned in emotional agony. It had been almost an hour since they took the plunge down into the icy cave, and ever since they’ve been hitting dead ends and running into more daemons. The place was like a maze and the fact that everything was reflecting off of each other, disorienting the group’s sense of direction, wasn’t making anything easier. The occasional fights with the daemons helped keep their body temperatures up, but the overall frustration of their situation overshadowed any physical relief they had.

“I’m freezing!” Prompto complained, rubbing his arms frantically. “What I wouldn’t give for a hot bowl of soup…” He hummed appreciatively, closing his eyes as he imagined the warming bowl in front of him.

“I’ll be sure to whip up a pot when we return to Lestallum,” Ignis assured, “But for now let us focus on the matter at hand.” They approached a narrow ledge, the only other way across to continue their search. Noctis sighed, stepping one foot onto the ledge to test its durability. This wasn’t the first one they’ve come across during their exploration, but each one was just as suspicious as the last one. One slip and it would mean a hard hit to the ground below. Even if the fall didn’t kill them, the possibility of getting trapped in an icy prison wasn’t an appealing one.

After some insistence, Gladiolus was the first one to make it across. If it could hold him, it should be able to hold the others. Ignis was the next, staying light on his feet as he sidled to the other side. Noctis leaned against the icy wall, ready to take his turn across. Artemisia held her breath as she watched him; considering she did the same when the other two went over, it’s surprising she didn’t faint due to a lack of oxygen.

Everyone was quiet, making sure that Noctis could focus on keeping his balance. He was half way across when Prompto chuckled quietly. “Your tips just got frosted, dude.”

“Really?” Noctis blinked, focusing his eyes on the bangs that fell in front of his face. He tried to pull his hair down more so he could see the possibly frosted tips better. “How does it look?”

Suddenly Noctis stumbled, his foot slipping on the ice beneath him. He tried to readjust his balance, but the little space and no traction made it impossible. His body weight shifted and focused into his chest, sending him forward and falling over the ledge. Artemisia was about to scream in horror when Gladiolus quickly caught Noctis’ arm, swinging him back up to safety in a pendulum motion. There was a collective sigh of relief as he laid there on the cold ground, calming his senses from the recent event. Artemisia slide her hands from over her mouth down and over her chest, clutching the fabric over her heart as she willed her heartbeat to slow down. “Let’s not talk about hair right now, guys.”

“Agreed, the last thing we need now are more distractions.” Prompto nodded at the pointed stare from Ignis, drawing a line over his mouth with his fingers before locking and throwing away the metaphorical key.

The five continued on, coming upon another slippery slope as the only way to progress onward. Noctis ignored the skeptical look from Artemisia and jumped down, quickly followed by the others. They landed, falling into a safe roll, in a empty wide open section of the cave. For a moment it looked like all there was to the area were the many icicles hanging from the ceiling and the ones forming on the ground. It wasn’t until they took a couple steps further in did Artemisia notice a familiar door.

“Guys,” the other four turned to her and followed where she was pointing to see the entryway to the royal tomb, “Over there.”

Noctis sighed, digging for the key that Cor had given him. “Finally…”

Gladiolus nudged Artemisia’s shoulder lightly, a smug smile on his face. “See? And you were worried that there wasn’t anything here.” She rolled her eyes but smiled at him. While she still stood by her previous worries, she was glad that they wouldn’t be leaving empty handed.

Noctis brought the key out from his pocket, unlocking the tomb’s ancient doors. The doors groaned as it separated down the middle, snow and icicles that had gathered over the years breaking off and landing at his feet. The blue shine from the cave’s ice lightened up the dark tomb. Somehow the tomb remained untouched from the cold surrounding it, not a bit of snow or ice in it. Noctis approached the stone coffin of the ancient king, where two daggers connected at the hilt laid in waiting. Doing as he had done with the tombs before, he summoned the weapon to with the raise of his hand before the weapon plunged itself into his chest. Its after image appeared with the previous arms that they had collected before breaking away in a light of crystals.

“Woohoo! One royal arm in the bag!” Prompto cheered, instantly regretting it when he raised his arms above his head in celebration. Artemisia could see the shiver that ran down his body from exposing his sensitive underarms to the bitter cold. He quickly brought his arms down, crossing them over his chest as he stuffed his hands under his armpits. “Can we leave now?”

“We have what we came for. I believe we can return to Lestallum proudly as we bring word of our successful endeavours.” Ignis stated.

“No doubt Talcott will be happy to hear how it went.” Noctis added, leaving the now empty tomb to rejoin with the others.

Artemisia sighed. “Hopefully it will be easier to get out of here than it was to get in.”

“Should be fine as long as our Master of Directions isn’t leading.”

“Hey…” Noctis whined, glaring at his smirking shield. “It’s wasn’t my fault.”

“Of course,” Despite the vocal reassurance, the sarcastic tone in Ignis’ voice was not missed. He pushed up his glasses before starting the walk back out of the cave, waving his hand towards him as a gesture for the others to follow. “Come along now.”

Artemisia patted Noctis’ back as he huffed a defeated groan, to which she couldn’t help but chuckle at before Prompto engulfed them both in his arms with a laugh. “Come on slow pokes!” With their heads trapped in his arms, the two were clumsily guided by the excited blonde as the three followed Ignis and Gladiolus.

The relief from the cave’s chill was almost immediate once they reached the entrance from earlier, bringing them back to the waterfall. Even the mist from the waterfall was warm against the group’s’ skin compared to what they had endured for the past hour and a half. Artemisia was happy to have the sun warm her skin; if they weren’t so keen on getting back to Lestallum so quickly, she wouldn’t have minded basking in it for a little cat nap.

She decided to push Gladiolus’ previous comments of the similarities of her and a cat to the back of her mind as they climbed down from the rocky entrance of the cave. Prompto had stopped behind Artemisia and Noctis to take a photo of the waterfall as the other two continued on to follow Gladiolus and Ignis. “Nothing like a small spontaneous winter to make you appreciate days like this.” Artemisia smiled over to her friend who no doubt was grateful for the heat so his previously drenched jacket could dry.

Noctis opened his mouth to reply before he suddenly keeled over, clutching his head. “Noct?” Artemisia placed a hand on his shoulder before Noctis’ knees gave out and he fell against her. “Noctis!” Artemisia caught him the best she could, wrapping her arms around him and lowering the two of them to the ground the best she could with the sudden added weight. “Noctis, what’s wrong?!”

The other guys, hearing Artemisia’s distressed voice, ran over to them. Prompto slid next to Noctis on his knees, frantically asking what was going on. Gladiolus and Ignis hurried over also questioning the sudden ordeal. Noctis groaned in pain, taking in one more sharp intake before his breathing slowed to long labored pants as though he had just finished a long marathon. The grip on his head became slack to a gentle rub against his temple. Soon he shifted his weight off Artemisia to support himself with his hands against the grassy ground.

“Noct, you okay?” Prompto asked, the concern clear in his voice. Despite his condition seeming to improve, everyone still stood on edge for another sudden affliction to overtake him.

Noctis tried to respond but his words came out slurred and misunderstood. He took a moment before attempting to talk again. “What was that…?”

“What is it?” Gladiolus asked.

“A hole in the ground… Something burning. The Meteor?”

Artemisia blinked in shock, her and Ignis giving each other knowing looks. “You saw the Disc of Cauthess.” Ignis stated, a tone of awed disbelief in his voice.

“But why?” Artemisia asked, her and Prompto helping Noctis to his feet. “Why would he just suddenly have a vision of the meteor?” Everyone was quiet, having no answer to the question.

“Let’s head back to Lestallum.” Gladiolus suggested, coming next to Noctis. “We can figure it out on the way there, maybe find answers there.” He patted Noctis on the shoulder, giving a small shake to it. “You got it?”

“Yeah, I’m good.” Noctis reassured. Any pain he was in a moment ago seemed to fade away, or at least it dulled away to something more manageable than the intense agony he felt before.

After a comment about reporting back to Talcott from Prompto, the team traced their steps back to the parked Regalia and made the trip back to Lestallum. The entire ride Artemisia would check Noctis’ condition for any more head pains, to which he seemed to suffer from at random. After the a couple of signs of distress, Artemisia had handed him a few pills of pain medication from her side pouch. Noctis had questioned why she just happened to have a bottle of medication on her person. He decided to just accept it when she simply answered “All women carry them.”

They arrived back at the Leville in Lestallum to find Talcott, Jared and Iris in the lobby waiting for them. Talcott was the first to notice them, hopping up from his seat and waving to them. “Prince Noctis! Welcome back!”

“Your story came to a happy end.” Ignis informed with a smile to the young boy.

“Well, well…” Jared hummed, smiling and pointedly looking over to Artemisia. She returned it with her own smile and a nod of gratitude.

“We owe you, Talcott.” Noctis thanked the young man. As Talcott was about to respond to his thanks when suddenly Noctis gasped in pain and clutched his head. Talcott and the others flinched back in surprise to his sudden ailment. Before the other four could react, his pain left as quick as it came. Noctis groaned slightly at the lingering pains. “Not again…” Iris came to his side, concern all over her face. “What’s the matter? You alright?”

Before Noctis could answer, Gladiolus came over to his side. “He’ll be fine, don’t worry.” He assured his sister nonchalantly. Iris relaxed a little, her anxiety shifting back to confusion. He patted Noctis on the back, helping him stand up straight. “But we outta take a closer look at this so called ‘Disc’.”

“Then look no further than the Outlook.” Prompto declared. “We can use the viewer things.”

“Viewfinders,” Artemisia corrected.

Ignis brought his thumb to his bottom lip as he pondered. “No substitute for being on site, but it would be a start.” He looked over to Noctis as he addressed the others. “Let’s see what we can glean of Noct’s condition.” He addressed Iris and the two others after the rest of their group agreed. “We apologize for such a swift reunion, but duty calls.”

“Of course, do what you must.” Jared assured.

“I’ll keep everyone safe while you’re gone, Prince Noctis!” Talcott promised enthusiastically.

Noctis let out a small laugh. “I’ll hold you to it.”

“We’ll see you guys later.” Gladiolus gave Iris a quick one-armed hug before following Noctis out of the Leville. Artemisia lingered behind for a moment, noticing the repressed worry in Iris’ eyes. She gave the young girl a smile and placed a comforting hand on her shoulder. “Everything will be okay. We’ll be back before you know it.” Iris gave a weak smile in return, her worry still present despite her friend’s reassurance. Artemisia gave the three one more goodbye before leaving to catch up with the guys.

Despite her words to Iris, the closer they got to the Outlook, the bigger sense of dread boiled within Artemisia’s stomach. She was unsure as to why her anxiety was suddenly accelerating until she saw the familiar locks of unique maroon hair contained by an old fedora. “Guys…” Artemisia warned them in a low whisper. There stood the same shaggy man from Galdin Quay, the same who told them about the closed port. Despite the aloof man’s disheveled appearance and casual demeanour, Artemisia couldn’t help but feel apprehensive being around the man. She couldn’t really explain why, but the man’s overall presence was foreboding.

The retinue slowed to a cautious walk once the man waved at them with a smile. “What a coincidence.”

“I’m not so sure it is.”

Good to know Gladio's on the same page...

The man, seeming to ignore Gladiolus sharp tone, approached the group nonchalantly. “Aren’t nursery rhymes curious things?” The guarded five glanced at each other, all of them just as confused as the other at the odd statement. “Like this one,” the man continued, pointing at the shining Disc while looking Noctis dead in the eyes. “From the deep, the Archen calls. Yet on deaf ears, the god’s tongue falls. The King made to kneel, in pain he crawls.” Gladiolus and Ignis stepped in front of the group, directing the ominous man’s gaze away from their king. Prompto poked out from behind the two. “So, uh, how do we keep him on his feet?”

He smiled at the question. “You only heed the call.” He walked through the parting group, stopping to look down at Artemisia who had remained further back. “Visit the Archen and hear his plea.” His stare remained hard on her even after he spoke, as though he was awaiting for her to respond. She didn’t -- in fact, she was certain that she couldn’t. What ever apprehension she had of the man was enough to trap her voice in her throat. She looked away, noting how his smile seemed to grow at the action.

Gladiolus’ hand wrapped around her wrist, tugging her behind him as he took on the suspicious man’s stare. His amber eyes darkened in warning at the stranger. Despite Gladiolus’ menacing stance, the man shrugged and walked a few steps away, his body language relaxed as though nothing has happened. “I can take you.”

The five remained silent to the offer. Every alarm in Artemisia’s mind screamed that he couldn’t be trusted; that they should go to the Archen without him. They don’t need a creepy tour guide when they have a map that shows how to get to their destination. It’s worked for them so far. Gladiolus moved his hand from Artemisia’s wrist and pressed between her shoulder blades, guiding her back to the other three to form a small group huddle. “We in?” The Shield asked once they joined.

“I don’t know…” Noctis muttered, no doubt sharing Artemisia’s anxiety about the odd man.

“I would rather if we didn’t,” she added, “I don’t trust this, or him…”

“In regards to trusting him, I agree with you. However,” Ignis argued, “The Disc of Cauthess is under Imperial guard. If there’s any chance that he would be able to get us in without causing a stir, we might want to seize it.”

“So we hitch a ride…”

Prompto trailed off, to which Gladiolus finished.

“...But watch our backs.”

Ignis and Noctis agreed, leaving Artemisia to reluctantly go along with the decision. She still would have preferred they find another way in. Perhaps it was cowardly of her, but she wanted to avoid all contact with this man, regardless of if he’d be of use to them or not. She couldn’t shake the feeling that something bad was going to happen.

Her sense of dread only worsened when she saw the man smirk. “Come with me then.” The man sauntered towards the parking lot with the five friends in tow. “I’m not one to stand on ceremony, but such an occasion calls for an introduction.” He looked over his shoulder and lifted his fedora. “Please, call me Ardyn.” He approached an old fashioned automobile, painted a light maroon with gold trimmings that adorned the exterior and beige interior of the car. “This here is my automobile. She’s a dear old thing.” Ardyn announced, caressing the hood of his treasured vehicle.

“Pales next to your Regalia -- ” Why does he know about our car? Has he been spying on us? “ -- but she’s never let me down.”

Ardyn gave one more pat to his car before gesturing to the Regalia a few spots back. “So we take two vehicles, a convoy of sorts.” Artemisia felt some relief knowing that at least she wouldn’t be trapped in car with this Ardyn for who knows how long. This way they can keep themselves at a safe distance from him. “Allow me the honor of assigning your driver.” Ardyn hummed, looking over the group inquisitively. “I choose… you.” He dramatically pointed at Noctis. The young king shrugged.

“Fine by me.”

“With that decided, let us be off.”

The group split off from Ardyn, both going to their respective vehicles. Noctis took the driver’s seat, leaving Artemisia to be squeezed between Ignis and Gladiolus again. The former tried what he could to give her more space, and even though she appreciated the gesture, Artemisia assured him not to worry about it so much. Trying to maintain a distance that was comfortable for both of them would be nearly impossible once the car was moving through the twists and turns of the road, especially with their speed-demon king driving. Both her and Ignis decided to ignore Gladiolus’ suggestion that she just sit in one of their laps. Honestly, it wasn’t a bad tip, but she didn’t want to subject any of them to that embarrassment.

Or give Gladiolus the satisfaction of being right.

Once they were on a quiet road just outside of Lestallum, Noctis slowly stopped the car so that their mysterious guide could come to the front of them. “Just to be clear, this isn’t a race.” Ardyn stopped next to them, speaking to them from his top down car. “It is a chase. You are not to pass me.”

Well that was an ominous way to say don’t speed ahead.

“Lose sight of me and you’ll lose your way. And no tailgating,” he added, “An accident would spoil the trip.”

“Alright, alright let’s hit the road already.” Noctis urged impatiently.

“As you wish,” Ardyn tipped his hat at them once more before slowly driving ahead, “Drive safely now.” With that, Ardyn sped off down the road, not even bothering to make sure that the others were close behind. Noctis was quick to follow though, making sure that they didn’t lose their guide as he rushed ahead of them.

“First Galdin and then Lestallum,” Prompto mumbled once Ardyn was out of earshot, “What a coincidence, huh?”

“Way too convenient to be a coincidence.” Gladiolus scoffed. “I reckon he’s following us around.”

“Good to know I’m not the only one who thinks that…”

“But to what end?” Ignis added. “That question bothers me deeply, as does his origin.”

Prompto hummed, looking at the sky thoughtfully. “It’s hard to picture that guy in the Empire.”

“But it’s even harder to imagine him as a Lucian.”

“Personally, I would have rathered we find our own way to the Disc.” Artemisia stated, with Ignis agreeing in tow. Though, as Prompto was quick to point out, Ardyn looked like their only way to the Disc and they couldn’t pass on the opportunity; especially with Noctis’ health on the line.

“What’s his Highness’s opinion of this Ardyn?” Gladiolus asked their driver.

“Don’t really have one,” Noctis sighed, “He’s nothing more than a creepy old dude to me.”

Prompto chuckled. “Ya hit the nail on the head right there. Did guys see the way he looked at you?” Prompto glanced at his friend beside him and Artemisia in the back. Noctis groaned. “Yeah, we noticed.” Artemisia and him locked eyes for a moment through the rear view mirror, both of them sharing an uncomfortable look at the previous memory.

“That’s why we came up with a plan.” Gladiolus stated, stretching his left arm behind Artemisia and laying it across the back board. The gesture gave more space between him and Artemisia, allowing her to breath a little easier. It helped calm her agitated nerves over their predicament, at least a small bit. She patted him lightly on the knee -- the closest substitute from his arm -- as thanks. He blinked down at where her hand connected with his knee before looking back to the road, seeming to not pay much attention to it.

“Noct, how are the headaches?” Ignis asked.

“Fine for now, but they come without warning.” Noctis replied with a small groan. The last thing they needed was for their driver to experience a sudden debilitating migraine behind the wheel. Losing their guide, who was still speeding on ahead of them, would be the least of their worries at that point. “Stop if you need to, alright?” Prompto encouraged, looking at his bestie with concern.

After a while longer of driving, with thankfully no headache induced accidents, Noctis had noticed that Ardyn had pulled into the Coernix outpost and followed behind him. Ardyn approached the group as they waited in the Regalia, curious about the sudden stop. “What say we call it a day here?”

“What say we continue on to Cauthess.” Gladiolus practically growled at the eccentric man.

Ardyn lowly whined with an unfitting pout on his lips. “The Archen isn’t going anywhere…”

“Neither are we under your stewardship.” Ignis snapped back, an edge in his usually smooth voice. Despite their protests, it didn’t look like their escort was set on staying for the night. Admitting defeat, the five exited the Regalia. “So we make camp…” Prompto came to Noctis and Artemisia’s side, “With Ardyn.”

“Hell no.” Noctis grumbled. Artemisia tensed up slightly at the thought of having to potentially share resting space with the offputting man. None of the them were happy about it, but if they wanted to get to the meteor they had to follow whatever odd request.

Gladiolus sighed. “Might as well get the tent up.”

“Oh, I’m afraid I’ve never really been one for the outdoors.” Ardyn blocked Gladiolus from the Regalia’s trunk, seemingly unaffected by the larger man’s glare. “I shall foot the bill, so let us stay at the caravan over yonder.”

The group eyed him suspiciously before reluctantly agreeing. Artemisia dreaded this, possibly even more than she dreaded potentially camping with him, at least then he could have just stayed in the one extra tent they brought in case their main one was damaged. Now, he’ll be in the same small spacing as them -- while they sleep.

She was starting to wish she had been more assertive about her feelings when they were back in Lestallum.

Night had quickly fallen as the traveling group settled around the caravan, the five and their guest setting up a small table to relax around as they talked amongst themselves. Although, relaxed might be the wrong word. The five listened as Ardyn babbled on, adding onto whatever conversation the guys were having or telling his own story. He continued to cement his lack of consideration for personal space, gesturing dramatically with his hands coming only inches away from Prompto’s face everytime. Ignis kept his watchful eyes on the peculiar man, sticking to the further end of the caravan as he watched over the whole group. Gladiolus sat as comfortably close to the other three as he could in cased he needed to act.

Despite his strange speech and intrusive body language, Ardyn never did anything that was particularly threatening. A few of those hand gestures had gotten too close for everyone’s comfort -- especially for poor Prompto -- but nothing dangerous enough to warrant action. Artemisia had been keeping a sharp eye on him, watching him as he walked around them as he went off on a topic that she wasn’t paying attention to. Ardyn circled the table once more before taking a seat on the further end, continuing his conversation when Artemisia felt a buzz come from her pocket.

Being as discreet as she could, she partially pulled her phone out of her pocket and saw she had received a message from the Hunters. She glanced at the others, seeing that the three at the table were still preoccupied with talking with their guest; only Ignis made eye contact with her from where he stood. Artemisia glanced off to the side, silently signaling to behind the caravan. The lanky man subtly nodded in return.

Artemisia glanced at the others once more before silently leaving her seat, the other four men not seeming to notice her leave. Once in the shadow of the caravan, Artemisia unfolded her map from her pouch and pulled out her phone, the screen illuminating through the darkness. She placed the fully unfolded map onto a vacant table and opened the message on her phone.

Edmon:

We’ve gotten some hints towards looking West for the royal arms

Unfortunately that’s about all that we’ve gotten today, tipsters are only able to give us vague location details or folk stories

We’ll keep looking into things and send some people out that way, but if you know of anyone with reliable intelligence don’t hesitate to call them and have them meet with us

Artemisia sighed, tapping her finger against the back of her phone case. She shouldn’t be surprised; it’s not like they were going to suddenly know more compared to that same morning. If it weren’t for Jared and Talcott then even they wouldn’t have found the royal arm that they did today. Chances are though that neither of the two would know any more legends that luckily have some truth to them. At this point however, Artemisia would be willing to put another bet on one of those stories again.

A quick idea flashed in her head, a source for some under the table favors and information, though she just as quickly pushed that to the back of her brain; that was going to take a lot of bargaining and debating and time she didn’t have at the moment. Still it was something to look into for the future. Until then, her and the hunters would have to do with what they had. She texted back Edmon.

Keep looking into those if you can

I might have an idea of who to get in contact with for more clues but that’s going to take a bit, I’ll let you know when I have a plan set up

In the meantime, could you send me a location update for

“Aren’t you the ever diligent worker?”

Artemisia jumped, recognizing that venomously smooth voice immediately. She quickly finished her message and sent it before turning around to face Ardyn. He leaned against the flat surface of the caravan, the tip of his fedora blocking his eyes and a small sneer on his lips. She shoved her phone into her back pocket and hastily grabbed her map. Ardyn tilted his head, “Secrets that you wish to keep hidden?”

“J-Just some personal business that I needed to finish.”

He gave a low chuckle. “Ah, but of course. Such a busy body you are.” He wandered away from the trailer, aimlessly pacing. “Though, given your group’s situation I suppose that’s to be expected.” Artemisia shifted uncomfortably, glancing between Ardyn and back to where the rest of the guys were. This man was only cementing Artemisia’s suspicions of him stalking them and the last thing she wanted was for him to get any more information than what he already likely has. She took a step back, “I’m going ba--”

“I can only imagine the stress your under, my dear.” Ardyn looked at her over his shoulder. “After all, you aren’t really cut out for this job, aren’t you?”

Artemisia’s eyes widened, the feeling of her heartbeat picking up and her clenching throat made it hard for her to breath. “I-I don’t understand--”

“Oh, I think you do.” Ardyn mockingly tsked, walking towards her. “Secrets are hard to keep, my dear, and you’re not hiding that one very well.” Artemisia took a step back. “I can see it all, written on your face.” He took one forward. “There’s nothing particularly remarkable about you, is there?” He lowly snickered. “I suppose under normal circumstances your intellect would be admirable, but that’s already taken care of by someone else. Someone much more capable.” Every step Artemisia took back, he took two more after her. “You’re not much of a fighter, and you’re at an obvious disadvantage when compared to your companions. Perhaps entertainment? Ah, but the little gunslinger is much more suitable for that. I suppose that leaves your generosity, but there’s plentiful of that from strangers around you.” He’s smirk widened as he gestured to himself. “Doesn’t leave much for you to contribute.”

Artemisia’s back hit the caravan, leaving her trapped between it and the man before her. Her fingers clawed at the paint of the wall, trying to find anything to hold onto; anything to ground her; anything to protect her. Ardyn’s eyes seemed to glow ominously glowed as he joined her in the darkness. “Such an oddity, isn’t it? It looks like this was all a long, drawn out mistake.” Tears threatened the edges of her eyes as Ardyn whispered his last words.

“It looks like you’re a mistake.”

“What’s going on here?”

Ignis stepped out from the side of the caravan and looked upon the event with alarm in his eyes.

Ardyn slowly stepped away from Artemisia. “Ah, the dear here appeared ill and I feared she was faint.” Artemisia’s gaze immediately lowered when he looked at her once more before he sauntered towards Ignis. “I worry the poor girl may be overworking herself. You should keep better care of her.” Ardyn’s voice lowered as he passed Ignis. “You wouldn’t want to lose her, after all.”

Ignis glared as the strange man rejoined the other three before quickly going to Artemisia’s side. “Artemis, are you alright?” Ignis gently rubbed her shoulder as Artemisia released a shaky breath, her body trembling. “What happened? Did he do something?”

Artemisia wiped the specks of tears from her eyes and took a deep breath in and out, trying to calm her racing heart beat. The last time she froze up like that was when she was just a child. Every instinct she had screamed at her to run or to fight back, but the overwhelming fear in her gut kept her in glued in place. “I don’t know who or what he is, but we need to get away from him.”

“Believe me, I agree with you.” He looked down at her trembling hands. “Now more than before, if that were possible.” He took her hands into his, softly caressing them and urging her nerves to settle. “It’s just one night. Once he gains us entry to the Disc, we’ll have no reason to be near him.”

Her heart pounded in her chest and Artemisia could feel her breathing becoming panicked. “I-I can’t…” Her eyes became glossy again and the shame Artemisia felt rose. She was acting like a child, she shouldn’t be crying just because of the words of a stranger. But everything he said hurt; everything he said was harsh; everything he said was true.

I don’t belong here I don’t belong here Ismene made a mistake I’m not cut out for this I have to get away before the others find out they can’t find out they can’t know that I’m a fake what if they already know they know that I’m useless they’re just keeping me around out of pity No No No PLEASE No

“Artemis!” Ignis shook her shoulders, snapping her back to reality. “Everything will be okay.” The light from inside of the trailer turned on, shining on the two from the window above them. “Gladio and I already discussed a sleeping arrangement so we’ll be on constant alert. Him and Noct will be taking the first shift while Prompto and I keep watch. You should join them and get some rest.”

Artemisia looked down at the ground.

“I promise, Artemis, that no harm will come to you or anyone else.”

While she was still nervous, she reluctantly gave in and nodded. Whether if it was from Ignis’ comforting words or her anxiety starting to calm down for a moment, she felt a sudden wave of exhaustion rush over her body as it finally relaxed for the first time in what felt like hours. Ignis walked her to the trailer’s front door, softly urging her in. “Get some rest, Artemis.”

“ ‘Night Artemis!”

Artemisia weakly waved goodnight to Prompto before closing the door behind her. Gladiolus was in the middle of taking his shoes off while Noctis seemed to be making himself comfortable for bed already. Popping his last boot off, Gladiolus smiled up at her. “There you are. We were wondering where you wondered off to.” Gladiolus smile dropped. “Were you crying?”

Artemisia blinked, realizing that her eyes must still be red from before. She touched the corners of her eyes and felt that they were slightly puffy from irritation. Gladiolus stood up and took her wrist in his hand, gently moving her hand to the side so he could have a better look. He frowned seeing the obvious signs of distress.

The bed creaked as Noctis sat up, looking over at the two with concern. “Everything okay?”

Artemisia sighed, removing her hand from Gladiolus’.

“I hope so.”

#stand by me fanfic #ffxv fanfic #ffxv oc #ffxv game rewrite #chocobros x oc #gladiolus amicitia #noctis lucis caelum #ignis scientia #prompto argentum #artemisia thanos #ardyn izunia #ardyn lucis caelum

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0nho · 7 years ago

Text

onho; pg-13 “hero”

Jinki runs into some trouble at a club he doesn’t even want to be at.

jinki/minho / pg-13 / fluff? / long drabbe

n/a: dusting off an old drabble, trying to fill the void

The club is blaring base and strobe lights flicker colors across a mosh pit dance floor. The club is a hot topic if you know the right people. It's a place all inclusive. Men and women come looking to hook up, regardless of sexuality. As expected some people are trying to get it closed down. It's in the news, if you watch it.

In Lee Jinki's case, he's here for some drinks and a good time. Mostly, his friend wanted to get Jinki out of the apartment. Sure Jinki has been feeling down, studies taking up his time if he's not busy helping the family business, but it couldn't be that obvious, could it?

Choi Minho is Jinki's partner, boyfriend, significant other, more or less; Jinki has commitment issues. Minho observers Jinki more than than Jinki realizes. Minho is younger than Jinki, therefore the friendship has always been a little skewed. After being dumped by a self-proclaimed cougar, Jinki wanted to keep his options open and explore a sexuality that always has confused him. Minho is safe, very very safe. And gay. But that's supposed to be a secret. Jinki thinks it's probably not much of a secret.

Kicking back another drink, Jinki finds his way to the dance floor. He's lost sight of Minho after the younger excused himself to the bathroom. Jinki is capable of having a good time alone.

That good time comes to a quick end, as Jinki does a slight bop on the edge floor, enjoying the beat of the dj spinning another song. He can see the man sizing him up nearby, thumb to lips, being overly suggestive. It's unavoidable.

Jinki is approached, left to look up at a taller man, one thickly built and style lacking. He smells of alcohol and trouble. Then again, so does Jinki.

“Ya alone?” the man shouts over the music, his manner of speaking rude.

“What?” Jinki pretends he doesn't catch him.

The stranger repeats himself, dipping in closer. “Are ya alone?”

“No.”

That visibly ruffles the man’s feathers. More odd, two more men join, as if they know the man trying to score Jinki’s ass. For a free drink it might be worth entertaining them for a bit, but there are no good vibes coming off them. He's better off paying for his own drinks, or ask Minho.

“Who ya with?”

“Eh?” Jinki cups his ear, brows arched, selectively unable to hear again.

“Who brought ya here?”

“My boyfriend?”

“So ya are queer.”

Jinki rolls a dance to the music, tuning the trouble out. He became a pro at it in high school. Jinki's shoulder is grabbed, jerking him to an ungrateful stop.

“He will kick your ass,” Jinki blurts out, growing annoyed and wanting a quick escape.

“Eh? This boyfriend?”

Jinki nods to the others. “You and them,” the loud beat and those drinks must be getting to Jinki's head. He's talking a big game. “He will screw you up,” Jinki shrugs with a snort. “You should see the last guy that tried..”

The fellows laugh. “Where is he, yeah? Why leave ya alone?”

Jinki glances to the hand still on his shoulder. He flicks it off, nose crinkled in annoyance. He should have blown Minho off and stayed at home.

“Where is this guy?”

“Lee Jinkiyaaa!”

Jinki turns to find Minho shouting over the heavy music, trying to weave through dancers, and quite frankly, he looks terrible. The young man is staggering, his expression blissed out in a grin.

Minho halts beside Jinki, not even acknowledging the other men or tense air. “I threw up in a urinal,” Minho laughs, a giggle fit bubbling into high pitched yodels.

“This the guy?” Minho is sized up by a man, brow arched at his height but not much else. “This twink?”

“Yeah…” Jinki is now humiliated.

“Twink?.. eh eh..” Minho's expression grows serious, or rather tries to. He just looks wasted off his socks, unable to even open his eyes all the way. “Twunk.. tell them..” he looks to Jinki, “I'm a twunk..”

Jinki shrugs, knowing no one actually cares, if there is a difference anyway, because they're in no place for such a discussion. And Jinki could tell you all the one-sided chats that have occurred over the words that don't mean anything to him in the end as long as his dick gets wet. For some reason it, obnoxiously, means something to Minho. There are times he tries to overcompensate, for some reason. Jinki doesn't have a brother, like Minho, so what does he know--or honestly care.

“Twunk,” Minho still argues.

Besides, while Minho can be a lightweight when it comes to alcohol, he's got better impulse control than Jinki when it comes to alcohol consumption. In fact, Jinki is sure Minho drank very little tonight, much less than Jinki at least. This reaction seems a bit extreme to say that least.

“But you made friends?” Minho points at the men he has just disagreed with. “Good for you.. your mom will be so happy..”

Jinki wobbles as Minho drapes his taller, but lean body all over the shorter man. “I'm so happy.”

Another man comments “Is he drugged?”

“He is roofied,” chuckles are drowned out by music. “Look at his eyes.”

“I love you so much..” Minho mutters into Jinki's shoulder.

“Eh.. thank you..”

“Yous welcome..” Minho's lispy speech slurs worse than usual.

“He took some bitch’s drink. She lucky tonight.”

Minho always is a hero, even indirectly. Jinki will laugh about it later, when the drug wears off.

“Did you.. softer? You feel so good,” Minho groans, tone dragged out in a type of voice often heard between the sheets. Jinki's ears burn, feeling

lips on his neck, and public displays of affection are all part of the Choi Minho experience, but not ones so bold that he would risk revealing a supposed secret he keeps, even in an environment such as this.

Jinki's breath hitches. “I'm the same..”

Minho is suddenly yanked off Jinki by one of the men, causing the younger to stagger and fall, which is actually unlike him. Rude snickers erupt between them all, looking down at Minho being very theatrical about standing back up on two long, thin wobbly legs.

Jinki takes that opportunity, with the cloud of confusion, to throw a fist, maybe a tiny spring of possession at pricks jerking Minho around. It barely taps a jaw, some piss poor aim in the loud, crowded club, and Jinki cups a fist, seething at himself it never hurt that much to throw punches at wall. But the damage has been done; a brawl is instigates.

----

It's later, at a nearby police station at well passed midnight, Jinki sits with a sore, bruised face, and Minho likewise. The younger man finally stirs from his slumber draped across several uncomfortable folding chairs, looking around disoriented.

“Wah where am I?” he suddenly cringes, a hiss escaping as he dabs his swollen face.

Jinki sighs. The two didn't really stand a change in that fight. He should have kept a cool. He's sobered up now, annoyed with his behavior. And beyond the window from the room the two are held in, Jinki can see the other men from the club lined up in chairs also kept under surveillance.

Jinki smiles, a grimace of a grin, looking at Minho. “Fists fights look so much easier in the movies…”

Jinki notices then, Minho shaking, like he has the worst chills, but the holding room is hot, not to mention it's become summer weather the last couple weeks. Police didn't seem too concerned when the tampered drink was mentioned, as if it happens that often. He has to take their word for it.

“I don't remember anything..”

“I told them you were drugged. They said you can sleep it off,” Jinki scoffs at the negligence. He scoots closer to Minho, touching his head.

“I was.. what?”

“You drank something not intended for you.”

“Eh..” Minho whines, forehead damp with sweat. “I can't remember..”

“That's.. the point..” Jinki frowns.

“But..” Minho's large eyes are fixed, his head always in Jinki's lap. “Your face.. who did that..” he reaches to touch Jinki, barely brushing a sore bruise before Jinki leans away with a laugh.

“Don't look in the mirror..”

The reaction is delayed, but Minho bubbles up in laughter, swollen face lighting up with a smile. It seems, despite the night, Minho will recover.

“But..” Jinki turns away, teasing, “..you were called a twink.”

“Did I start a fight over that?!” Minho is alarmed.

Maybe too soon for a joke such as that. Jinki pats Minho's cheek, a chuckle in his smile as he leans closer. He does something bold, leaning in to presses a quick kiss to Minho's parted lips.

Minho jolts, eyes wide as sits up with teetering vertigo, almost scooting away from Jinki. “You..” he touches his mouth, glancing around, but no one is looking in the window; everyone busy at their office desks or dealing with other drunks brought in.

Jinki's shoulders shrug, a cute lips-pressed smile on his face. He can blame the drinks later, but for now he wants Minho to know his gratitude. Jinki may have started the fight, but Minho hung in there with him, even if drugged and knocked to the floor again. But he put himself between Jinki and the flying fists. It's a shame he doesn't remember.

Minho blinks wide eyes, hand falling, leaning back with giggles. His eyes squeeze shut, laughter carrying louder, then whines in pain, face cupped.

Jinki lays his head back with a soft smile, relaxing.

“Wait..” Minho's lisp slurs, “I was drugged? I need to go to the hospital!”

Jinki falls to his side across the lineup chairs, laughed muffled into his sleeve.

Regardless what comes next, the two will be okay.

#onho #onew #minho #shinee #fic #drabble #fic: onho #fic: minho #fic: onew

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is0gild · 4 years ago

Text

Ice Cream and Fire Oven Pizza - Chapter 15

Pairing: Elsa x Lea/Axel || Side Pairing: Riku x OC

Word Count: 10,487

FIRST CHAPTER || PREVIOUS CHAPTER || NEXT CHAPTER

Credit for super friggin’ cute and super friggin’ amazing cover art goes to the super friggin’ talented ky-jane here on tumblr!

So... last time on The Burning Wreckage That Is My Life (please excuse the working title).

I had a crush on a guy. Well, maybe… I mean, I think I did? But I couldn't let him know that I had a crush on him. And just to make things extra complicated, I now had to act like we were dating when we really weren't. So basically… I like-liked him but had to pretend that I didn't like-like him while at the same time pretending that I did like-like him.

Confused yet? I know I was.

Also, I really needed to stop using the word like-like.

Ugh, what had I been thinking? This was a terrible plan. A disaster just waiting to happen. There was no possible way it could end well. And yet, here I sat in my apartment, watching the clock as I waited for my fake boyfriend to come pick me up. What was the matter with me? What had possessed to ever say yes to this… this insanity?

I had gotten off work not too long ago and had come straight home to prepare for my meetup with Father. This was Lea's day off, so I hadn't had to start this whole farce of a relationship around the mall today, which at least was one small comfort. My fingers as per usual were fidgeting with my freshly washed and plaited hair as I watched the seconds slowly tick by, my stomach twisting into tighter and tighter knots.

Sighing, I forced my hands to stop fussing with the braid and they complied… only to start picking at the flaps of the empty cardboard box Rayne had scrounged up for me to put things from my old place into. With a tiny scowl, I shoved my hands into my lap, demanding they be still. That lasted maybe all of two seconds before they started fiddling and twisting at the buttons that ran all the way down the front my navy corduroy overalls dress. The long sleeved shirt I wore underneath it was off the shoulder and white with blue horizontal stripes. The dress itself fell all the way down to my ankles, with a slit up to the knee on one side, giving a peek of my snowflake-patterned tights.

Yes, I was a full grown adult who still liked cutesy prints on my socks and stockings. So sue me.

Erg, where was he? As much as I was dreading seeing Father again and wished I didn't have to deal with it at all, the wait was killing me. And I couldn't put it off forever so I'd rather just get this awfulness over with already. I-

"Hello, Lea?" I heard Rayne's voice and I whipped my head around to spot her stepping out of her bedroom, smartphone pressed to one ear. She shot me a grin but then it faded as she glanced away with a squint. "Whaddya mean you're down in the parking lot? Get your ass up here and knock on the door like a goddamn gentleman, you-"

In the space of a heartbeat, I'd zoomed across the room to snatch the phone from her. "I'll be right down, see you in a sec!" I said quickly into it and, not waiting for a reply, hung up the call before Rayne could steal her phone back.

"Hey!" she huffed, fumbling to catch the device as I tossed to her. Then she gave a tiny whine, "But sweetpea, that's no way for him to treat a lady! I expected better of him!"

I rolled my eyes as I returned to the table to grab the box by one of its flaps. "I told him to just call up when he got here."

Rayne followed behind me with a tiny pout. "But I wanted to practice my whole 'What are your intentions towards my daughter' speech on him!"

"And that," I smirked, tapping her on the nose with my free hand, "is exactly why I told him to call."

Puffing out her cheeks, she crossed her arms. "You're no fun!"

"Ouch. Your words, they wound me. But somehow, someway… I think I'll live," I deadpanned, making my way over to open the front door.

"Oh! Curfew's at ten! Not one minute later, missy, not one second or you're grounded!"

I paused to turn back and droop my eyelids at her. "...too far, Rayne. Too far." Then I left, slamming the door shut behind me.

That woman, I swear. Loved her to pieces, but the sooner that baby was out of her, the better. Then she could focus all of that crazy on her new bundle of joy instead of me.

As I hurried down the steps, I went over the game plan in my head again. It'd been another sleepless night last night as I'd mentally prepared myself for Operation Boyfriend But Shh Not Really. That's right, I'd named it. Come on, it's me, how could I not? It was the only way I could feel like I had any sort of control over this whole situation. Which I one hundred percent did not. But I needed to try and trick myself into believing that I did if I had any chance of staying sane through all of this.

This being Lea and me. Pretending to be boyfriend and girlfriend. And boyfriends and girlfriends did… things. No, not that! Definitely not that, that would be going well above and beyond the call of duty! Yeesh, get your mind out of the gutter! I only meant like, ya know… holding hands, hugging… other various public displays of affection that shall remain nameless because I quite simply could not deal with even the mere thought of such things without my face bursting into flames.

But I was going to have to deal if I had any hope of getting through this. And to deal, I needed to face facts. Lea only saw me as a friend. He was only playing along to help me… as a friend. Whatever I was or wasn't feeling towards him, he did not feel the same way. Doing all those aforementioned boyfriend-girlfriend things? Wasn't going to threaten to make his heart explode like it would mine. So if I was going to survive long enough to make it out the other side of this little fiasco, my heart needed to take a chill pill.

Conceal, don't feel. That was going to be my mantra. It was one I was actually already very familiar with and had put to good practice regularly over the years. Rayne had been right. Growing up in my family, feelings had been a luxury. And as the eldest heir to the Fryse fortune, I'd had an image to maintain, the family name to uphold. I hadn't gotten to enjoy the same freedoms Anna had since she'd been born second. Not that I think I could have ever been such a… shall we say, free spirit like her. I'd always been the bundle of nerves on legs that I am. Conceal, don't feel… that'd been the only way I'd been able to maintain the calm, cool mask in front of high society and not be a walking, talking spazz of an embarrassment to my parents.

And now that little motto was what was going to get me through all this.

At least, I hoped so.

Reaching the bottom floor of my building, I stopped just short of the exit, taking a slow deep breath. Then I smoothed my dress, swept my braid forward over one shoulder and gave myself a reassuring nod.

I got this.

With my box still firmly in hand, I pushed open the door and stepped outside into the parking lot where I immediately spotted Lea. He was looking down at his phone, his thumb swiping across its screen every so often while he leaned against what was presumably his car. A (what looked to be) few decades old yet well taken care of muscle car, black and sleek and one of the types named after an animal like viper or cougar or stingray, you know, just to let you know how cool this vehicle really was. It seemed Lea had decided to color coordinate with his ride, for he was dressed in head-to-toe black himself. Beneath the leather jacket that he wore was a fitted tee that simply read Straight Fire in cracked and faded script. His skinny jeans were ripped at the knees and tucked into a pair of tall, combat boots. If possible, his crimson locks seemed even wilder than usual today and he was also sporting a pair of aviator sunglasses.

...I don't got this.

Also, I was staring.

Also, I'd dropped my box.

Jeez, Elsa, get a grip. So what if the guy was gorgeous? We already knew that. Had established it from day one. It wasn't any sort of definitive proof you'd caught feelings or anything. Anyone, anything, even a corpse, even a frigging lamppost would be susceptible to his, er… his charms.

Giving myself a quick shake, I retrieved my box from the ground and walked towards him. His head lifted at the sound of my footsteps and I could feel his gaze on me. Pocketing his phone as I came to a stop in front of him, he then hunched to my eye level, bringing his face closer to mine as he tipped down his shades, revealing his all but trademark winged eyeliner with a wink and a smirk. "What's cookin', good lookin'?"

...okay. There was a slight chance I'd caught feelings.

But psssh, that little flutter in my rib cage could have been anything. Maybe my last meal was disagreeing with me. Yeah, that had to be it.

Remember. Conceal, don't feel.

Squelching the foreign sensation in my chest, I fixed him with a blank stare. "...wow, that the best you got? You really have been out of the game for a while, haven't you?"

With a snerk, he used a foot to push himself up off the car as he straightened up and opened the passenger side door for me. "Nah, s'not that. I'm just going easy on you. Couldn't have you going all weak in the knees on me right before our big date with your dad."

"I think my knees have nothing to worry about," one corner of my lips turned up as I took a seat.

"You say that now, but trust me," he bent towards me, propping an elbow atop the door window and jerking a thumb towards his face, "if I really turned it on, you wouldn't stand a chance, sweet thang, it'd be straight to Swoon City for you!"

I quirked an eyebrow at him, "Did you really just use the terms 'sweet thang' and 'Swoon City' in the same sentence?"

"...yeah, not my proudest moment. Can we forget that ever happened?"

Biting back a grin, I nodded. "I think that'd be in both our best interests. Mostly yours."

"Smart ass," he shook his head with a chuckle, shutting my door and making his way around to the other side of the car.

Okay. Good. This was going well. He didn't suspect a thing. Elsa, Queen of Evasion. Now I only needed to keep up the act for the duration of the ride. A mere one hour road trip to the city of Arendelle. A measly sixty minutes. And really, what was sixty minutes in the grand scheme of things? Hardly a blip in time. This shouldn't be too hard, right?

...then of course there would be when we actually got there and Lea and I'd have to put on a whole other kind of act for Father. Then the hour long trip back. Then the-

Easy there, girl. Just focus on the immediate task before you. One step at a time.

I heard his door open and glanced over, watching him take a seat and buckle himself in. My lips pursed to one side. "...so Halloween come early this year?"

"Huh?" his hand froze just as he'd been about to turn the key in the ignition, head turning my way, eyebrows shooting high above his aviators. Then he looked down at himself, patting at his shirt and jacket. "You don't like it? Crap, do I look like trash?"

I blinked.

Had I really… just made Lea self-conscious? Lea? The guy who'd dragged me up to do karaoke with him? The guy who'd been dancing around like a doofus atop food court tables while lip-syncing to corny glam metal? That Lea? I wouldn't have even thought the word to exist in his vocabulary.

Oh gosh, I must have taken it too far in the other direction. It's 'Conceal, don't feel,' not 'Demean, be mean.'

Hastily, I said, "No, it's not that. I… you look… good." Like, real good… ahem, down girl. I averted my gaze, hoping my face didn't look as warm as it felt. "I just… wasn't expecting it, is all."

"Oh!" he perked up, a tiny smile pulling at his lips now. "Well, I'm supposed to be your dark, bad boy lover, right? Just wanted to make sure I played up the part. Whaddya think, do I look like your parents' worst nightmare or what?"

"That getup is going to leave an impression, that's for sure."

He started up the engine and it roared to life. "Hell yeah! This is how you pick me out of a crowd. I make myself easy to remember. No way your padre's forgetting me anytime soon."

"I doubt anyone's forgetting you anytime soon. Don't think they could even if they wanted to," I snorted, resting my elbow on the window sill and propping my head against my knuckles.

"Never really could just blend and fade into the background. Side effect of being so majestic," his tongue clicked twice and pretty sure there was a wink behind those shades. Then he nodded to the box in my lap as he reversed the car out of its space, "You can just toss that in the back with the others."

"Others?" I looked over my shoulder to the backseat to discover a few just like mine packed in there. "You brought more?"

He shrugged, exiting the lot and turning us out onto the main road. "Well yeah! Just wanted to help in whatever small way I could."

Small way? The guy was already throwing his whole friggin' life out of whack just to basically be my rent-a-boyfriend, for Pete's sake! I hadn't thought it possible for him to help me even more than he already was. And yet, he'd found a way. To be fair, I hadn't planned to take much back from my old condo, so really, the extra boxes weren't totally necessary. But still…

"Thanks, Lea," I gave him a tiny smile as I put mine with the rest of the herd, "you're very thoughtful."

His fingers ruffled his hair as he gave a sheepish laugh. "Nah, it's nothing."

Alright. Two minutes down. Only fifty-eight more to go.

Lord help me.

Remember when I was more hermity? Yeah, those were the days. I wonder whatever happened to those?

Oh, that's right. My sister and my roommate happened.

Brats.

"So…" I began, racking my brain for the next thing to talk about. Ah, small talk. Bane of my existence. "...nice ride. Please tell me you didn't get it just to complete this whole look you're going for."

"Shit, should I have not?" I just stared at him and he snerked, breaking out into a grin, "Nah, I'm just messing with ya. It was my old man's car. Only thing he left me when he kicked the bucket. Well, that and massive debt. Thankfully, the state took that second one off my hands."

That's right. Lea'd been brought up in the foster system. So this now explained why one of his parents had been out of the picture. I frowned, tucking in my bottom lip. "...I'm sorry."

"Why? Got no reason to be," he chuckled, shaking his head. "It was ages ago, I've long since made my peace with it. I'm not broken up about it, trust me."

My eyes drifted from the buildings blurring past us over to him. "What was he like?"

His head shifted slightly towards me for a second before pointing straight ahead again. "Well… he wasn't ever gonna be winning father of the year, that's for sure. Not even runner up or one of those cruddy lil participation ribbons. The guy ODed out when I was six, so take from that what you will." He paused, tapping an index finger to the steering wheel a few times. "...but he did care. Did his best to do right by me. Saïx too, even though he wasn't his kid. The man wasn't a bad guy… he just didn't have his shit together and never really was meant to be a father."

The downward tug at my lips deepened as I lowered my gaze to my hands, folded neatly in my lap. "...can I ask, ah… your mother..."

"Where she fits into all this?" he ventured and I gave a slow nod. "Oh, she makes Pops look like he was a goddamn saint. She's a leech. Just hopping from one sugar daddy to the next, popping out kids she never wanted. Same day we buried our old man, she took Saïx and me out for ice cream after. Handed us some munny and told us to go order and pay while she snagged us a table to sit at. When we turned around a few minutes later, she'd split. Haven't seen her since."

My heart squeezed as I regarded him with wide eyes. "Wow, that… that's just awful. You have no idea where she is at all?"

"Didn't say that now. We actually did some digging into it a few years ago. Turns out she's just a couple states over, shacked up with some new sucker. An orthodontist or something. They're living up the suburbia life with the white picket fence, two-point-five kids, the whole shebang. Guess Saïx and I were just her practice run rejects before she went off and started her real family." He shrugged, "Though maybe she'll eventually skip out on this one too, who knows?"

I tipped my head to one side. "How do you know all that if you haven't seen her?"

"I haven't. Saïx has." He stopped at a red light, flicking on his turn signal. Then his hand was rubbing at the nape of his neck. "...she did try to reach out to me once. Last year. Left a voicemail saying something about wanting to reconnect or some bullshit. I deleted it. Couldn't of been all that serious 'bout it, seeing as how she hasn't tried again since. Probably just a halfhearted attempt to ease her pathetic excuse for a conscience before washing her hands of it and calling it a day."

My eyebrows met in a peak before I looked away again, fingers absently toying with my braid. He was talking so calmly about it all, so casually. As if he were discussing nothing more interesting than the weather. It made it harder for me to figure out an appropriate response in a situation that I was already so completely socially ill-equipped to deal with in the first place. Should I be just as laid back about it as he was? No, that felt insensitive. Should I express pity? Absolutely not, he'd probably hate that…

Seriously, what do?

How do you people?

"Alright," his voice broke through my thoughts, "you're up for sharing time." The light changed green and he pressed down on the gas pedal, turning us onto the highway entrance. "Why'd you do it? Go all Runaway Bride on your big day?"

I was relieved that he (whether knowingly or not) had saved me from having to come up with something to say to his tragic backstory. Even if this did mean I had to now talk about myself, which usually would have been just as anxiety-inducing of an experience. But somehow, right here, right now, talking to Lea... the idea didn't seem as uncomfortable as I normally would've expected it to be.

Twisting the tip of my braid around one finger, I mulled over it for a few silent seconds. Finally, I said, "It… he and I… we just weren't… right. I thought we were. He thought we were. My parents and his parents certainly thought we were. And I didn't want to disappoint them, so I just kept telling myself that everything was as it should be. That he and I made sense. But we didn't. Not really, not… in my heart. We just…"

"You didn't love him," he said simply, and I winced. As if I'd done something wrong. Then I nodded. "And it took you getting within a stone's throw of saying 'I do' to realize that?"

"Well," I frowned up at the ceiling, "...I'd always heard that love takes time. So I think a part of me was just waiting for it to happen. Waiting for… I don't know… that moment where it'd just hit me, that moment of just… 'oh wow! So that's what this is supposed to feel like' or something. I thought maybe… maybe our first kiss. Or maybe by our first anniversary. Or maybe when he proposed to me. Or maybe when I was trying on gowns or looking at venues with him. But then, suddenly, it was our wedding day and it struck me that still… nothing. And if it I wasn't feeling it after being together for five years, that I probably was never going to. That's when the panic set in and… well…"

"Let me guess. That's when the legendary Phonebook Heist occurred," one corner of his lips twitched up.

I breathed a soft laugh. "Yeah. Had to ditch the big poofy dress. And I used the phonebook to track Rayne down, since she wasn't listed under her full name in it."

A snort escaped him. "Ever thought of this crazy lil thing all the kids are doing nowadays called writing things down on a post-it? I know, wild right? It's new, maybe ya haven't heard of it."

"I was a bit stressed and not exactly thinking clearly in that moment," I bit back a grin, giving his arm a gentle shove.

"Gee, I wonder why," he said wryly as he shifted lanes. "Still curious as to why you felt like you had to run away. Couldn't you have just called the wedding off?"

"You make it sound so easy," my lips twisted sourly. "If it were, do you think I would have let Rayne rope us into going along with this crazy plan of Anna's and hers? You don't know my parents. They… have a way of getting what they want. No one says no to them. In their world, things are done a certain way. Always have been, always will be, end of discussion."

"Their world?" one of his eyebrows arched. Then something clicked. "That's right, you're loaded."

I shook my head, "My parents are, not me. Not anymore, anyway. Not unless you think I'm scooping mall ice cream at minimum wage just for kicks."

"What, you don't have a trust fund or something?"

"No, I do. Or rather… I did. I'm not sure anymore, really, not after everything I've done. Mother and Father control it and can make sure I never see a cent of it now. Not that I think I even want it anymore," I sighed, eyes downcast as I rubbed my elbow. "I really… have no idea what to expect at this point. How this whole meeting with Father will go. What he'll say or do or… I'm just… terrified."

I felt an unexpected warmth on my shoulder and I glanced over to find Lea's hand resting there. He gave it a small squeeze and smiled, "It'll be okay, El. Everything'll work out, you'll see. You'll get through this. And I'll be there to help any way I can, capisce? Now buck up," he lightly nicked my chin with his knuckle before gripping the steering wheel again. "Gonna need you to bring your A-game here if we're gonna fool your old man. Do a real good job and there's an ice cream with your name on it when we get back to Twilight Town."

One side of my mouth tugged up. "Don't you still owe me ice cream for helping you study?"

"And I still plan to make good on that once I've finally nailed down your fave. Speaking of," he paused with a low hum. "...Aloha Ohana?" My lips parted but he was already shaking his head, "Nope, too chunky. You like your desserts like you like your men," he waggled his eyebrows, "smooth."

My grin twitched wider. "Oh, really? And how would you know?"

"Isn't it obvious? Cuz I'm yo man," he jabbed a thumb into his chest.

"...and you think you're smooth?"

"As silk, baby!"

I hid my growing smile behind my fingers. "You're a dork is what you are… but a sweet dork."

He chuckled. "Maybe. But don't tell anyone. I got my bad boy reputation to maintain."

"Your secret is safe with me."

Somehow I was now getting the feeling that this little road trip of ours?

Maybe wasn't going to be as bad as I'd originally thought.

"Whatcha think? Too much?"

I glanced over at Lea. Sunglasses now perched atop his head, he returned my gaze, looking away from using his rear view mirror to help him up his guyliner game. The makeup pencil in his hand lifted from his cheek where he'd been applying what looked to be an upside down teardrop mark just beneath his right eye.

I snerked and wrinkled my nose slightly.

Lea huffed out a tiny laugh. "Say no more," he reached over, pulling some tissue from the glove compartment and wiping off his cheek.

We'd arrived just a moment ago and had parked on Fjord Boulevard, right in front of my old condominium building. I'd been using that minute to gather myself and work up the nerve to actually get out of the car. If it hadn't already been made abundantly clear, Lea had been using that same minute just as wisely himself.

Inhaling and exhaling slowly one last time, I finally unbuckled my seatbelt, opened my door and stepped onto the sidewalk.

The building before me was tall, imposing, and screamed munny and decadence. I'd never really noticed the sheer air of grandeur about it before, but now it all but smacked me in the face. Gosh, had it really only been about a month since I'd last been here? It felt like eons ago. A whole other lifetime. That girl who'd lived here once upon a time… she hadn't been me. Not really. It almost felt wrong coming back here now. Like I was an imposter. Some sort of usurper. It made my insides shrivel up and it took everything I had not to just jump back into the car and speed away without so much as a backwards glance.

Spotting movement out of the corner of my eye, I turned my head to find Lea standing next to me now, a couple of the smaller cardboard boxes wedged between his arm and side. My hands went to take one from him but he pivoted back a step, shifting them out of my reach as he wagged a finger in my face, "Ah ah! Don't worry about it, I got 'em. Makes me feel all buff and manly." He flexed his free arm.

I gave him a dull look. "...they're empty."

"Shush, let me have this."

My eyelids drooped. "Fine. You're the manliest man to ever man."

"Thank you." Then he gave a tiny mock bow, sweeping one hand out wide towards the building before us, "Lady's first."

Shaking my head, I walked towards the doorman standing in wait beneath the long awning leading to the entrance.

That's right. Doorman. As if this place weren't fancy enough already.

"Welcome back, Miss Fryse," he greeted, pulling the door open for me. "Or, if I may be so bold, Mrs W-"

"No!" I blurted out quickly, eyes wide, palms blurring up in a stop gesture.

Oh gosh, he had no idea I'd ran out on the wedding.

...well of course he didn't! Why would he?

...awkwaaaaard.

"Th-thank you, Cliff," I shakily lowered my hands to clasp in front of me, averting my gaze. "Ah… Fryse, please… if you would."

The man seemed unperturbed. In fact, his face brightened, "Oh, how modern! My missus will be thrilled to hear it. I trust you had a lovely honeymoon?"

And the awkward just kept on coming.

"It… er… " I cleared my throat. "I'm sorry, I don't mean to be rude, but I'm actually in a small bit of a hurry. I have plans to meet with Father here shortly."

"Ah yes, so he said as well," he nodded before looking past me with a delicate frown. "And would this be the, uh… guest he mentioned would be accompanying you?"

I followed his gaze, glancing over my shoulder to where Lea stood behind me, hooligan incarnate. He clicked his tongue, shooting a finger gun at the doorman. I said, "Yes, I suppose he would b-" the words caught in my throat and I quickly looked back at Cliff. "Wait, so he said?" I echoed. "...is my father here already?"

"Why yes, ma'am, I let him in but a few moments ago."

My heart plummeted into my stomach.

I hadn't expected him to be here before us. I'd thought we would still have a little more time.

But he was here now.

This was happening now.

Like... now now.

And I was so very…

...very…

...NOT ready!

Somehow, I kept it together enough to manage a thanks to Cliff before stepping inside, feeling my knees start to go numb. And somehow, I kept it together while crossing the gilded, marble foyer to the elevators, ignoring the clamminess of my palms. I even somehow kept it together long enough to exchange pleasantries with the lobby attendant there who called the lift down for us before Lea and I stepped onto it and I, with only a slight tremor to my limbs, pushed the button for the top floor.

But the nanosecond those mechanized, mirrored doors slid shut…

"I can't!" My hands shot up, fingers digging into my scalp as I started hyperventilating and pacing, feeling the elevator begin to rise. "I can't go through with this! I can't, I just can't do it! This is crazy, this, this is nuts! How the heck did I ever let them talk me into this?! How?! There's just… just no way! It's not possible, I can't! I can't, I can't, I-"

Lea was suddenly in front of me, gently grabbing my arms and bringing me to an abrupt stop. "Woah now, slow down, El, breathe," he bent down to look me in the eye with concern. "It'll be okay. Trust me on this, you can do this. We can. You just gotta take it one step at a time and breathe, okay? Can you do that for me?"

"But how?! How will it be okay? I have to lie to him! I can't lie, I don't know how! I have no chill! You hear me? None! Zip! Absolutely zero chill! I couldn't even lie to Anna about the Easter Bunny when she was only four years old! Four, Lea. Four!"

"Okay, alright, then just don't think about it as lying. Think about it as…" his lips pursed to the left as his eyes shifted about. Then his face lit up, "...as one of those musicals you like so much!"

"Ah! We should break out into song and dance!" I said excitedly if somewhat desperately.

This is my brain. This is my brain on panic attack.

"...let's call that plan B. But no, I meant more like we're… between numbers right now and that we're acting. You like acting, right? Told me you used to do it all the time at camp, remember?"

"Acting…" I repeated slowly, turning the word over in my mind as some of the tension started to ease from my body.

Yes, acting. Acting technically, technically wasn't lying. Acting I could do.

...maybe.

I frowned at him. "I need a script."

"A script," he blinked. Then he straightened up, tapping a knuckle to his chin. "What about instead… guidelines?"

"Guidelines?" I echoed flatly.

"Yeah, for… ya know…" he pointed back and forth between him and me, "...this. Us. When we're in front of your folks and around the mall. Stuff like, uh..." he cleared his throat, scratching the back of his head, "...PDAs? Do's and don'ts. What's okay and what isn't. Boundaries and whatnot."

...oh.

Oh fudge.

"...you're kidding me… this is only coming up now?!" Recommencing pacing forthwith, now with added braid yanking action. "What's wrong with me, what was I thinking?! We had that whole friggin' car ride here, no, the whole last twenty-four hours and somehow we didn't discuss this already?! Not even once?!"

"El, El, it's okay, we can figure all that stuff out now."

His hand tried to close around my arm again, but I jerked it free. "How? There's no time! Any second, the elevator with chime and those doors will part and we'll have to face him and I'll crack and he'll know and, and, and that's it! Done! Finito! Curtains! It'll all be over before it's even begun and-"

This time he did manage to grab hold of my arm, pulling me to him and wrapping his arms around me in a tight hug. "Shh," he murmured, lightly stroking my hair and resting his chin on my head. He felt so warm as I took shallow, rapid breaths against his chest, inhaling that cinnamon scent of his combined with the oddly soothing smell of leather from his jacket that I was tightly gripping onto. My eyes slowly fluttered shut, my muscles starting to relax again, my panicked heart rate beginning to calm.

This was actually somewhat… kind of nice...

And then it happened.

The elevator chimed. Those doors parted. My eyes snapped open to discover standing there waiting for us on the other side was-

"F-Father!" I gasped, shoving Lea away. "Hi! I mean," I stood up straighter, stepped out onto the new floor, folded one hand over the other just below my waist, and ducked my head slightly, "H-Hello."

...wait.

Did I just…?

Instant mental replay.

-shoving Lea away-

Crud.

Not five seconds in and I was already acting in a most ungirlfriendlike fashion towards my alleged boyfriend.

What'd I tell you? Zero chill. Zilch.

"Elsa," I heard my father say, drawing my attention back to him. He was a tall man with hair the same auburn as Anna's. He looked stiff and rigid in the expensive dark blue suit he was wearing, lips set into a stoic line beneath his thin mustache and green eyes stern as he regarded me. The air felt heavy around us, the long stretch of silence deafening. I was convinced there was no possible way he couldn't hear the jackhammering of my heart against my ribcage while I tried to maintain a cool exterior under his scrutiny. Then finally after what felt like an eternity, he said evenly, "You look well."

I bit down on my lip as I lowered my gaze once more, eyes darting about. "...as do you."

Insert uncomfortably drawn-out pause. Then, "And I presume this would be…?"

He was looking at Lea, standing beside me now with boxes once more lazily propped on his jutted hip. My heart jolted and I started wringing my hands. "Ah… yes… this… this is…"

Just spit it out already!

"...this is boy. He is friend."

I word good.

Alright, take two.

Suppressing my wince, I tried again, "Er, that is to say, this is…" I clenched and unclenched my hands at my sides. "...this is my… my-"

"Lea," he rescued me, introducing himself and offering his hand.

My father just stared at it, expression unreadable, and there was a second - one very long second - where I thought he might not take it. But at last he did, if a touch gingerly, and gave it a curt shake. "A... pleasure, I'm sure."

"Likewise, Pops." He grinned now, "It's fine to call you Pops, right? Might as well get all friendly cuz we're gonna be seeing a lot of each other, no doubt."

Father didn't so much as yank his hand back as retrieve it as quickly as was politely and socially acceptable, his lips tight. "...Mr Fryse will suffice."

Lea just shrugged and grinned wider, taking his own hand back.

And slid it into mine, interlacing our fingers together.

Heart.

Flatlined.

Okay, sure, this really shouldn't have been all that big of a deal. After all, Lea had held my hand before. But that had just been when he'd needed to drag me somewhere. It'd been incidental. This? This was hand holding with purpose. This hand holding was a declaration. This hand holding was up on the metaphorical soapbox with a megaphone and would not be ignored. This hand holding was making a goddamn statement.

This hand holding was causing me to burn bright red.

Conceal, don't feel, conceal, don't feel, conceal, don't feel!

Luckily, Father's narrowed gaze was too focused on said hand holding to notice my face trying to give the plush, deep crimson carpet beneath our feet a run for its munny. After another excruciatingly long second (of which I was beginning to suspect this little visit would be in no short supply of), he whipped around and strode off down the hallway, back ramrod straight and voice taut as he said, "Let's step into your condo now."

"Let's," Lea chirped, following after him.

Still holding my hand.

I stumbled into awkward step beside him, glancing out of the corner of my eye down at where my tingling fingers were intertwined with his. This was no longer necessary… right? I mean, Father wasn't looking at us anymore. So I should just let go, shouldn't I? Yes… yes, I absolutely should. Okay, here we go… letting go now… in three… two… one...

...I wasn't letting go.

I shot my hand a tiny scowl. Fine, you win. Five more seconds, bucko, but that's it.

It remained stubbornly fastened to his. Fifteen seconds.

I rolled my eyes. Ten seconds, but that's as high as I'm willing to go.

...was I seriously haggling with my hand just now?

I'm in desperate need of having my head examined.

It wasn't long before we came to a stop where the hall turned at a corner, Father using a key already in hand to open the door located there. My door. Or rather… what was now formerly my door, I suppose. He walked in first with Lea not too far behind him and me in tow, my hand still in his.

To say the condo we'd stepped into was spacious would be an understatement. The living room alone probably could have fit Rayne's and Riku's apartment in it twice over. It was a corner unit with massive floor-to-ceiling windows leading out onto an expansive balcony overlooking the city and the distant white-capped mountains that surrounded it. With its crystal tables, art deco furniture, and extravagant paintings hanging on the walls, the sitting room was quite picturesque. So pretty, so pristine, so... sterile. Like one of those staged pictures that would be on a website trying to catch the eye of potential buyers. My mother had done the decorating, not I, which was probably why it looked so unlived in. This was more space than I had ever really needed anyway. I'd rarely left my own bedroom when I'd called this place home.

A low whistle blew from Lea's lips as his eyes drifted around the room. "Wow, you really were a princess up in a tower, huh?" He slipped his hand out of mine and I had to ignore how cold and lonely my fingers now felt. Stupid, clingy fingers. "Why don't you two take a minute to catch up while I," he held up the boxes, giving them a tiny shake, "go get started in your room. Which door is it? Bah, nevermind, I'll figure it out."

I blinked. Wait, my room? I didn't know if I was all that comfortable with the idea of someone being in there without me and going through my stuff.

I turned to look at him, opening my mouth to voice my objection. Before I could utter a sound however, his hand cradled the back of my neck, drawing me closer to him and planting a tender kiss to my forehead, sending waves of icy heat rippling all the way down to my toes.

I-

Wha-

Conc-

Don-

Fe-

Con- Co- C-C-Congeal, tone eel!

...wait, what?

Please stand by, Elsa is currently experiencing some minor technical difficulties.

He pulled back, smiling down at me and murmuring, "Have fun, babe." Yup. Those were words alright. Did I understand them? Nope! In fact, I wasn't comprehending much of anything in that second. "Pops," Lea shot my father a two-fingered salute before wandering off down an archway on the far side of the room leading to the rest of the condo.

Father lifted his nose with a sniff, lips pinching almost imperceptibly. "Your… friend is quite the... character."

"Ah… yes. He is," I heard myself replying, surprised that I was able to string more than two words together, bonus points for being in the correct order to boot. Wouldn't have thought it possible, what with my brains having been melted to mush inside the blazing sauna that was currently my face. There was no way Father could miss it this time. Hopefully he just thought I was embarrassed over the impropriety of Lea's forwardness. Not wanting to give him a chance to read too much into it, I hastily asked, "How is Mother?"

"As well as can be expected," he said flatly, folding his arms behind him and shifting his weight from one foot to the other. "...better… since we've had news of you."

I winced, looking down at my feet.

And there it was again. That stifling silence.

There were so many things unsaid hanging in the air between us. A big whopping elephant wearing a friggin' diamond-studded wedding gown in the room that neither one of us wanted to be the first one to bring up, it seemed. At least, I know I certainly didn't. I knew I couldn't avoid the unpleasant topic forever, but at the same time there was a silly little part of me that was hoping if I put it off long enough, that... I don't know... the statute of limitations for discussing it would expire or something.

If only.

Well, someone had to be the one to start. Might as well get this over with. Screwing my eyes shut, I took a deep breath and-

"Snowbunny? Could you come in here for a sec please?" Lea's voice rang out from down the hall.

Great. And just when my face had finally managed to cool down too. At the rate this was going, I was beginning to suspect my cheeks might get stuck in this lovely shade of tomato rouge.

Plastering on a smile, I told Father, "I'll be right back."

"Of course," he gave a simple nod. However, the tiny scowl he was directing towards where Lea's words had come from was not lost on me.

I primly and with as much dignity as I could muster walked over to the archway. As soon as I was out of his line of sight however, I broke into a sprint down the hall, skidding to a stop in the doorway to my bedroom and scrunching up my face. "Snowbunny?" I spat out like it left a bad taste in my mouth.

He looked up from where he was neatly folding one of my dresses into a box atop my bed, flashing me a grin. "Was trying out a pet name to use around the folks. Thoughts?"

"I think there's a razor thin line between you trying to not look or sound like a pushover in front of them and you just straight up pissing them off."

"Huh," he tipped his head to one side. "...keep workingshopping it then?"

I rolled my eyes with a soft snort, moving further into the room to stand in front of him, "Yes, I'd say so."

"Noted." He closed the flaps to the box shut before crossing his arms and shifting over to lean back against my vanity, frowning at me. "Hey, we're okay right?" At my quirked eyebrow, he elaborated, "Ya know, with the this," he raised one of his hands with a waggle, then pointed at my own hand, "holding that, and these," now he gestured to his lips before gently poking my brow, "planting one right there."

"Oh." I resisted the urge to reach up to where my forehead still felt warm and had the ghost of a tickle from the brush of his lips earlier. Doing my best to suppress the umpteenth blush of the day, I looked away, "No, no, that was nice… er, I mean fine. Acceptable."

Elsa, Queen of Keeping Her Cool.

He grinned in relief. "Good. Was just winging it since we didn't really get a chance to discuss anything, but wouldn't have wanted to do something that made you uncomfortable."

"Nope! Totally a-okay here." I gave him a thumbs up. Then immediately felt lame for giving him a thumbs up and instead put my hands to better use running them down my braid. "So… I'm assuming there's an actual reason you called me in here."

"Right!" He flicked a hand at the two cardboard crates sitting side by side atop my mattress. "We're gonna need more boxes from the car."

I furrowed my brow, approaching them. "But I thought I'd only need one. How'd you fill them both up already?"

Lea shrugged, one side of his mouth turning up. "Just grabbed stuff out of your closet. Anything that'd look cute on you."

I pulled the flaps back on one to peek inside, my eyes widening before hastily opening the other one as well and puffing out a sigh, "You've packed everything that was hanging in there."

"Well, yeah! Cuz everything looks cute on you, El!"

It should be illegal for him to say things like that.

My broiling cheeks seconded that notion.

Slapping the boxes shut again, I huffed, "Fine, we'll run back down to grab more after my father leaves. But you! You're no longer involved in the decision making of what I do or don't bring back, got it? I don't have room for all this junk at my new place," I jabbed a warning finger in his direction, to which he just held up his hands in surrender, smirking and giving me another tiny shrug.

That was the face of zero remorse.

And I couldn't even really get mad about it since he'd only been being his big dumb sweet self again.

Ugh, I didn't even really want all these things. All these clothes that'd been bought and paid for with my parents' munny. This was my new life, my own life free from their control and I wanted to manage it with absolutely zero help from them, nothing, not even so much as a stitch of clothing. The only real reason I'd even come here today was to see Father and set Operation Boyfriend But Shh Not Really in motion. I'd probably just end up giving most if not all of these dresses to charity anyway.

Shaking my head, I glanced about the room. "Now where…? Ah!" I'd spotted what I was looking for - my phone resting on the vanity next to Lea's hand. Probably left there by Anna weeks ago, since she'd been the one holding onto it for me on The Wedding Day That Never Was.

Lea sidestepped out of my way as I moved to pick it up. He gave me a curious look, "The parental units still gonna be paying for your data plan?"

"Doubt it. I wouldn't accept it, even if they offered. Rayne said she can put me on her and Riku's family plan until I've gotten a few more checks from work and can start paying for my own. It'll be nice not having to borrow hers all the time anymore."

...okay, I know I'd just had that little mental spiel about not wanting to accept anything from my parents. But come on now, in this day and age, phones are all but a necessity, not to mention expensive. Besides, it's not like I was just going to take it. I planned to reimburse my parents for it… discuss and figure out some sort of payment plan with them that would work with my budget.

"Well in that case," he pulled a black Sharpie from the pen holder on my vanity, biting down on the cap and pulling it off before taking one of my hands in his and turning my palm up so he could write a phone number on it, punctuated with a tiny heart.

I stared blankly at my hand. "Um…?"

He winked at me. "My digits."

Now I stared at him blankly. "I figured, but why?"

"What, you don't think you should have yo man's number on speed dial in your phone?"

"No, that I get, but why," I shoved my palm into his face, "on my hand?"

A tiny snerk through his nose. "How else were you gonna get it? By psychically plucking it outta the air from my mind?"

"No, by having Rayne enter it into my phone after recharging it when I got home," I said flatly.

He blinked, eyes darting to the left. "...alright, point there." Then he chuckled, scratching a spot behind his ear. "I've just always wanted to write my number on a girl's hand. Seemed like a real slick move."

I drooped my eyelids at him. "Was it everything you dreamed it would be, stud?"

"And more!" he beamed.

"You're weird."

"Careful now or all that sweet talk of yours will go straight to my head."

Fighting a begrudging grin, I snatched up the charger from where it lay on the vanity as well and stepped back over to the boxes, slipping it and the mobile in with the folded clothes. Then both my eyebrows shot up my forehead and I glanced back at him. "Wait, you've never written your number on a girl's hand before?"

He blinked back at me, "...no?"

"But Rayne told me what a ladykiller you used to be, and that right there seems like Ladykillers 101."

"Gah, Raindrop," he grumbled under his breath, facepalming. "...those were… you don't really need to exchange numbers when you're just… looking to hookup for a night."

"...oh." I looked away, seriously regretting pulling at this thread.

His hand went to the nape of his neck, tugging at the hairs there. "...I've changed a lot in the last year."

"It sounds like it," I smiled gently at him. Then I exhaled heavily, "Okay… guess I better get back out there then."

"Wait," his hand closed around my wrist as I turned to go, stopping me in my tracks. I gave him a questioning look and he released me, squinting at me and tapping a knuckle to his lips in thought. Then he snapped his fingers and was shrugging out of his leather jacket, holding it out towards me. "Put this on."

My head rocked back slightly, gaze shifting back and forth between him and it a few times. "...but I'm not cold. And we're inside. Why would I go back out to Father wearing your jacket?"

"That's the point," his eyes crinkled as he moved closer to me, slipping my arms into it and tugging it on, flipping the collar up. "Make him wonder. It'll drive him batshit. Now scoot," his fingertip booped my nose before he spun me around and gave me a light shove out of my room. I staggered out into the hall, glancing back at Lea as he leaned a shoulder against my door frame. "Go get 'im, tiger."

I shot him a hard stare. "Also not an acceptable pet name in front of my parents."

"Duly noted." His arms folded beneath his chest as he tossed his head towards the living room, "Now go on already, get."

Pressing my lips together into a thin line, I looked straight ahead down the hall, squared my shoulders and started a slow march forward.

Why was I doing all of this again? Oh, right. To get my parents to leave me alone and stop trying to interfere with my life. And wearing Lea's jacket was going to help with that. Somehow. Was still kind of fuzzy on the how. The jacket itself smelled strongly of boy - really nice smelling, cinnamon-spiced boy. It was actually kind of comforting and was easing my nerves somewhat. So in a way, I guess that was helping. I glanced down at the sleeves as I walked. They were too long, stretching past my hands and hiding the number written in fresh ink on my palm. I suppose that helped a bit too. It would have been awkward explaining it to Father if he had seen it. So in that regard, the jacket was also practical.

So there you have it.

A helpful, comforting, and practical jacket.

...ugh, what was I even doing anymore? Really? Could somebody tell me please? At this point, I was just grasping at straws here.

I stepped back out into the living room to find Father with his back to me as he faced the large windows, staring out onto the balcony and beyond. I gave a polite little cough into my hand to catch his attention, saying, "Sorry to keep you waiting."

"Not at all, I-" he cut himself off as he turned, spotting me. Or, more precisely, me in the jacket. He then proceeded to give the thing the darkest look I'd ever seen him give any poor, unsuspecting garment.

Welp. Mission accomplished there I guess.

Whatever the mission had been exactly.

I gnawed on my bottom lip, absently fiddling with the zipper dangling from the left leather sleeve. Then I broke the long stretch of silence with a delicate clearing of my throat. "S-so… about the, uh… about the wedd-"

His hand shot up, stopping my words dead. His face had regained its aloof, impassive mask once more. "Regrettably, we don't have time to properly discuss that matter this visit. I have business elsewhere that I must attend to shortly. I merely came to allow you access to your old condo."

"Oh," I breathed, frowning and quickly looking down at my feet.

"...and to see for myself how you were doing," he added, his voice softening somewhat. Maybe I'd only imagined it however. "Your mother… she's expressed wishes to see you as well."

My gaze lifted once more as I sucked in a tiny breath, feeling hope prickle inside my chest. "Ah… yes, of… of course! I could come visit in a few days or-"

"We're actually having a small family get-together in roughly two weeks' time. A bit of a weekend affair, if you will. I think it would be for the best if you came by then. We could set aside time to discuss your actions between the festivities. Of course, your… your friend," he tried, really did try, to restrain the curl of distaste to his lips here, but wasn't quite fully successful, "is extended the invitation as well."

"You're too kind, Pops!" Lea's chipper voice sounded from behind me even as I'd been opening my mouth to respond. Before I could turn to look at him, I felt his grip on my arm tugging me and I stumbled backwards into his chest where he proceeded to hug my shoulders from behind and nuzzle his cheek against mine. "We wouldn't miss it for the world!"

How I had yet to suffer a heart attack during this entire little excursion was beyond me.

Once again, the words 'Conceal, don't feel,' chanted like a desperate prayer through my mind as I grasped his arm, hiding my flushed face in the crook of his elbow. Those three little words were starting to blur together into gibberish and lose all meaning, I'd recited them so much at this point.

Father fixed us with a long, unblinking stare and he'd gone so still, I could have sworn he'd turned to solid stone for a second there. But at last, he managed a, "Wonderful." I seriously doubt he meant that. "We look forward to seeing you both there." That either. "Well then... I'll just leave this here," he deposited the key onto the dining table, "should you decide you need to come back at a later date for more of your belongings. If and when we decide to sell the unit, we'll be sure to let you know. I'll be in touch shortly with further details of the upcoming gathering, otherwise I'm sure your sister will be only too happy to pass along the information as well."

"Thank you… Father," I muffled into Lea's arm.

He bowed his head slightly. "Right then, well… I must be off."

"T'was lovely to make your acquaintance," I could all but hear the smirk in Lea's voice as Father turned to go.

He froze, posture reaching new magnitudes of stiffness previously thought impossible. "...likewise," was all he said after a beat, not even looking back before striding out the front door, clicking it shut behind him.

And just like that, he was gone.

"I think that went rather well," Lea said brightly, not yet removing his arms.

I sighed, unconsciously relaxing a bit back into his chest. "I guess. Though I was kind of hoping we'd be able to air everything out today so it'd be all over and done with... I suppose I should be glad he didn't just disown me on the spot, for whatever that's worth. This thing he's invited us to though… it makes me uneasy."

His hair tickled as he turned his head to look at me. "What makes you say that?"

A small frown marred my face. "I don't know… it's probably nothing, just me being paranoid. I guess… all we can do is go, continue to put on this little performance and see what happens." My eyelids drooped, "Speaking of which, we really need to get on setting those ground rules for PDAs."

He swiftly released me now, taking a step back and holding his arms up like a criminal caught red-handed, "Sorry, did I cross a line with that one?"

I turned to face him but didn't quite meet his gaze. I knew that if I did in this precise second, I might be setting a new world record for number of blushes per minute, or BPM if you will. Feeling I'd done enough of that for one day, I looked everywhere but directly into his eyes, fingers plucking at my braid. "Not… exactly. I just… need to be forewarned on these things… know what I'm getting into, so they don't, ah… catch me off guard in the future."

"Oh, so that's why you were such an awkward walnut the whole time," he laughed, moving over to one of the couches and flopping down unceremoniously onto it, kicking his boots up on the immaculate, glossy finish of the coffee table. "Thought that was a little weird. You acted like a guy's never given you snuggles and affection before."

My lips twisted to one side and I said nothing.

His eyes widened and he sat up straighter. "You gotta be pulling my leg here. You were dating the guy, your fiancé, for what... five years was it? What were you two even doing that whole time?"

Grimacing, I made my way over to sit on the opposite end of the sofa from him. "The thing is, my ex… he was never really a fan of romantic gestures, big or small. Especially not in front of other people."

"Seriously?" he looked positively offended at the very idea. "He had to at least hug you in public, right?" I hesitantly shook my head. "Brush your hair back behind your ear?" A pause, then a second small shake. "Shit, for the love of- hold your hand?" Annnnd a third. "Please, please tell me he at least kissed you."

So much for not making it into the Guinness book for the most BPM. With a tiny scowl, I said, "Well, of course he did. Though… mostly only behind closed doors. But he'd take me on dates to fancy restaurants, art galas, the opera... oh, and he'd occasionally tuck my hand into the crook of his elbow when we were out." It almost sounded like I was trying to defend him now. "And he'd… uh…" Huh. Guess that about covered it. "...well, he just thought such things to be garish, empty gestures that were unnecessary," I finished lamely.

Lea gaped at me. "...and you were gonna marry this guy? Dude sounds like a fucking idiot."

I looked at him sharply. "Excuse me?"

"Sorry, it's just…" he frowned now, leaning forward in his seat and planting his elbows on his knees, rubbing his arm. "El, you deserve better than that. Someone who'll worship the ground you walk on. Ya know… rose petals, white doves, the whole cornball, cheesy works."

"Oh." Would you look at that? Not two seconds and I'd already shattered the new BPM record I'd just set. I was really going to need to get this whole face heating situation under control, this quite simply would not fly anymore. "...th-thank you?"

He cleared his throat and propped his cheek in his palm, looking at me sideways. "No wonder you were weird about all that stuff I did. You've never really been all that touchy-feely with a guy before, huh?" He grinned, "Good news is we got two weeks to practice."

I cocked my head slightly. "Practice?"

"Yup!" He scooched over closer to me, nudging my shoulder with his. "We threw ya into the deep end before you were ready. Now we gotta rewind and actually teach you how to swim. And you know a good place to start? Learning by example."

"Which means…?" I raised an eyebrow at him.

"Observing some of the local wildlife perform their ritualistic mating displays in their natural habitat. That's right, you guessed it: couple-watching in the food court!"

Author's Note: Our couple is off to a rocky start! But it's to be expected with what an awkward penguin Elsa is. She was not built for this! But she'll get there… maybe xD They got 2 weeks to figure it out anyway… 2 whole weeks of fluff, mwahaha! Yeah, we're gonna take a lil detour off the Plot Highway here to make a stop in the good ol' town of Fluffsville for the next several chapters xD Also, Elsa's dress this chapter is loosely based on her Let It Go ice dress - the silhouette of it is at least (I think I used that fashion term correctly…). Lea's outfit is based on nothing, I just wanted to make him... smokin' hawt ;D ALSO, Elsa's dad isn't as nice a guy in this as he seems to be in the Frozen movies, but you all probably figured that was coming with the way he's been talked about the whole story thus far. To be fair, Elsa's parents in the movie could be considered a bit controlly with how they made Elsa suppress her powers, so just consider how he is in this story a twist on that from the movies xD Yet another also: Cliff (the doorman) is apparently the name of one of the rock trolls in the movie, so I figured, SURE, why not, let's name the doorman that! And one more also (last one, I swear!) - I'd run out of KH:BBS official ice cream flavors by this chapter. The one named in this chapter (based on Lilo and Stitch if it weren't obvious) was one my friend (who I'm borrowing Rayne from) came up with! I imagine it's description up on the Ice Palace menu would read something like "It's got all the punch of Hawaii's tangy fruit flavors and a little bit of Elvis for kicks! Naturally it's blue as the sea with bits of Hawaiian fruit in the center!" In any case, by the next time I needed to come up with an ice cream flavor name later on in this story, I'd figured out a new source list to pull from, as you'll all discover very soon!

Next chapter, will our leading man and lady get the hang of this whole relationship dealio? What couple(s) did Lea have in mind for them to watch? Will it actually help? Or will it only muddle matters further? Just what IS the world record for most blushes per minute and is Elsa really in the running for that highly coveted title? Stay tuned!

FIRST CHAPTER || PREVIOUS CHAPTER || NEXT CHAPTER

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luccie-eclair · 8 years ago

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SU Wanted Reaction (¡¡¡¡Spoilers!!!!)

I’m sorry in advance for my thoughts that will literally be all over the place 😂😂😂

🔸The Trial •Steven, stop lying. You know you’re not ready 😂

•Moonstone!!!!!! …Zir…con? Hm, my thoughts when out the window. I feel like that would’ve been a good opportunity

•She’s such a nervous lawyer and I love it. She kind of reminds of a Peanuts character like the Yellow and Blue Pearl

•Steven, honey, context clues. When she says “preparing your case” that should clue you in to what’s happening (I’m going to hard on him, I’m sorry)

•Oh, crap, another Zircon. I’m guessing for the Plaintiff side (She’s shattered obvs)

•You smug little…

•Oh… no White D? I figured since the white triangle lit up in the back, she’d be there… especially for something like this… hm

•I always marvel at their size

•Yellow, chill, don’t shatter yet. Thanks, Blue… woah, you chill, too

•Lol, Lars and his rambling. Nows not the time

•YZ (Yellow Zircon…Green?… GZ) called humans hideous and I don’t disagree with her at all

•Fury? Where?

•Yellow D looks bored af

•EYEBALL!!! She’s pissed!!!

•Where’s the others?

•Lol, BZ was all “Oh, she’s good”, but she literally had no defense and no proof of the actual crime that was committed (a witness testimony isn’t always good proof)

•Lol, I like how YP has actual info on her screen and BP has pictures. That’s so cute

•Yellow D keeps trying to rush Steven’s death and that’s super suspicious

•Yeah, talk some sense, Blue

•…Geez, Yellow D

•Steven, no. Don’t do this. On another note, I love how he stays willing to anything to keep his family and friends safe, the whole world for that matter. However, it does suck that he’s had to have this weight on his shoulders and that he sees no other way out. Like, I’m sure he could’ve come up with another way

•Oooh, Blue D doesn’t believe him at all

•Damn, especially not after he said he used Breaking Point. She corrected tf out of him

•I won’t lie, though, I think it’s interesting how Blue D can influence the emotions of every gem in room (namely to feel sadness) and it makes me wonder is Yellow D can make everyone feel angry or something or if Blue can influence a wider range emotions. Probs not, but just a thought

•Hm, BZ said their gems were on the line. Does that mean that Zircons are shattered if they don’t win trials?

•What, BZ?

•She’s asking the real questions that I’ve wanted answered. Blue said Rose shattered Pink with a sword, but Bismuth told us that the sword was really good for poofing. Breaking Point would no doubt shatter and I don’t think she had it at the time. The most Rose could do was poof Pink (if Diamonds can poof at all). So how could she shatter Pink with a sword?

•WOAH! THAT’S A REALLY GOOD POINT! HOW DID ROSE EVEN GET THAT CLOSE TO SHATTER HER????

•Oh, shit. The second she asked where her pearl was YP and BP looked shook af

•Yellow D seems to know way too much about this situation and she’s getting way too defensive

•ANOTHER GOOD POINT: these gems claim to have seen Rose do it, but if that were so, why did you let her get so close? How? What were you doing that you couldn’t see an obvious stand out get close to your superior? I think they should all be brought into question, too, especially Eyeball, because they need to be held accountable for missing such a huge detail.

•YP and BP see what’s wrong with this, too. You can see it on their face. They know something isn’t right here

•BZ, don’t do it. Don’t do it

•SHE CALLED YELLOW TF OUT!!!!! And before anyone goes “She was talking about all of them”. There’s no way she’s talking about Blue, too. Blue is the one who wants answers. If Blue did it, she wouldn’t want a trial. Yellow has been on defense since the start and I really think it was her so it explains why she wants the trial over, to cover her tracks. That’s why she wanted Blue to stop mourning and move on at the Zoo. She was probably crying because of guilt over killing Pink.

•SHE SHUT HER UP REAL QUICK, TOO! Yellow is guilty and she knows it

•On another note: maybe it could’ve been White? And that’s why she’s not at the trial and Yellow was in on it, so maybe Yellow is covering for White shattering Pink, but I without a doubt know that Yellow was involved in some way

•I don’t think Blue trusts Yellow anymore after what BZ said

•HW is so beautifully drawn and I love it

🔸Off Colors •They’re moving pretty well for people with broken bones

•Lars’ logic 😂 seasoning dirt 😂 standing still 😂 don’t ever change, my child

•Those detectors are a little… wonky…? You didn’t see them turn left?

•I truly love watching normally guarded characters with a front open up and I know that’s probably cliche and played out, but I cannot get enough of it and that’s probably why I like Lars, Ames, and Lapis so much

•Who’s that?

•They’re so cute! (They are twins. There are two. They are a they. If they were separated, both would be a she until either indicated otherwise)

•I think they might be a forced fusion that was semi successful, but because they weren’t perfect, they were banished

•Damn, that’s a lot of holes

•A FUSION! AND SHE LOOKS JUST LIKE GARNET FROM THE ANSWER. SHE’S SO CUTE! (Rhodonite)

•I had to stop to look it up: she is a padparadscha sapphire (a mouthful) the twins are maybe rutile quartz (that is most likely wrong and I think I searched the wrong thing…)

•Aw, her future vision is off. That’s too adorable. She’s my official cinnamon bun. Protect her at all costs

•Holy shit, she’s huge

•Steven, it’s that outlook, the idea that we don’t need to judge people by appearance that gives me hope and if more people understood that, people would be a bit nicer to one another

•Fluorite: Six gems!!!! I think she talks so slow because she’s a fusion of so many gems and they’re all talking or trying to take control at once

•Aw… Rutile Twins…

•I love that Lars is quickly making a connection to them. They can’t show who they really are and Lars feels the same way (though, it’s two different extremes)

•YAS Lars!!!!! He threw himself under the bus!!!

•Baby Padpa ❤❤❤❤

•Maybe this isn’t the redemption arc that others wanted, but I think this is perfect for Lars. He’s still not fully confident in who he truly is, that will take a lot of time. He’s still weirded out and scared, but he’s done being a useless coward and he’s taking steps to fight back. Props to you, Laramie

•Lars, you just started. You’re not at that heroic level yet, chill

•Oh, no. No. No no no no no no no no no no. This cannot be happening

•My heart is broken. Are you fucking kidding me?

•HE DOES HAVE HEALING TEARS! LARS IS BACK!!!! Okay, so maybe the spit is for healing and the tears are bringing others back? I don’t know

•God, I’m so jumbled. Now, we know how Lion was created. Cross that off of the list of 19090 questions

•So, I made a post previously about Steven finding out how to uncorrupt gems and I fully admit that my theory for how he figures this out is wrong, but I stand by what I said about Jasper. We know for a fact that his spit works to a certain degree, what if his tears are what bring it full circle? I’m sorry, I’d really just like them to have closure

•Does… Lars have a portal now? Can he teleport and stuff, too? Lol, what will his parents and Sadie think when he gets home?

🔸Lars Head •Fun fact that I honestly did not know: cartoons are not allow to say the word “die”. The more you know

•Lol, Steven, these questions 😂😂😂

•Padpa, I love you

•Lars, that’s not important 😂😂 I love this lighthearted moment we get to see. It’s a nice break to absorb all of this new info

•Hair portal!!! Lars, it is now mandatory to grow your hair out to make going in your head easier

•Rho Rho is too adorable

•WOAH! So each new being brought back gets their own tree and they’re all connected. That’s so cool

•Holy crap, he’s back home!!! If he plans on using this as a mode of travel during this war, he’s going to have to clearly indicate which trees belongs to who if there are more

•Food and water break. Steven has his priorities straight

•So… They might have to poof everyone and take them to earth so they aren’t caught by HW

•"Steven’s back!“

•Lars will have to learn how to teleport if he even can…

•I love how he’s still kind of a jerk, but he’s doing what he thinks is best for his new friends by staying there so they can be free

•Rho Rho was trynna to scoop outta there real quick 😂😂😂

•So, if they’re gonna show Lars around and find another off HW… they might have to unfuse, but then that leaves Rutile… how’s that gonna work?

•Tell him, Lars!!!!!!

•The effect that Steven has on people is too amazing for words

•They hugged! Lars normally rejects Steven touching him, too 😂

•"Who knows what they’re doing to Steven? Hi, Steven” -Pearl 2k17

This was really awesome. I still have a million questions, but I’m more invested in the possibilities for what’s to come than the answers to them. I won’t lie, I did really want to see White Diamond, a Pink and Rose flashback, and maybe even Stars, but what we got was absolutely amazing and I was too shook. The mystery is slowly unfolding and I cannot wait to see what’s going to happen next. I’m genuinely curious as to what everyone else thought. I kind of want to get a convo going so message me with stuff or use the little comment chat thingie on my post. What was your favorite part? Who’s your favorite off color? What do you think about Pink’s shattering? Anyone for uncorruption? I really want to know what faniverse thinks (Get it? Am I cool yet?) Have a great rest of your week!!!

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blysssimblr · 8 years ago

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The past five weeks while Nasir had been avoiding Anita was honestly hard for him. He loved Anita, and he probably always would, but he couldn’t stay around knowing that she wanted to be with Jasper of all people.

She knew how he felt and though he was equally at fault for not at least hearing her out, he got all he needed to know from Jasper. He may have could stay by her side if she had just didn’t return his feelings, but with her being with someone else, he couldn’t do it.

So, with the weeks and days that slipped by him quickly he worked his butt off to finish all his work for the city, going back and forth through meetings, and packing up his apartment. When a project came up at his company that would require him to move up to the next city over for six months, he at first didn’t know if he should take it, but the fight with Jasper not just helped him make his decision, but also helped him realize that it was time for him to end what he and Anita had.

When he entered her house, like usual he called out to her, but this time was not returned with an answer. He looked around to see and feel that the house was empty. He didn’t want to think of where Anita could have taken herself and Montrell on a Saturday, so instead he just decided to call her and see when she would be back home.

Putting the phone to his ear as it rang, he heard her pick up on the second ring. Before he could speak he heard the voice of a man and Montrell laughing happily in the phone call and Anita laughing with him. Maybe he shouldn’t have called as he felt his chest clench in sadness.

“Hello?” her voice floated through the phone.

“Hey, I had stopped by, but I see your busy so I’ll come back some…….”

“NO NO NO! I WILL BE RIGHT THERE! DO NOT LEAVE!” she said before he could finish his statement as she heard her muffle to however she was with, whom he assumed to be Jasper, that they needed to get home quickly.

“Look I can….”

“I’m on my way now! Sit! Get comfy! I’ll be right there!” she said as she hung up the phone.

He didn’t want to be the guy who broke up family day between the three, but honestly he wasn’t sure why he even cared. If Anita wanted to cut her day with Jasper short for him, why not enjoy it right?

Right as he was going to sit down on the couch he heard the doorbell ring, and for a second he wondered if he should even answer it, but as the ringing persisted he decided to just answer it.

Opening the door, the one person he was sure Anita probably didn’t want to see was standing there at her door, Zaneia.

“Uh, hey, Anita not here, would you like me to let her know you stopped by?”

“OH no, that’s okay. I’ll just wait here till she gets back. If I leave I’ll probably not hear for her for even longer.”

A little hesitant to let her come fully in the house, he didn’t know if Anita would want to see her at all, but then he remembered that she also never wanted to see Jasper again and now they were being one big happy family.

“Yea sure, come on in. I was just bout to watch tv.” He said as he walked off to sit on the couch as she followed behind him and sitting on the edge of the couch.

“So what brings you over to Nini empty house?” she asked after sitting in silence for a couple of minutes.

“Oh I was just trying to talk to her about some stuff before it got to late, what about you?”

“Oh well Nini had an attitude last time I seen her before I moved out a couple of months ago, and then her birthday passed right on by and I still didn’t hear from her at all, so I thought that maybe I could stop by to finally talk to her and see how she doing.”

“Oh iight.” Was all he said back remembering that it was Zaneia fault that Anita cut her off, but he wasn’t about to get into that with her.

“So how’s work going?”

“It’s okay?”

“Ok, and your girlfriend doesn’t mind the fact that you spend so much time with Anita?”

Laughing at how she thought she was slick about asking him if he had one he finally looked over at her and studied her face of amusement.

“I don’t have one who would need to worry about who I keep in my circle.”

“Oh that’s too bad, you seem like someone who loves a good fuckin daily.” She said snatching him and their convo to left field.

“Oh, nah, I’m good.” He said trying to end this conversation that was headed to dangerous grounds.

“Oh are you?” she purred as she scraped the skin on his neck lightly making goosebumps pop up on his skin and his dick to pop up in his pants. “You do look like your quite good at whatever it is that you do.”

“Uhh yea…. look imma go ahead and get out of here, just tell Anita I’ll be…….”

Before he could get off the couch Zaneia was on the floor and between his legs sucking on the head of his dick through his pants and for the life of him, he couldn’t remember how to get out his seat.

Feeling the heat of her mouth leaving his head as the cold set in he got even harder.

“Yo……you need to chill.”

“Oh come on Nasir,” she said tugging at his zipper, as he contemplated if he wanted to stop her, “it’s just a little head after all, you can bust one down this throat and I can finally take all of this down my throat,” she said as she stroked him through his pants waiting for that okay to release him.

But before he could let this get any further he grabbed her by the shoulders and pushed her away from him.

“Look it aint bout to happen, so just get up.” He said as his dick felt like it was disagreeing with him.

“Well if you change your mind……..”

“He won’t.” They heard as the both jumped up and looked at the direction of the voice as the back door slammed shut.

“Oh Anita! Hey darling. When did you get there?”

“Yo, it’s not what it looks like. Anita let’s all sit down and talk about this.”

“Yea, let’s all just sit and talk.”

“What makes you think I want to talk to you Zaneia? Why the fuck are you even in my house?”

“Well he let me in so we can talk Anita, I haven’t spoken to you in a while so I stopped by.”

“You let her in my house?!”

“Yo, she ya moms Anita, plus who am I to even regulate who come in and out ya place?”

“Nasir what the fuck are you….”

“Look baby girl! Come on let’s just sit down and talk.” Zaneia said as she walked around Nasir and started walking towards Anita as she continued to enter the room looking pissed and lost.

“Talk? What makes you think I wanna talk to you Zaneia?”

“Wha…..”

“Better yet, what do you want to talk about huh?”

“Anita…….”

“Wanna talk about how I JUST walked in on you trying to slide his dick down your throat after I TOLD you not to go near him?!” Anita screamed taking Nasir by surprise at that.

“Oh or are we going to talk about my father Zaneia?!” she sneered making Zaneia tense up.

“What are you talking about Anita?”

“Bitch did I stutter?! I spent 23 years thinking my father died Zaneia! DIED! And what do I find out right before I turn 24? That not only is he alive, but the reason I had to grow up fatherless was because of how fucking selfish you are! DO YOU KNOW HOW HARD IT IS TO FILL SOMEONE IN ON 23 YEARS OF LIFE AFTER ITS BEEN SNATCHED AWAY FROM THEM?!”

“Ani…….”

“And yet even after that I never wanted to cut you off as bad as now from what I just seen! I told you from JUMP not to talk to, approach, or even glance Nasir way and you’ve done all of them!”

“You know Anita! You always been an ungrateful little bitch! All you do is complain and want! You complained about wanting to know that broke ass nigga Montrell that I told you he died just so I could stop hearing you talk about him! I tried my hardest to be your mother, but all you wanted was ya damn grandma!”

“BITCH HOW IS YOU BARELY BEING HOME AND WHEN YOU WERE HOME TELLING ME IF I MADE TOO MUCH NOISE YOU WOULD STOP COMING BACK TO WHAT YOU CALLED A DIRT HOLE OF A HOUSE TO SEE ME BEING A MOTHER?!”

“Anita do not talk to me like im some bitch off the street!”

“BITCH YOU ARE JUST A BITCH OF THE STREET! YOU AINT SHIT TO ME! AND SINCE YOU STEPPING TO HIM YOU STEPPING TO ME BITCH! AND MOTHER OR NOT I WILL DRAG YOUR FUCK ASS FOR FILTH!”

“Look here! I told you forever ago! Before I am your mother, I am a female first! Which means if I want to fuck your little crush bitch I will!”

Before Zaneia could say anything, else Anita pop her ass straight in the eye and started beating her ass.

She beat her ass for all the shit in her childhood, for all the disrespect in her teens, for the shit she pulled with her father, and for her not only disrespecting her home for a second time but for even stepping to the love of her life on some hoe shit!

Right as she came out herself and started to really kick Zaneia ass she felt someone snatching her off Zaneia.

“ANITA!” she heard as she kicked and screamed and tried to get another grab at Zaneia who was scurrying away from her.

“LET ME GO! GET BACK HER BITCH! IMMA FUCK YOUR LIFE UP BITCH!”

“Anita! You need to chill!”

“IF YOU DON’T LET ME THE FUCK GO I WILL FUCK YOU UP NEXT!”

“Zaneia get the fuck out of here! Get out! Now!” Nasir barked as he tried to clear her a path and almost losing his hold on Anita.

“This how you gonna treat your own mother!?”

“BITCH YOU ARE NOTHING TO ME! I SWEAR TO GAWD YOU BETTER PRAY I DON’T CATCH YOUR HOE ASS IN THE STREETS!”

“Anita you need to chill the fuck out!” she heard Nasir say as she still tried to break free right as Zaneia looked back at her smirking.

“Don’t be mad at me because your nigga was trying to bust down my throat before you interrupted.” She said as she closed the door fueling Anita’s rage all over again.

“BITCH YOU MUST THINK IM ONE OF THEM OLD HOUSEWIVES HOE! I WILL BURY YOUR SLUT ASS 6 FEET UNDER YOU DIRTY PUSSY HAVING ASS BITCH!”

“Yo! You need to chill the fuck out Anita! You really bugging!”

“BUGGING?! HOW AM I BUGGING WHEN SHE THE ONE STEPPING TO YOU ON SOME HOE SHIT!”

“ANITA WHO THE FUCK ARE YOU TO BE MAD AT SOMEONE STEPPING TO ME ON ANYTHING?”

“OH I GET IT!! YOU MUST HAVE WANTED HER UP ON YA DICK HUH?! YOU DON’T WANNA HEAR SHIT I GOTTA SAY, BUT THE NEXT TIME I FINALLY SEE YOU AND YOU LETTING MY FUCKIN MAMA GET AT YOU!”

“HEAR YOU OUT?! FOR WHAT?! I GOT THE ANSWERS I NEED! AND WHO I DECIDE TO FUCK IS MY FUCKING BUSINESS ANITA!”

“NASIR WHO THE FUCK YOU THINK YOU TALKING TO?!”

“TO YOU! WHY THE FUCK I GOTTA STAY HERE ARGUING WITH YOUR MUTHA FUCKIN ASS YOU MADE YOUR FUCKING CHOICE ANITA! LIVE WITH THAT SHIT! IM NOT BOUT TO SIT HER PLAYING GAMES WITH YOU!”

“NASIR THE FUCK ARE YOU EVEN TALKING ABOUT?! YOUR MUTHAFUCKING ASS AINT LISTEN TO NOT ONE WORD I SAID OR BEEN TRYING TO SAY SINCE MY BIRTHDAY! YOU SO FAR UP YOUR OWN ASS YOU NOT EVEN TRYING TO HEAR ANYTHING ELSE!”

“WHAT THE FUCK I GOTTA LISTEN TO ANITA?! HUH?! ABOUT HOW YOU AND JASPER BACK FUCKING?! HOW YOU WANT DICK SO FUCKING BAD THAT YOU WOULD GO TO THE NIGGA THAT BEAT YOUR ASS JUST TO GET IT?! YOU WANNA RAISE A WHOLE ASS FAMILY WITH THIS NIGGA, BUT HERE I AM WANTING TO BE WITH YOU AND YOU STILL CHOOSE HIM!”

“JASPER?! WHY THE FUCK YOU BRINGING THAT NIGGA UP IN MY FUCKIN HOUSE FOR?! DON’T YOU EVEN SPEAK ON SOME SHIT YOU KNOW NOTHING ABOUT!”

“YOU RIGHT I DON’T KNOW SHIT! BUT YOU KNOW WHAT I DO KNOW?! THAT IM OUT THIS BITCH! YOU AINT NEVER GOT TO HEAR FROM ME AGAIN! PLUS WHY THE FUCK WOULD I EVEN WANT A LIFE WITH SOME BITCH WHO GOT ALL THIS SHIT GOING ON! BETTER YET YA MOMS ALREADY SITTING SOMEWHERE READY TO TAKE THIS DICK AND NOT BE ON SOME FUCK SHIT LATER!!” he screamed out regretting it as soon as he said it.

“Wha……..What?” she said looking Nasir in the eyes as involuntary tears rolled down her cheeks.

“Yo look im so…..” he said as he tried to hug her, “yo, I think we need to calm down for a bit and…..” he stopped as she shoved him away from her.

“Your right Nasir….”

“Huh?”

“Why the fuck would you need to be with someone like me?” she said sniffling, “okay…..im glad to have had the times we had Nasir, I’m sorry for ruining your life.”

“Anita I didn’t…..”

“Get out.” Anita said as she turned her back to him to try to keep herself together.

“Please Anita, this isn’t how I’m trying to……”

“Nasir….” She said barely above a whisper as his heart broke for how broken she sounded, “get out.”

“A……..”

“GET OUT!” she screamed as she walked around him and grabbed on to the back of the couch opening the path towards the door for him.

Wanting to reach out and grab her, to hug her, he realized it was all worthless. So, with the pain of hurting her and the regret from how they ended what they had, he left her house.

Hearing the door shut close Anita could no longer keep it together and she feel to the ground and cried for what was the end of what she just knew was true love. And she cried, cried for what they were, what they had, and what they could have been.

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